funkyhammond

That's a pipe dream and the YC Reface is a toy both for sound and the tiny size. The MSolo is not just a very portable state-of-the-art single manual drawbar organ with decent key action, it's also a synth...and a transistor organ and string ensemble to boot. Like I said, that's a niche that actually appeals to me. And to have the virtual multi-contact system that normally is only in their super-expensive boards is a big plus for me (something that cannot work through MIDI anyway even if an external board could be used for lower manual). I think a few hundred dollars less than the current price would have been very fair for the MSolo but we know how supply and demand works and there is a reason why Hammond and Nord demand the prices they do.

Thanks for the suggestion but I remember trying this in the store quite a while ago and not really liking it. I'm sure the Roland synths would be great but the organ sounded dated and I still have an old VK8-M sitting in the closet. Not going to spend 2 grand for the same organ emulation I left behind 15 year ago. Also, the build and key action felt kind of cheap and the board's size is unnecessarily deep and wide compared to many other modern boards that have been designed for compactness.

Late to the party. Just tried this board the other day in the store. I'm considering it for a light, compact, affordable organ+synth add-on to situations where I'm playing primarily piano/e-pianos on a weighted board. It does nicely fit a particular niche for me. But the lack of either pitch wheel or portamento may be a deal breaker, which is a bummer. Yes, lack of dual manual support is disappointing but I can live with that given the price point and primary intended use. Clearly, they don't want it to compete with their main boards. So, I really appreciate that they have incorporated their latest Hammond/Leslie engines and the virtual multi-key-contacts algorithm. The synth seems decent even if limited. The extra transistor organs and string ensemble are a bonus and I may use them. I am a lot more disappointed that the synth section doesn't have portamento. Legato-activated portamento is the main feature I use for pitch bending when my left hand is busy or when there is no pitch bend wheel. The rotary Stop and Fast buttons acting as quick on/off pitch bends is clever but very limited (I would maybe use it for vibrato). Lack of a mod wheel is not a problem because the drawbars already give lots of real-time modulation options for the synth, which is great. I'm still considering buying it but having neither the option of a pitch wheel nor portamento is going to really bug me and has put me on the fence. I would have also been considering the Yamaha CK61 for this and more applications if it wasn't for the subpar Reface organ (again, yeah, they don't want it to compete with their main YC stage line). I don't think there are any other inexpensive, compact alternatives that have a good drawbar organ and synth. So, I may go for the M-Solo anyway.

Hopefully someone else can chime in about the specific horn driver. Regardless, one of the tricks I use with some digital organs is to roll off some highs to reduce shrillness but then add more key click to get some definition back in the attack of the notes. Also, not using a real Hammond is not a reason not to have a good Leslie. I've seen plenty of examples of people gigging with a digital organ but a physical Leslie. The particular slow growl you can get fading in and out on a tube Leslie on slow/chorale is a sound I totally love. This video I just found shows what you can do with the gain of the preamp on a B3 (or any console Hammond). The slow growl I like is actually right when he hits the notes before he starts turning the screw. (I just thought I'd show this as a reference example of a typical sound of a B3 into a stock Leslie.)

Right, ok, sorry, I know little about bass heads and wasn't sure if maybe it had a preamp out and was being used just as a preamp. Clearly not. Anyway, even stock solid state Leslies will sound different than tube Leslies. I think they are most often used for jazz and gospel and some people will add a tube preamp to those. As others have said, try playing with EQ and compression. Otherwise, a tube head might help. Maybe you can borrow or rent one to try out to see if that will make a significant difference for your setup. You can also try researching past posts on this forum and on organ forums on using an external amp head with a Leslie cabinet (for organ not for guitar). Be aware that a stock tube Leslie amp has very particular characteristics because of the design of the amp and the specific tubes used (the 6550's are a big part of the sound but not the only part). If you're just trying to make your setup sound less thin/shrill and have more body and warmth, then a tube head might help. If you're trying to get it to specifically sound like a tube Leslie then you might be out of luck without an actual 145 tube amp. Also, having an aftermarket horn driver can also noticeably change the sound. I've only ever owned stock drivers but I have read forum posts in the past where people complained about the sound of certain aftermarket drivers.

Just to be clear, you're not looking to run the Nord organ straight into monitors, you're just trying to improve the sound of the Nord organ going into your modded Leslie 145 setup, correct? With the original 40W tube amp? You say it's 80% of the way there. Can you describe what is lacking? The signal from the Nord should be totally clean. If you are trying to use the Nord OD to add something to the signal going into that Leslie setup then you are going about it wrong. You need to make sure your preamp is giving you a strong, relatively clean signal going into the Leslie amp so that it can drive the tubes and then turning up the Leslie volume knob will go from quiet and clean to loud and starting to overdrive to more and more overdrive with no real further gain in volume. After you have that dialed in you can then experiment with also adding more drive from the preamp to see how that changes the sound. If you were also looking to run the Nord organ through just monitors, then that's when you might look at a pedal if you don't like the Nord rotary/OD. You could try an experiment for free just as a test to see if you think a better digital rotary would make enough difference. If you have a Mac/iPad/PC and audio interface, you could download the IK Multimedia manager software and then a trial demo of their superb Leslie plugin and try running the Nord organ dry through that (with a DAW or plugin host app). If that Leslie sim still sounds lacking, then any pedal like a Vent or whatever won't be much different.

