vanderSchoot

You mean like ''Fulcrum Acoustic 12 or 15 Ac'' ??

After some inconveniences with a breakout cable it was time for a small update..... http://www.synthax.co.uk/uploads/product/main_RME_AO4S-192_AIO_Output_Expansion_Board_39866.jpg

It's a great, great board, enjoy !!!

If you love VB3 the Mojo61 (VB32) is better in all aspects....... a no brainer i would say !But the experts will comment on that soon What got me intrigued is that i have a portable Tascam DP24 and did record several hammond clones and choose the one ( in a specific song that is....) that sounded thin in isolation, but was breathing the most in this specific full mix, without having to eq much. I realised that i should take the DP-24 more out to musicstores i frequently visit and wouldn't mind me recording a few soundbytes on the fly........... I don't record much lately, but with even smaller deveices around than the Tascam, one would expect people to do this more frequent....... Bring your musical scetch to the store and record some.......

I don't know the real figures, because my computer runs only CFX, i don't use it for the internet and apart from asio drivers and RME remote software and the actuall CFX i have nothing installed. I use it with my Kawai MP8 and after years of trying every brand in the store ( have Nord and Roland too) , i wanted one of the best PIANO experience with headphones. Expensive and a shame to use such a powerfull computer for only one thing. But this specific piano set up eats almost eveything else out there for lunch , breakfast and diner when playing through headphones which i do at home. Latency ? Must be 5ms or something, because it plays much better than my CMP piano app at 5ms. I personally don't care for numbers, but this simply plays beautifully with all settings ( like samples 128 etc.) set to let the character of CFX shine through. I am very happy .........

Despite the fact that i have purchased this for over a year now......it are the best purchases i made in a very long time..... http://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Abbey-Road-Studios-CFX-Concert-Grand/J11111000000000-00-500x500.jpg No ''crackles'', ''pops'', latency or any other let down that some vst's and computer+interface set-ups seem to exhibit (?). The moment i turned on my new computer it worked flawless with CFX running in full version, providing christal clear audio. Again, what a purchase......

Well, not the CV on a tonewheel console. It sounds appropriate in all situations, in the sense that you can take a tonewheel organ and put it in any musical context and it will cut it just fine (assuming the CV is not broken in some way.) My criteria for clonewheels has become: how many musical situations or registrations or organ techniques can I execute where I can maintain the "suspension of belief" that I'm playing the real thing? If I hit the CV switch and it warbles or is the wrong frequency or the treble boost is not right, or worst of all if it sounds phase shifty, it kills the illusion pretty quickly. Same thing if the percussion doesn't have a woody thunk, or the key click sounds like a fake burst of white noise tacked onto the beginning of a note. Fair enough, i agree with you. I still have the HX3 MK2 installed in my XB-2 and a friend pointed out to me that it had a better chorus than what came afterwards in more recent updates. (not the very latest, because they nailed it in those) Since i only use C3 and do not care much for C1, C2 and especcially vibrato (yuk), i understand my confusion reading about he supposed weak chorus within HX3. Nevertheless, i think HX3 is unmatched when it comes to that fat, balsy bluesy tone and screaming top octave. It always puts a grin on my face when it screams through the leslie. It makes up for the underpar keybed of my XB-2.

Mitch i want to elaborate some more.....and maybe you can clarify a few things with your expertice.I am no Hammond purist, so the CV issue with HX3 fully escapes me... New B3 MK2 I have played the New B3 MK2 many times (my brother has one of those....)and the CV sounds ackward in a way that turning it off sounds better. I didn't mess with parameters, but the default settings in conjuncture with the leslie 122 XB seems to result in a mushy warbling tone....not nice ! Numa organ1 The Numa organ has indeed a nice CV in conjuncture with it's internal sim, but the whole tone suffers in conjuncture with the vent and a real leslie.....to weak, to transparent (?).......so even the spot ond CV on the Numa doesn't help the lack of balls when turning up the volume and competing with electric guitars. KeyBLegend The KeyB legend sounded terrific in every aspect at the Messe (especcially the fact that they dared to show it off with it's internal sim.), but i hope it will materialise one day...... Mojo The Mojo i played at the Messe and it sounded very, very good (the whole package of superb feel and sound), but it was more in Numa territory (albite clearly better) than HX3. Still something sounded ''polite'' in the overall tone. Now this is only based on my breef experience during the Messe, so i have to check it out once more,...i know you can choose between many different models, but i played the ''Messe's'' default organ (don't know what that was) Hammond XK-5 I did play and heared the XK-5, but it sounded a lot like the New B3 MK2. Beautifull, jazzy, but not the beat up blues sound i am looking for, with sleezy componants that shout, spit and ramble the way i like it. (not to be mistaken with the overdriven John Lord sound) I don't use pedal tones, so i won't comment on that.... But the whole discussion about the HX3's chorus seems a little redundant to my ears. That says a lot more about me obviously, maybe because CV comes behind (for me) the ability to compete with distorted guitars, how it behaves in conjuncture with a real leslie and if it is able to reproduce THAT sound i am looking for. HX3 is capable of that while all other clones i have or have used didn't (Nord, Numa, Hammond, Emu).....including the New B3 Mk2. And when playing live when some details are lost anyway, i have never thought negatively about the HX3's CV....on the contrary. My question is : Could it be that the CV can be very pleasant at a certain volume and style while the same CV sounds ackward for a person playing a different style in smaller jazz trio settings ?

