Hammond Tease XK-4

[MAJUSCULE]

It would be a luxury, but I'd love one for organ-heavy gigs. A three-board rig with a weighted action and dedicated synth would be

[Jim Alfredson]

7 hours ago, bjosko said:

Saw a preorder ad - $2900 UGH 🤐

That is not correct. My sources said $2k MAP, shipping in August.

[Adan]

Wow, that's the slickest ad for a clone ever (even though HamSuz tries to imply it's not a clone).  

 

The distortion does sound great, and a step forward.  If I needed a single manual clone, this would be the one.

[jerrythek]

12 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

So yeah, when I said it isn't just an SK Pro without non-organ sounds, what I mean is that it's an update to the MTW engine called MTW2. No more sampling. Everything is modeled. Also, new Leslie sim, new overdrive emulation, and the 'virtual' tonewheels even have slight random pitch variations.

I couldn't stop playing it. I had a great time making the demos. It sounds really really good.
 

 

The best thing about a new Hammond-Suzuki release are new performances/demos from Jim - nicely done!!

[HammondDave]

I wonder how the keyboard feels. 

[Jim Alfredson]

6 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

I wonder how the keyboard feels. 

 

Same keybed as the SK Pros.

[MAJUSCULE]

Hey Jim, just watched your demo videos. Great playing man.

 

In the second longer video, is the assignable knob mapped to a pitch envelope or is it an actual simulation of turning the console off and back on again? (Going back to the editability of the MTW2 and Leslie sim)

[HammondDave]

3 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

 

Same keybed as the SK Pros.

Will definitely have to check this out. $1999 is a good price point. 

[Chummy]

so nobody knows if it comes in a 73 key varient (or is one planned)?

[Jim Alfredson]

45 minutes ago, MAJUSCULE said:

Hey Jim, just watched your demo videos. Great playing man.

 

In the second longer video, is the assignable knob mapped to a pitch envelope or is it an actual simulation of turning the console off and back on again? (Going back to the editability of the MTW2 and Leslie sim)

 

There are two assignable buttons with two assignable knobs above them. Scott May came into the room after we had recorded six demos and asked us to just go hog wild, hence that improvisation. I just happened to press that button and it did the pitch bend thing. Yes, its emulating turning the generator off and on.

[Mighty Motif Max]

The generator on/off function is one of the fun effects my Fantom 7 can pull off that my SKpro can’t, at least not directly. How does this version of the organ tech (MTW2) compare to the SK Pro technology and how noticeable are any improvements?

[Mitch Towne]

2 hours ago, Chummy said:

so nobody knows if it comes in a 73 key varient (or is one planned)?

The Xk-1 never did, and since it doesn’t come with any non-organ sounds, I think we can safely assume it will always be 61 keys. 

[Mark Schmieder]

Wow, this sounds incredible! I'll have to compare the specs and sound (as well as feel) to the XK-5, because I don't need two manuals (at a time) for my purposes, but I had previously targeted the XK-5 as my natural upgrade path from the XK-1c.

 

I am especially impressed by the organ bass. Is it the improved distortion that makes it so hefty and convincing?

[jpgxk3]

From the details page: "An AUX IN jack with discrete volume control allows connection of external sound sources such as a music player, drum machine or cellular phone/tablet"  I also saw midi in and out jacks on rear panel. If one desired to run Korg Module via i-phone or i-pad for some piano(s) fun, with or without the Korg Plugkey, what would you choose? The aux in vs midi? JA or anyone have some thoughts? Thanks, Joe.  Kudos to Jim and his drummer, nice demo and the sim setup is nice.

[AnotherScott]

2 minutes ago, jpgxk3 said:

From the details page: "An AUX IN jack with discrete volume control allows connection of external sound sources such as a music player, drum machine or cellular phone/tablet"  I also saw midi in and out jacks on rear panel. If one desired to run Korg Module via i-phone or i-pad for some piano(s) fun, with or without the Korg Plugkey, what would you choose? The aux in vs midi? 

 

MIDI out from keyboard to i-device. Audio out from i-device into Aux In of the keyboard.

[Jim Alfredson]

29 minutes ago, Mark Schmieder said:

I am especially impressed by the organ bass. Is it the improved distortion that makes it so hefty and convincing?

 

I switched the "pedal to lower manual" button on a few minutes in. But yeah, the bass is beautiful. The XK5 has really great bass, too.

[Mark Schmieder]

That's really important for me, as I am unlikely to pull a Hammond organ into my jazz combo unless I can kick the bass convincingly, as no one doubles on bass guitar or upright bass (this is a problem in my being able to pull out the clarinet for a few songs as well). I think this might be the clincher for me, and the $2K max price tag as an upgrade is doable as the outlay won't be great given the XK-1c's value. Of course, I'd sell it afterwards, so I can transfer all of my custom presets/setups/settings and update/improve them for the Xk-4 engine.

