Dexibell Vivo SX7 piano module

[AnotherScott]

I saw a screen shot of an editor that has "lower" "coupled" and "main" as part of a part select screen, that might indicate it can do at least 2 sounds at once.

That's how the S7 keyboard works. It would be nice if the module has the same split/layer functionality, though the Split and Layer buttons are two of the front panel keyboard buttons that did not make it to the module.

[Delaware Dave]

Audio of the J7 combo organ. At 1:05, the slow leslie is much too fast. At 1:10 he turns off the C/V so prior to 1:10 you can hear how the C/V interacts with the leslie. At 1:18 he engages the fast leslie (w/o C/V) and the horn sounds rather hideous. There is no aux out so that the organ output can be routed separately to an ext leslie sim.

 

I cannot seem to find an owner's manual online to understand what might be adjustable on the unit. Perhaps slowing down the horn in both slow and fast speed might help the leslie.

 

[video:youtube]

[JakeJackson]

The pianos sound as though they may be good, but I haven't heard a demonstration yet that shows them clearly. Usually just a few seconds of playing.

[ElmerJFudd]

Probably good pairing with a Numa Organ 1/2, XK-1c and the like. Even SK if youre not happy with the pianos.

 

Im envisioning getting into sf2 programming and looking for outfits that offer their stuff in the format if this turns out to be a nice piece of hardware.

 

On a side note, I dont think GSi is done with the AP on the Gemini.

[jahfume]

 

"On a side note, I dont think GSi is done with the AP on the Gemini."

 

This may be the nudge GSi needs to up-grade the piano on the Gemini module. Especially as Dexibell are going to up-grade their Acoustic emulation from Gold (currently) to Platinum soon.

Im wondering what comes after Platinum?

 

 

[area51recording]

I think it's a real commentary as to all the good choices out for DP's that when I first heard the piano in that video my reaction was kind of.....meh.....sounds ok......

[ElmerJFudd]

[video:youtube]

Its apparently highly editable as demonstrated above.

If not enjoying their presets, Id be surprised if were not able to get what we like out of the base samples and tweaking. It would also seem they are getting on the growing sample library train. So with user feedback perhaps we see this company (which seems to have some backing with deep pockets) making a dent at some point. Theyve certainly peaked my interest from a year ago.

[JakeJackson]

In the comments section for this, already posted video about the VIVO SX7 module, Dexibell says that the price will be 1190, which would be about $1450 US. Seems a bit steep, unless that's the suggested retail price instead of the expected actual price:

 

 

[teashea]

Audio of the J7 combo organ. At 1:05, the slow leslie is much too fast. At 1:10 he turns off the C/V so prior to 1:10 you can hear how the C/V interacts with the leslie. At 1:18 he engages the fast leslie (w/o C/V) and the horn sounds rather hideous. There is no aux out so that the organ output can be routed separately to an ext leslie sim.

 

I cannot seem to find an owner's manual online to understand what might be adjustable on the unit. Perhaps slowing down the horn in both slow and fast speed might help the leslie.

 

[video:youtube]

 

The Leslie sim has extensive editing of parameters.

 

[teashea]

The pianos sound as though they may be good, but I haven't heard a demonstration yet that shows them clearly. Usually just a few seconds of playing.

 

Since the acoustic piano sounds are identical on all Dexibell keyboards, you can listen/watch any of the Dexibell videos on YT. There are some that are good.

 

I have five Dexibell keyboards and the AP is excellent on all of them. To me they are better than any of the keyboards I own. Part of this is attributable to the basic power of the engine, which is a quad core processor that is capable of 320 oscillators at once. In addition their sampling time is 15 seconds, which is much longer than the usual 3 seconds. On top of all that their modeling is very well designed and implemented. They really know what they are doing.

[MalH]

Which app are you using to run that? And which iPad are you using? (to know how much RAM you have)

 

I ported an open-source player to iOS:

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2900811/SFZero_an_open_source_SF2_and_#Post2900811

 

I'm using the latest iPad Pro 12". I implemented stream-from-disk in the app in order to run large instruments. AUv3 on iOS are only limited to several hundred MBs RAM.

[ElmerJFudd]

The pianos sound as though they may be good, but I haven't heard a demonstration yet that shows them clearly. Usually just a few seconds of playing.

 

Since the acoustic piano sounds are identical on all Dexibell keyboards, you can listen/watch any of the Dexibell videos on YT. There are some that are good.

