"At last Hammond have repackaged their famed organ in a tasty little module - and added a side order of drawbars..."

Gordon Reid’s mouth waters as he samples the delights of the Hammond XM-1 and XMc-1…

Another month, another organ module... but maybe this one's going to be special. After all, It's got that name on the box and, unlike its competition from Voce and Peavey, it's got a dedicated drawbar module to go with it. Maybe, just maybe, these are the boxes that are going to offer the sonic authority of tonewheels, the depth of rotating and resonating wood and iron, the grunt of over-worked valves, the flexibility of micro-processor control, the convenience of a small box , and the playability of the original fistful of drawbars...

Overview :

Unlike nearly every other manufacturer, Hammond Suzuki (forgive me if, from now on, I just call the company Hammond) have forsaken the practical but boring 19" rackmount approach, and imbued the XM-1 with something a little less tangible : individuality. Just handling it makes me realise how much our industry lacks the willingness to throw largish lumps of loot at good industrial designers. Yeah, yeah ... there are always exceptions but, as a rule, we put up with a stream of stupefyingly boring products. The Hammond XM-1 is not - and it looks as if it means business. The XMc-1 drawbar controller has also graduated from charm school and, despite its plastic construction, mock brushed aluminum and mock walnut veneer (all of which are just dripping with potential tackiness), it looks almost as good as the main dish.

The XM-1's controls are very similar to those of the Voce V3 which (notwithstanding cheaper and less accomplished boxes frorn Oberheim and Fujiha) is by far the Hammond's closest competition. Perhaps the major logistical difference between them lies in the programming method employed : whereas the Voce offers two rotary encoders (that's knobs, mate) the Hammond relies upon four parameter up/down and increment/decrement buttons. Arggh! The dreaded parameter access programming system rears its ghastly head once again.

"The software in the XM-1 precisely emutates the action of the 20 drawbars found on a vintage Hammond"

Casting our gaze rearwards, we find the inevitable MIDI In, Out. and Thru sockets, together with stereo outputs, a headphone output, a configurable pedal input, a socket for the cable that connects the XM-1 to the XMc-l, and a socket for the external power supply. Unlike the V3, it has no inputs for dedicated foot switches that determine the rotary effect's speed and brake states, but you can define the single pedal input to control the voice-decay functions, or Leslie fast/slow, or patch selection. Another omission is the Voce’s effects loop but, since the XM-1 offers an internal digital reverb (which the Voce lacks) this presents no problem. Finally, and this time in common with the Voce, there is an output that, provided you have the appropriate Leslie adapter, allows you to connect the XM-1 to any Leslie rotary speaker cabinet.

"For perhaps the first time, I'll sum up a piece of gear in just one word : wonderful"

Moving on to the XMc-1, its most obvious attributes are, of course, its nine drawbars, and these are smooth, light, and responsive. The controller also accommodates 11 push buttons (none of which duplicate the functions on the front panel of the XM-1), 13 LEDs, and two further knobs. But if its controls are a tad more complex than the XM-1's, its connectors are simplicity itself : just the cable that connects it to the XM-1, from which the XMc-1 even derives its power.

Now for the basics. Firstly, the XM-1 can produce the sounds of three registrations simultaneously, and these relate directly to the upper manual, lower manual, and pedals of a vintage Hammond. The registrations default to MIDI channels 1, 2 and 3 respectively, but you can define alternative channels it you so desire. Unfortunately, there are no split or key-range parameters, so it's not possible to play all three registrations from a single keyboard unless it offers MIDI zoning. (Note : this has been improved in version 2.0) Secondly, there are three Voice Modes : B3-Type, Mellow, and Brite. The first of these is sell-explanatory; the second produces a more mellow sound by simplifying the waveform produced by each drawbar, and the third accentuates the higher frequencies for a very bright and cutting sound. Thirdly, there are 128 memories, of which 101 come pre-loaded with factory programs, and 27 are empty. You can modify and re-save the contents of any memory, but Hammond clearly felt that you should be spared the agony of trying to decide which factory programs to overwrite. (Not that this should ever be an issue - MIDI dump and load facilities are provided, and individual patches or the whole instrument can be reset to their factory presets it desired.)

