Keyboardpartner UG HX3 User manual

KEYBOARDPARTNER UG
HX3 MIDI Expander Version 4.25
HX3 MIDI expander is a tonewheel
organ emulation with all B3 features
in a small box. Controlled completely
via MIDI, selectable CC-sets for
various keyboards. 30 presets (to be
stored locally), unlimited polyphony,
many parameters tweakable by
simple menus - like key click
response, more or less percussion
punch etc. And, of course, it yields
the legendary unmatched HX3
sound.
Features
• Compact organ emulator in aluminum box, 222 x 150 x 42 mm
• Authentic reproduction of generator, tapering, key contacts, percussion and
vibrato by FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and physical modelling
• Tunable in range of A = 433 through 447 Hz
• Extremely low internal latency of 50 microseconds Key-to-Audio. However,
MIDI transmission delays are about 1 ms per note played.
• Natural key click by "rattling" contacts
• Accurate Rotary simulation with separate 122 amp output
• Dual MIDI IN for 2 separate keyboards or bass pedal
• LEDs show vibrato and percussion setting
• LCD display and menu system with 2x16 presets and parameter tuning
• Swell (expression) pedal and footswitch jacks
• Mini-USB for firmware updates and parameter editor
• Built-in reverb DSP with 3 levels
• Hand-crafted in Germany
Default MIDI setting is channels 1/2/3 for upper/lower/bass, MIDI CC NI B4 with
Sustain on CC #64.
DC input 9 to 12V, 500 mA min., 5.5/2.1 mm plug, plus on center.
Trademarks Hammond®, B3® and Leslie® belong to Hammond Suzuki Corporation (Japan).
Trademark NI B4 belongs to Native Intrumens GmbH, Germany. Product and company names used in
this document apply for illustration and example purposes only.
Keyboardpartner is not related to these trade marks in any way.

Please read this manual carefully before using the HX3 Drawbar
Expander.
Only clean with damp soft cloth. Using detergents or solvents may
deteriorate finish and lettering.
Wood parts are unique, so deviations in colour and texture may
occur. Maintain finish by using medium dark wood wax or wood oil.
Do not allow water spills to stain into wood.
Keep packaging in case of service shipment.
Only use appropriate power supply as advised. Input voltages
exceeding 15V may damage the device.
Designed for indoor use only. Do not use HX3 Drawbar Expander
in moist places. Do not spill liquids or solvents into unit.
No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer to qualified technician or
service representative if problems occur.
All information given herein is given to describe certain
components and shall not be considered as a guarantee of
characteristics. Rights to technical changes reserved.
EU conformity declaration
This device conforms to EU regulations
EMV-Richtlinie 2004/108/EG
Niederspannungsrichtlinie 2006/95 EG
RoHS-Richtlinie 2011/65/EU
Made in Germany by
KEYBOARDPARTNER UG
Entwicklung elektronischer Musikinstrumente
Carsten Meyer s Ithweg 37 s D-30851 Langenhagen
Web: www.keyboardpartner.de Instructions: wiki.keyboardpartner.de
EMail: [email protected]

1.0 Jack Connections
The HX3 expander module has two 1/4" mono audio output jacks, one DC input
jack, one USB mini connector and two accessory jacks on back panel.
• AUDIO1/AUDIO2: Typically rotary simulation stereo output, may be
configured by menu to custom setting. Output level is approx. 300 mV at full
swell.
• SWELL PEDAL ¼” stereo jack. Expression pedal input is compatible with
Yamaha FC-7 and similar expression pedals (direct connection preferred for
speed/accuracy, but may also be remote controlled by MIDI control change,
controller 11). Plug connection: Sleeve = ground / potentiometer start, ring =
potentiometer tap, tip = potentiometer end.
• FOOT SWITCH ¼” stereo jack. Single or double footswitch controls simulated
rotary speed: SLOW/FAST on plug tip, RUN/STOP on plug ring. Please use
latching foot switches; momentary (button type) switches are not supported. If
single footswitch used, Rotary is always on RUN (no plug ring, input grounded
by plug sleeve).
• MIDI IN primary input from MIDI keyboard.
• MIDI IN/OUT factory default secondary MIDI input for additional lower manual,
bass pedal or MIDI controller. Internally jumpered to supply +5V/200ma to our
Drawbar Controller (phantom voltage). May be changed to act as MIDI OUT
by internal jumper swap. See our wiki page for details.
• DC IN: Use stabilized DC wall wart 9 to 12V with at least 500mA current
output, inner/outer plug diameter 2.1/5.5 mm on DC input jack. Polarity:
positive voltage on inner tip.
• USB: Mini USB connector for updates and configuration by HX3 Remote or
HX3 Flash application. Not suitable for MIDI over USB.

