Looking for a basic set of Hammond organ sounds

[parencibia]

Hello all!

I am an owner of a Nord Piano 2. I use piano sounds 95% of the time and that's why I chose this instrument. However, occasionally I need other sounds to play with bands of different musical styles and I thought the synth section of my NP2 would do the work.

At this point, I need to have some basic Hammond organ sounds in order to play with rock and jazz bands. I am completely inexperienced regarding organs, so I don't even know how to define exaclty what sounds I need from the infinite variety of combinations that are possible to obtain from Hammond instruments. This is where I am looking for your help so that I can find a few samples (2 or 3 would be enough for me) to have a basic set of organ sounds whenever I need them.

I assume that in the sound library you have created there should be something already that would work for me but I am not sure how to find it.

I would appreciate any help. Thank you in advance,

Pablo

[parencibia]

Maybe a place to start would be to decide which songs have the kind of combinations you are after, then refer to the excel file found here to find out what those combinations might be.

Once you know what you're looking for, you might want to try looking for samples of those sound registrations or request them from here however there are no guarantees as to how useable they actually will be. Don't forget this approach won't allow you to 'play' the sound in the way you might when sat at a Hammond (varying rotor speed, drive, percussion, vibrato, drawbars etc as you go).

You could invest in a Leslie simulator and just use 'dry' samples, this would give you an element of control over dynamics.

[parencibia]

Thank you Darren for pointing me into the right direction!

I have checked out the link you shared. I didn't find a list of songs, however in the Excel file I found a link to a website (www.jazzitalia.net) with a list of some presets and some little show files so I could hear the sounds. This was very helpful. I have isolated three presets that I think would probably work for me as a basic set. Now I am not sure where I can find the actual Nord files to load into my keyboard or where I can find some WAV samples so that I can load them through the Nord Sample Editor. Do you have any suggestions on how to move forward?

The presets I found interesting for me are listed in the website like this:

PRESET 1 ()
888000000 percussion 3rd - vibrato C3 - Leslie SLOW
The typical preset for jazz and blues...

PRESET 4 ()
808808008 no percussion - vibrato off - Leslie STOP/FAST
Classic "gospel" preset. Very treblish - be careful with the last drawbar

My personal note: it would be great to have this last sound also with less vibrato/tremolo to use it for discrete comping.

PRESET 6 ()
888805000 percussion 2nd volume normal - vibrato C3 - Leslie STOP
I personally saw this drawbar setting on a Hammond organ Brian Auger used. He didn't use a Leslie,because he'd rather use guitar or bass amplifier to have a more "direct" sound, but this preset also sounds great if you use a Leslie which is set on the STOP position.


I thought these sounds would work out for me, but I am sure if there is another set of 2 or 3 basic sounds it would also work. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Pablo

[thekiller01]

As suggested by another Forum contributor, I gave sc-sounds a try yesterday.

You simply go to their website, also log on to Facebook and 'Like' sc-sounds.

You then get an email from sc-sounds with a registration code.

Enter this in their website, and there are loads of free sounds to download - including some fairly useful organ samples.

Sounds complicated, but it was very straightforward for me - and I never use Facebook (even though I have an account). I didn't even know what it meant to 'Like' someone, but - as soon found out - you just click on the 'thumbs up' Like icon.

But of course, you do need to have a Facebook account in the first place, if you want the free downloads.

Give it a try - worked for me.

[parencibia]

Thank you! I have liked SC Sounds FaceBook page. I haven't received anything yet, but I assume this may take a while. I will definitively give this option a try (as long as I receive the access code, of course.

Anyway, it seems I was getting somewhere with Darren's suggestions, so if Darren can guide me on the next step in that area, that would also be great.

Thank you all for your help so far!

[thekiller01]

Worth checking on Facebook that you have actually 'Liked' them. I had to try a couple of times, but once I did it, email came through quite quickly.

Just hope now that the samples are compatible with your instrument, but they seem to cover a few Nord keyboards.

Good luck.

[thekiller01]

If I remember correctly, the first 'like' icon I tried didn't do the trick, and I had to click on a 'thumbs up' with a number alongside.

But keep checking on Facebook that you have actually 'liked' them. As I said, all a bit foreign to me, but if I can do it, I'm sure you'll get there.

No catches or anything, just a bit tricky to start. Loads of free samples, once you're in.

[parencibia]

For another Nord Wave user I sampled my NS 2 B3 sound with all drawbars open, so you could probably use the EQ to make the sound useful. Here is the link to the sample:

http://www.norduserforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2537

-dj

[parencibia]

Thank you DJKeys!

I loaded your sound into my NP2 and at least now I have something to start with! When you say that I could use EQ to make the sound useful, you mean that I should do the reverse process to what you did, meaning that I generate WAV files, edit them with the EQ to remove harmonics and then regenerate the Nord file, right? Otherwise I would cut more harmonics from the upper registers than for the low ones.

I don't mind investing the time in doing it but with my limited knowledge of Hammond sounds, my fear is that I could come up with a sound that I think is good but when I go and play with a band, it may not be really useful.

Anyway, for the moment, at least now I have one Hammond sound in my NP2 to start with!!! I will keep waiting for the SC-Sounds guys (I sent them a message to see if they can help) and I'll check out for Darren's suggestions on how to move forward with the process he proposed. I hope some of this will work out.

Thanks a lot DJKeys! Your sound is the first Hammond to inhabit my NP2

[parencibia]

Hi,

My pleasure,

What I meant is that you could just tailor the sound making it darker, thicker, thinner, using the onboard EQ and then save the programs as presets so that you could have a couple of B3 sounds that could be used effectively in different contexts. The nice thing about the Nord keyboards is that you could play with the band and tailor the sound while playing and then save it in real time. Then you will know it fits with the band.

Good luck-

-dj