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new Vox Continental - Some thoughts


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A question to those who've done the update . . . if you split the keyboard between organ and piano, does organ "high trigger" mode still work in the split?

 

Installed the 2.0 update tonite. *Yes*, the Hi/Lo organ trigger system setting is still honored in the new split mode, and it works identically, regardless of which side of the split is playing organ. So, yep, you can play hi-trigger organ and lo-trigger piano in the same split. :thu:

 

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So my Continental 73 is in the shop. Less than a year after purchasing it, I'm having a problem with the scene and instrument select buttons. It appears each group of buttons is mounted on strips - which seem to have come loose inside, and each group wobbles back and forth. On a few occasions now I've had to push buttons twice for changes to register. So I took it in under warranty.

 

Well... two weeks in and I'm told the shop hasn't heard yet "when and if" the parts will be available from Korg. Very disappointing to hear this so far into the production run.

 

This was my bottom board of a two board rig, so I'm making do by pressing my old MOXF6 back into service in the interim.

 

Have any other owners experienced similar issues with their boards?

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Only thing I noticed (from the beginning) is one key seemingly lacking a bit of felt as it sounds off a little tick when playing. Could also be a plastic remnant hitting another piece of plastic. No biggie of course, and all keys are perfectly aligned and play absolutely effortlessly. Don"t want to take this beauty back for a beauty spot like that ;)
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I had a shot of one in store. Very fun keyboard, feels like an actual instrument. This would be perfect for the ska/funk band I'm now regularly out with. We use a lot of Vox organ sounds.

 

Let me get this straight: This is basically a Nord Electro 5 but with pitch bend and more synth capabilities (cutoff, release, etc) for £400 less?

Hammond SKX

Mainstage 3

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Let me get this straight: This is basically a Nord Electro 5 but with pitch bend and more synth capabilities (cutoff, release, etc) for £400 less?

 

Nope.

 

There are many differences but one that stands out in my mind is the Electro is more flexible and functional for splits. Also more functional for B3, allowing you to choose percussion and C/V settings.

 

This is aside from all the subjective stuff like which one has sounds you prefer. I think the Vox has a better keybed both for organ and piano, and the keybed is a big reason for liking the Vox, but that too might be objective.

 

The comment that the Vox "feels like an instrument" is a good distillation of why the keyboard has a small but dedicated fan base.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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Electro vs. Continental also discussed at https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2937480 though with the 2.0 update, Vox now 64 user presets instead of 16, and some LH bass split capability.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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  • 1 month later...
A question to those who've done the update . . . if you split the keyboard between organ and piano, does organ "high trigger" mode still work in the split?

 

Installed the 2.0 update tonite. *Yes*, the Hi/Lo organ trigger system setting is still honored in the new split mode, and it works identically, regardless of which side of the split is playing organ. So, yep, you can play hi-trigger organ and lo-trigger piano in the same split. :thu:

 

That's the same as VR700 but missing from the VR730/09 - a very useful feature. As another poster asked a while back do you know if the Hi trig point is transmitted over MIDI out. I am interested in this board but would like to trigger an organ module. Plenty of empty space on top too for a module.

 

 

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do you know if the Hi trig point is transmitted over MIDI out. I am interested in this board but would like to trigger an organ module. Plenty of empty space on top too for a module.

 

The trigger point setting would not translate into MIDI data, and it doesn't need to. This is just a "mechanical" setting that determines the point in the Vox key's downward travel where it actually "triggers", and sends the MIDI note ON command. An attached organ module would always just play the note as soon as the MIDI message from the Vox arrived (which is essentially instantaneous if the two instruments are simply connected via a MIDI cable). The time differential between pressing a key and the MIDI data being generated is something that happens completely on the Vox; it doesn't show up in the MIDI data stream as CC controller values, or anything like that.

 

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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do you know if the Hi trig point is transmitted over MIDI out. I am interested in this board but would like to trigger an organ module. Plenty of empty space on top too for a module.

 

The trigger point setting would not translate into MIDI data, and it doesn't need to.

I think the issue here is that some boards that have a high trigger option for their internal sounds still only use the low trigger point when transmitting MIDI, which means you lose the benefit of the high trigger point if you use the board to trigger an external organ module/VST instead of using the board's internal organ sound. I'm pretty sure the Nord Stage 3 falls into this category.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Well, I learned something, too; thanks, Scott.

 

It seems like an odd way to implement things, though. Perhaps it's not as widespread a design convention as I assume, but I thought that nowadays most every MIDI-fied synth/DP was implemented "under the hood" as essentially a module, and a keybed that just sends MIDI commands internally (as well as externally). I suppose it's not always that simple...

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 months later...
Tonight at 7:00 PM EST Korg software engineer Bill Barton who developed the Vox and Farfisa models will be doing a Zoom presentation for combo-organ@groups.io. There may still be time to join for anyone interested.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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The Zoom presentation by Bill Barton is now on YouTube:

 

[video:youtube]

C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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The Zoom presentation by Bill Barton is now on YouTube

 

thanks for sharing this. I am only halfway through it but the information being shared is way more than I could have hoped. makes me want to buy another one (although I most likely won't).

:nopity:
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A bunch of interesting tidbits in that video, and not just about the Vox.

 

at about 1:34:15, he talks about the underlying hardware, that the Vox and Grandstage use a TI OMAP processor with an ARM Cortex A8 and a TI fixed point DSP, compared to the Intel processor doing everything in the Kronos/OASYS with the same engines, and as a sidenote, the Wavestate is built on a Raspberry Pi.

 

at about an hour in and picking up a few minutes later, he mentioned that the transistor organ presets 4 and up include amp simulations (you wouldn't know from the manuals or controls that there are amp emulations in the board, but there are)

 

at about 1:09:00 he talks about the EP1 engine... there's been discussion here in the past about what's sampled and what's modeled, and it turns out it uses wavetable synthesis.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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  • 2 weeks later...
According to the Keyboard Mag review there is no 3rd percussion, 2nd percussion only, and the volume and delay are fixed: "percussion control is limited to 2nd-harmonic on-off

I finally got my hands on one today. I'm surprised this has gotten overlooked here, but the above is definitely wrong. Of the 18 preset CX3 sounds, seven have 2nd percussion, and 11 have 3rd percussion (assuming you enable the percussion button at all, of course). There are also variations in percussion decay and volume, though I don't think every permutation is covered, and it may be possible that the permutation you're after could come with some other variation you don't want (e.g. leakage varies from none to quite a lot).

 

It's also interesting that some of the sounds have effects on them that are NOT implementations of the front panel effects. Sticking with organ, sound 8 has a decent overdrive on it, which is not created with the front panel overdrive function (or the tube). It's a nice sounding option to have, plus it leaves that effect panel free for some additional effect.

 

Here's another interesting tidbit... I didn't expect the Dynamics control to do anything on organ, since the manual specifically associates it with velocity which has no impact on the organ sound... but it actually functions to alter the tone. On the patch I played with it on, it really brought out the key click. But I think it's more of a high boost than anything associated with click per se.

 

All in all, there turned out to be some more sonic variation and customizability to the organ than I'd expected.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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