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470 Chapter 26 EVB3
When applying Warmth and Stretch, you should consider that these parameters may
result in a detuned sound, which is similar to the overuse of a chorus effect. Straight
tuning is nice too, so set Warmth to 0 if you’re after a “pure” sound.
Pitch Bender, Brake Effect
The Hammond organ has no pitch bender. As such, use of the pitch bender is not
suitable for realistic simulations, but it does provide a number of creative options.
Pitch up/down bender sensitivity can be set independently, in semitone steps, with the
Pitchbend Up and Pitchbend Down parameters. The maximum sensitivity for upward
bends is one octave.
You can set Pitch Bend Down to Brake, which gradually slows the movement of the tone
wheels down to a total stop, at the pitch bender’s minimum position.
Note: The Pitch Bend Down = Brake setting recreates an effect that is audible at the end
of “Knife Edge” by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Keith Emerson’s virtuoso Hammond work
was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. At the end of the song, you can hear the
tape recorder being gently slowed to a total stop.
Sustain
Synthesizer players call the time the note takes to fade out after the release of the key
the “Release Time”. The EVB3 allows you to control this parameter as well; it’s called
“Sustain” in the organ lexicon. The three controls allow for individual settings in the
Upper (Up), Lower (Low) and Pedal (Ped) registers.
If you select the Smart Mode, playing new notes will cut the sustain (release) phase of
released notes. Normal Mode allows polyphonic sustain phases—all released notes will
continue to sustain. Smart Mode allows long sustain times, even in the bass register,
which would normally cause rumbling dissonances.
Effects
The EVB3 features a three-band equalizer, a reverberation effect, a pedal-controllable
wah wah, and a distortion effect that simulates the sound of an overdriven tube
amplifier. Finally, the signal can be processed by the rotor effect.