Single manual organ controller for NI b4II vst hammond plugin

VST plugins.  What a totally genius idea - A small, low cost computer program, infinitely more powerful than a hardware counterpart, and easily upgradeable . I can't begin to count the amount of money I spent on various synth and sampler modules starting with a Roland jv1010 at the tender age of 16 back in the late 90's. Not that it wasn't totally amazing at the time, and the product of hours of obsessing at Roland catalogues, and bugging my long-suffering parents. They finally gave in to my single minded, persistant nagging, and purchased it for me, along with an A30 controller. As a result, I misspent possibly hundreds of hours of precious teenage years, locked in my room, methodically dialing through the hundreds of presets, hungrily thumbing through the patch lists, imagining the fame that was to come as a result of the discovery of "Shimmering Pad."
As the weeks went by, I gradually came to the conclusion that the organ sounds were kind of thin and limited, despite the total bitchin awesomeness of "Purple Spin."
   
So the logical next step to this involved the careful consideration and purchase of the "Keyboards of the 60's and 70's" expansion card. This represented the culmination of months of saving my allowance, and was so completely worth it - the organ patches sounded amazing! And they had these names like "808 00 8008" which research was to reveal were derived from actual Hammond organ drawbar registrations!


This sound module and controller combination lasted a couple of years, and propelled me into my first rock band - a jam band playing Santana, Doors and Stones covers. In retrospect, I think it may have been somewhat messy and loose, but we also happened to kick ass down in rural Tasmania, and I'll always hold that band in total affection. The A30 was a well designed, light weight board, that lent itself to being torn off the stand and simulating keyboard sex whilst tearing up a blistering solo in "Oye Como Va." At age 17, of course this was the pinnacle of my music career. Perhaps it still may be, 10 years on.


Once again, however, the organ patches lost me, and a couple of years later, I spent an enormous sum on a Korg Cx3, that was to be my cherished baby for another couple of years. A really lovely keyboard, but the amount of chipboard used in the case made me somewhat dubious.


Anyway; to get to a long winded point; here is the Cx3's successor. I personally hate lcd's and flashing lights on musical instruments. That's a pet beef of mine that perhaps I shall tackle another day - But I wanted a board that looked like an analogue instrument, made from quality solid timber,  with it's digital sound module hidden far from sight.   (Also, that XV88 below is long gone, in case you were wondering about my hypocrisy)

It's built from drawbars and switches from ebay, a PIC based controller design from  http://www.ucapps.de/  and a recycled Ensoniq weighted action controller. Or maybe it was a Studiologic - I can't remember the model, but both brands use Fatar keybeds.

It controls the Native Instruments B4II on my laptop; and also the incredibly useful, if perhaps difficult to use SM ProAudio Vmachine.

Anyway, for you keyboard nerds, here's how to convert an old style fatar hammer action keyboard to an organ touch, waterfall keyboard. But to be honest, in retrospect - It's probably a hell of a lot easier to simply purchase the Fatar TP/80 keybed from Doepfer or Analogue Haven. But if you have time on your hands, and a buggered ensoniq or studiologic board that you'd like to recycle; you'll need a hacksaw, chisel, fine tooth file, and abrasive toilet cleaner, or toothpaste. The results are really worth it - the feel of the keys bottoming out is a lot nicer compared to the TP/80 keybed. 
I personally think that photos and your intuition is probably better than step by step instructions. Feel free to email me if you have questions, but basically, you need to slice off  the key lip with a chisel, file and polish it down to the waterfall style; also remove the weights and excessive height of the keybed, and tighten the springs.  Here's a couple of photos.

Those last couple probably make no sense at all, unless you actually own the keyboard assembly in question. If you do; this is a total height of 54mm. you'll get how it's done.