[ElmerJFudd]

Sounds very nice.  Especially he overdrive.  
 

These demos are using the internal Leslie sim?  Or they’re going to actual Leslie?  It doesn’t sound like a mic’d cabinet but one has to ask.  

[Mark Schmieder]

My apologies if some of this has already been posted, but info is getting updated quickly at Hammond's site and I don't think I've seen some of these links yet:

 

 

Notice the superior connections in the back compared to the XK-1c.

 

 

I can't tell for sure, but I think the half-moon for the XK-1c can be directly transferred to the XK-4. A lower-res version of this photo was posted earlier.

[Mark Schmieder]

Although some of the links go to "under construction" pages, the detailed specifications are now live:

 

https://hammondorganco.com/xk-4-detail

 

One thing I'm not sure about, is how the engine compares to the XK-5, as the terminology isn't always on par in each description.

 

I think the XK-4 is one gen beyond that modeling engine? Are the theater and pipe organs modeled also? Or just transistor organs?

 

Also, my recollection is that SK-Pro (and now XK-4) uses a Fatar keybed but one with multi-contacts compared to the XK-1c's.

 

Whereas, the XK-5 is still a proprietary Hammond keybed similar to a real B3, as I recall. Although the difference may be small now.

 

The XK-1c says 96 tonewheels and there are 91 for XK-4 (and probably SK-Pro). I think this was discussed when SK-Pro was released.

 

My vague recollection is that the extra five were for custom user tonewheels, or maybe for an extended bass register?

[Mark Schmieder]

I thought Sweetwater and/or Kraft Music would have this up on their sites now that it's been announced, but probably they haven't been given the go-ahead yet.

[HammondDave]

Still want to know more about their “new” Leslie sim. 

[Jim Alfredson]

23 minutes ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Although some of the links go to "under construction" pages, the detailed specifications are now live:

 

https://hammondorganco.com/xk-4-detail

 

One thing I'm not sure about, is how the engine compares to the XK-5, as the terminology isn't always on par in each description.

 

I think the XK-4 is one gen beyond that modeling engine? Are the theater and pipe organs modeled also? Or just transistor organs?

 

What they told me is that the tonewheel engine is all modeled. No samples. I assume the others are still samples.

 

 

23 minutes ago, Mark Schmieder said:

 

Also, my recollection is that SK-Pro (and now XK-4) uses a Fatar keybed but one with multi-contacts compared to the XK-1c's.

 

No multi-contacts in the SK Pro or the XK4. Standard Fatar keybed. The multi-contacts are all simulated in the SK Pro and XK4 via software. Quite convincingly but not as good as the real multi-contacts in the XK5.

 

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

All told, it's still an incredible upgrade from the XK-1c at a reasonable price. I have no trouble justifying it. Not many points that would get me to spend twice as much on the XK-5, especially as the XK-4 would be a more practice live board for someone occasionally doubling in a jazz setting. I don't play keys anymore in pop/rock bands, so most of my Hammond work these days is studio work on my own compositions. But I have for some time wanted to pull the Hammond into my jazz combo, for certain songs.

[Radagast]

It would be nice if someone would do a thorough demo of the pipe organ sounds.

[Delaware Dave]

Other than the improved leslie sim it sounds very similar to the XK5 and the SKPro.  The good news is that you can buy two XK4's for the price of one XK5. I don't use overdrive (or very little) and this feature doesn't really sway me one way or another.  I get adequate O/D from my either the Vent, the Burn, or the VB3-ii internal leslie.

[Mark Schmieder]

It's up on the Kraft Music site now, showing as $2495, which makes it a bit of a stretch for me at the moment as I just finished my taxes today and owe over $6000 thanks to no more offsets for flooding and the like (only if in a federally declared flood disaster area).

 

I can still do it, just not right away, but it'l not available yet anyway, and maybe Kraft's initial price is incorrect or forgot to mention their usual bundle add-ons.

 

UPDATE: Sweetwater has it listed now as well, and also at $2495 with no add-ons included.

[wd8dky]

 

 

[Adan]

Surprising that the XK4 is priced same as SKPro 61.  Are the firmware improvements in the XK4 not going to transfer to the SKPro?  That would be the only rationale I could think of for that pricing -- if SKPro has extra sounds and extra hardware, but less state-of-the-art software relative to XK4.  

[Delaware Dave]

Does an XK4 sound that much different than an SKPro?  Maybe the leslie, but I think most of us have invested in Vent's so how much different is an SKPro/Vent than an XK4?  Probably not much.

 

I'd still like to see B3x in hardware or at least the leslie sim in hardware.  That I'd invest in.