Galileo Organ For iPad Now Available

galileo-organ-ipadYonac Software has released Galileo, a tonewheel and transistor organ emulator for the iPad and iPad Mini.

Galileo offers eleven unique organ types,  three manuals, scanner vibrato/chorus emulation, percussion module, and settable organ parameters such as leakage, keyclick, attack & release, and more.

“We aimed to design a versatile, tweakable organ that can reproduce the sounds in Jazz, Rock, Gospel and Reggae classics, yet also allow a lot of room for customization and new sounds,” says Galileo engineer Jim Yonac. “We invested a lot of time into modeling the core components of the ‘Organ Sounds’, like in our new rotary cabinet simulator and our virtual-tube ‘Class A’ inspired preamp.”

Here’s a demo of Galileo in action: Continue reading

Using A Hammond B3 To Send Coded Messages By Ham Radio

Here’s something Jimmy Smith never tried – using a Hammond B3 organ to send coded message via HAM radio.

Forrest Cook developed Tonewriter – an experimental system that uses an Arduino and a Hammond B3 organ to encode text as a series of audio tones. The messages can then be displayed on a spectrogram – used by ham radio operators to visualize the audio that is received by a radio receiver.  Continue reading

Nord C2 Owners Get Free B3 Organ

Nord has released a free update for the Nord C2 that gives it everything from the C2D Organ but the drawbars.

New Features:

  • New Rotary Speaker simulations of a vintage 122 unit with a new Drive.
  • Redesigned B3 Key Click simulation
  • Improved B3 Percussion when playing near legato
  • Improved B3 bass response
  • Additional sounds settings for Key Bounce, Rotary Horn/Bass Balance and Key Click Level.

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Controlling A 4-Story Pipe Organ WIth The Kinect

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Developer/producer Chris Vik explains a new work, Carpe Zythum, in which he uses a Microsoft Kinect to conduct a MIDI performance:

I’ve created my own software “Kinectar“, which allows the use of the Kinect to control MIDI devices, ie. playing notes through simple gestures and motion.

The Melbourne Town Hall Organ got a referb in the late 90s adding the ability of MIDI messages to active the notes… and so, this happened.

The Kinectar Performance Platform is a toolkit that allows you to use your Microsoft Kinect sensor as a fully-fledged MIDI controller.

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Roland MIDI PK-9 Pedal Board

Musikmesse 2012Roland introduced the PK-9 Pedal Keyboard, a MIDI pedalboard for organists.

The PK-9 features 20 velocity-sensitive pedal keys and an integrated expression pedal. It’s designed to work with instruments such as Roland?s Atelier, Combo, and Classic series organs, but will also work with other MIDI devices.

Features:

  • 20 pedal keys respond to playing dynamics.
  • Three different touch settings allow the user to tailor the key response to their individual playing style.
  • An onboard expression pedal provides volume control. Footswitches on either side of the pedal?s toe allow the player to control organ functions such as rotary speed without taking their foot off the pedal or hands off the keys.
  • Three additional footswitches are also provided?one as a dedicated piano-style sustain pedal, and two others that can be freely assigned to control numerous functions on Roland organs or other MIDI devices.
  • A seven-segment display lets users program functions directly on the PK-9.
  • MIDI IN, OUT, and THRU jacks are provided on the rear panel, as well as a jack for an assignable external pedal dedicated to additional controls like pitch bender up or down, cutoff, half damper, etc.
  • A PK OUT connector allows for a single-cable connection to Roland organs such as the ATELIER Combo AT-350C and VK-88; when connected in this fashion, power is provided to the PK-9 from the organ.

The PK-9 Pedal Keyboard will be available in late spring. Pricing is TBA.