I still very much like the CV (didn't update) in conjuncture with a leslie. I maybe be not a purist, but to me it sounds awesome. And yes i still have the Numa organ1 and have tested it against the HX3 in every possible way. With or without leslie, internal sim. and the ventilator. To me the Numa is a nice board but not on the HX3 level. I guess each to his own ??

The first demo says, "SIDE-Mic + AURA, Mixed With Some Player-Noises" and an amusing idea occurred to me: what if someone did a Keith Jarrett DP, complete with player noises? Best, Geoff Reminds me of a story about a guitar salesman.... I guy wants the same guitar as Steve Lukather, same amp, strings everything...... Comes back after a week and says ''I still don't have the sound of Steve Lukather''....''Did you sell my the right equipment ?'' Salesman carefully...'' there is more involved in sounding just like Steve Lukather''

My experience is different. Both my mom and dad have Bechstein grands, and they always felt more gentle and romantic than the Steinways/Bosies/Yamahas I encountered. As a pianotuner i have tuned countless of Bechsteins, Bosendorfers and Steinways. I have rarely tuned a mediocre Bosendorfer....all are good - outstanding. Steinway have some really ackward feeling and sounding exemplares now and then, but the signature sound is there and the top exemplares are beautifull. Bechstein however have some absolute horrific models considering the pricetag (seventies, eighties) with phasing string problems and a thin sounding uninspiring character. But there are also extremely beautifull Bechsteins that have this romantic hypnotising tone that makes them unique soundwise. Of all the brands (maybe Yamaha too....) it is hard to give an overall opinion about Bechstein,because everything is out there, varying from really bad to the best of the best.

Native instruments Komplete Kontrol S88

On the other hand, get rid of everything but the distracting noises and what do you have? A modular synth.

What i find ackward is the joy people get out of hearing quirks of all kinds. A top grand piano, tries to minimise every possible friction in their mechanism and annoying ''thumb'' that occurs when lifting the damper. To my surprise it became a selling point. Simulated ''let off/escapement'' and audible ''thumb'' and ''quirk'' sounds. Some digitals have way to much damper noise on default while pressing a digital simulated pedal. One of the few benefits of a digital are no need for tuning and to bypass those habits the piano industry themselves are trying to avoid as much as possible. Why implement those things ? Sure, sympathic and damper resonance is a must, mechanism noises are not.....it is just another hype ,because people believe that those ''sounds'' should be part of the ''real'' sound. I have a piano CD (Claudio Arrau) where you clearly hear him shove around his piano bench...sjjjj sjjjj sjjjj. What's next a randomly implemented effect that simulates ''real piano bench artifacts'' ? Just as i noticed how much nail and finger noises are recorded on acoustic guitar, something that was avoided in records a few decades ago, but now we seem to love all those artifacts. I guess i am not one of the fanboys when it comes to distracting noises.

Well, yesterday the shop in the Netherlands which sells Crumar, finally had the Mojo 61 on delivery within THREE working days. This was a proper countdown, because i went to their site every other day the last three weeks. To my surprise it is back where it began.......three weeks before delivery of the Mojo 61. http://www.bax-shop.nl/drawbar-keyboard/crumar-mojo-61-drawbar-keyboard Is it so damn difficult to give some proper indication..or is this a proper case of ''the Italians cannot oversee their own production line'' way ? Sorry i don't want to insult anyone, but this is so very typical I could have predicted it with a 100% accuracy three weeks ago. End of rant

Okay i think i understand you.... I am using the XB2/HX3 MK2 and never felt the need to update anything, because it sounds so extremeley pleasing for what i do. So updating is not always an upgrade. The Numa1 is better than the Numa2 and the vent2 was according to a big store owner causing latency in some circomstances and had to take back many units. While the original vent was as good as it gets. And i am in the latter camp,....i am under the spell of gearsyndrome, but i am more critical lately. So we seem to have 3 super contenders in HX3, Mojo and the B5 vst. I am looking forward to much more comparisons between the three with audio examples !

Yeah. The Mojo CV is way better. Thanks for the review Mitch,....i am very, very tempted to place an order for the Mojo 61, but have to sell the Numa first.. and 500,- seems to much for potential buyers till date...... What i don't understand is all this talk about CV. I still have the Numa, Nord and HX3, but to me (and this is in a loud band context) the Numa doesn't have better CV than HX3.....Nord sucks though. HX3 sounds different, but better ? Also the Hammond new B3 MK2 has a lousy CV, actually i couldn't believe when i first heard it. I know there are many takes on CV, but i wonder what it is that you consider ''way better'', because it excludes ''different'' ! Anyway, thanks for the review once again !

