North Suburban Home Organ Society
Eastern Massachusetts' Premier Group for People who love the Electronic Organ and its Music
The Hammond X66 Organ was, in the opinion of many, the finest and most versatile instrument that the Hammond Organ Company ever produced. It had all of the traditional Hammond effects plus an elaborate percussion system with a very realistic approach. Percussion voices began loudly and decayed when you held a key. If you let go of a key, the sound decayed at a faster rate. This action exactly parallels that of real keyboard percussion instruments such as the piano. A slow pitch and phase shifting scan was also applied to the percussion sounds which added greater realism. In addition to the usual Hammond harmonic drawbar voices, which were enhanced with extra harmonics, there were also orchestral instrument voices produced from complex wavefoms passing through formant filters. The vibrato system of the organ was very elaborate consisting of an enhanced scanner/delay-line vibrato system, similar in principle to that of the older, traditional Hammonds, such as the famous B3, but slightly slower and much richer sounding. There was also a different type of vibrato applied to the lower frequencies, and a slow scan celeste available as well. All of these, combined with variable pedal sustain and complex as well as synthesized voices on the pedals made this instrument supremely suited for the playing of all types of popular music. You can find out much more about this instrument by reading our technical article on the X66. And more important, by attending a concert at the North Suburban Organ Society, you can hear the instrument yourself, and by joining this wonderful group, you can get to play it!
