Abacus....... I am afraid I don't believe I have ever come across an Akai product that is capable of the single trigger, polyphonic voice system that is necessary to achieve the Hammond percussion/legato-staccato effect by playing it. Sure, you can paint transients in with a sequencer, but to perform it live, you have to have a voice priority scheme that has virtually never appeared in a synth.

Here's the skinny...... you need something that is akin to monophonic mode, where the voice envelopes (actually, the voice itself) doesn't re-trigger until you release ALL the keys, but is still polyphonic, so you can play chords.

This is what happens with the Hammond B3's percussion section, albeit with a different electro-mechanical method. But the results are the same. And, for B3 lovers, the ability to be able to phrase and emphasize licks with careful use of legato/staccato technique, to bring in the percussion exactly where YOU want it, and not where you don't, is integral to the whole playing experience. Look at the lengths owners of pre-percussion Hammond owners go to to add this humble feature.....

Now, to my recollection (and I've been hunting this voice allocation scheme since the Minimoog days) no synth or sampler has ever chosen to support this, despite the obvious advantages, especially to sampled sounds.

Let's examine the case of a nice, legato sax sample.... Obviously, despite the fact that this is what we are usually stuck with, no-one wants to use a tongued sample for a legato line, but no-one wants to use a legato sample for a tongued note. How do you get both in the same line? A tongued note at the start of the phrase, and legato notes until you WANT to tongue again?

I believe how Yamaha have achieved this is to tell the voice engine 'first note, play tongued sample, then play legato samples until you see all notes lifted, then play tongued sample again'..... The genius of this is that it doesn't have to be a monophonic sound, so you can achieve real phrasing even on section playing, as Yamaha have done with the String SA voices as well as wind and brass.

For anyone used to phrasing a B3 correctly, getting a good performance from the SA voices must be a snap. For the rest, start paying REAL close attention to your legato/staccato phrasing..... and practice, practice, practice.....

Now, Abacus, if you know of ANY sampler that allows this triggering system, please tell me (I am not interested in GIGA software solutions, it has to be realtime hardware-based), as I have been searching forever.....

Now all I have to do is wait until Yamaha port the technology over to their workstation line, and get a module to go with my G70 (or the rapture arrives and Yamaha release a 76 note Tyros3!).......