Turned My Genos Into A Tonewheel Organ Beast!

[KeyboardByBiggs]

First off, thanks to Soryt for inspiring this transformation for me!

Being trained on Hammond organs since I was five-years-old, the organ sound in any keyboard I own is important to me. One the reasons I bought my Genos was the concept of having that sound as part of the package, as well as the physical drawbars and an "upgraded" Leslie simulation with "grit", according to Martin Harris.

I was pretty disappointed once I got it, to say the least. You can read all kinds of feedback on this in other areas of the forum from orgain players and non-players alike.

Enough of the negatives...let's fix it!

Thanks to a video posted by Soryt, a member here, and after chatting with him a bit, everything relating to this has changed!

I bought a brand new Electro-Harmonix Lester K rotary speaker simulation pedal for $178 US. I hooked it up by sending the organ sounds out the Aux jacks to the Lester K and the output from the Lester K back into the audio input jacks, something of an FX loop.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

The presence, the saturation, the grit, the spaciousness, the sound of the scanner bleed and even the keyclick is there in all its glory!

If you want to bring the tonewheel goodness alive in your Genos, I highly recommend this!

You can see Soryt's demo video that got my attention here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FHdjg5A7wE

Now, for a bit of a rant; a short one I promise.

To me, this begs the question...in a top-of-the-line keyboard like the Genos, why did I have to do this?

This pedal is $178 US. That's RETAIL. Take away the case, the knobs, etc. and all that's left is the software controlling everything and providing the processed sound.

Yamaha engineers couldn't come up with top-notch Leslie simulation programming to put into their flagship arranger that's already on the market with other companies in a freakin' foot pedal for under $200 US retail?!

Rant over, back to playing my new beast of a B3!

[Mikk]

Yes I tend to agree. Yamaha  is a very much behind the times with technology, I think .   
I use the:- Boss RT-20 on all my  keyboards except Korg(no need) and am very happy with it.

Demo on You tube . you'll get the idea. comparing with a real Leslie.
Used with the famous Hammond B3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P1vMLFCxwM

this might be more to your likes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwwWnefszQk

Price and desc on amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Boss+RT-20

Price and desc on amazon.co.uk
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rt-20-Rotary-Processor-Extended-Warranty/dp/B01CZM21X4/ref=sr_1_10?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1534746807&sr=1-10&keywords=Boss+RT-20

[kmspecialties]

How did you separate the organ voices out to the Lester
Bob

[2112]

To me, this begs the question...in a top-of-the-line keyboard like the Genos, why did I have to do this?

Yamaha engineers couldn't come up with top-notch Leslie simulation programming to put into their flagship arranger that's already on the market with other companies in a freakin' foot pedal for under $200 US retail?!

I know the above question was rhetorical, but I'll answer anyway.

Yamaha is deeply invested historically, emotionally and technically in the FM synthesis (Frequency Modulation).

Even for their flagship MONTAGE synthesizer product it is hard to find good information or demos about additive or subtractive synthesis. Hammond (now competing with Yamaha as Suzuki) is an additive synthesizer. Moog & Prophet are the most historically well known brand names for subtractive synthesis.

Edit: Added links to the relevant Wikipedia explanations for the people interested "Why?"
Just imagine somebody working for Yamaha trying to raise an issue of supporting competitors technology.   

[gerarde]

How did you get the key click with the Electro-Harmonix Lester K?

Regards,
Gerard

[KeyboardByBiggs]

I know the above question was rhetorical, but I'll answer anyway. 

I believe you misunderstood me. I'm talking about the technology in a $200 effect pedal for Leslie simulation, not Hammond organ sound generation. They already include a Leslie rotary effect in the Genos, so the argument about whether or not to have it there is over. The question is, why does it have to suck compared to really inexpensive tech already on the market?

[KeyboardByBiggs]

How did you get the key click with the Electro-Harmonix Lester K?

It was already there. The Lester just brought it out! Now, it's not adjustable or anything, but it was sure a nice surprise!

[2112]

I believe you misunderstood me. I'm talking about the technology in a $200 effect pedal for Leslie simulation, not Hammond organ sound generation. They already include a Leslie rotary effect in the Genos, so the argument about whether or not to have it there is over. The question is, why does it have to suck compared to really inexpensive tech already on the market?

I think I understood you well, just didn't express my thoughts with enough clarity.

Lets rewind about 100 years.

When Hammond came with his tone-wheel concept the organ (air plowing through pipes) purists didn't like the sound. It lacked the delicate flutter that happens in nature when the pipes start to resonate. It was always razor-sharp.

Hammond organ was the first instrument in the history of humanity that was perfectly synchronous. All Hammond organs in the state/country/continent (depending on how the electric grid is set up) produce perfectly aligned waveforms. This was the first instrument that when you try to make an ensemble plying the same melody they didn't add richness and texture, it just sounded louder and less accurately cut.

Leslie speaker was an ingenious workaround for the above problem given the limitations of the technology at that time. It produced exaggerated flutter by literally bouncing the sound of the walls. Hammond players immediately fell in love with it.

Now fast forward back to today.

Who really uses the Leslie effect? Pretty much only Hammond organ players. For nearly everyone else it is "très cool", but too much, a sonic caricature. Only consummate Hammond players enjoy/demand that deep, accurate reproduction of a rotating speaker. Most of listeners don't actually enjoy the incessant "walls are tumbling down" harvey-wallbanger seriousness of the true Leslie speaker. It is OK for few minutes at most.

I understand that you grew up in the household with Hammond organ. Maybe try to find somebody who grew up in a big city with many churches with real pipe organs. Ask him/her which Leslie effect sounds better to them.

I hope this time I expressed myself more clearly.

Incidentally, since this thread has attention of many real Hammond organ players:

Could anyone please give a link to a video or text explaining the actual technique of using the half-moon switch? It is distinctive enough to have its own Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-moon_switch , but I wasn't able to find any performer actually using it. Youtube only has a video on how to install it.

Thanks in advance.