Drawbar 9 Cancel

[loudif]

Surprised that Drawbar 9 cancel feature is not in the NE6. Nord is saying it will be added in a later OS update. Not sure how they could have left this out.

[anotherscott]

Nord is saying it will be added in a later OS update.

Where?

[Ledbetter]

Can’t you just push it all the way in when you turn Percussion on?

[loudif]

Of course you can but in the authentic behavior of the Hammond B3, when percussion is on, drawbar 9 is disabled. When drawbar 9 is pulled out, turning off percussion adds those high harmonics to the sound. This is a technique long used by jazz B3 players. This behavior was emulated correctly in all Electros (at least electro 3 through 5). There is a menu option that allows the turning on or off of this feature in those older Electro. But Nord did not include the feature in the latest NE6. I just find it peculiar, not debilitating. I submitted this to Nord and their response was that it will be added in a later OS update.

[23skidoo]

I'm pretty sure that the Electro 6/Stage 3 are running a very different OS than the previous Nords and that all features that behave similarly were re-programmed (possibly from scratch again) on the new OS. This explains a lot about why certain small behaviours are missing from the new instruments and why certain new features were not backported to older hardware, like the dyno filters. I have no data/facts on this, but as a software developer the signs are pretty clear that they used a different codebase that did not start from the same point in many places. My suspicion is that this split happened quite a while ago - maybe even in the Electro 3 or 4 era, as they started developing/prototyping for the OLEDs and maybe some newer DSP chips, and that due to limited resources and the complexities of different architectures they were not able to match the features perfectly throughout the parallel development of the newer products, so they're playing catch-up with a few of these "edge cases". Yes, I know one person's edge case is another's bread and butter workflow, but as we've seen with Version 2.00 of the Stage 3, Nord is really putting a lot of effort into their software for the newer machines right now and I think it's reasonable to give them a little more time to polish the Electro 6 with these niceties. I'm still stunned by what they pull off with such a small team of people.

[Rusty Mike]

This feature is pretty much the only thing holding me off from upgrading my Electro 4D to a 6. Traditional jazz organ technique relies on this feature a lot, and to not have it is significant. I would like to add a 73-key SW to my arsenal, and the split capability of the E6 would be nice to have for rehearsals, pick up gigs and simple duo work. But since I use the 4D mostly for organ, the lack of the drawbar cancel feature would change my playing.

For what it's worth, my Stage 2EX does not have this ability. I do not know if it was ever in the Stage code, or even if the Stage 3 supports it.

[23skidoo]

Given that they'll add it in an update, I think it's a safe bet to go ahead and pick up the 6 if you're eyeing it.

I confirm the Stage 3 does NOT have drawbar 9 cancel (at least, not anywhere I could find the option in a menu, and it does not cancel the drawbar when percussion is on). However, looking at how similar the OSes are between the Electro 6 and the Stage 3, it would not be unreasonable to wonder if they'll add it to the Stage 3 shortly after bringing it to the Electro 6.

Edit: Also you can control the 4 from the 6 or a stage 3's external section and get the benefits of the splits along with your drawbar 9 cancel feature right now, too.

[Rusty Mike]

I take the E4D out of the house under only 2 circumstances:
1. as an upper tier to my Stage 2EX for organ on the rare occasion I play a 2 keys rig. And I use it pretty much only for organ, and it's only 1 or 2 times per year.
2. (more common) for small jazz gigs, jam sessions or rehearsals when I want to travel light and simple. Then it's mostly organ and EP sounds.

Anyway, didn't mean to derail this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing them update the E6 with this feature.

[loudif]

Just installed ver. 2.0 on my Electro 6. Love the enhanced EPs, great update. However, Hammond B3 purists will be disappointed that the new update does not include the drawbar 9 cancel feature.

[kbmatson]

I have to LOL! As a long time Hammond player - back to the 70s ... i was always IRRITATED that percussion knocked out my drawbar! Authentic or not - its a sucky behavior and a WEAKNESS of a real Hammond. I'm glad my Nord doesn't, and if they do "add that feature" - i hope it's optional. if you need it - i'm with those that say ... "push it in" !!