Hammond XK-5
MAP: $3,695 Open Box Units Periodically Available! Call/Save: (877) 432-5700
A true stand-alone single manual organ, the Hammond XK-5 is true innovation. Until the introduction of this instrument, if you wanted the true Hammond Organ playing experience with the subtleties of the original multi-contact keys, you played either a vintage Hammond Organ or the New B-3/C-3. All of this changes with the XK-5 which is, of course, the heart of our new Hammond A-3 Heritage Organ System. The XK-5 can be expanded to include a lower manual and bass pedals but it is totally adequate in its stand-alone configuration.
Patent-Pending Technologies
Hybrid
Multiple Key-Contact System: On classic Hammond Organ (and in
the current, full-sized New B-3 Mk. II family), pressing a key
sequentially closes nine mechanical contacts: one for each drawbar.
In normal play, your ears hear these multiple harmonics as one note.
Depress a key slowly, however, and you hear the harmonics come in at
slightly different times. Normal playing created a subtle “slop”
between otherwise crisp attacks, and the more drawbars pulled, the
more “chewy” and soulful character it imparted to the sound. Some
called it “bounce”, and it was also indelicately referred to as
“spit”. Many beloved Hammond keyboard “tricks” were born of this
unintended imperfection.
These unique responses can’t be accomplished with MIDI single note-on keying, the system used in the majority of today’s keyboards. The XK-5 uses three mechanical contacts at different points in the keys’ travel. Each of these, in turn, triggers three virtual contacts, providing a discrete “note on” connection for every drawbar pitch in the same manner as the original nine-contact electro-mechanical Hammond® organ. The result is a fingers-to-music connection perfectly duplicating the response of a Vintage “B” while saving on weight and cost. Plus, the time-spread between these “note-ons” is programmable, as is the order in which the harmonics speak, allowing for totally unique variations in touch and response. As all the contacts receive and transmit MIDI data, every nuance of your performance can be captured into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
Completely Redesigned Key-bed: The XK-5’s keyboard action is built in-house, not sourced from a third-party manufacturer. It was designed to duplicate the heft, bounce, and key dip of a “new old stock” and well-maintained B-3™: No springy synth keys allowed! Master Hammond players who tested early prototypes confirmed that nothing comes closer to the feel and response they expect from a Vintage Hammond. Of course it has the “waterfall” key fronts critical to Hammond playing techniques such as palm slides and glissandos. Play the XK-5 alongside any other modern organ and we’re convinced you’ll find the difference stunning. Play the Xk-5 alongside a vintage Hammond and we’re convinced you’ll find the similarity stunning.
All-New Sound Engine: The XK-5 employs new proprietary technology digitally recreating Hammond’s storied tone wheel generator with unprecedented accuracy and flexibility. Tone wheels were spinning discs on shafts, each with its own pickup pointing at the edge. The pattern of “teeth” cut into the edge of the wheel determined the pitch. Modeling and sampling are combined in an exclusive process to capture the frequencies of all 91 tone wheels found in the original organs, along with other important sonic details such as key click, Touch-Response Percussion™, vibrato-chorus, and more.
Virtual Matching Transformer: In regards to the iconic Hammond sound, Tone-wheels and the Chorus-Vibrato scanner tell only a part of the tale. Our engineers’ research found all components in the signal chain play a vital role leading to the end product. The influence of the MATCHING TRANSFORMER provides a link to one of the Vintage Hammond’s most elusive qualities. All signals from the upper, lower, and pedal manuals passed through the matching transformer designed to “even things out” before the signal continued to the preamp. The transformer—a piece of iron with a coil wrapped around it—could “remember” some of its saturation based on how hard it had been working previously, thus affecting new notes played. Physicists call this hysteresis. Musically speaking, it affects how much “volume robbing” you hear and adds to what Hammond aficionados think of as the “breathing” quality of the organ. (The phenomenon is similar to why some recording engineers like transformer-equipped microphones and/or preamps for certain sounds.) In the XK-5, the matching transformer and its place in the signal chain is modeled precisely, and the saturation and hysteresis amounts are adjustable from barely-there to over-the-top.
MORE FEATURES
Here is a sampling of what the XK-5’s more than 50 innovations
and features include:
• Four full sets of Harmonic Drawbars plus pedal drawbars, just like
on original Hammond console organs including the B-3
• 12 additional virtual tone wheels are devoted to harmonically
complex pedal tones (i.e. more than just 16′ and 8′ sine waves), as
found on Hammonds beginning in 1945.
• Custom tone wheel profiles available via download.
• Our best-ever Digital Leslie. Anything else is just a “rotary
simulator.”
• Continuously variable Digital Leslie speed if desired.
• Dedicated octave shift / transpose buttons.
• Improved DSP-based overdrive complemented by vacuum tube preamp.
• Improved vibrato-chorus.
• Dedicated on/off buttons and amount knobs for reverb, overdrive,
and assignable multi-FX.
• Lower B drawbars can alternately control 9 MIDI CC messages for
external gear.
• Left and right ¼” outs can be used at the same time as Leslie
output, for running the XK-5 through a real Leslie in parallel to
stationary speakers, a subwoofer, or house P.A.
• More key-triggering modes for pedal-to-lower coupler (Manual Bass
function).
• Firmware updatable via USB flash drive or directly from computer.
• Crisp new OLED display is more readable under different lighting
conditions.
Of course Hammond has retained the things that makes working with the XK-3C and the compact SK-series keyboards a joy. Hold any button and the first page of parameters most relevant to it comes up in the display—holding the Leslie speed button for Digital Leslie settings, for example. This saves you a ton of menu-diving when customizing your sounds. New patch-naming and copying features also make your housekeeping even easier.
MAP: $3,695 Special pricing available for a limited time. Call now! Financing is available with special performing artist lease arrangements.