Clonewheel organ
Encyclopedia
"Clonewheel organ" is a jargon term used to refer to an electronic musical instrument
that emulates (or "clones") the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond
. The first generation of clonewheel organs used synthesizer voices, which were not able to accurately reproduce the Hammond sound. In the 1990s and 2000s, clonewheel organs began using sampling or digital signal processing techniques, which were much better able to capture the nuances of the vintage Hammond sound.
Clonewheel organs can be either keyboard-based instruments such as the Korg CX-3 or the Roland VK-7
; or keyboardless emulation devices, which include MIDI modules, such as the E-MU B-3 module and software-based "virtual synths" (such as the B4 by Native Instruments). To use keyboardless emulation devices, they need to be connected to a MIDI-enabled keyboard.
The Hammond organ is an electromechanical organ
which was designed and built by Laurens Hammond
in 1934. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the pipe organ
, it came to be used for jazz
, blues
, and then to a greater extent in rock music
(in the 1960s and 1970s) and gospel music
.
The original Hammond organ imitated the function of a pipe organ
's ranks of pipes in multiple registers by using additive synthesis
of waveform
s from harmonic series
to generate its sounds. The Hammond organ's individual waveforms were made by mechanical tonewheel
s which rotated beneath electromagnetic pickups. The component waveforms can be mixed in varying ratios by using drawbars mounted above the two keyboards. Hammond organs also have a harmonic percussion effect, in which the 2nd and 3rd harmonic tones can be added to the attack envelope of a note.
Hammond organs have a distinctive percussive key click, which is the attack transient that occurs when all nine key contacts close, causing an audible pop or click. Originally, key click was considered to be a design defect and Hammond worked to eliminate or at least reduce it by using equalization filters. However, some performers liked the percussive effect, and it has become part of the classic sound that modern imitators of the Hammond organ have tried to reproduce.
The classic way of amplifying the sound of a Hammond organ is to use a rotating speaker known as a Leslie speaker
or cabinet.
Some early emulation devices from the 1970s were criticized for their unrealistic imitation of the Hammond sound, particularly in the way the upper harmonics were voiced, and in the simulation of the rotary Leslie speaker effect. Refinements to Hammond emulations eventually led to the development of relatively light electronic keyboard instruments such as the KORG BX-3/CX-3 (1980), and the Roland VK-1 (1980), which produced a fairly realistic re-creation of the Hammond tone. While these instruments were widely used to replace the bulky Hammonds for band tours and club dates, jazz and blues keyboardists still tended to use a vintage Hammond for recordings, because the first clonewheel organs could not reproduce the tonal nuances of the old wooden Hammonds.
By the 1990s and 2000s digital signal processing
and sampling
technologies allowed for better imitation of the original Hammond sound, and a variety of electronic organs, emulator devices, and synthesizers provided an accurate reproduction of the Hammond tone, such as the Kurzweil K2600 and Clavia Nord Electro keyboard. Hammond Suzuki USA
currently markets numerous home, church, and professional models that digitally reproduce the sound of vintage Hammond tonewheel organs. Some sophisticated emulation devices have algorithms that recreate some of the characteristics of the vintage Hammonds, such as the "crosstalk" or "leakage" between the tonewheels, and digital simulations of the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet's sound.
Currently, there are numerous B-3 "clones" on the market, which range from full-size, dual keyboard behemoths with real Leslie cabinets from Hammond Suzuki (which can cost over $10,000 US), to inexpensive Casio
WK series home keyboards that have a digitally-recreated "tonewheel organ" function (which are available for less than $400 US). In between are numerous keyboard-based models from Hammond, Korg, Roland, Clavia (Nord Series), rackmounted modules, and software-based "virtual synths" (such as the B4 by Native Instruments) which provide simulations of the B-3 sound. There is even a model by the Pari.E company which uses a modern version of the classic Hammond tonewheels--not a digital simulation. Some sophisticated emulation devices have algorithms that recreate many of the nuances of the vintage Hammonds, such as the "crosstalk" or "leakage" between the tonewheels, the sound of dirty key contacts, key click, and a growling tube amplifier, and by digitally simulating the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet's sound.
