Re[2]: Confessions? (Or Elephant on Stork legs)

[gstopp@fibermux.com]

     Regarding how I added percussion to the CV -
     
     It was very much a synthesizer-type circuit, using a simple envelope 
     generator and a VCA based on a CA3080. I stole the top drawbar for 
     triggering, and stole the 3rd harmonic drawbar for the signal to be 
     "percussed". I added two pots on the right side of the organ, near the 
     motor switches; one for percussion decay, one for overall organ 
     volume. The decay pot allows adjustment from many seconds to a short 
     pop. The percussion signal has quite a bit of gain on it (adjustable 
     by a trimpot), which means that not only is the 3rd harmonic tone 
     loud, but the dirty-contact key click is brought out as well. Leaving 
     out the 2nd harmonic option was a shame but maybe I'll add a switch 
     for that someday.
     
     Okay y'all here's the personal preference part. I like loud raspy 
     contact noise with the percussion on the top manual. I must admit that 
     on my organ it can be considered by some to be a bit excessive. If you 
     run your fingertip across the tops of the white keys downward to low 
     "C" it sounds rather like a machine gun. I was able to do a 
     side-by-side comparison to a "standard" C-3 at a recent gig and the CV 
     was quite a bit raunchier (is that "baaaaaad"?).
     
     I suppose my affection for this effect stems from the fact that the 
     Hammond contact noise it a rather complex phenomenon. First you have 
     each contact doing a little burst of makes and breaks as it falls on 
     the bussbar, then this times however many contacts for that key, then 
     this spread over time as the multiple contacts hit their bars at 
     slightly different times during the key's travel (don't let anybody 
     ever tell you that a Hammond isn't velocity-sensitive).
     
     Does anybody have any input on the similarities between overdriving 
     the input stages of the CA3080 versus tubes? I just thought of this 
     and thought I'd throw it out there. I know that the 3080 rounds 
     instead of clips, so maybe my kludge (yeah that looks right) wasn't so 
     kludgey after all. Well the sound is the bottom line and it's 
     perfectly fine so it's kind of a moot point....just curious....
     
     - Gene
     gstopp@fibermux.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: Confessions? (Or Elephant on Stork legs)
Author:  hammond@zk3.dec.com at ccrelayout
Date:    1/2/96 4:13 PM


     
In my experience, it has been spelled "Kludge".  I believe I've 
seen it spelled "Kluge" as well.
     
By the way, I don't think there's anything wrong with a kludge 
if it does the job, and works reliably.