1.1 Volume Control
Output level of all output channels is controlled by Master volume setting in menu
or MIDI CC #7 “Volume”, whichever occurs last.
Organ's swell pedal position is controlled by an expression pedal or MIDI CC #11
“Expression”, whichever occurs last. HX3 resembles a loudness curve similar to the
swell pedal of a classic tonewheel organ, so volume will not reach zero. We
recommend connecting an expression pedal Yamaha FC-7 or similar (1/4" jack, 10k
to 47k total resistance) directly to the HX3 module.
Press menu panel encoder knob briefly to switch to Rotary Tube Amp Gain control.
If gain is set to high levels, the simulated tube amplifier will distort/overdrive on full
swell. Press menu panel encoder knob again to obtain Main Volume overall output
level menu.
MIDI CC #11 and #7 may be changed by menu to any other valid MIDI CC number.
2.0 Panel Buttons
(only on HX3 Drawbar Expander)
3.0 Menu Panel
The Menu Panel knob Data Entry (incremental encoder) will change drawbar preset
numbers from 0 to 15, parameters in other menu entries or rotary TubeAmp Gain,
depending on menu mode.
On power on, the presets/drawbar menu is present. Press knob briefly to switch to
Rotary Tube Amp Gain control and back. Rotary Volume acts like the potentiometer
found on classic Leslie™ cabinets: If set to high levels, the simulated tube amplifier
will distort/overdrive on full swell.
Each manual yields 16 presets (0..15). An arrow indicates if upper or lower manual
preset change is active. Use Up/Down buttons to switch from upper to lower and vice
versa. LED buttons will show current percussion and vibrato setting.
Press Up/Down buttons several times to reach other menu entries (press and hold for
auto-repeat). For faster access, upper drawbar settings are located on top of preset
menu, lower drawbar settings and default settings are located below of preset menu.
• Use Up/Down buttons to scroll through menu items.
• Use the incremental encoder knob Data Entry to change parameter values.
Changes are temporary; to make them permanent, press incremental encoder
knob for 2 seconds until a “Saved” message appears in display. Changed
parameters which have not yet been saved are marked with an "*" asterisk in
upper display line.
• In main menu (presets/drawbar display), turning the knob changes preset
numbers for upper or lower manual.

The menu system consists of about 50 entries. A "<" arrow will direct to the
parameter to be changed. Vertical arrows indicate if parameter is at limits or not.
3.1 Main Display Upper/Lower
• DrbUXXXXXXXXX - default main menu, shows upper drawbar settings as
numbers 0 to 8 (here represented as "X"). Incremental knob recalls UPR
(upper preset) number. Preset 0 is a “live” setting UDB (upper drawbars).
Returning from any preset UPR to drawbars UDB restores last drawbar
setting.
• PXXLXXXXXXXXX- same for pedal (P) and lower (L) drawbars, incremental
knob recalls preset.
3.1.1 Upper Manual
Step upwards to reach upper manual settings; change to desired value by turning
incremental encoder knob. Save changes to current preset by pressing knob for more
than 2 seconds. On “live” drawbar preset 0 (DrbU) any changes are always saved
temporarily and restored when returning from preset to “live” in main menu.
• UpperDB 1 to UpperDB 16 - drawbar setting for upper manual
• UPR< LWR Vibr - vibrato/chorus ON/OFF for upper manual
• UPR LWR Vibr< - vibrato knob setting V1 to C3
• Percussion - will step through available percussion combinations of
NORM/SOFT, FAST/SLOW, 2nd/3rd (8 options) plus OFF.
3.1.2 Lower Manual
Step downwards to reach lower manual settings; change to desired value by turning
incremental encoder knob. Save changes to current preset by pressing knob for more
than 2 seconds. On “live” drawbar preset 0 (DrbL) any changes are always saved
temporarily and restored when returning from preset to “live” in main menu. Bass
pedal settings are saved along with lower manual presets. All lower manual settings
are indicated by ‘L’ on display.
• UPR LWR< Vibr - vibrato/chorus ON/OFF for lower manual
• LowerDB 16 to LowerDB 1 - drawbar setting for upper manual
• PedalDB 16 to PedalDB 8 - drawbar setting for pedals
• PedalSustain - changes pedal sustain release time. Set to 0 to obtain B3
pedal sound. Saved to lower preset

