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KEYBOARDPARTNER HX3 User Manual

Midi expander
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KEYBOARDPARTNER UG
HX3 MIDI Expander
As an option (extended licence required), the new HX3 RealOrgan engine is capable of emulating
all electromagnetic organs including the famous H100, combo organs, concert organs of the 70s
and 80s like Böhm Orchester and Wersi Helios. This implies up to 15 harmonics, up to 12
drawbars per manual with individual mixtures, including phasing rotor (WersiVoice), mechanical
and electronic keying available simultaneously. ADSR envelope available on all drawbars, also
H100 percussion and "Harp Sustain". Various tone generator waveforms selectable, for "cheesy"
combo organs as well as fully fledged concert organs.
Features
 Compact organ emulator in aluminum box, 222 x 150 x 42 mm
 Authentic reproduction of generator, tapering, key contacts, percussion and vibrato by
FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and physical modelling
 Tunable in range of A = 433 through 447 Hz
 Extremely low internal latency of 50 microseconds Key-to-Audio. However, MIDI
transmission delay is about 1 ms per note played.
 Natural key click by "rattling" contacts
 Accurate rotary and 122 amp simulation
 Dual MIDI IN for two keyboards or bass pedal
 LCD display and menu system
 Swell (expression) pedal and footswitch jacks
 Mini-USB for MIDI over USB, firmware updates, parameter editing
 Effects DSP with 3 reverb levels
 24 voices GM Synth
 Hand-crafted in Germany
Default MIDI setting is channels 1/2/3 for upper/lower/bass, MIDI CC NI B4 with Sustain on CC
#64.
DC input 9 to 12V, 500 mA min., 5.5/2.1 mm plug, plus on center.
Trademarks Hammond®, B3® and Leslie® belong to Hammond Suzuki Corporation (Japan). Trademark NI B4
belongs to Native Instruments GmbH, Germany. Product and company names used in this document apply for
illustration and example purposes only. Keyboardpartner is not related to these trade marks in any way.
(Firmware version 5.4, Feb 2019)
HX3 MIDI Expander is a tonewheel organ
emulation with all B3 features in a small
box, creating the legendary unmatched
HX3 sound. Controlled via MIDI, it offers
selectable CC-sets for various keyboards.
HX3 provides unlimited polyphony,
presets, many parameters tweakable by
simple menus. In addition, General MIDI
sounds like piano and strings are
available.

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Summary of Contents for KEYBOARDPARTNER HX3

  • Page 1 As an option (extended licence required), the new HX3 RealOrgan engine is capable of emulating all electromagnetic organs including the famous H100, combo organs, concert organs of the 70s and 80s like Böhm Orchester and Wersi Helios. This implies up to 15 harmonics, up to 12 drawbars per manual with individual mixtures, including phasing rotor (WersiVoice), mechanical and electronic keying available simultaneously.

  • Page 2: Eu Conformity Declaration

    Only use appropriate power supply as advised. Input voltages exceeding 15V may damage the device. Designed for indoor use only. Do not use HX3 Expander in moist places. Do not spill liquids or solvents into unit. No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer to qualified technician or service representative if problems occur.

  • Page 3: Volume Control

    Jack Connections The HX3 expander module has two 1/4" mono audio output jacks, two standard MIDI jacks, a DC input jack, a USB connector and two accessory jacks on the back panel.  SWELL ¼” stereo jack. Expression pedal input is compatible with Yamaha FC-7 and similar expression pedals (direct connection preferred for speed/accuracy, but may also be remote controlled by MIDI control change, controller 11).

  • Page 4: Menu Panel

    The HX3.5 menu is arranged as a loop. So you may reach any menu entry by either pressing the up or the down button. But it is a good idea to memorize the menu positions, enabling you to reach frequently used entries located around the preset/drawbar entry more quickly.
  • Page 5 HX3 Expander Menü Bold Standard licence Italic Extended Licence H H100 Mode E EG und Versatile Mode Scanner Gears EGenvDB 2 LowerADSR Hrm Scanner Leak EGenvDB 2 2/3 LowerADSR Ena VibCh ModFac EGenvDB 4 PedalDB 16 VibCh PreEmph EGenvDB 8...

  • Page 6: Generator Models

    The HX3.5 menu system includes quite a number of entries for tuning the HX3 sound engine. The number differs depending on the licence. For live performances you may prefer a scarcer, clearer menu. No problem: Configure the menu to your desire by using the HX3.5 Editor app.
  • Page 7 Organ models The HX3.5 default setting (B3 mode) implies mechanical key contacts, 2 2/3’ or 4’ percussion, and 9 drawbars per manual. Select H100 mode for the H100 organ model of the H100 including 3 additional mixtures. This activates the respective drawbars. B3 percussion is de-activated in this mode, instead the Perc/EG Mask settings are effective.
  • Page 8 In addition, the following options are available for Electr Gating:  EG Mask to Dry – harmonics selected by Perc/EG Mask are bypassing vibrato and phasing rotor “dry”.  EG Mask to Percussion – harmonics selected by Perc/EG Mask are being switched to ADSR, the EG Envelope Drawbars are enabled as polyphone percussion drawbars.
  • Page 9  are made up of up to 3 higher harmonics with their individual levels. Please note: Differing from the original H100 the HX3.5 provides three mixtures rather than two. Lower Attack – attack time of the lower manual envelope. ...
  • Page 10 Defaults Group Scroll downwards to various default settings; change to desired value by turning incremental encoder knob. Save changes to preset by pressing knob for more than 2 seconds.  ToneTrimPot – mimics TONE pot on simulated AO28 amp; well, a little bit more on high values.

  • Page 11: Generator Group

    Generator Group  TG WaveSet – selects harmonic content of tone generator. Will be changed according automatically with organ model selection, but may be overridden by this menu: o 0…3 – B3, clean to rich harmonics (new to old organ), increasing harmonic distortion on lower notes o 4 –...
  • Page 12 Preamp Group and Misc. Along with ToneTrimPot (see above), adjusts behaviour and response of the emulated AO28 preamp chassis and transformer/tube saturation.  Swell Type – controls preamp loudness behaviour on swell pedal changes: o Hammond AO28 (“deep” loudness curve) o Böhm/Wersi (shallow loudness curve) o Linear ...
  • Page 13 Vibrato Group Detailed modelling of scanner vibrato features lots of adjustable parameters. Avoid randomly changing parameters; they are intended for real organ enthusiasts – you should know what you’re doing.  Scanner Gears – adjusts scanner drive gear and thereby vibrato frequency. ...

  • Page 14: Rotary Group

    Serial Numbers and Licences HX3 is protected against forgery by licence numbers. If not set appropriately after firmware update, HX3 will refuse to work after 2 minutes. Licences may be re-installed by means of the HX3.5 Editor at any time.

  • Page 15: Midi Control

    As default, all HX3 controllers are OFF. Do not use any controller button or drawbar unless HX3 is ready to accept its data (drawbar preset displayed). It is a good idea to power up HX3 before your MIDI master keyboard or master controller.
  • Page 16 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”.
  • Page 17 MIDI cable). Phantom supply is usually set by factory – check if your expander supplies phantom voltage. In case it does not, you may use a separate wall wart for the HX3 Drawbar Controller or need to open the device and set two jumpers to enable phantom supply on the HX3 MIDI Expander.
  • Page 18 Traditionally, the live preset 0 is not a real preset, but instead applies the current “live” settings of the drawbars and control switches. This is also true for the HX3 MIDI Expander that is controlled by an external keyboard via MIDI. If you select a preset different from 0, your live settings will remain stored.

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