Hollow Sun – Vox Continental (KONTAKT)

 

Publisher : Hollow Sun
Website : Hollow Sun
Format : KONTAKT
Quality : 24 bit 44.1 kHz stereo

Description : Vox Continental, probably the most famous of the transistor organs of the new generation, which appeared in the early 60-ies.
Previously, bodies were built around the technology of modeling the phonical wheels. This undoubtedly created a fantastic (classical) sound of the organ, but made the instruments heavy and cumbersome (and expensive). With the advent of transistors, it was possible to create lightweight portable organs … in theory.
In practice, most of these organs sounded thin and weak compared to the classics. However, this sound itself attracted new music “surf” and “beatnik”, which developed at that time. Portability also attracted the group. Vox Continental was unusual in that it actually sounded quite good … not cheap and cheesy, like many of its competitors.
These organs used “divide down” technology (like later string synthesizers), where there is a main octave oscillator, and all subsequent octaves are generated simply by dividing the frequency in half, and then by half, and so on. This made it possible to make these transistor bodies very economical.
Although perhaps better known for its amplifiers (for example, the legendary AC30), Vox actually began as a producer of “ordinary” home and church organs. With the advent of new microtechnology of transistors, they saw the opportunity to use this technology in their products.
Vox Continental was the first of them (1962) and had registers switches for creating sounds. The first three whites allowed you to adjust the positions of the registers 16 ‘, 8’ and 4 ‘, while the two burgundy registers adjusted the basic levels of control of the sinusoidal wave and the reedy sawtooth wave. The fourth white register was designated as “IV” (known as “Rank IV” – we do not know why!) And represented higher harmonics. Below there were switches and a switch for activating a simple vibrato effect.
Of course, one of the distinguishing features of Continental was a keyboard with keys of opposite colors (black basic and white sharps). This style did not serve any purpose, except how to make the thing more distinctive. Another distinguishing feature of the instrument was its bright, chrome-plated “Z-shaped” legs – this thing looked cool compared to the stuffy wooden cabinets of that time!
Vox continued to make Continental and its other variants. Later, they released the Jaguar, but many argue that this is a bad substitute for Continental. Vox Continental’s most famous user was probably Ray Manzarek of Doors, but before that, the instrument was used by the British organist Alan Price (The Animals), Dave Clarke Five, Tornados and many others.
Despite the absence of body and depth as a “right” organ, Continental, however, has a strong and recognizable sound and has many fans today. If distorted through the amplifier and cabinet, the thing can really rock!
The Kontakt version recreates the front panel of the original, but with some obvious advantages, as well as with amp and cabinet imitation, rotating speakers, and more modern effects such as chorus and reverb. There is even a “Damage” control.