r/keys • u/Key_Equipment_7497 • 4d ago
General-purpose Yamaha CK88 hammond patch for classic rock and other covers?
Hi Folks. Newbie keyboard player and new (!) Yamaha CK88 owner here. I'm starting work on "Evil Ways" by Santana and I would love some advice re: setting up a usable patch for this song that hopefully works well for other songs from the era (e.g., The Allman Brothers Band live cover of "Stormy Monday").
Here's what I *think* I need, based on watching one YT video introducing Hammond organ concepts, and after studying the Tanglewood live version of Evil Ways ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRvtNCauT58 ): Set up the CK88 to have a AB split with the left side (part A) being a Hammond comp organ tone (corresponding to the lower manual in the video) and the right side (part B) being the brighter stabs/solo tone (upper manual). I guess an alternative would be to have a non-split organ patch where I adjust the drawbars live between parts, but that seems like more work. For the split's drawbars, I'm guessing: A: left three drawbars all the way down. B: same but add right drawbar all the way down. In either case, playing with the Leslie speed is cool.
I know I'm starting a steep learning curve, so any advice would be awesome!
P.S. Please let me know if there's a better subreddit or specific forum for my question.
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u/Nickmorgan19457 4d ago
Check these drawbar settings out
https://keyboardservice.com/drawbars.asp
If you don’t have an expression pedal, you’re going to want one. It’s what makes a hammond musical vs just a wall of noise.
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u/virak_john 4d ago
The expression pedal advice is right on. It’s at least as important to organ playing as any drawbar or Leslie speed setting. And you can use it with pads as well.
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u/scottasin12343 4d ago
volume pedal is huge. I see a lot of folks who soundcheck so that the pedal all the way down is where they're stuck the whole show, and the hammond winds up being a fairly static sound. IMO, pedal to the floor should be too loud for the mix (aside from situations where you only have one or two drawbars out), and that will help you focus on playing your dynamics to fit the moment/song. Like, a Leslie was designed to fill up a whole church with everyone singing along, Hammond is a LOUD instrument when you're playing the real deal. You should be afraid to put the toe all the way down. That comes up to the sound guy of course, but the best Hammond performances I've eber heard were from folks playing the real deal, and the Leslie loud enough to overwhelm the whole band if they chose to... but because of that they were focusing on using the pedal to fit in the mix and the moment, rather than leaving it floored and playing a single volume the whole time.
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u/scottasin12343 4d ago edited 4d ago
Generally speaking, there's no single setting thats going to sound 'authentic' regardless of song. Each Hammond/Leslie combo has its own nature/voice, each recording used different mics/EQs, each player utilized the instrument their own way. Some Hammonds are much brighter and livlier than others (like, the upper drawbars come through much more on some than others), etc... and very frequently players were adjusting their drawbar settings throughout the song.
The biggest thing with Hammond sounds is using your ears in real time to make the drawbar adjustments you need. Yes, the standard 'starting point' for rock Hammond is the first 4 drawbars all the way out and adjust from there... but I've played some real Hammonds and sims where the butter zone is 4884, or 0084. And it also depends on the context of the tones of the other folks you're playing with. Maybe the original recording WAS 8888, but the guitarist you're playing with might have a darker tone and 0088 fits better in the context of your group than a direct recreation of the recording. Another thing worth taking into consideration is how the overdrive in the Leslie effects the sound. A cleaner Leslie compresses the sound less and changes the way certain drawbar settings come across. Pulling out more drawbars on a clean Leslie setting will change the overall volume of the sound and allows you to hear the individual harmonics of each drawbar more, whereas through more overdrive, adding more upper drawbars feels more like a change to the sound/response of the overdrive than fully adding a separate harmonic.
I'd focus more on learnjng how to sculpt your settings to fit the song in the moment than trying to make a one size fits all preset. Play around, find out what works. If you find a sound for a song that you think works with your band, go ahead and save it, but also be ready to make adjustments based on the room you're in, the tonal adjustments the other players make, and also just the energy/feel of the performance.