Is this only in comparison with VB3 1.04 and vst's like NIB4 ?,....or are you talking about hardware clones like the Mojo, Hx3, Nord, Hammond S, KeyB / Numa etc. ? Because if so, you could save me a lot of money I want to spend on a new clone, while still owning two very good ones (Numa and HX3). Thanks in advance.......

You've always been very straight forward and honest about your taste, so no complains... I am no purist and everything ''Hammond'' i liked was from rock/blues/soul orientated albums i had. Always creamy, distorted and balsy. My first clone was the Emu B3 and i liked it for quite some time, because it captured some of that rough sound i liked so much. When i started listening to most clone vids (starting more than a decade ago) i couldn't believe why anyone would ever use the sterile and plastic sounding 888 000 000 on stop + chorus and third percussion. Then i rediscovered ''Jimmy Smith'' from my early childhood (was totally forgotten about him all those years due to other musical interrests) and i couldn't believe the galaxy in between his sound and some cheezy vid showing off a truly crappy immitation of supposedly that ''jazz'' signature sound. Yes i do enjoy my Numa, but it doesn't quite sound like the B3 of Jimmy Smith or Carlo de Wijs (Dutch Hammond B3 player) All Mojo vids with that specific ''jazz'' sound scream fake too, no matter how many users rave about how they think it is just like their A100/C3/B3.... I demonstrated with simple vids with the same persons playing (Joe Doria )that even with youtube quality it is still some margin in favour of the real thing. Now to the point i want to make.....jazz is not my style, but HX3 is the first clone that captures the soul of the Hammond sound i like so much. Some clues that reveal the fake character of any clone are missing in the settings i use HX3 for......it simply sounds like a balsy beat up Hammond.....

Nothing wrong with this sound, even for the Americans (?): I think most Americans do appreciate the HX3 sound,....never had the intention to conclude otherwise..... I was puzzled by the clear comments that somehow the HX3 was slightly below the Mojo in the opinion of some American posters. And that they feel the sound of HX3 still has something left to improve upon (chorus, pedal bass, keybed, to bright sounding and polished) contrary to the ''finshed'' and fully authentic Mojo package. Whereas many HX3 users wordlwide think the HX3 edges every current available clone incl. the Mojo, but previously hesitated to say so.......as the numerous and sudden supportive responses on my posts in favour of the HX3 indicate.

Lucky you to have such a great palette of superb equipment. Nice to hear other players can enjoy it too.... I use a ventilator or leslie in conjunction with the HX3...i didn't bother to update yet, because i don't need the internal simm and i really like the original chorus. I read somewhere (this topic ?) that a user didn't like the new take on the chorus, so to me it sounds great, therefor i am hesitant to update not really knowing what is going to sound different. I am becoming the ''never change a winning team'' guy more of late than the restless person always looking for something slightly better. (used to be in that camp for as long as i know...). Still fully enjoying the original Stage88......go figure. Albite i use only few sounds from it now due to the integra7 and other equipment.

Yes i think you are right....althaugh i am not entitled to really speak out on behave of the Mojo, since i did not play one in real life yet....simply some observations based on the ongoing clone topics and video's. I spoke to a very good jazz organ player two months ago (in the Netherlands) who told me he had just bought the best clone ever (Mojo) coming from an A100. He didn't even knew about HX3, but dismissed it beforehand when i tried to explain a few things about the technique involved in the HX3 compared to the computer model of the Mojo, because not only his ears also the sales person had convinced him the Mojo was the pinnacle of Hammond clone progression....so i didn't bother to continue the conversation about what was best.....

Obviously Markus......it seems there is something slightly off for most Americans reading through all the comments, complaints and difficulties to get the thing running properly for their tastes..... My o my...for that bargin of a price......i paid twice as much for the Emu B3 and what about the Voce V5+ + seperate leslie simulator and the Hammond modules of the past ? They are weaker by a considerable margin.......it seems that the HX3 should cost as at least twice as much to receive full appreciation. Now i don't have the module, so i can't really comment on what happens with updates etc. ....it seems not so straight forward though..... Strangely I have never updated my HX3 (have the cable in a package still...), because i cannot hear anything i want to alter... Yes i am at the Messe the full four days....only at the guitar floor. I am co-owner of a (small) company in wooden guitar stands. http://www.cstands.com/ It would be lovely to meet you in person though...... Und dann kann ich auch noch ein bisschen uben in Deutsch.....Rudi Carell ist ein wunder verglichen mit mir..... Wir versprechen das wir einander mit ''du'' adressieren oder ?

Nothing here of any help ? http://wiki.keyboardpartner.de/index.php?title=HX3_MenuPanel

HX3 must be a ''North Western Europian'' thing of preference.....those commenting in an extremely positively fashion are from Norway (twice) ,Germany and The Netherlands Seriously there is some sort of pattern over the years....could it be a slightly continental difference ?