The use of Hammond clones and the merits of using clones versus the vintage electromechanical Hammond is the subject of lively debate amongst musicians. The argument that digital simulations cannot recreate the complex interplay of variables that create the "Hammond sound" (tonewheel leakage, Leslie speaker rotation, etc.) is supported by a review of clones in Keyboard Magazine. The article, entitled "Clonewheel Heaven", reviewed electronic simulations of the traditional Hammond sound, and claimed that some aspects of the vintage electromechanical Hammonds' sound are not accurately reproduced by clones and emulation devices http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/clonewheel-heaven/nov-04/1938. Nevertheless, the increasing use of clonewheel organs on recordings by jazz and blues organ solo players is testimony to their sound and tone quality; it is also worth noting the wide variety of tonal variations that exist even among genuine vintage tonewheel Hammond organs. Owing to any number of causes - not least of which are the age of its components and the amount of use a tonewheel organ has had - variations in volume levels between tonewheels, varying levels of key click, and other tonal differences are more common than not.
Despite the widespread availability of relatively lower-cost, reliable digital "clones" and emulation devices, and the near-universal use of "clones" for band tours and club gigs, jazz, blues and gospel keyboardists still have a strong interest in using vintage Hammond organs for studio recordings. Even if a clone is able to perfectly copy the vintage electromechanical Hammond sound — several companies such as Clavia and Hammond Suzuki are already making this claim — performers will probably still have an affection for the look, feel, and quasi-"mystical" sense of musical heritage embodied in the heavy, wooden, vintage instruments.
Italian drawbar organs:
etc.
Others:
Softwares
Controllers
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
that emulates (or "clones") the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. The first generation of clonewheel organs used synthesizer voices, which were not able to accurately reproduce the Hammond sound. In the 1990s and 2000s, clonewheel organs began using sampling or digital signal processing techniques, which were much better able to capture the nuances of the vintage Hammond sound.
Clonewheel organs can be either keyboard-based instruments such as the Korg CX-3 or the Roland VK-7
Roland VK-7
The Roland VK-7 is an electronic keyboard introduced in 1997 which simulates the sound of an electromechanical Hammond organ. Like other electronic musical instruments that emulate the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond, the VK-7 is referred to...
; or keyboardless emulation devices, which include MIDI modules, such as the E-MU B-3 module and software-based "virtual synths" (such as the B4 by Native Instruments). To use keyboardless emulation devices, they need to be connected to a MIDI-enabled keyboard.
Original electromechanical Hammond
The Hammond organ is an electromechanical organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
which was designed and built by Laurens Hammond
Laurens Hammond
Laurens Hammond , was an American engineer and inventor. His inventions include, most famously, the Hammond organ, the Hammond Clock, and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord.- Youth :...
in 1934. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, it came to be used for jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and then to a greater extent in rock music
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
(in the 1960s and 1970s) and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
.
The original Hammond organ imitated the function of a pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
's ranks of pipes in multiple registers by using additive synthesis
Additive synthesis
Additive synthesis is a technique of sound synthesis that creates musical timbre by explicitly adding sinusoidal overtones together.The timbre of an instrument is composed of multiple harmonic or inharmonic partials , of different frequencies and amplitudes, that change over time...
of waveform
Waveform
Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a physical medium or an abstract representation.In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph...
s from harmonic series
Harmonic series (music)
Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...
to generate its sounds. The Hammond organ's individual waveforms were made by mechanical tonewheel
Tonewheel
A tonewheel is a simple electromechanical apparatus for generating electronic musical notes. The tonewheel assembly consists of a synchronous AC motor and an associated gearbox that drives a series of rotating disks...
s which rotated beneath electromagnetic pickups. The component waveforms can be mixed in varying ratios by using drawbars mounted above the two keyboards. Hammond organs also have a harmonic percussion effect, in which the 2nd and 3rd harmonic tones can be added to the attack envelope of a note.
