User Guide

PC2 Made Easy
49
17. Program Editing – KB3 Programs
Countless blues, jazz, and rock recordings have centered around the distinctive sound
created by classic tone wheel organs (such as the Hammond B-3) played through
rotating speaker systems like the Leslie. Not only is the sound great, but itÕs supremely
versatile, since the player can control timbre in real-time by adjusting drawbars that add
or remove harmonics from the fundamental tone. Other cool sound-shaping tools include
a percussive emphasis that can be added to each note and the capability to change
speaker rotation speed. Many people, in fact, feel that the tone wheel organ was the first
popular synthesizer. And although these organs havenÕt been made for years, they are
still sought after, restored, and lugged about by legions of dedicated keyboard players.
This despite archaic electronics, inscrutable wiring, and an unwieldy heft that tops 400
pounds. Duplicating the sound and flexibility of these organs Ð without the nasty side
effects Ð is the goal of KB3 Mode.
In creating KB3 Mode, weÕve done extensive testing, measurement, and analysis on
several tone wheel organs. From there weÕve done our own physical modeling to emulate
these organs, taking into account even such esoteric matters as the way older organs
sound different (and arguably better) as their capacitors begin to leak. (Of course we let
you decide if you want your PC2 to sound like an old or new organ.)
WeÕve also recruited the best organ players we could find to try out these programs, and
have used their feedback to make sure that all of KB3 ModeÕs real-time controls are as
convenient as they were on the organs of yore. To make it all work, weÕve created a new
type of program Ð the KB3 program Ð that is built around a totally new model.
In a nutshell, KB3 programs use 80 oscillators simultaneously (79 for the tone wheel and
1 for the key click), each oscillator having its own pitch and amplitude. KB3 Mode
provides two oscillators per voice, so it uses 40 voices of the available 64 voices.
Furthermore, all voices start up Ð albeit silently Ð when you select a KB3 Mode program.
In a regular PC2 program, on the other hand, voices only start when you play a note.
What this means is that in a KB3 program, you can actually put your fingers (and hands
and arms) on all the keys on the keyboard and hear all the notes being played, just like
on a real organ.
It is important to understand that while a KB3 program is called up on the KB3 channel
(which by default is channel 1), a specific number of voices are being used, whether or
not you are playing any keys. So if you create Setups which use a KB3 program and
then add regular programs for other zones, the polyphony to play those other programs
is limited to 24. Of course, if you have added the polyphony expansion option, then you
have an additional 64 voices available.
Although all the KB3 program editing parameters are accessed from the same three
menus as a regular program, the parameters are quite different.
1. Press the KB3 button and call up Program 000 All Out. Next press the Timbre button.
The first two parameters in this menu are Wheel Volume Map and Organ Map. The
determine the volume level of the tone wheels and the relative amplitude of each key, per
drawbar. Different B3 organs have different levels, and we have measured several
different organs and given you some choices based on those measurements. You might
want to try playing around with these two parameters, changing the values and playing