Hammond The Skx Stage Keyboard

Description

The Skx Stage Keyboard – the smallest, lightest, full-featured dual-manual in the company’s history. Evolving from the highly successful line of Sk series Stage Keyboards, the Skx has embraced design recommendations from Professionals and Hobbyists alike. The result is a comprehensive instrument combining an authentic Hammond Organ featuring 3 sets of Harmonic Drawbars™, Vibrato-Chorus, Touch-Response Percussion™, and digital Leslie™; with a complete array of the most desired Keyboard Voices, such as Grand Pianos, Electric Pianos, Clavs, Orchestral and Percussive voices, and more. These may be combined with the Tonewheel voices, or with each other, in the twin Extravoice divisions. The Organ division is further equipped with 32 ranks of Hi-Def Classical Pipe Organ voices, and accurate models of the two most popular combo organs of the Sixties, which may be registered and played exactly as the originals.
Further improvements are found in the expanded Voice Library memory allowing users to install their choices of custom voices obtained without charge from the Hammond Website. Multiple banks of favorite preset collections are now standard, as is a new set of factory presets created by Hammond’s Artist Roster. New to this instrument is the traditional 11-pin Leslie jack for connecting a Leslie™ Speaker cabinet. The classic “Half-Moon” switch (optional) can be added to control the speed of either the onboard digital Leslie or external Leslie Cabinet.

THREE SETS OF DRAWBARS

The Professional Organist desires an independent set of DRAWBARS for each Manual as well as the Pedal clavier, The Skx offers exactly that: REAL Drawbars in the style and operation of every classic HAMMOND ORGAN, allow you to register each manual and the pedal in the traditional manner.

DUAL INDEPENDENT EXTRA VOICE DIVISIONS

The Skx features TWO independent EXTRA VOICE Divisions, allowing you to layer different voices on one Manual, or assign a different voice to either Manual. You may also combine the EXTRA VOICES with the Tonewheel, Transistor or Pipe Organ voices. Balance between the chosen EXTRA VOICES is easily controlled with a dedicated MIX/BALANCE knob.

EASY TO PLAY, READY FOR THE STAGE

The Skx is designed for smooth use onstage and off. Define your 10 most-used patches from the 100 “User” and 100 “Factory” patches and assign them to the 10 “Favorite” quick-recall buttons on the Skx control panel. Adding even more versatility, there are now 10 “banks” of “Favorites” available for instant recall. The Skx also has an expanded EXTRA VOICE LIBRARY storage memory, allowing the installation of more downloaded voices from the HAMMOND website than previous models.

THE VINTAGE SOUND, WITH NO MOVING PARTS

The Skx’s authentic HAMMOND tone is produced by a “Virtual Tonewheel” Generator closely following Mr. Hammond’s original design, but executing it in the Digital Realm, without moving parts. This provides all the characteristics, and yes, all the imperfections that have come to define the classic HAMMOND sound. “Out of the box”, the Skx is set to the same factory tolerances a B-3 was set to during its production run, but the Digital control allows you to tailor nearly every aspect of the tone to your personal taste. Our Wave Composition™ system adds popular “Transistor Combo Organ” Voices, which you can register in the original fashion, plus 32 ranks of High-Definition Digital Classic Pipe Organ Voices. The SKX is perfectly at home in all types of music, from Blues to Rock to Jazz and Sacred, and all points in-between.

PERCUSSION

Hammond’s exclusive Touch-Response Percussion™ as found on vintage Hammonds is included, and its parameters are user-tweakable.

CHORUS-VIBRATO

As the Virtual Tonewheel Generator provides tonal accuracy, the classic “Mechanical Scanner” is precisely Digitally-Modeled, providing the timeless Hammond Chorus-Vibrato effect. The effect may be applied independently to each Manual, and again, nearly every aspect of the effect can be tailored to your taste, including the characteristics relating to “age and wear” so desired by discerning players.

