Preset Button Organ Section

[antonyteen]

Hi guys, how are you? I'm sorry for my ignorance, but could someone explain to me what this PRESET button is in the ORGAN section of the NS4? How does it work and what is it for? Thanks!

[maxpiano]

Hi, to me it seems pretty well explained on NS4 manual:

PRESET AND DRAWBAR LIVE
By default the PRESET is turned On, meaning that the values stored in the Program are used for the drawbars, Percussion, and Chorus/Vibrato On/Off. When the Preset is turned Off the Organ is in “Drawbar Live” mode, using the actual positions of the physical drawbars. In Drawbar Live mode the drawbar LEDs are all unlit. Programs are always loaded in Preset mode.

SYNC
Press SYNC (Shift+Preset) or press-hold PRESET to synchronize the Preset settings with the physical positions of the drawbars.

[Rusty Mike]

It is supposed to mimic the preset idea on a Hammond tone wheel organ. The organ has 12 presets, represented by the reverse black/white keys at the left end of the keyboard, which are not playable keys. Each preset stores the drawbar settings. The first ten are hardwired to specific drawbar configurations, and the last two (B-flat and B natural) align to the "live" drawbars on the organ. For the Great (upper) manual, the B natural preset key is controlled by the 9 drawbars all the way to the right, and the B-flat preset to the drawbars just to the left of that. You then use the two presets to toggle between them.

The Swell (lower) manual works in a similar manner, except map to the leftmost sets of drawbars. Percussion (on the Hammond models that had percussion) is only active on the B-natural preset, and only for the upper manual.

In the case of a jazz organist, they would use the B preset for their lead sound, since they tend to use percussion for melodies and solos (typically drawbars 888000000). The B-flat preset would be a different setup so they can comp behind another soloist. Or it would be a fuller sound for choruses or whatever. But the idea was they can jump to another sound profile without having to fiddle with the drawbars or be subject to Hammond's hard wired preset registrations.

The preset feature on the Nord instruments behaves in a very similar manner, except include the chorus/vibrato and percussion setting as well. When you store an organ program, the setting you see (drawbar, C/V, percussion) is essentially the first preset. You can store a different configuration in Preset button to call up instantly without having to change your program. It's a very handy feature for certain playing styles.

I hope that explanation helps.

[Rusty Mike]

It is supposed to mimic the preset idea on a Hammond tone wheel organ. The organ has 12 presets, represented by the reverse black/white keys at the left end of the keyboard, which are not playable keys. Each preset stores the drawbar settings. The first ten are hardwired to specific drawbar configurations, and the last two (B-flat and B natural) align to the "live" drawbars on the organ. For the Great (upper) manual, the B natural preset key is controlled by the 9 drawbars all the way to the right, and the B-flat preset to the drawbars just to the left of that. You then use the two presets to toggle between them.

The Swell (lower) manual works in a similar manner, except map to the leftmost sets of drawbars. Percussion (on the Hammond models that had percussion) is only active on the B-natural preset, and only for the upper manual.

In the case of a jazz organist, they would use the B preset for their lead sound, since they tend to use percussion for melodies and solos (typically drawbars 888000000). The B-flat preset would be a different setup so they can comp behind another soloist. Or it would be a fuller sound for choruses or whatever. But the idea was they can jump to another sound profile without having to fiddle with the drawbars or be subject to Hammond's hard wired preset registrations.

The preset feature on the Nord instruments behaves in a very similar manner, except include the chorus/vibrato and percussion setting as well. When you store an organ program, the setting you see (drawbar, C/V, percussion) is essentially the first preset. You can store a different configuration in Preset button to call up instantly without having to change your program. It's a very handy feature for certain playing styles.

I hope that explanation helps.

That's how it works on other models (NS3, NS2, NE5, NE6,...) but apparently not on the NS4, at least if you read what NS4 manual says about the Preset button and that I reported above.

[Rusty Mike]

That's how it works on other models (NS3, NS2, NE5, NE6,...) but apparently not on the NS4, at least if you read what NS4 manual says about the Preset button and that I reported above.

Goodness - I did not read your initial response!

That is quite a change, and not one I'm sure I'd like.

[antonyteen]

Thank you for you help!

[joshuanesbit]

Hi, to me it seems pretty well explained on NS4 manual:

PRESET AND DRAWBAR LIVE
By default the PRESET is turned On, meaning that the values stored in the Program are used for the drawbars, Percussion, and Chorus/Vibrato On/Off. When the Preset is turned Off the Organ is in “Drawbar Live” mode, using the actual positions of the physical drawbars. In Drawbar Live mode the drawbar LEDs are all unlit. Programs are always loaded in Preset mode.

SYNC
Press SYNC (Shift+Preset) or press-hold PRESET to synchronize the Preset settings with the physical positions of the drawbars.

Hi, I still don't understand this - it's probably really simple but there's something I'm missing. Does this mean that turning off preset (Drawbar Live) and holding down Sync effectively do the same thing of making it so the keyboard honours the sound of the physical drawbars rather than the settings in the saved program?

[FZiegler]

I understand it in a different way. But I don't have a NS4 to just check if it's right:

Selecting a program with an organ part will load all settings stored in the program - including the drawbar set; the selected drawbar setting will be shown by the LEDs.

Hitting [Preset] will switch to the physical drawbar setting, LEDs go off.

If you now change the drawbars, you can go back to the preset values, but you can't directly go back to what the live setting was initially.

So, before changing the drawbar values, you can [Sync] the settings which means the preset is filled with the momentary physical setting. If you now want to change the live setting and come back to it later, it is possible. But of course, you will have lost the initial preset which is now overwritten. In order to get that, you need to re-select the program and will get the initial drawbar setting (if you didn't store the new values). That way, you have virtually 3 settings available. Kind of.

Maybe, someone with a NS4 can confirm.