SV1 organ ideas

[Daddyg3042]

Don't do this often, but Josh's SV1 thread prompted me to start a new one. I didn't want to hijack his points on its EP's.

 

I picked up an SV1 earlier this year as a simpler & lighter alternative to my Kronos; I don't always need the Kronos' horsepower and felt I was beating it up dragging it out to every practice & gig. I like the SV1 pretty well. The EP's are great and the AP works well in the context I'm using it in. The schlep is much easier with its wheeled bag and it looks good, but the organs just aren't working for me. The 2-3 organ patches I've picked out are OK, but without drawbars and with a fairly static tone, I'm just not inspired and it's prompting me to carry the Kronos more often. I guess I'm getting lazy in that I'd rather not bring 2 boards if I can help it. The one thing that always accompanies me is the iPad, as I use it for Set List Maker and also to control an XR12. I'm thinking about an app, like Galileo or others (suggestions?) that could replace or possibly even augment the SV's organs. Is anyone using their SV1 with an organ app? How's the experience been controlling the app with the SV (beyond the fact of weighted keys)? Can you control the app's leslie speed with a foot pedal? I'd think I'd need to adjust the app's drawbars on the iPad...no?

 

I'm all set MIDI wise for this, and it'd require adding only an audio out cable from the iPad to the current rig...which makes it cheap & simple. Interested to hear thoughts & experiences before floundering through this, as I usually do.

 

Thanks

[AnotherScott]

I haven't really used SV1 for this, but from what I know, here are some things that might be helpful...

 

1. Since you talked about static sounds, I'll start by making sure you didn't miss an obvious one... the Slow/Fast button to change Leslie speed when you have the Rotary effect enabled (you can also trigger this with a footswitch).

 

2. Some SV1 organ sounds let you use Function-->Bass Knob to bring in a sound alteration like additional drawbars or percussion. (Make sure you also checked out the organs in the downloadable Soundpak 2.)

 

3. If you want to run an organ app like Galileo or B-3X from the iPad, the SV-1 has a convenient Local Off button which will let you quickly turn off the internal sound and ONLY hear the external sound. Doing the reverse is not as straight-forward. When you ONLY want to hear the internal sound and not the iPad sound, the most obvious options of muting or lowering the volume on the iPad (on the iPad itself, or through a mixer, or some other external volume device) may not always be the most convenient. One possibility could be to insert a MIDI Kill switch between the SV1 and the iPad, to make or break the connection to the iPad as desired. Another thing you could do is use the SV1's MIDI Channel changing controls... use the Function button and notes C6 â D#7 to choose from among channels 1 through 16 as the MIDI transmission channels. Leave it on whatever channel your organ app is listening on when you want to trigger organ, change it to a channel no app is listening on when you want to hear the SV1 by itself.

[AnotherScott]

Controlling drawbars on the iPad app is its own issue. To the extent that SV1 knobs can send MIDI, you might be able to repurpose them to adjust some drawbars, but of course, they's also be altering the current internal sound as well. Adjusting drawbars on-screen in a live situation is not very satisfying either. I'd suggest adding something like the Korg NanoKontrol (preferably the older version that had 9 faders instead of 8, or some other similar device). You should be able to connect the SV-1's USB and the NanoKontrol's USB simultaneously to a (powered) USB hub, so that they can be used in tandem to trigger the organ app on your iPad. Using some other control on the NanoKontrol to mute the organ app when needed sould address point 3 of my previous post another way.

[cp-the-nerd]

The organ section is the SV-1's weak point for sure, but I've gotten by with them. Have you already perused the sound packs? There are like 3 decent ones in the factory set, a couple ok percussion organs in SP1, and all of the SP2 organ patches support the function>>bass knob feature AnotherScott pointed out for a significant change in tone depending on what you need to cover.

 

I also have a pedal set up to control the rotary effect which colors the sound a bit.

 

It's not going to beat a dedicated organ-focused gig 'board, but I've made due with some success.

[Daddyg3042]

Thanks! Yea, I've got the SV1 set up to use a foot switch for the leslie. By "static" I mean that the organ tones, when the leslie is stopped, are just kind of flat...lifeless, and of course, without drawbars, there's no varying the tone. I wasn't aware SP2's organs being able to use function-->bass knob to vary tone. I'll need to check that out.

 

I've got a Vent II that I've thought about using, but without an aux out, I'd have to use the bypass on the Vent when switching sounds. I'll often do, like.. EP on a verse and organ on a chorus. Needing to hit both the bypass, and a preset button mid song could get a little tricky ; )

 

Thanks again.

[Delaware Dave]

How about an organ module, like the Ferrofish? Not top quality but surely a step up from the SV1. Put your vent pedal on it and off you go. Look for a used one. Also, a Voce V5 used is even a step up from the Ferrofish and about the same price, just run it through a Vent that you already have. The footprint is very small.....

 

link

[cp-the-nerd]

SP2 made widespread use of layered sounds (some of them are not obvious) and they all use the function>>bass knob to change the layer volume so you can get creative, especially in the "other" section.