Hammond organs have a distinctive percussive key click, which is the attack transient that occurs when all nine key contacts close, causing an audible pop or click. Originally, key click was considered to be a design defect and Hammond worked to eliminate or at least reduce it by using equalization filters. However, some performers liked the percussive effect, and it has become part of the classic sound that modern imitators of the Hammond organ have tried to reproduce.
The classic way of amplifying the sound of a Hammond organ is to use a rotating speaker known as a Leslie speaker
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ but is used with a variety of instruments as well as vocals. The...
or cabinet.
First "clones"
Transporting the heavy Hammond organ, bass pedalboard (a B-3 organ, bench and pedalboard weighs 425 pounds/193kg) and Leslie speaker cabinets to performance venues makes it cumbersome for artists to tour with a vintage electromechanical organ. As well, the Hammond, as with all vintage electromechanical instruments, faces the risk of technical problems with the tonewheels or electric motor, which may be difficult to resolve in a touring situation. As such, there was a strong demand amongst musicians for way of recreating the Hammond sound in a more portable, reliable fashion.Some early emulation devices from the 1970s were criticized for their unrealistic imitation of the Hammond sound, particularly in the way the upper harmonics were voiced, and in the simulation of the rotary Leslie speaker effect. Refinements to Hammond emulations eventually led to the development of relatively light electronic keyboard instruments such as the KORG BX-3/CX-3 (1980), and the Roland VK-1 (1980), which produced a fairly realistic re-creation of the Hammond tone. While these instruments were widely used to replace the bulky Hammonds for band tours and club dates, jazz and blues keyboardists still tended to use a vintage Hammond for recordings, because the first clonewheel organs could not reproduce the tonal nuances of the old wooden Hammonds.
1990s and 2000s
Digital signal processing
Digital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
and sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
technologies allowed for better imitation of the original Hammond sound, and a variety of electronic organs, emulator devices, and synthesizers provided an accurate reproduction of the Hammond tone, such as the Kurzweil K2600 and Clavia Nord Electro keyboard. Hammond Suzuki USA
Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation
is a Japanese company that produces a range of musical instruments.-History:Suzuki was founded in 1953, as a harmonica manufacturer.Suzuki's western U.S...
currently markets numerous home, church, and professional models that digitally reproduce the sound of vintage Hammond tonewheel organs. Some sophisticated emulation devices have algorithms that recreate some of the characteristics of the vintage Hammonds, such as the "crosstalk" or "leakage" between the tonewheels, and digital simulations of the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet's sound.
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
WK series home keyboards that have a digitally-recreated "tonewheel organ" function (which are available for less than $400 US). In between are numerous keyboard-based models from Hammond, Korg, Roland, Clavia (Nord Series), rackmounted modules, and software-based "virtual synths" (such as the B4 by Native Instruments) which provide simulations of the B-3 sound. There is even a model by the Pari.E company which uses a modern version of the classic Hammond tonewheels--not a digital simulation. Some sophisticated emulation devices have algorithms that recreate many of the nuances of the vintage Hammonds, such as the "crosstalk" or "leakage" between the tonewheels, the sound of dirty key contacts, key click, and a growling tube amplifier, and by digitally simulating the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet's sound.
The use of Hammond clones and the merits of using clones versus the vintage electromechanical Hammond is the subject of lively debate amongst musicians. The argument that digital simulations cannot recreate the complex interplay of variables that create the "Hammond sound" (tonewheel leakage, Leslie speaker rotation, etc.) is supported by a review of clones in Keyboard Magazine. The article, entitled "Clonewheel Heaven", reviewed electronic simulations of the traditional Hammond sound, and claimed that some aspects of the vintage electromechanical Hammonds' sound are not accurately reproduced by clones and emulation devices http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/clonewheel-heaven/nov-04/1938. Nevertheless, the increasing use of clonewheel organs on recordings by jazz and blues organ solo players is testimony to their sound and tone quality; it is also worth noting the wide variety of tonal variations that exist even among genuine vintage tonewheel Hammond organs. Owing to any number of causes - not least of which are the age of its components and the amount of use a tonewheel organ has had - variations in volume levels between tonewheels, varying levels of key click, and other tonal differences are more common than not.
