[Oberheim TEO-5]

Yeah that looks good. Hope it sounds good too - I didn’t like the sound of the Take 5. 
 

smart to have those dedicated reverb controls, looks easy to set it to taste quickly. 

[Jack McDuff demonstrates Hammond organ jazz technique and licks]

IIRC, those LaBrasca tapes became ‘illegal’ when apparently the participants weren’t paid. They’ve been hard to come by ever since. 
 

please PM the private links!

[Jack McDuff demonstrates Hammond organ jazz technique and licks]

13 hours ago, JoJoB3 said:

Yeah, these were from Tony Labrasca/BT Productions Hammondology series. It's fun seeing and hearing from a legend like this but there isn't a ton of advanced info here. This mainly because the topics and questions weren't planned well (there could be 5 days..maybe even weeks worth of info and stories here just on this man).  It's also a Mr. McDuff in his later years.

There's more in this series. Joey Defrancsco, Stan Spencer gospel hammond, Bill Heid blues on the hammond, and Chris Forman Funk on the hammond.

I encoded the VHS tapes and uploaded them to my YT channel (currently set to private but I'd like to share em all. Not sure the ruling on that).

Oh please PM me the links!

[Best Hammond clone dry into a Ventilator?]

At this point, most organ clones do a pretty decent job before they hit the Leslie sim. If you have a Ventilator then you should be fine with a used KeyB or Legend Live, Hammond XK series. Your budget precludes the better clones such as MAG or Soul unfortunately. 

["Moon River" voicings]

It’s always a challenge to voice chords where the root movement is in thirds. 

[Is Switched-On Bach streamed anywhere?]

It’s not available on Qobuz. Shame. 

[GForce releases VSM IV • The Sounds From 46 Classic and Rare String Machines]

It’s hard to believe there’s 46 classic and rare string machines!

[How do you handle one-off gigs]

For me, there’s two kinds of these “one-off gigs”

 

1. 3-4 people who know how to play get together and just call tunes and generally have a ball. I love these gigs. 
2. I have to learn a bunch of difficult stuff and be prepared to perform it with no rehearsal. These can be stressful, especially the lead up. Always goes well as I tend to over-prepare but I could definitely do without the stress. 

 

whatever doesn’t kill you…

[OB-Xa - Oberheim vs. Arturia]

I really like the Obsession plugin. Sounds like the real deal to me. 

[Fix for Viscount Legend stiff keys?]

I kinda regret getting the lighter springs for my MAG. Sure, I didn’t have to play it in as much when I first got it, but now I feel that it’s too light compared to my A100 and the C3 I play at teaching. Might have to switch back…

[MAG organ - Squabble and Sermon tones]

In this video, I use Jimmy Smith’s tone from “The Sermon”, that is, 888000000 with no percussion. It’s a sound that I like a lot, but it’s hard to get it to cut through in a live situation. I think the MAG’s overdrive helps here. I also break into a squabble, where the MAG particularly shines. I love the inbuilt Mini-Vent. 
 

 

[Viscount Soul - simply amazing]

I get to play on a 1959 C3 each week. Its action is way heavier than any clone I’ve ever owned. 

[Fix for Viscount Legend stiff keys?]

3 hours ago, John Tweed said:

Sorry to disagree with you dazz, but as you know I have had two Lives for about two years each, and neither of them loosened up in any way noticeable to me. Think about it - the keys in the middle of the keyboard get much more use than at the ends, but I have yet to hear of anyone noticing any differences from one end of the keyboard to the other. My playing is mostly standard jazz organ style where the lower manual gets a lot of use at the left hand end, but it still feels exactly the same as the left hand end of the upper manual.

I did a more than a few hundred gigs on each board, KeyB Duo Mk3 then Legend Live. Both loosed up over time. Plus, as a dealer, I’ve played lots of brand new ones right out of the box. Like most keyboards when new, they need to be played in. 

[Fix for Viscount Legend stiff keys?]

I’ve owned all those organs you mentioned. They do loosen up are you play them. Mine got too easy to play in the end. 

[New Moog synth coming]

Well that’s great news. I’ve been hoping they would come to their senses and make polysynth for the masses. I love my Matriarch, so it’s exciting that it shares some DNA. How am I ever gonna afford this plus an OBX8!?

[MAG organs]

6 hours ago, Delaware Dave said:

Why dont you ask darren for his C/V settings?  My guess is that he hardly tweaked them at all.

I haven’t tweaked the organ at all. As I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t have a Windows computer so it’s really inconvenient for me to do anything like that. I have to borrow laptops from people which is a pain in the butt. Unfortunately there’s also makes it hard for me to let you know what my settings are. Maybe when Max gets to this thread, he can publish the settings here.