Ah, ok, when you said an expression pedal was in order it sounded like maybe you didn't have one yet. In actuality, you can set up two and still have a backup. You're all set!

BTW, I find that an expression pedal with a "long throw" (i.e. long range of motion/tilt) is essential for getting more subtle control between min and max. The Yamaha FC7 (which I think is what you see in eric's photo above) is a very popular and affordable choice and what I've also been using for many years. However, if you play while standing up, a long throw pedal might be more difficult because of how much you have to angle your foot back to get the pedal to its full tilt. In which case, a short throw pedal like a Roland EV-5 might be better suited, but you are sacrificing subtlety of control. EDIT: Some CV expression pedals might not work great with some keyboards unless the board has a setting to adjust for different potentiometers/response curves of different pedal makers. The Nords are good for having various settings for different CV pedals. Traditionally, Yamaha and Roland boards worked better with the respective pedals made by that manufacturer but that may no longer be the case for the more pro boards if they have menu settings now for different pedals. But since you are using Yamaha boards, the Yamaha FC7 will be a natural fit anyway.

I thought it was pretty obvious but it's also right there on page 41 of the quick start guide. How could you miss it?

For synth, real-time controls for filter cutoff and resonance I find very useful if I want to be really expressive with a lead, especially if the mod wheel is already mapped to vibrato. Being able to adjust the attack of the filter and/or amplitude envelope can also be handy. I sometimes use a synth with aftertouch (Moog Sub37) to free up my left hand for comping on another board. I'll use the Moog for leads and have the aftertouch mapped to either pitch bend, vibrato, filter cutoff, or some other expressive modulation. Yes, all that can also be done with an expression pedal instead of aftertouch, but for me it feels like a better "connection" to the notes I'm playing when done with the hands as long as the board has good sensitivity with its aftertouch (which the Moog does). I play a fair bit of organ, so aside from a switch for rotary speed, I find an expression pedal ("swell" pedal in Hammond parlance) pretty essential. On organ, pulling back on the pedal doesn't only reduce volume, it also makes the sound more mellow and reduces overdrive. Mind you, there are many types of music where I barely touch it, so it really depends on what I'm playing. Same goes with drawbar controls. I will have patches with different drawbars settings and that will be enough for certain music but for other music I will want to have physical drawbars to manipulate. I also will use an expression pedal for wah especially on clav. It can be much more expressive than a repeating wah-wah or auto-wah effect. But it really comes down to what music you are performing and where you think having more expressivity or control will make a difference.

Joni's appeal seemed pretty broad to me. And it appears Taylor's is also... https://business.yougov.com/content/48990-8-fascinating-insights-on-taylor-swifts-american-fanbase EDIT: On second read, the wording on that article is confusing. Here is another poll: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1424475/share-of-us-respondents-who-consider-themselves-taylor-swift-fans-by-gender/#:~:text=According to the results of,the survey said the same.

Anyone know about the XK-4 sending high/shallow trigger notes over MIDI if the internal sound is set to trigger "shallow"? I just thought I would add it to the "high trigger" list of boards on that thread since I was recently updating it anyway. @Mark Schmieder since you've done so much digging into the XK-4 and also mentioned recording with it, I was wondering if you might already know. I don't know if you record MIDI along with audio. For those of us that do like recording MIDI along with audio, recording organs can be weird if the internal sound is triggering on the high key contact but the sent MIDI is on the low key contact. The SK/SKX Pro boards do not send high trigger over MIDI but that's probably just because they are multi-timbral boards that have to deal with organs and velocity sensitive sounds being mixed in layers/splits. (Same thing applies to the multi-timbral Nords.) I have the XK-1c listed as sending high trigger over MIDI but no confirmation about the XK-3c or XK-5. If anyone also knows about those, let me know. Thanks!

Latest revision of the "high trigger" list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OaSkbiUGL7DIN_4H324McjXb0N_D_dBAoUembexnnXQ/edit?usp=sharing

I just noticed that I had listed the Electro 3 HP as probably being able to send high trigger over MIDI so that would seem to align with the original Nord Stage.

@stoken6 Could you help me out and clarify what you meant by it "looks like" it supports the option? Did you actually test it over MIDI? Probably not too important since using hammer action keyboards for triggering external organs is probably quite an exceptional use case, but I would like to keep the list as accurate as possible and I am going to repost it soon to make it visible again after the latest batch of replies. Thanks.