The

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

VK-7 is an electronic keyboard introduced in 1997 which simulates the sound of an electromechanical

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

. Like other electronic

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

s that emulate (or "clone") the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond, the VK-7 is referred to as a

clonewheel organ A clonewheel organ is an electronic musical instrument that emulates (or " clones") the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond from the 1930s to the 1970s. Clonewheel organs generate sounds using so ...

. Currently it is replaced by the VK-8 and the VK-88. Since transporting the heavy, vintage electromechanical Hammond organs to performances was cumbersome, there was a strong demand amongst musicians for way of recreating the Hammond sound in a more portable fashion. Refinements to Hammond emulations eventually led to the development of relatively lightweight electronic keyboard instruments such as the Roland VK-09 (1981), KORG BX-3 and CX-3 (1980), Roland VK-7 (1997), and Kurzweil K2600 (1999) that produce a fairly realistic re-creation of the Hammond tone.

Description

The VK-7 is designed to recreate the organ sounds of the 1960s and 1970s jazz and popular music. The instrument has nine harmonic drawbars so that the organist can control the volume of different overtones. The instrument also provides vibrato, chorus, and reverb effects and an overdrive knob, which adds simulated

tube amplifier A valve amplifier or tube amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that uses vacuum tubes to increase the amplitude or power of a signal. Low to medium power valve amplifiers for frequencies below the microwaves were largely replaced by sol ...

"growl". As with most clonewheel emulator keyboards, the drawbars are positioned to the left of the keyboard. Unlike the Hammond organ, which had two manuals (keyboards), the VK-7 has only a single manual with 61 keys. Nevertheless, the keyboard can be split into two sections, so that the bass drawbars are applied to the low end of the keyboard, and the nine upper drawbars are applied to the rest of the keyboard. This keyboard-split function allows an organist to perform low-register

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

s and high-register chords and solos on a single keyboard. The organist can view the effect and registration settings on a small LCD screen. As well, the instrument contains an orchestral voice section that can be layered with the organ sounds. The sounds include strings, brasses, choirs, percussion instruments (e.g., glockenspiel) and bass sounds. The keyboard has an 11-pin rotary cabinet connector which allows it to be connected to external rotary speaker, such as a

Leslie Speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...

. It has

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

inputs, which means that bass

pedal keyboard A pedalboard (also called a pedal keyboard, pedal clavier, or, with electronic instruments, a bass pedalboard) is a keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A pedalboard has long ...

s can be used with the instrument, or an additional MIDI keyboard can be connected to the VK-7 (so that the player can have lower and upper manuals with different pre-set tones set up). The chassis has a wood finish with alder wood sideboards.Mark Vail. ''The Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B''. - 2002. 288 pages

References

External links

Roland website
{{Roland VK-7 Electronic organs Clonewheel organs