[MAG organs]

3 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Absolutely, and/or the question may have been asked elsewhere and someone here saw it and knows the answer, or something was revealed at NAMM that answers the question, etc., etc.

OP, I hope you won't be discouraged by that response. There are a couple of folks here who do have a line to the MAG folks, so you never know. 

I’ve made Max aware of this thread. Hopefully he will weigh in like before. 

[Grammys 2024]

7 hours ago, Docbop said:

Of all the winners I saw listed the one that made me the happiest to see was..... Meshell Ndegeocello the first winner for the new category Best Alternative Jazz Album.     

With Australia’s own Abraham Rounds on drums winning a Grammy!

I toured with a major artist 30 years ago. On bass was his father, amazing bassist Victor Rounds. On that tour he showed us a VHS tape of his 5 year old boy tearing it up on the drums. I knew right then that kid was going places, and now here he is winning a Grammy!  I’ve had the pleasure of playing a trio gig with him a couple of times. Congratulations Abe, you deserve it. 

[Music production desks]

48 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

The top tier is 36.2" off the ground, which is pretty high for an iMac or any computer monitor.  Correctable by drilling a hole for a pneumatic arm with VESA mount for your display. 

 

 

 

Yes you have to be careful about the ergonomics of your desk. Mine was too high, causing me to look up instead of straight ahead. My neck is much better now that I ditched the upper tier. My iMac and monitors sit on two 5 space 19” racks. 

[MAG Organ live video]

9 hours ago, hªdºw said:

 

For me, the MAG is the best clone out there but with people waiting a significant amount of time, well over a year, to get one you'll need a lot of patience.

 

 

Well worth the wait for a premium instrument. 

[MAG Organ live video]

On 1/14/2024 at 7:54 PM, mrk7421 said:

Darren....didn't you get some time with Tony Monaco? I am thinking about trying one of his online classes. 

Yes I most certainly did!

I travelled to Columbus, Ohio and studied with him for the whole month of January, 2006. This was a huge help at the very start of learning jazz organ. You should definitely spend some time with Tony as he’s a great teacher and the real deal to boot.
To play any jazz standard, you have to really study harmony and all permutations of the II-V-I progression. The good news is that there’s a ton of instruction available online these days, but you will need to put in significant hours. 

[New Production Music album]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Hughes said:

Wow! That's great! Everything is genre-appropriate. I especially like the bossanova.

Thanks Jonathan. That’s probably my favourite after the Mambo. 

[New Production Music album]

I've just finished my 4th album for Fable Music. The brief this time was for 12 tracks of classic dance music styles - so I've written tunes as varied in genre as Disco, Bossanova, Mambo, Breakdance, Bollywood, Jump Blues, Waltz, Techno, Dancehall, 60s Boogaloo. I've very proud of it. And exhausted - I think it was at least 300 hours work.

It's mostly virtual instruments with a few tracks recorded remotely by horns and guitar. I used Keyscape, Addictive Drums, Trilian Bass, Sonic Couture, Session Horns, LA Scoring Strings and Brass. DAW was Digital Performer.

 

 

Private link to listen:

 

Playlist on Soundcloud

[MAG Organ live video]

5 hours ago, mrk7421 said:

A lot of good things to say about this....top notch all around! I would be very curious to know some of the chorus vibrato parameters that you are using.....presuming this is HX3  or 3.5 sound engine. Mc Intosh Audio here in Oregon is service center for all things HX3 related and I have had my hands on the 3.5 .From what I could tell CV parameters looked similar.  Just curious if you have had to adjust anything to get that sound.Aside from that.....It Could Happen To You......a tune I also play but my chart is in G.....you guys do Eb....have to look into that. Guitar player.....really nice tone and Darren's bop chops are very solid on this challenging chord sequence. Nice to hear this....keep up the good work.

 

thanks for your kind words. 
 

I haven’t messed with the organ’s sound at all. I generally can’t be bothered fussing with editing…it’s so good out of the box. Plus, I don’t have a windows computer so, the one time I checked out the editor I had to get my wife to borrow a work computer. They really need to make a Mac editor. When I had the Legend Live, I did try some edits that sounded good at home, but they didn’t sound good on the gig - learned my lesson there!

 

I haven’t come across many recordings of that tune in G - I think the old real book chart might be in that key. 

[MAG Organ live video]

I’m touring with fabulous Czech guitarist Libor Smoldas at the moment. Here’s “It Could Happen To You” from a bar here in Sydney called Butcher’s Brew (!). I’m playing the MAG organ through a KV audio powered speaker.