Placing the XM-1 on top of my 19"rack and the drawbar controller on the upper surface of my controller keyboard, I faced my first problem; the dedicated cable is only five feet long... It doesn't reach. Indeed, it's woefully inadequate, and Hammond should have reallised that many players will want the XM-1 tucked well out of harm's way, while the XMc-1 needs to be within immediate drawbar-grabbing distance. (Note : an optional longer cable is available) Anyway, re-arranging things a little, I finally stopped grumbling, got myself sorted out, hooked everything up, switched on and...

In use :

Wow! Perhaps I've been abusing the Theakston's Old Peculler too much, but I swear that that sounded like a tonewheel organ. Maybe the cat has learned how to operate the on/off switch on the L102 and 122RV downstairs in my dining room? Lets try again. No... it’s definitely the XM-1 that’s doing it.

Even without the XMc-1 attached, the software in the XM-1 precisely emulates the action of the 20 drawbars found on a vintage Hammond, and the screen provides small graphics that give an instant visual representation of how far each 'drawbare' is pulled out. But don't be fooled - the XM-1 Is not just another superficial representation of a B3. Consider the following attention to detail... if you select certain registrations, the B3 will cancel the eighth harmonic. But some players object to this, and rewire their instrument. So the XM-1 has a parameter that allows you to choose whether to use the.factory voicing or the bodged version. Similarly, with certain registrations and percussion settings, the volume of the B3’s Swell Manual will be reduced by about 3dB. This preserves the balance between the upper and lower manuals. But, once again, some players have modified their instruments to defeat this, so the XM-1 offers a parameter to do it for you. The XM-1 even allows you to set the notes at which the sub-fundamentals and the eighth harmonic wrap. Rarely, if ever, implemented on other manufacturers' imitations, this is a subtle but important element within the B3’s sound. Spot on, chaps! Finally, at least' as far as the drawbars are concerned, the XM-1 incorporates a sustain function, which adds short, mid, or long release envelopes to the normal gated organ sound.

Moving on, we come to the percussive effects. In addition to key-click (which offers no-click, slow attack, soft, nomal, and max options) the XM-1 provides the standard second and third harmonic percussion settings, and these can be modified with eight decay-rate options, normal or soft volume, velocity sensitivity, and an overall level control. Again, the attention to detail is most gratifying. The B3's percussion became quieter at higher frequencies, so this attribute can be selected on the XM-1. Furthermore, the module offers two percussion modes : the polyphonic percussion of later Hammonds, wherein every note produces percussion; or the B3's response, whereby percussion only sounds if no other notes are depressed.

The first of the XM-1’s four effects types is Vibrato/Chorus, which offers five speeds plus the B3's six vibrato and chorus depths : Vl, V2, V3, Cl, C2 and C3. These emulate the B3 almost to perfection - especially the chorus settings, which combine the untreated signal with the vibrato'd signal, exactly as on the original. Next in line is Overdrive, which offers 16 levels of distortion. Although at higher settings it howls as aggressively as you should ever want, it’s unable to offer the gorgeous "whoompf" of a 122 on the edge of distortion. Strangely, I seem to remember that the V3’s effect was exactly the opposite : it would whoompf but it wouldn't scream. The third effect is one rarely offered on dedicated organ modules : reverb. Like that of the Peavey Spectrum Organ, the XM-1’s is extremely basic, offering just Room, Live, Hall and Church simulations, with no controls other than a volume knob. There is no spring reverb effect, which seems odd, especially since this was the type of reverb provided on both the original organs and the better Leslies such as the 122RV.

