Have your technician install a toggle switch on the back side so channels may be
changed easily.
Using HX3 with Doepfer d3c or other NI B4 drawbar controller
The Doepfer d3c drawbar controller is a very nice and rugged piece of gear, so we
recommend it for use with our HX3 board. It has support for foot controllers and foot
switches. The Keyswerk/Böhm db4 is also compatible with NI B4 CC set.
Upper, lower and bass drawbars work as usual. It is a good idea to set all to zero
before switching on as this is a “known state” for HX3. Also the Percussion and
Vibrato buttons work as described in d3c manual. There is a small drawback,
anyway: Default HX3 Vibrato setting is V1 (but upper/lower vibrato OFF), while the
V1 LED will not light when powering up the d3c (there is no “V0” on a real
Hammond!). So pressing the V1 button will not change the sound – just it’s LED turns
on.
The “Brightness” knob controls AO28 “tone” parameter in HX3. There is no key click
emulation in HX3 (it is just there!), so you may not adjust key click (a real Hammond
does not have key click adjustment, either). The “Key Click” knob controls the bass
sustain instead. You may argue “a real Hammond does not have a bass pedal
sustain, too”. Right, but many aftermarket kits are installed, so this is OK (for me). Do
not use the “Harmonic content” knob as it sends the “Percussion” button’s controller
number like a continuous controller. Why that? No idea. This is definitely of no use.
Preset buttons may be used, but in a restricted way. First, HX3 yields 15 presets per
manual, not 127 like NI B4. When selecting “Bank 1”, all 12 available preset buttons
work on upper manual. When selecting “Bank 2”, all 12 preset buttons work on lower
manual. Doepfer d3c resends the program change message when changing the
bank, which may be annoying. Choose bank 2, lower preset first, then bank 1, upper
preset. BTW: Bank buttons do not send bank select messages, they just add an
offset to the preset buttons. Blame Doepfer for that.
Doepfer d3c preset 1 is the HX3 “Live” (preset 0) position. It will be saved temporarily
(until HX3 switched off) when switching to a preset sound (2 to 12). If you return to
preset 1 “Live”, your last drawbar/button setting will be recalled. Please note: HX3
tracks drawbar and button changes even when in preset position 2 to 12, so it keeps
itself updated all the time.
There is no way to save an upper or lower preset/program remotely; you have to use
the MenuPanel’s Save function, see below.
Using HX3 with Hammond XK/SK series
HX3 supports most of Hammond XK MIDI controller functions. For convenience,
some controllers have been relocated to other HX3 functions:
• XK Overdrive knob controls HX3 Rotary tube Amp Volume
• XK Reverb button controls HX3 lower manual Vibrato On
• XK Tube On button controls HX3 Reverb