DIGITAL LESLIE™

Over 80 years of building Don Leslie’s Masterpiece has given us the edge in developing its 21st Century Digital Edition. The HAMMOND’S essential partner is yours at every moment, with 8 factory profiles of the most famous Leslie models (122, 147, et. al.), and 8 User-definable profiles allowing you to tailor the response matching the Hammond you create with its perfect mate. The accuracy of sound is remarkable. Of course, should you wish to hook up a physical Leslie Cabinet, the traditional 11-pin jack is located on the rear panel, and the onboard controls (including the optional CU-1 “half moon” switch) perform exactly as you expect.

THE EXTRA VOICE DIVISION

The inclusion of Hi-Definition Acoustic and Electric Pianos, Clav, Bass, and Accordion voices compliment the Organ tones, and create in the Skx a comprehensive foundation keyboard, the backbone of any serious keyboard rig. The Skx’s keying system replicates the feel of a weighted keyboard when playing piano-type voices, yet remains supple and responsive to every Hammond Organ technique. Stepping further, the most-wanted Orchestral Voices-Strings, Woodwinds and Brass are represented, many featuring Hammond’s exclusive ProChord™, which brings complex voicing to single key play based on the chords YOU provide. An extensive Library of elective EXTRA VOICES is available without charge from www.hammondorganco.com, to expand the Skx in directions YOU choose.

DSP EFFECTS

Two independent high-quality DSP units are aboard to provide Overdrive and other multi-effects to both the Organ and Extravoice Divisions.
●Overdrive ●Tremolo ●Auto Pan ●Wah-Wah ●Ring Modulator ●Phaser ●Flanger ●Chorus ●Delay ●Reverb

PERFORMANCE OPERATIONS

• OCTAVE
Digital Control allows flexibility of performance a Vintage Hammond is incapable of. You may independently raise or lower the Upper and Lower Manual’s range by one octave, allowing greater comfort of playing.

• PEDAL SUSTAIN
A popular option for playing the Pedals or Manual Bass is Pedal Sustain, which allows the Pedal voice to smoothly decay upon release, much in the manner of a string bass.

• MANUAL BASS
Allows the PEDAL part to be played on the LOWER manual of the Skx.(AKA “Manual Bass”)
You can choose from 3 modes,: Lowest played note only / Chord / Root notes as discriminated by chord played.
The “F-Bass” Bass Guitar voice is now a part of the “Pedal” division. You no longer need to devote an EXTRAVOICE to have this desirable feature.

• LOWER to PEDAL
Couples the LOWER manual registration to the PEDAL Part.

• TRANSPOSE
Allows you to shift the entire pitch of the keyboard to match singers, soloists and the other instruments, or to simplify key changes.

• MASTER EQUALIZER
Bass/Mid Gain/Mid Frequency/Treble

• PROCHORD
Certain Extra Voice instruments are enhanced with the ProChord™ function. This allows complex voicings to be played with one finger, based on chords played on the lower manual. 26 distinct chords are “parsed” by the ProChord™ function, with proper passing tones provided to insure proper enharmonic continuity.

• MIDI MASTER KEYBOARD
External Zones are available to enable the Skx to be used as a MIDI master keyboard. 3 on the Upper Keyboard, 2 on the Lower Keyboard, and 1 on the Pedal Clavier.

• USB TYPE “A” PORT
A USB Type “A” port is included, intended for saving/loading setups, system updates, downloaded Extra Voice libraries, and the music player. The Music Player allows WAV/MP3 audio files to be controlled and played through the Skx Audio Outputs.

• LESLIE 11-PIN JACK
A standard 11-pin Leslie jack is included on the rear panel. Attaching a Leslie here disables the Digital Leslie effect from the output, and allows the Leslie Cabinet to respond to the onboard Leslie Controls. If the attached Leslie is a 1-channel Model, the EXTRAVOICE Division remains at the LINE OUT Jacks. (requiring an additional non-rotary keyboard amplifier.)