9 contacts
Viscount has recently patented a physical system that reproduces the famous and iconic organ invented by Laurens Hammond. In this case, a series of “Tonewheels’ generate as many notes, which are connected to each key on the keyboard by controls known as ‘drawbars’. To be precise, 9 tonewheels are connected to each key via 9 drawbars that individually adjust the intensity.
The Hammond organ was invented in the 1930s and its inventor, engineer Laurens Hammond, created a complicated mechanism consisting of 9 switches to ‘switch on’ the 9 wheels connected to each key. The mechanism was supposed to allow the 9 wheels to provide their signal all at the same time, but this was not possible and in fact the 9 wheels turn on in a succession determined by the same construction mechanics, although within a very short space of time. In normal use, it is not easy to distinguish the time sequence of ignition, but like all the faults of real instruments, this characteristic has become a hallmark of this instrument. Again, being able to emulate this behaviour adds realism to the electronic simulation.
The final result, applied to a digital waterfall organ keyboard, comes very close to the original mechanical organ, when compared to all the clones on the market. The System has been developed and approved by the main organists of the last decades as Joey DeFrancesco and Pat Bianchi but also by the today talented organists as Delvon Lamar, Matthew Whitaker and many others.
