Hello all. I just wanted to put this out there as I feel there will certainly be forum members who could use one.
I have a Hammond XK1c that I use for my organ VST’s as well as being able to use it as a backup in the event it is ever needed. While it has that great Hammond sound, sadly, my XK1c’s method of operating the internal Leslie, is sadly lacking
I truly prefer either a half moon or a mod wheel. I had to and have been using the mod wheel on my RD2000, along with @Dave Dore’s Mod Wheel Rack. They work perfectly together. The problem is, I also use or prefer to use my XK1c as a controller for synth/strings, sax and horns. I have a 25 key Nektar controller for synth solos and such, but my real desire was to be able to use the Hammond as the controller for those, but it lacked a mod wheel and pitch bend…until now.
I did a search on the internet and found very little in the way of mod/pitch add-ons. The one decent search result led me to a discussion in the GearSlutz forum. One of the users mentioned that he had ordered the following product and it was working perfectly. The product he was referring to was this:
Now, I know what you are thinking…the same thing I was. The company is based in Russia, and let’s face it, there isn’t a tremendous amount of commerce going on between Russia and the US. For those of you in Europe, it might be totally different, but it created some hesitancy on my part. But, the desire to have a mod/pitch wheel on my XK1c won out and I decided to order it. My hesitancy was eased somewhat when I found out they took Paypal. They sent me an invoice and payment was made. They followed up with solid communication and a tracking # for Russian Post. I was able to follow it all the way until it cleared customs and departed for the US. It actually arrived a bit sooner than was estimated. It was packed superbly and probably could have been thrown off a building with no damage. As you can see, it has both DIN and USB connections
I modified the route from my RD2000 to the Atemp and it worked right out of the gate. A little mod of my stand and I was in business
The mod is super smooth and very accurate. The pitch bend functions exactly as you would expect from a pitch bend. If you scroll down on the above product link, at the bottom of the page, it shows all the different capabilities of the device.
At $130.00 US, it was a very good investment. I can’t speak to its durability, as I’ve only had it a few weeks, but if you have a keyboard, or device that is in need of a mod or pitch wheel, you should check this out. Combining this with my recent addition of the half moon Leslie switch, whether I am using VST’s or the Hammond alone, I now have the control and ease of use I was looking for.