The final effect is the most important, and remains the Achilles heel for almost all other organ simulators - the rotating 'Leslie' speaker. Though a relatively simple piece of engineering, it produces an enormously complex sound that's impossible to emulate using analogue electronics (software can manage it, although you need rnany parameters to approach authenticity). The XM-1 offers five preset Leslie emulations - 122, 147, 710, 760, and 825, thus covering solid-state and valve, single and dual rotor, and mellow and bright designs - and 16 further parameters for you to tweak. If you can't get exactly the sound you want from one of the presets (and I bet that you can) there are a further five memory locations in which you can store your own types.

Okay, so that's the spec - what of the sound ? Well, for perhaps the first time, I'll sum up a piece of gear in just one word : wonderful. Indeed, I suspect that many players will go no further than to select the desired presets, and play. And what a set of presets they are…

The first ten are named Church C# through to Church A, plus Full Church, and these are the factory settings from the B3, C3, and A100. (The suffixes C# and so an refer to the reversed-out preset keys found on each of these instruments.) The next ten patches are the presets from the X66, X77, H and Concorde series theatre organs, and again their names refer to the reversed colour preset selectors. And, while I'm not an expert on all things theatrical, I can confirm that the B3s are everything you would want and expect.

Moving on, we find patches with evocative names such as Model A, Model B, Full Gospel, Celesta, Purple, Some Lovin', Booker, Full Overd, and Full Hamm. I'm confident that everybody from the home organist, through church and jazz players, right up to the full-on, screaming, facially distorted heavy-rock poseurs are going to find what they want here. The only players left out are devotees of the Vox Continental. But who cares ? This is a Hammond, for Keith's sake !

It's not just the sound that makes the XM-1 such a delight. The programming system, which could have been a digital-parameter-access dog's dinner, is well thought out, and while it's by no means as quick and responsive as having real drawbars under your fingers, it still takes just seconds to define the sound that you want. The XMc-l, of course, adds those drawbars. It also provides Preset buttons so that you can immediately recall patch numbers 101 to 105, and its volume and overdrive knobs will also adjust the percussion’s volume and decay rate in real time. Neat.

But, just to keep things in context, let’s throw in a handful of minor criticisms... Surprisingly, Voce's V3 is in some ways superior to the XM-1. For example, the V3 has 20 Leslies (the XM-1 has five) and these offer six additional parameters : independent microphone separation angles, independent microphone distances, and independent modulation depth parameters for each of the bass and treble rotors. Also, the XM-1's Leslie suffers from the common fault that the sound of the bass rotor seems to be coming from a narrow region in the centre of the stereo field. Next, the percussion and key click sounds bypass the rotary speaker simulator, making them sound somewhat detached from the body of the sound. And, finally, the XM-1's overdrive, while offering reasonable results, is not truly able to emulate the warm throaty growl of a valve amplifier.

Verdict :

It’s been impossible to cover all the XM-1’s facilities here. I’ve not touched upon MIDI (for example, the output from the XMc-1’s drawbars is permanently available at the XM-1’s MIDI Out) and various other less obvious facilities. But notwithstanding Hammonds own XB2 keyboard, there's only one serious competitor to the XM-1… The Voce V3 allows you to define virtual manuals either side of a split point, and it features some significant sound-generation enhancements, such as its Farfisa, Vox Continental and Vox Compact voicings. It also has a 'generator leakage' parameter that allows you to adjust the amount of added background noise (which all tonewheel organs produced) and which I found very useful when fine-tuning the authenticity of the emulation. The Voce even allows you to assign two registrations, a primary and an auxiliary, to each "manual", and jump or progressively morph from one to the other using the MIDI controller of your choice.

But to concentrate on software facilities is to overlook the real value of the Hammond XM-1 : the sound. While no modern organ or organ module has ever fully recreated the weight and authority of my vintage Hammonds and 122RV, I'm convinced that the XM-1 is the most realistic one yet. And, despite its lack of a few parameters, it appears capable of reproducing just about any Hammond configuration you might want. Add to that the XMc-1, which is better than any pre-programmed method of manipulating registrations, and your cake is well and truly iced. Indeed, justifying the additional cost of the XMc-1 is simple because it makes the XM-1 such a pleasure to use. I want both.