HAMMOND XB-1

FEATURES

New advanced VASE-II & DRB digital technology

The very latest development in custom electronic design from Hammond's own research and development team was used to create an integrated "Tone wheel" sample system, which will generate the ultimate in traditional sound quality and realism.

New Drawbar Control System

The heart of the instrument is, of course, Hammond's exclusive "Harmonic Drawbar Tone Control" system. The original and the best ! Most professional players will confirm that only Hammond drawbars allow the player to actually blend tone Colours to achieve the exact shade of expression you want. Yet even for the novice, the use of drawbars is easy, creating thousands of tone-variations, giving each melody an inspiring originality. The XB-1 extends this unique concept even further by including extensive editable controls that will allow for even greater possibilities. However, the main reason for its recognized success is that this system creates an incredible, distinctive sound quality that has been unrivalled for over 63 years.

Although it may appear at first that the XB-1 is just a simple one-manual keyboard it is actually a complete 3-manual organ. Three buttons corresponding to Upper, Lower, and Pedal manuals select which manual you are setting up. The XB-1 has 64 programmable registration presets (8 banks of 8 presets each) which cover all popular playing styles by both category and performer and can also be used as user presets. Each preset sets up the complete instrument. One reason why the sound is so authentic is the extreme care and precision that went into the sampling. However, it is also due to the incredible versatility of the instrument which enables musicians to literally create their own Hammond and Leslie unit. Add to all of this the endless sound variations of the drawbars themselves and you end up with a very powerful instrument indeed.

New Edit features

To edit a sound you use a combination of multiple buttons. There are 4 levels of Key click, 4 levels of sustain and 3 types of tone wheel generator for Upper and Lower manuals. It is possible to choose between either a B-3, a pure sine wave or "Brite" where the higher pitched drawbars have extra frequencies added. If you use B-3 tones, it is also possible to choose whether or not to have "fold-back", which will add extra bite to certain key areas. The 2nd and 3rd percussion can be fine tuned by decay length, tone and volume. Again, copying the older Hammonds, the percussion can either sound only on the first key played or on every key. It can even be velocity-sensitive unlike old Hammonds. Some old models used to borrow the 8th harmonic drawbar to create the percussion, an effect which you can also mimic on the new XB-1. On older models the percussion volume would reduce the higher one played and this too, is a setting you can select. As well as the general Vibrato-presets, the percussion-speed can be fine-tuned in 5 steps. Reverb and overdrive setting are fully adjustable to create the typically rock- and jazz-Hammond that distorts the amplifier and speakers.

New Digital Leslie

In addition to traditional (Vl/V2/V3/Cl/C2/C3) Vibrato and Chorus effects, the XB-1 incorporates an advanced digital Leslie simulator that impressively replicates the animation of an external twin-rotor speaker cabinet.

There are five programmable preset Leslie simulations which match some of the famous Leslie models 122, 147, 710, 760 and 850. The detail in which you can construct your own Leslie is quite incredible. The speed of the rotors for bass and treble is fully adjustable as well as the acceleration- and slow-down times. On top of this it is possible to adjust the time it takes for each rotor to achieve a dead stop (Break Time). The balance between the treble and bass rotor is fully adjustable and you can even simulate the distance and angle of a stereo pair of microphones, thus imitating exactly the sound of a Leslie in a concert hall or recording studio.

SPECIFICATIONS

64 presets (8 x 8 bank)