What is "clonewheel organ"

n. (context musical instruments English) Any kind of electronic musical instrument which can emulate the sound of any of the tonewheel based Hammond organs

"Clonewheel organ" is a jargon term used to refer to an electronic musical instrument that emulates (or "clones") the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond. The phrase "clonewheel" is a pun on the term used to describe how the original Hammond produces sound: through " tonewheels". The first generation of clonewheel organs used synthesizer voices, which were not able to accurately reproduce the Hammond sound. In the 1990s and 2000s, clonewheel organs began using sampling or digital signal processing techniques, which were much better able to capture the nuances of the vintage Hammond sound.

Clonewheel organs can be either keyboard-based instruments such as the Korg CX-3 or the Roland VK-7; or keyboardless emulation devices, which include MIDI modules, such as the E-MU B-3 module and software-based "virtual synths" (such as the B4 by Native Instruments [discontinued]). To use keyboardless emulation devices, they need to be connected to a MIDI-enabled keyboard.