 

I have five Dexibell keyboards and the AP is excellent on all of them. To me they are better than any of the keyboards I own. Part of this is attributable to the basic power of the engine, which is a quad core processor that is capable of 320 oscillators at once. In addition their sampling time is 15 seconds, which is much longer than the usual 3 seconds. On top of all that their modeling is very well designed and implemented. They really know what they are doing.

 

The specs are good, but the real issue is going to be if we like the source instruments, the way they sampled them, and the way they programmed them to sound and behave. Which is why even a lesser specd machine can please us sonically even if the engine is not as modern. And also to what extent they are using modeling and if we like how that sounds. How pleasing the individual fx sound (even if you can run 5, 10 at a time - are they good?) Its a tricky thing this digital instrument building.

[JakeJackson]

 

I have five Dexibell keyboards and the AP is excellent on all of them. To me they are better than any of the keyboards I own. Part of this is attributable to the basic power of the engine, which is a quad core processor that is capable of 320 oscillators at once. In addition their sampling time is 15 seconds, which is much longer than the usual 3 seconds. On top of all that their modeling is very well designed and implemented. They really know what they are doing.

 

Is the piano the same on all of these instruments? The same samples, in other words? Or only on some of them? (And I must ask--Why do you have 5 of these fairly recently released keyboards? Beta testing?)

[AnotherScott]

Which app are you using to run that? And which iPad are you using? (to know how much RAM you have)

 

I ported an open-source player to iOS:

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2900811/SFZero_an_open_source_SF2_and_#Post2900811.

The link there is currently broken.

 

Anyway, I wasn't aware there was even any way to install an app on an iPad except via the app store, unless your iPad was jailbroken or you were a developer. Any instructions available on how to install your app?

 

I bet you could use kickstarter to quickly raise more than the $100 you need to get the app up on the store for a year. You'd probably get it in a day just from people on this forum. ;-)

 

I'm using the latest iPad Pro 12". I implemented stream-from-disk in the app in order to run large instruments. AUv3 on iOS are only limited to several hundred MBs RAM.

The iPad has 4 GB RAM, doesn't it? So you wouldn't need to stream from disk to use a 2 GB soundfont. Have you tested this on an iOS device that has just 1 GB RAM?

[ElmerJFudd]

You can install a pre-release app on an iPad using Test Flight.

https://developer.apple.com/testflight/

[DanL]

Audio of the J7 combo organ. At 1:05, the slow leslie is much too fast. At 1:10 he turns off the C/V so prior to 1:10 you can hear how the C/V interacts with the leslie. At 1:18 he engages the fast leslie (w/o C/V) and the horn sounds rather hideous. There is no aux out so that the organ output can be routed separately to an ext leslie sim.

 

I cannot seem to find an owner's manual online to understand what might be adjustable on the unit. Perhaps slowing down the horn in both slow and fast speed might help the leslie.

 

[video:youtube]

 

You can download the manual from their website.

[Delaware Dave]

I saw an owners manual for the vivo s7 but do not see the owners manual for the J7. Nor could I find one through google.

[PianoManChuck]

I saw an owners manual for the vivo s7 but do not see the owners manual for the J7. Nor could I find one through google.

Dexibell J7 Owners Manual

[DanL]

page 37 gives all the leslie parameters. The standard variety but surely tweakable enough.

 

[Delaware Dave]

Yeah, I just checked it out. The parameters are also in RPM for speed, so theoretically if the settings are accurate you could slow the horn down to the speed of a 122, same with the ramp, the ramp is in seconds, so I think you might be able to get an acceptable leslie; the 'hideous' horn I am hearing I believe has to do with the super fast speed of the horn; slowed down I think it would be OK. The one issue I do see is that although there is upper, lower and pedal for drawbar settings I don't think you can play two full manuals, i.e. J7 playing the full upper keyboard and a 2nd keyboard playing the full lower keyboard. You can play two parts but it would be layered, so if you pressed a key it would play both the upper and lower sounds at the same time. If you use the split function then the 2nd keyboard would play below the split point and the upper keyboard would play above the split point. I did not see any functionality (for organ) where the upper keyboard would play all keys for the Swell only and the lower keyboard would play all keys for the Great only. I'm hoping I'm wrong; this would be a bummer. This could also be corrected potentially in a future firmware upgrade. Also, no aux output to route the organ separately for an external leslie sim, another bummer and potentially correctable with a firmware upgrade that uses the headphone jack as the auxiliary output, but highly doubtful.

[DanL]

It could be like the Electro 5 where you set the split point to "midi" and then that automagically sets the midi in as one of the 2 manuals.

