My first visit to the Frankfurt Music Fair was in 1974 as a young shop manager flying Dan-air on a day trip from Luton.
Coincidentally it was also the first time I had flown, so I didn’t really know how to worry about the fog conditions and the two hours circling Frankfurt before attempting to land and overshooting the runway. I think I managed about two hours at the fair .
Over the years there have been a number of very enjoyable and also very important times spent at the fair. But this year was probably one of the most important.
Hammond Europe had again excelled in creating a Hammond stand which was both striking and functional, enabling continuous noise free demos to take place during the day , a hands on area and room to welcome guests , buyers and artists from all over the world.
On the opening day HSE had arranged a very special product launch event with guest of honour Jon Lord, a very special privilege from a Hammond icon who rarely makes product endorsement appearances. With our very own Malc Deakin chosen to look after the product dems , a totally new chapter of the Hammond story was about to be written as the new Sk series was unveiled.
I was first exposed to the new Sk concept about a year ago. Since that time, with input from around the world, Suzuki has refined its original features and design and all came together for an extremely successful first showing.
As is now the norm, an event that took place in 20 square meters in Frankfurt has now been placed, by various camcorders or phone cameras, on a multitude of web sites and forums around the world. As they say, the new Sk is ‘out there’.
The Sk series is not intended to replace any existing models but is designed to expand the current range by providing features that will appeal to a much broader range of customers.
We will be taking delivery of these instruments in about six weeks time when we will organise a definitive video demo and a special session event so you can personally get together with these amazing new keyboards.
Barrie
SK-2 is just 16KG
The SK-1 will be available from June 2011 shortly followed by the SK-2
download the brochure here
pre order here
DEMO BOOTH...... MY STAGE AT THE SHOW SK-1 FOREGROUND SK-2 REAR
Well I am now back from Frankfurt after an amazingly successful launch of the new SK1 and SK2 Stage Keyboards.
Day 1 was fantastic and Jon Lord did a great job of officially launching the SK's
Then it was up to moi ! (-:
The demo room was fantastic (pictured above) and was pretty much full for every show.
The new SK-1 and SK-2 keyboards are incredible.
In live performance the ease at which you can select voices layer them or split and zone them on the fly is fantastic.
The sound quality of the VASE III digital tonewheel generator as we all know is awesome and the same as on the new B-3 so you know it will deliver that authentic Hammond sound and feel.
The extra Vintage Keys Voices are equally impressive and I soon found myself creating patches and layers that took the Hammond Player to another dimension without the need of extra MIDI outboard gear.
Everything from 60's Organ BLUES ( it has a great PR40 cab simulator) to FUNK, SLUSHY POP, ROCK PRODUCTION NUMBERS, CLASSICAL PIPE ORGAN PIECES, and HARD HITTING FUNKY CLAV and Hammond Layers were handled with ease. It has a duel effects processor so you can for instance put a flanger on a Clavinet or E. Piano sample and then add a wah wah to the organ sounds. very cool.
I got bored of telling people that we did not have a Leslie hidden somewhere and it was the internal Leslie simulator going through the demo booth straight PA.
The PA by the way was OUTSTANDINGLY AWESOME. We used the HK AUDIO ELEMENTS SYSTEM which was amazing. Thanks to all at HK for installing and setting this rig up for me.
I will write more about this PA system in another BLOG for those who are interested.
Many thanks to all the kind comments I received at the show and in my In-Box when I arrived home.
I met many old friends last week and made a good few new ones.
There was a nice email in particular from Michel Devos who is a very experienced and respected recording engineer who has huge experience in recording Hammond Organs with the likes of Rhoda Scott, Dirk van der Linden to mention a few.. and I quote:
Subject: your demo at the Musik Messe yesterday
Message: Hi Malc,
Just a few lines to tell you how much I was impressed by your performance, your thorough knowledge of the Hammond and the music in which it shines at his best. Your demo completely convinced me that the new SK is a winner : a perfect combination of the vintage B3 sound and a really nice synth side for other musical genres. In every aspect, the sound is excellent, I expect it will be even better when fed to 3300's. I am myself a recording engineer having worked extensively with Rhoda Scott and Dirk va der Linden, meaning I have a reasonable knowledge of what a Hammond should do...Congratulations to the SK AND you, the winning team.
Kind regards
Michel Devos
Brussels
Thats about it for now.
More on the SK1 and SK2 soon and how it all works.
Few pics from the show below.
Cheers .. Malc
LAUNCH SHOW .. WORLD PREMIER OF THE SK-1 AND SK-2 STAGE KEYBOARDS
JON LORD TALKS ABOUT THE NEW HAMMOND ORGANS AND HOW HE LOVES THEM
MY SK-2 READY FOR THE SHOW
THE MACBOOK WAS ONLY USED FOR VIDEO / PRODUCT SLIDES ETC ON THE SCREEN
