The Portable Hammond for the Organ-focused Keyboardist
At Sweetwater, the name Hammond commands respect. It’s synonymous with the classic tonewheel organs such as the B3 that played an outsized role in the music revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. In the digital era, Hammond assumed a leadership role in developing cutting-edge “clonewheel” organs that deliver those legendary organ sounds, along with all the other essential keyboard instruments you need for any gig or recording session. The SK Pro represents the latest generation of organ-focused, do-it-all keyboards from Hammond. Loaded with higher-resolution samples than previous SK series instruments and equipped with four robust sound engines that can be deployed individually or in any combination, the Hammond SK Pro ups the ante for breathtaking sonic realism.
Related Videos: SK Pro 61-key Keyboard/Organ with 4 Sound Engines
Definitive drawbar organs
As a genuine Hammond, the SK Pro is, of course, going to have the state-of-the-art in authentic organ sounds. These come courtesy of its newly developed drawbar organ section, which is derived from Hammond’s flagship XK-5. The SK Pro’s industry-standard Hammond tone is produced by the powerful modeled tone wheel 1 (MTW1) sound engine, complemented by a special system that emulates the matching transformer of a vintage Hammond; while a newly developed virtual multi-contact function replicates the keyboard performance of those coveted models. This modern technology closely follows Mr. Hammond’s original design, but is executed without moving parts in the digital realm, providing all the unique sonic characteristics and imperfections that have come to define the classic Hammond sound. In the factory, the SK Pro is set to the same tolerances as a B-3 was during its production run, but digital control — including the touch-response percussion found on vintage Hammonds — allows you to sculpt nearly every aspect of your sound.
Next-generation digital Leslie
The SK Pro houses Hammond’s next-generation onboard digital Leslie, which features deeper authenticity, including rotor airflow, to faithfully reproduce the Leslie cabinet’s unique tone and 3-dimensional swirling effect. A new tube modeling system provides characteristic tube warmth and gritty growl when driven hard.
Classic transistor combos and pipe organs
Beyond the tonewheel, Hammond’s wave composition system adds the vintage Italian, British, and Japanese transistor combo organ voices, which have come back into vogue in a big way. In addition, the SK Pro offers a full range of pipe organ voices — including a brand-new selection of theater pipe organs. No matter the genre, the SK Pro is ready to ace the gig.
The piano/ensemble engine
The SK Pro also features an all-new piano/ensemble engine with a wide variety of keyboard and other instruments, including acoustic and electric pianos, brass, reeds, strings, choirs, and percussion. The high-resolution samples of the world’s leading acoustic grand pianos are noteworthy, particularly the stunning new “S” sample of a legendary European grand. And for the first time in an SK series keyboard, all piano/ensemble voices can be fully edited. Sample choice, EG (envelope generator), filter, LFO, and other parameters are now under your control and can be saved as a patch. A total of 162 high-definition digital voices (with upgraded resolution compared to previous SK models) provide a broad variety of tonal possibilities. All voices (many new to the SK line) have been carefully curated for their usefulness in real-world musical settings. Onstage, you’ll appreciate the 12 category buttons that allow effortless, instantaneous sound selection, and Hammond’s proprietary ProChord feature (available on many voices) that lets you produce complex harmonies by playing a single-note melody while playing chords with your left hand.
The mono synth engine
The SK Pro packs a beastly physical-modeling synthesizer that faithfully reproduces the sounds of classic analog synthesizers. The mono synth engine offers six different oscillator configurations, as well as controls for filter and amplitude, allowing you to create and tweak your sounds in real time, just as on a vintage analog synth.
Powerful onboard DSP effects
The SK Pro is equipped with a powerful onboard DSP effects engine. Each of the SK Pro’s four voice sections can be assigned overdrive and two types of comprehensive DSP multi-effects. Overdrive flavors include tube, solid-state, clip, and EP amp; and the two multi-effects engines offer tremolo, wah, ring modulator, compressor, phaser, flanger, chorus, delay, and auto pan.
Combinations and favorites
The SK Pro introduces combinations to the SK series, which allow you to prepare patches from any or all of its four tonal sections, along with your desired performance parameters. You can also assign external MIDI instruments to these combinations. combinations set you up for each performance and can be changed in an instant. In conjunction with the four allocation buttons in the center of the keyboard, you can call up any part of a combination in real time, giving you the equivalent of four discrete keyboard instruments. In all, 200 combinations are available (100 Factory, 100 User). For instant access, any 10 of these may be assigned to the favorites buttons (as on previous SK models). The role of the favorites has been expanded to include 10 Banks of Favorites, easily called up with a single keystroke.
Hammond SK Pro 61 Keyboard/Organ Features:
- Patches: 100, organ section; 100 mono synth section; 300 factory/100 user, piano and ensemble sections
- Drawbar organ section derived from the top-of-the-line XK-5
- Expanded transistor and pipe organ voices
- Piano section with a wide variety of keyboard instruments, including hi-res grand and electric piano sounds
- Ensemble section with essential brass, reed, string, choir, and percussion instruments
- Analog-modeled mono synth section
- Pitch bend and modulation wheels
- Internal power supply (no “wall wart”)
- Multiple assignable outputs, with discrete organ and bass outputs
- 11-pin Leslie jack
- Onboard bulk storage for all programming
- USB A and B ports for storage and USB-MIDI functions
- Seamless switching of tones while playing
- Patches, combinations, and centrally located favorite/allocate buttons allow quick and easy access to performance parameters
- Large color display with essential information provides instant instrument status
- Independent rotary out and organ pedal (bass) out jacks
- Line out L/R jacks; headphone jack; aux In jack with volume control