3.2 Defaults Group
Step downwards to reach lower manual settings; change to desired value by turning
incremental encoder knob. Save changes to current preset by pressing knob for more
than 2 seconds. On “live” drawbar preset 0 (DrbL) any changes are always saved
temporarily and restored when returning from preset to “live” in main menu.
• TubeAmp Gain, sets volume of internal rotary tube amp simulation from 0 to
full (overdriven tube amp). This menu entry may be reached directly from main
menu by pressing encoder knob briefly. Amp will get into decent saturation on
increased swell amount and higher gain values as seen on ‘real’ amps.
Amount of distortion is controlled by swell pedal.
• Master Volume, sets final volume of all outputs. For best noise performance,
higher values are desirable.
• ToneTrimPot mimics TONE pot on simulated AO28 amp; well, a little bit more
on high values.
• Reverb Prgm selects one of 3 different reverb programs. For each program,
amount of reverb may be adjusted.
o Reverb Lvl 1 reverb amount of reverb program 1
o Reverb Lvl 2 reverb amount of reverb program 2
o Reverb Lvl 3 reverb amount of reverb program 3
These parameters are saved to power-on defaults when encoder knob is pressed
more than 2 seconds.

3.2.1 Split Configuration
Keyboard split default is pedal mapped to lower manual on first 25 keys (console
organ pedal range, two octaves). To save split mode and split point to power-on
default, go to menu entry “Split Mode” and press encoder knob for 2 seconds. Default
split modes may be changed by menu:
• Split Manual switches split mode on or off.
• Split Mode default split setting on power-up, engaged when split set to ON.
o 'PedalToLower', map pedal to lower manual up to split point
o 'LowerToUpper', map lower to upper manual up to split point
o 'PedalToUpper', map pedal to upper manual up to split point
o 'LowerToU +1', map lower to upper manual up to split point, transpose
lower +1 octave
o 'LowerToU +2' map lower to upper manual up to split point, transpose
lower +2 octave
• Split Point sets split point (when split is on) as key number (24 is second „C“
on manual).
All of these parameters are saved to power-on defaults if encoder knob is pressed
more than 2 seconds (message will appear). Split mode may also be changed by one
of the following procedures:
• Pedal to Lower: Press and hold desired lower manual key while switching
SPLIT on to obtain a custom split point (useful for playing pedal bass lines on
dual manual keyboards without bass pedals).
• Lower to Upper: Press a single key on upper manual while switching SPLIT
on to map lower to upper manual up to this key (useful for playing 16’ bass
lines or 4’ accompaniment chords on single manual keyboards).
• Pedal to Upper: Press two keys simultaneously on upper manual while
switching SPLIT on to map pedal to upper manual up to highest of both keys
pressed (useful for playing pedal bass lines on single manual keyboards
without bass pedal).
• Lower to Upper +1: Press three keys simultaneously on upper manual while
switching SPLIT on to map lower to upper manual up to highest of all keys
pressed. Lower notes range is transposed one octave up (useful for left-hand
8’ accompaniment chords on single manual keyboards).
• Lower to Upper +2: Press four keys simultaneously on upper manual while
switching SPLIT on to map lower to upper manual up to highest of all keys
pressed. Lower notes range is transposed two octaves up (useful for left-hand
16’ accompaniment chords on single manual keyboards).

3.2.2 Output Configuration
HX3 generates five output signals: rotary stereo simulation left/right, plain organ,
bass pedal, and organ with rotary tube amp simulation. All output signals may be
routed to any output jack. Two configurations are available, so you may set these for
your own needs and toggle between them simply by "Audio Jacks" menu. Factory
default is set to match rear panel jack lettering.
• Audio Jacks - Switches between two output configurations Config A or
Config B which may be configured separately.
• AudioJ Conf A sets audio jack configuration A and
• AudioJ Conf B sets audio jack configuration B according to table below.
There are 32 entries total on each configuration: 16 with no bass pedal added, and
same 16 with bass pedal added to organ, amp and rotary simulation signals
(marked by +B in display). Please note: It is not possible to route the same signal to
more than one output.
Configuration
AUDIO 1
AUDIO 2
Organ/BPed
Organ Plain
Pedal
BPed/Organ
Pedal
Organ Plain
Rotary L/R
Rotary Left
Rotary Right
Rotary R/L
Rotary Right
Rotary Left
Organ/RotL
Organ
Rotary Left
RotL/Organ
Rotary Left
Organ Plain
BPed/RotR
Pedal
Rotary Right
RotR/BPed
Rotary Right
Pedal
Amp/BPed
Organ AmpSim
Pedal
BPed/Amp
Pedal
Organ AmpSim
Rotary L/R
Rotary Left
Rotary Right
Rotary R/L
Rotary Right
Rotary Left
Amp/RotR
Organ AmpSim
Rotary Left
RotL/Amp
Rotary Left
Organ AmpSim
BPed/RotR
Pedal
Rotary Right
RotR/BPed
Rotary Right
Pedal
Description: L and R = rotary cabinet sim left/right channel, ORG = plain organ signal
like G-G output on B3®, AMP = organ signal with Leslie® tube amp simulation and
overdrive (controlled by Rotary volume), PD = bass pedals.

