Half Moon Switch

[decross]

Just wondering if the half moon switch is any different than using the rotary switch on the keyboard? They both have stop, slow, fast settings.The half moon switch is pretty pricey and don't want to buy it if the differences are small. Nord should have included this on the original design.

Thanks

[Schorsch]

No difference in function, just a different way to operate it.

[FZiegler]

I have it on my NS3C, and I'm not sure if it isn't smarter to control the rotor with a foot switch (fast/slow, no stop function) while playing the organ (with no pedal keys attached). But it seems sturdier to me than the buttons on the panel: I don't worry about flipping the stick around from one side to the other.

[Schorsch]

The half moon switch option is a “reminiscence” to the original Hammond organs for which players are used to operate the Leslie through the half moon switch. Nord trying to emulate a Hammond as close to the original as possible of course does so for the Leslie operation as well, not requiring Hammond players to change the handling. Therefore Nord provides several options for the same function: buttons, half moon switch, foot switch (with some limitations) - one can chose what suits one best

[neomad]

I have the half moon switch since my early days with NE5, and I love it. However... I got used to toggle pedal lately (also in my other organs/synths) so unless you really need it (and you are a real vintage organ performer) it is not really a must have.

[Hlaalu]

I think deciding to shape the Leslie control in the fashion of a half moon switch attached to the keyboard might be a historical artifact* of times when most organists' feet were already busy playing the pedal board, and thus couldn't operate much else. To echo FZiegler, I'm not convinced that (unless you have a pedal board) the half moon is technically the most convenient way to control a Leslie.

I think this is even more true when the left hand plays bass, because having to lift the left hand, ever so briefly, to operate the half moon switch, would kill the groove. The same happens when you play chords, perhaps in lesser degree.

So my take on this is that if you only play one or two manuals, and no pedals (and thus have at least a free foot), it's more convenient to operate the Leslie with that foot.

Speaking of Hammonds and historical artifacts, it's interesting (and a bit amusing) how we got where we are:

- Pipe organs have had pedal boards for a long enough time that it can be considered a traditional part of the instrument. On pipe organs volume control is very limited because of the very way pipes are built and arranged and because the organist has to lift the right foot from the pedal keys whenever he wants to change the volume, so that may or may not be possible depending on the pedal parts he is playing in that very moment. It's certainly not possible and articulate in same way as when a foot is doing that and nothing else.

- Hammond organs were born as substitutes for pipe organs, so they had two manuals and a pedal board. When it began being used in jazz though, volume needed to be adjusted in a more articulated way than in liturgical pieces, and it required one foot to be more or less always on the swell pedal. In parallel to that, bass lines were too complex and fast to be fully played on the pedals (with one foot!), so Jimmy Smith thought he'd use the left hand, and the left foot on pedals as a supplement of that.

- Leslies were designed with electric organs in mind, but Hammond himself disliked them. Now we are linking the two in our minds almost as if they were two inseparable parts of the same instrument. I'm not sure who invented the half moon switch, if it was Leslie himself or not, but it's reasonable to think that whoever did it, he thought the only possible placement for would be next to the keyboard (look at this clip (2:43) of Rhoda Scott operating a Leslie foot switch with her hand:

- Nowadays, if you play in a jazz organ band, and you play pedals, then pretty much the only choice you have is to use a half moon switch - or at least some sort of switch that you operate with hands. But if you don't play pedals, and either you have a bass player in your band or you play bass with the left hand, then I'd say you're better off not using the half moon but instead using a pedal switch.

My two cents...

[Scorps]

I have thought about getting a half moon switch and tried using a pedal, but still find myself using the panel button for Leslie. Its location is so convenient that I even use it when playing left hand bass. I keep my right foot for the sustain pedal and left foot for expression pedal (essential for organ!) and often play worship with piano or EP and Hammond and/or pad layered together with the expression pedal assigned for organ swell and pad volume. And every aspect of the sound can be adjusted without digging in the menus - I guess that's why we love Nords!

[Hlaalu]

I keep my right foot for the sustain pedal and left foot for expression pedal (essential for organ!)

You use the sustain pedal for the organ?

[Scorps]

I keep my right foot for the sustain pedal and left foot for expression pedal (essential for organ!)

You use the sustain pedal for the organ?

I often do, especially when the organ is layered with piano or Rhodes/Wurly. Of course it needs to be done carefully so that the organ wouldn't get muddy or fall out of style. Sometimes I assign the sustain only for organ and remove it from the piano section for more rhytmic piano parts and organ chords in the background, it all depends on the song.

Here's one example, I'm using Hammond, Wurlitzer (I love this amped Wurly sample!) and left hand bass:

[Hlaalu]

Well played and singed.