[AnotherScott]

potentially correctable with a firmware upgrade that uses the headphone jack as the auxiliary output, but highly doubtful.

Yeah, doubtful. My understanding is that the headphone signal is typically physically tapped off the main out, there would physically be no way to send the main and headphone outs different signals.

[Delaware Dave]

It could be like the Electro 5 where you set the split point to "midi" and then that automagically sets the midi in as one of the 2 manuals.

Bingo! I wrote Dexibell about this and here is their response:

 

Once connected the 2nd keyboard, you should set its MIDI TX channel to the same MIDI RX channel of the Lower part.

Doing this and selecting the Combo J7 keyboard as Upper only, you will have separate playing of the two parts on each full keyboard.

 

So this looks promising for me.

[teashea]

 

I have five Dexibell keyboards and the AP is excellent on all of them. To me they are better than any of the keyboards I own. Part of this is attributable to the basic power of the engine, which is a quad core processor that is capable of 320 oscillators at once. In addition their sampling time is 15 seconds, which is much longer than the usual 3 seconds. On top of all that their modeling is very well designed and implemented. They really know what they are doing.

 

Is the piano the same on all of these instruments? The same samples, in other words? Or only on some of them? (And I must ask--Why do you have 5 of these fairly recently released keyboards? Beta testing?)

 

They are all identical

[Delaware Dave]

Just my luck, no hard panning of sounds available (confirmed with Roberto). So if the leslie doesn't cut it, I'm stuck other than playing with the by-pass switch all night on the Vent. Too much of a hassle to do that......

[marino]

A new piano module is good news for me. I have used the various Micropianos and Microensembles in the past, then thinking hard about the RP-X... recently I got an Integra-7, but the so-called "SuperNatural" acoustic pianos have left me very disappointed for live use.

 

The EPs sound very bad in the demos... about the APs, I'll wait until I can play one with my own hands.

About the price, I hope it will be quite lower than anticipated (although the fact that I live in Italy should help.... )

 

Oh, and about that interview in Italian - they don't say much more than what's already in the short demo. Same sounds of the Vivo, total polyphony, dealing with Audio and MIDI simultaneously via USB directly (no need for an audio card), an so on.

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

Just my luck, no hard panning of sounds available (confirmed with Roberto). So if the leslie doesn't cut it, I'm stuck other than playing with the by-pass switch all night on the Vent. Too much of a hassle to do that......

 

Im thinking if you drive this module with your clone not a big deal right? You can use your clones engine and still go to a vent. Were you thinking of swapping your Gemini desktop for it because the acoustic pianos and other auxiliary sounds might be better?

[DanL]

Or use the Gemini for organ and the Dexi for piano. You could use 1 board and set up a patch to send on a different channel for each module, or use 2 boards and control each from it's own board.

[Delaware Dave]

Im thinking if you drive this module with your clone not a big deal right? You can use your clones engine and still go to a vent. Were you thinking of swapping your Gemini desktop for it because the acoustic pianos and other auxiliary sounds might be better?

I love the Gemini module; my issue is the setup/breakdown time. It is getting ridiculous. Where I want to be long term is one or two k/b's with no modules; this way I throw two keyboards up on the stand, one midi cord between the two keyboards and that's it. No mixer, just pedals and audio connections. Right now I'm running three/four midi cords, my upper k/b has audio out, the gemini has audio outs, the kurzweil has audio outs; the gemini has no drawbars so I have to MIDI a Voce Midi drawbar unit as well. EAch one of those items has a power cord (walwart) assembly that needs to be setup as well. Just a menagerie of wires and connections. Then when setting up in a dimly lit club I struggle to find the connections which burns more time. Then I need the mixer to setup as well. The rig sounds great to my ears but the setup is 30 minutes even if I hurry. Enough of that..... I want a 5-10 minute setup, no more midi modules, mixer elimination (if possible). I was thinking of putting this on top, midi'ng my kurz to it and go. If the leslie is not up to par the vent addition is not a big deal in the setup. The time crunchers are the gemini, voce midi drawbar unit, midi cords and mixer wiring.

[ElmerJFudd]

Exactly, Dave. Thats how I feel about it too.

But that holy grail keyboard is a tough one to nail down.

Even just the right pair that would midi well together.

For me theres too many factors. Including price, weight, action, and obviously the other features and sound sets that we talk about every day.

 

Main stage and two great action controllers is an option. But I dont care for that setup breakdown either. Nor the ghost in the machine factor.