Tuesday 12 April 2011

Back from Frankfurt and the New Hammond SK1 and Hammond SK2 Stage Keyboards


stage
DEMO BOOTH...... MY STAGE AT THE SHOW SK-1 FOREGROUND SK-2 REAR

Well I am now back from Frankfurt after an amazingly successful launch of the new SK1 and SK2 Stage Keyboards.

Day 1 was fantastic and Jon Lord did a great job of officially launching the SK's
Then it was up to moi ! (-:

The demo room was fantastic (pictured above) and was pretty much full for every show.

The new SK-1 and SK-2 keyboards are incredible.
In live performance the ease at which you can select voices layer them or split and zone them on the fly is fantastic.

The sound quality of the VASE III digital tonewheel generator as we all know is awesome and the same as on the new B-3 so you know it will deliver that authentic Hammond sound and feel.

The extra Vintage Keys Voices are equally impressive and I soon found myself creating patches and layers that took the Hammond Player to another dimension without the need of extra MIDI outboard gear.

Everything from 60's Organ BLUES ( it has a great PR40 cab simulator) to FUNK, SLUSHY POP, ROCK PRODUCTION NUMBERS, CLASSICAL PIPE ORGAN PIECES, and HARD HITTING FUNKY CLAV and Hammond Layers were handled with ease. It has a duel effects processor so you can for instance put a flanger on a Clavinet or E. Piano sample and then add a wah wah to the organ sounds. very cool.

I got bored of telling people that we did not have a Leslie hidden somewhere and it was the internal Leslie simulator going through the demo booth straight PA.

The PA by the way was OUTSTANDINGLY AWESOME. We used the HK AUDIO ELEMENTS SYSTEM which was amazing. Thanks to all at HK for installing and setting this rig up for me.
I will write more about this PA system in another BLOG for those who are interested.

Many thanks to all the kind comments I received at the show and in my In-Box when I arrived home. I met many old friends last week and made a good few new ones.

As with all live recordings, the little video we have on the front page of
Hammond Organ UK is less than good quality audio but it is not too bad but not ideal.
I will be going in to the studio pretty soon to do a 'proper professionally recorded ' demo of this instrument

You really have to see and hear this for yourself to understand how good it really is.

We were a little unsure about releasing any kind of demo material from the show for the following reasons.....

Some of the comments made on social networking sites etc not just about Hammond but many other instruments really make me laugh ... as most of the time they have not got a clue what they are talking about and waffle on about how they have B's and C's pianos, trumpets, guitars whatever ! blah .. blah .. blah and this doesn't sound as good.

Well excuse me but in our case amongst many ... we are talking about a 7 KG keyboard here which costs less than £1500.00 and if it is good enough for the likes of Jon Lord and many other pros who have ordered one that make a living from playing and performing ... er .. sorry but I am not interested in your narrow minded views. Anyway what kind of speakers etc are you listening on ?? and was it recoded on a mates mobile ?? mr grumpy !!!

Sorry ... had to get that off my chest and as I said this is not trying to protect anything that is Hammond related ...it is about all recordings of live gigs as well as product demos.

These sites are great .... and a offer a huge amount of entertainment and information and I love em. Just the odd person winds you up now and then through lack of knowledge ..

So I urge you when you get chance to listen to it and try it in the flesh no matter what it is .. HAMMOND .. GUITAR .. DRUMS .. BANDS .. GIGS ETC ... and do not rely on internet video to give you a true representation of the instrument .. person or band etc ... But .. you already knew that didn't you ?

There was a nice email in particular from Michel Devos who is a very experienced and respected recording engineer who has huge experience in recording Hammond Organs with the likes of Rhoda Scott, Dirk van der Linden to mention a few.. and I quote:

Subject: your demo at the Musik Messe yesterday

Message: Hi Malc,


Just a few lines to tell you how much I was impressed by your performance, your thorough knowledge of the Hammond and the music in which it shines at his best. Your demo completely convinced me that the new SK is a winner : a perfect combination of the vintage B3 sound and a really nice synth side for other musical genres. In every aspect, the sound is excellent, I expect it will be even better when fed to 3300's. I am myself a recording engineer having worked extensively with Rhoda Scott and Dirk va der Linden, meaning I have a reasonable knowledge of what a Hammond should do...Congratulations to the SK AND you, the winning team.

Kind regards



Michel Devos
Brussels

Thats about it for now.
More on the SK1 and SK2 soon and how it all works.
Few pics from the show below.
Cheers .. Malc


crowd
LAUNCH SHOW .. WORLD PREMIER OF THE SK-1 AND SK-2 STAGE KEYBOARDS

jon
JON LORD TALKS ABOUT THE NEW HAMMOND ORGANS AND HOW HE LOVES THEM

sk2
MY SK-2 READY FOR THE SHOW
THE MACBOOK WAS ONLY USED FOR VIDEO / PRODUCT SLIDES ETC ON THE SCREEN

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