Despite the widespread availability of relatively lower-cost, reliable digital "clones" and emulation devices, and the near-universal use of "clones" for band tours and club gigs, jazz, blues and gospel keyboardists still have a strong interest in using vintage Hammond organs for studio recordings. Even if a clone is able to perfectly copy the vintage electromechanical Hammond sound — several companies such as Clavia and Hammond Suzuki are already making this claim — performers will probably still have an affection for the look, feel, and quasi-"mystical" sense of musical heritage embodied in the heavy, wooden, vintage instruments.
Pre-clonewheel organs
Hammond and related models:- Ace ToneAce ToneAce Electronic Industries Inc., or Ace Tone was a manufacturer of musical instruments, including electronic organs and analogue drum machines, and effects pedals. Founded in 1960 by Ikutaro Kakehashi with an investment by Sakata Shokai, Ace Tone can be considered an early incarnation of the Roland...
GT-5, GT-7 (1971, predecessor of Hammond/Sakata models) - HammondHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
(manufactured by Sakata) X-5, X-2 (1978) , B-200 - RolandRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
VK-9, VK-6, VK-09 (ca.1978, spin off from Ace Tone)
Italian drawbar organs:
- FarfisaFarfisaFarfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...
Professional, Professional Duo (early '70s) VIP series ('70s), Professional 88 and 110 (1977/78),-
- and console models "Maharani" and "Pergamon"
-
- ELKAElkaELKA or Elka may refer to one of the following:*An Italian Synthesizer manufacturer, now defunct. Notable units include; ELKA Synthex, ELKA Rhapsody, ELKA X-55, and the ELKA MKxx series of MIDI controllers . Notable customers include Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and, Supertramp...
X50, X55 and X705 - CrumarCrumarCrumar is an Italian company which manufactured synthesizers and keyboards in the 60's, 70s and 80s. Its name is taken from that of its founder, Mario Crucianelli...
Haven, Organizer, Organizer2, Organizer T1, T2, Tokata, portable models from 1976-1980,-
- and consoles 203, 204, 205, 2002, 2003
-
- SOLTON Organ Legend, B1000
etc.
Early clonewheel organs
- HammondHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
B-3000 (1976/1978, utilizing LSI for multiplexing, etc.) - KorgKorgis a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners...
CX-3, BX-3 (1980, analog) - RolandRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
VK-1 (1980, analog) - HammondHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
(manufactured by Suzuki) Super-B (1986, a first all-digitally sampled organ from Hammond)
Major clonewheel organs
- ClaviaClaviaClavia Digital Musical Instruments is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson.-The Company:...
Nord StageClavia Nord StageThe Nord Stage is a digital keyboard or stage piano manufactured by Clavia Digital Music Instruments of Stockholm, Sweden.The Nord Stage builds on the success of the Nord Electro 2, whose accurate emulations of vintage electromechanical keyboard sounds made it very popular...
, Nord Electro 2Clavia Nord Electro 2Clavia Nord Electro 2 is an electronic keyboard developed in Sweden, by Clavia.Like its predecessor, the Clavia Nord Electro, consists of carefully sampled and modelled electro-mechanical keyboards: Electric Pianos and Wurlitzer electric pianos, and Hohner Clavinet are sampled...
, Nord Electro 3, Nord C1 Combo Organ and the new Nord C2 Combo Organ - Hammond SuzukiSuzuki Musical Instrument Corporationis a Japanese company that produces a range of musical instruments.-History:Suzuki was founded in 1953, as a harmonica manufacturer.Suzuki's western U.S...
