Hammond XK-7D drawbar keyboard

General

Oh oh oh, there goes another hammer smashing your piggy bank into pieces. But yes; what has to be, has to be. At least this Hammond XK-7D is worth the piglet, because it really is a very fine piece of equipment. No broken back from lugging it around, because it doesn't have the weight of a B-3 at all, but it is definitely a hefty machine that sounds just like that B-3. There are two manuals with 73 keys each, and that has something. Nice and spacious playing, a bit less need to consider the edges of the range in your playing. Also easier to play by the way, the keys are a bit longer, but this extra piece is under the hood, which also makes playing lighter and feels much more like Laurens Hammond intended in 1934.

Features of the Hammond XK-7D

So the sound is all Hammond again, and therefore portable. Ideal for bands, and there are plenty of them, in the prog corner, and think of the worshipping genres too. The sound may be that of the B-3, but you won't find tone wheels, instead Hammond applies physical modelling: VEM (Virtual Electro-Mechanical). Besides this tone generator, Hammond also briefly imitates the familiar AO-28/AO-29 pre-amps, again modelling. There are other organ sounds too: Farfisa, Vox, Ace-Tone, a pipe organ and even a theatre organ. A theatre organ is one of those huge giants with three or four manuals, and switches arranged in the shape of a horseshoe. Coming back to the B-3, we can't leave out the simulated crosstalk/leakage either, and the tick at a keystroke. All done to perfection, complete with nice effects, and even a Leslie connector. So it's another investment, and the whole family of piggybanks may have to make it, but the XK-7D is worth it, every snout and curly tail!