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I was surprised by the article. I thought it would be about at least one of two things: the Hammond B3 tonewheel organ, or the Leslie rotary speaker that it’s

I was surprised by the article. I thought it would be about at least one of two things: the Hammond B3 tonewheel organ, or the Leslie rotary speaker that it’s been almost invariably paired with for half a century. The B3 itself lets a player adjust the harmonics of the sound on the fly, shifting from a thick meaty sound to any number of thin reedy or subdued sounds with a single half-instinctual shove. The B3 is all over the place, from gospel to rock to radio plays. You’ll know it when you hear it even if you can’t name it. And the Leslie. Oh, the Leslie. I heard it referred to as “a uniquely American design,” with a woofer aimed downward at a curved wooden wedge and a treble horn for the high frequencies, each piece rotating in opposite directions, throwing sound around a room and affecting the volume and frequencies of the organ in pleasing and interesting ways. Lots of people have spent lots of time trying to recreate this sound in software, with varying degrees of success. My favorite example (real or simulated, I don’t know) is in Portishead’s “It’s a Fire”[0], since the organ is the main instrument and they put it through its paces: flipping the Leslie between its fast and slow modes while pulling the drawbars, and the tonal structure is wonderfully complex as well. I think discovering the mechanics of these two things in tandem was part of what sparked my love of synthesizers and how they can be used to create and shift musical moods. The tools are a bit different but the fundamental idea is very similar. [0] https://youtu.be/7Y26KpgZknY https://youtu.be/7Y26KpgZknY

eric_jankowski 8y ago
My favorite example of the B3 is Galactic's "Quiet Please"[0]. At about the 5-minute mark, the keyboardist switches from an electric piano to the organ and makes it sing. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoNFFKwNts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoNFFKwNts
bitbang 8y ago
There's a very nice FOSS software emulator called SetBFree. The gui interface is a little goofy, but for real usage you would connect a midi keyboard controller anyway. https://github.com/pantherb/setBfree https://github.com/pantherb/setBfree The best sounding commercial keyboard to emulate the B3 IMO is the Nord C2D/C2.
jeffwass 8y ago
Just thought I’d point out that pipe organs do a similar thing about controlling harmonics. But the corresponding control for each drawbar on the Hammond is basically a binary switch instead of a quasi-continuous control. Further each individual pipe has its own harmonics and timbre while the Hammond tonewherls produce nearly (but not exactly) sinusoidal waveforms. Fancier pipe organs had multiple pipes at each harmonic. Eg, pipes that mimicked brass or woodwind instruments. This is why pipe organ consoles can be huge and cluttered with tons of switches. The Hammond simplified all that and let you adjust harmonics directly with a quasi-continuum via the drawbars. With the onset of jazz and rock in the 60’s, the Hammond’s unique sound became highly sought after. The so-called “Hammond Growl” through its tube amps, it’s own analog chorus and vibrato unit, the external rotating Leslie speaker’s effects, and even the “key click”. When the 70’s came along, pop tastes shifted to newer synthesisers and the last of the B3’s from the assembly line languished at organ dealers.

eric_jankowski 8y ago

My favorite example of the B3 is Galactic's "Quiet Please"[0]. At about the 5-minute mark, the keyboardist switches from an electric piano to the organ and makes it sing. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoNFFKwNts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOoNFFKwNts

bitbang 8y ago

There's a very nice FOSS software emulator called SetBFree. The gui interface is a little goofy, but for real usage you would connect a midi keyboard controller anyway. https://github.com/pantherb/setBfree https://github.com/pantherb/setBfree The best sounding commercial keyboard to emulate the B3 IMO is the Nord C2D/C2.

jeffwass 8y ago

Just thought I’d point out that pipe organs do a similar thing about controlling harmonics. But the corresponding control for each drawbar on the Hammond is basically a binary switch instead of a quasi-continuous control. Further each individual pipe has its own harmonics and timbre while the Hammond tonewherls produce nearly (but not exactly) sinusoidal waveforms. Fancier pipe organs had multiple pipes at each harmonic. Eg, pipes that mimicked brass or woodwind instruments. This is why pipe organ consoles can be huge and cluttered with tons of switches. The Hammond simplified all that and let you adjust harmonics directly with a quasi-continuum via the drawbars. With the onset of jazz and rock in the 60’s, the Hammond’s unique sound became highly sought after. The so-called “Hammond Growl” through its tube amps, it’s own analog chorus and vibrato unit, the external rotating Leslie speaker’s effects, and even the “key click”. When the 70’s came along, pop tastes shifted to newer synthesisers and the last of the B3’s from the assembly line languished at organ dealers.