XB-1, XB-2 (1991), XB-5 (1993), XB-3 (1994), XC-3 (1995),-
-
- XM-1/XMc-1 (1997, module), XM-2/XMc-2 (2006, module),
- XK-2 (1999), XK-3/XLK-3 (2004), XK-1 (2006), and the new XK-3c (2008)
- and console models New B-3 (2002), New B-3 mk2, and XH-272 Elegante.
-
-
- KorgKorgis a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners...
New CX-3 and New BX-3 (2000) - KurzweilKurzweil Music SystemsKurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded in 1982 by Raymond Kurzweil, a developer of reading machines for the blind, the company made use of many of the technologies originally designed for reading machines and...
K2500, K2600, PC2, PC2X, PC3, PC3X (KB3 mode, modeled tone wheel) - RolandRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
Rhodes VK-1000, Roland VK-7, VK-77, VK-8 , VK-8m, VK-88, and VR-760 (V-Combo)
Others:
- Böhm Emporio
- CasioCasiois a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
CTK-691/900/7000/etc, WK-3000/3200/3300/3700/3800/etc - providing digital drawbar organ function. - CreamwareCreamware (software company)Creamware Audio GmbH was a manufacturer of DSP-based sound cards and synthesizers. These cards are used to create synthesized sounds for audio production in music and other audio environments. The company was founded in 1992 and operated until 2006...
B4000 (Tonewheel synthesizer) - Diversi Musical Instruments DV-Solo, DV-Duo, DV-Duo Plus
- E-MUE-mu SystemsE-mu Systems, Inc. is a synthesizer maker and pioneer in samplers and low-cost digital sampling music workstations.-History:Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers...
B-3 module - KeyB/DLQ KeyB Duo, KeyB Solo, KeyB Expander
- OberheimOberheimOberheim Electronics is an American company, founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim , which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments.-Oberheim Electronics:...
OB-3, OB-32 (Oh-Bee-Three-Squared, module) and OB-5 - RolandRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
Atelier AT-900, AT-900c, AT-800 - TokaiTokai Gakki, often referred as Tokai Guitars Company Ltd., is a Japanese guitar manufacturer founded in 1947 and situated in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka prefecture. Tokai have produced acoustic guitars, electric guitars, electric basses, autoharps, and melodicas...
TX-5 - Vermona Formation 1, 2, 3 and 3M
- ViscountViscount (musical instrument manufacturer)Viscount International SpA is a musical instrument manufacturer based in Mondaino, Italy. The brand Viscount was registered in 1969 by Marcello Galanti, but the company was established in the late 19th century by his forefather Antonio Galanti. After 1969 Viscount’s primary focus has been on...
DB-3, DB-5 - Voce microB-II V3,V5, V5+ and Key5
- WersiWersiWersi is a German manufacturer of electronic organs, keyboards and pianos. They were used by organists such as Franz Lambert and the late Klaus Wunderlich....
Louvre, Scala, Verona, Giga Piano - a German company. - Studiologic Numa Organ
Softwares
- There are also software emulations available:
- Native InstrumentsNative InstrumentsNative Instruments is a technology company that develops software and hardware for music production and DJing. The company has originally been identified mostly with software instruments, but has also expanded to various other music equipment segments in recent years.Current products of Native...
B4, B4 IIB4 Organ IIThe B4 Organ II is a discontinued commercial, proprietary software synthesizer made by Native Instruments. The software runs as a stand-alone executable, or as a VST, DXi, or RTAS plugin in a Digital audio workstation... - GSi VB3 (shareware, VSTVirtual Studio TechnologySteinberg's Virtual Studio Technology is an interface for integrating software audio synthesizer and effect plugins with audio editors and hard-disk recording systems. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware with software...
plugin)
- Native Instruments
Controllers
- BG's Musical Instruments HAMICHORD M-C3
Tonewheel clone organs
- PARI.E K-61 - an Italian-made B-3 clone which uses an actual electromagnetic tonewheel generator, albeit of modern plastic construction.