Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08: Drawbar Organ

Published on Aug 31, 2015 Sacred Synthesis

"This improvisation is meant to demonstrate the ability of the Prophet '08 to imitate the sound of a drawbar organ. The PWM solo was played on a second P'08.

In general, I've never been a fan of the Hammond Organ sound. There are only a few drawbar settings that I like, and this patch is an imitation of one of them. But the truth is, the classic Hammond/drawbar organ sound requires a Leslie effect. Mere detuning is a lame substitute.

Good organ playing requires an exacting technique. Because of the nature of the instrument's envelope - having a sharp attack and an immediate release - it's essential that notes played together be struck exactly at the same instant. Sad to say, I find that synthesizer keyboards do not meet the quality necessary so that such a precise attack can always be made. This is true for the Prophet '08 and Poly Evolver Keyboard as well. I've noticed many times, especially when playing hymns or Bach chorales, that it's nearly impossible to get the attacks of the notes to be crisp and clean, even with repeated tries of the same passages. The same is true for this piece. There are many instances when the strikes of simultaneous notes are not together, creating a smearing effect. That's my disclaimer. There are many imperfections in this improvisation.

Instrumentation:
DSI Prophet '08 Keyboard (2)
DSI Prophet '08 Module
DSI Evolver Desktop
Hammond XPK 200L

Effects:
Lexicon MX300
Alesis Nanoverb 2"