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How the VK-8 Works
Vibrato and Chorus
Traditional tone wheel organs provided a total of six different effects: three kinds of vibrato (V1, V2, V3) and
three kinds of chorus (C1, C2, C3).
Vibrato is an effect that cyclically modulates the pitch, and chorus is an effect that modulates the pitch to
produce spaciousness and depth.
Harmonic bars
The harmonic bars of a tone wheel organ are arranged in ascending order of pitch, from left to right.
Borrowing some inspiration from the pipes of a pipe organ, the bars are labeled in “feet,” with 8’ being the
fundamental.
There is one exception in the ordering of the harmonic bars, and that is the 5-1/3’ bar located second from the
left. According to the pitch order, this should be the third from the left, but since 5-1/3’ is an overtone of 16’,
and blends with the 16’ sound, it is placed beside the 16’ bar.
The harmonic bars are color-coded in three colors. The bars whose pitches are in octave relation to 8’ are white,
the bars that are not octave harmonics are black, and the lower pitch range is brown.
On tone wheel organs, the highest feet were repeated (“reused”) in the high keyboard range, and the lowest
feet were repeated in the low range. This is called “fold-back.”
If an organ had 109 tone wheels, all nine harmonics of the harmonic bars could be sounded by all 61 keys of
a tone wheel organ. However, if this were the case, the upper range would be unpleasantly screechy, and the
lower range would be excessively low and muddy-sounding.
For this reason, fold-back is used on the VK-8 to produce a well-balanced sound.
Amp Type (Rotary, Overdrive, Tone)
By using a rotary speaker with a tone wheel organ, you can create modulation and a sense of rotation,
producing a spacious, three-dimensional sound.
On the VK-8, the volume of the rotary speaker, the time over which rotation will transition between fast and
slow, the speed of rotation in fast and slow states, and the sense of spaciousness can each be adjusted
independently for the tweeter and woofer.
Reverb
Reverb is an effect that adds reverberation to the sound. Reverb types ROOM, HALL, and CHURCH add the
reverberation of differently sized acoustical spaces. The SPRING reverb type simulates a reverb circuit that
used springs, and was often found on traditional organs.
The VK-8 lets you adjust the reverb time (p. 57). Also, by turning the [REVERB] knob you can adjust the
volume of the reverb (p. 37).
How the Other Tones are Created
The VK-8 also contains sounds other than organ sounds. These are referred to as “OTHER TONES.” OTHER
TONES can be played on Upper, Lower, or Pedal.
OTHER TONES provide the following eight sounds.
1. PIANO
2. ELECTRIC PIANO 1
3. ELECTRIC PIANO 2
4. STRINGS
5. JAZZ SCAT
6. CHOIR
7. SYNTH
8. BRASS