3.2.3 Commons Group
• Transpose all manuals and pedal from -6 to +7 semitones. Notes beyond 5
octave limits of console organ will not produce any sound due to accuracy of
physical model.
• MIDI Channel sets MIDI base receive channel 1 to 10 (upper manual, lower
manual is on +1, pedals on +2).
• MIDI Option <RcvSendMerge> - sets MIDI routing behaviour to
o 'ReceiveThru' (MIDI OUT is THRU),
o 'ReceiveSend' (MIDI received, only own MIDI key events to MIDI OUT),
o 'RcvSendMerge'(MIDI received, own MIDI key events and incoming
MIDI events merged to MIDI OUT) and
o 'RcvSndMgNoCC' (as before, but MIDI CC commands discarded). On
expander module, only valid setting is 'ReceiveThru'.
• MIDI CC Set <NI B4> - sets recognized MIDI CC set to
o 'NI B4' Native Instruments B4 (default),
o 'Voce' MIDI drawbars,
o ''KeyB Duo'
o Hamichord' (or 'KeyB Duo' on special request),
o 'Hammond XK',
o 'Hammond SK' (Note: Hammond changed MIDI CC set between XK
and SK series, so try out which will fit)
o ‘Custom CC’, predefined for Nord C2, may be changed to custom
values by HX3 Remote application.
o ‘NI B4 .’ to 'Custom CC .': Sostenuto enabled CC sets are marked with
a full stop (dot). Per default, HX3 recognizes MIDI CC #64 as “Sustain”.
Same sets as above with dot will recognize MIDI CC #64 as
“Sostenuto” (keys already pressed when Sostenuto is enganged will
sustain, new keys not).
• MIDI Swell CC sets accepted swell/expression CC number (default #11).
• MIDI VolumeCC sets accepted overall volume CC number (default #7).

3.2.4 Vibrato Group
Detailed modelling of scanner vibrato yields lots of adjustable parameters. Avoid to
randomly change parameters as they are intended for real organ enthusiasts – you
should know what you’re doing.
• Scanner Gears adjusts scanner drive gearing and therefore vibrato
frequency.
• Scanner Leak adjuste leakage of higher notes in scanner compartment due to
parasitic capacitances.
• VibCh AmplMod adjusts amplitude modulation caused by delay line on all
vibrato/chorus knob settings.
• VibCh PreEmph adjusts treble increase when vibrato/chorus is switched on.
Effect on chorus is obvious, while increase on Vibrato is more subtile.
• VibCh Reflect sets amount of reflected signal on LC linebox due to aged
caps. Higher values will lead to a ‚celeste’-like effect as found on model M100.
• VibCh Response sets upper frequency response of LC linebox.
• Ch LineboxLvl adjusts ‚wet’ modulated amount when in chorus mode.
• Ch BypassLvl adusts ‚dry’ unmodulated amount when in chorus mode.
• V1..C3 ModAmount sets modulation amount for each vibrato knob setting (6
menus)
3.2.5 Percussion Group
• PercNormLvl adjusts percussion level in PERC ON, NORMAL tab setting.
• PercSoftLvl adjusts percussion level in PERC ON, SOFT tab setting.
• PercLongTm adjusts percussion decay rate in PERC ON, SLOW tab setting
(higher value = faster).
• PercShortTm adjusts percussion decay rate in PERC ON, FAST tab setting
(higher value = faster).
• PercMuteDB sets drawbar muting amount while in Perc NORM. No mute will
happen if value set to 250.