Shamanczarek

The Zoom presentation by Bill Barton is now on YouTube: [video:youtube]

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.

It was a Pianet. http://www.hillmanweb.com/chadallan/chad32.jpg

She's Not There, Downtown, Go Now, Theme From Exodus, Alley Cat, A Walk in the Black Forest, Daydream Believer, Take Five, Ruby Tuesday, Let's Spend the Night Together, Build Me Up Buttercup, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cherish, These Eyes, MacArthur Park

"We're an American Band" is one of my favorites as well which I should have mentioned above. An interesting bit of trivia is that Mark Farner claims he came up with that drum intro. Farner is an accomplished drummer and did a high energy percussion segment in Grand Funk shows where he and Don Brewer played together with Farner on Timbales. Here is a quote from Farner regarding the Drum intro: "I did write the drum lick on the intro of '...American Band', Brewer didn't even own a cowbell, dude. I'm serious. I said, 'We've got to have a cowbell on that song.' I gave him the (songwriting) credit; He said, 'I've never had a single songwriting credit, can I take it on this?' I said, 'Yeah, go ahead, even though that's my drum lick and my cowbell on there.' I gave that (credit) to him as a friend. Then he wanted half my royalties for 'Creepin',' which was on the B-side, because '...American Band' was such a big hit."

You might be thinking of the Concert Model E. Don't know about Europe but in the USA these are often sold for a few hundred dollars or given away . The Concert Model E has a full 32-note AGO pedal board. There are several features on the E not found on later model Hammonds. No Foldback on the Keyboards so low notes go all the way down. Second set of tonewheels for Chorus tuned slightly different from the main tonewheel generator similar to Musette reeds in an accordion. Pedals can play all drawbar tones not just 16' and 8'. Rather than reverse colored Preset Keys there are buttons and pistons to the left of each manual used for selecting Presets. Has two Swell pedals and Pistons above the pedal board.

You don't often find these with the optional back panel.

This is an amazing band. Well worth watching the whole performance. The Ian Anderson segment begins just after 30:00. Ian was always musically superb but being self taught often used fingerings that would be considered improper by conservatory standards. Over the years he has refined his technique and is now able to play more "correctly" when needed. Actually some of the things he came up with in his earlier years would be difficult if not nearly impossible to play with standard fingerings. [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itCS3oKPrfM

Experiment with modulating the Filter using LFO Square, Sawtooth/Reverse Sawtooth, or S&H/Random wave while sweeping the Filter with an Envelope.

My Kurzweil experience started with a PC88mx which I liked limited as it was. After a couple of years pieces of plastic started breaking off the Keyboard action and it began making a loud clacking noise. I then replaced it with a PC2X/O sight unseen because I had been happy with the PC88. It sounded fine when I played it at home but the first time I took it on stage I found the KB3 Organ sounds to be so anemic that I considered returning it. There were a good amount of parameters that could be tweaked and I was able to get a beefier sound out of it so I kept it. I knew someone else that had one and he never used the KB3 Organs because they were so weak. I told him what parameters to adjust and he got his to where it was acceptable. I can't understand how Kurzweil could overlook something like that. I got the Organ sound to where it was usable but the Percussion wasn't even close to sounding like a Hammond at all and the Vibrato/Chorus was not all that great either. If this was the extent of the issues I probably would have purchased another Kurzweil but I really had a problem installing the Classic Keys ROM on the PC2X/O. This wouldn't be a problem with current Kurzweils but with the PC2 you had to do a software update when installing the ROM. I tried and tried and couldn't get the software update to work. I contacted Kurzweil a few times and told them what gear I was using to do the update and they just told me to keep trying and didn't offer any suggestion other than take it to a tech. I took it to a Kurzweil dealer and the tech there had it for a couple weeks and couldn't get the software update to work and finally told me to come get it. He had been in contact with Kurzweil and still wasn't able to do it. I then took it to another service center. They had it about a week and I went in to get the Keyboard because I needed it for a gig. While I was there they ran the update procedure and it didn't work. They ran it a few more times and then the Classic Keys started to make a weak sound. They ran the update a few more times and the sound got better. After a few more times it seemed to be good. When I got on stage that night and tried to use the Classic Keys sounds it was like the first time I tried the KB3. The sounds were so weak they were unusable. At home I found I could tweak them as I had the KB3 sounds but the edited sounds had to stored in another location. I would have to replace other sounds I didn't really want to lose and I would have a whole unusable bank with the original Classic Keys sounds. I contacted Kurzweil and explained what was happening. Their response was "Gee, we've never heard of that problem before." No suggestions about how to fix this after I spent hundreds of dollars. Another problem I had with the PC2 was getting the left and right outputs to work. I wanted to set it up so Bass sounds came out of the left output and all other sounds came out of the right output. When I set this up it worked fine through headphones but when I plugged cables into the L and R outputs to separate amps I could not get it to work. I had to use a separate sound module for Bass. There are plenty of things to like on Kurzweils with multiple splits, layers, and controller functions. I was able to make the PC2 work but it was never optimal. I'm sure current Kurzweil products are much improved though there seems to be some doubt about whether there is much improvement with KB3 and I would really have to see if the sounds from the Classic Keys are improved. As far as specs Kurzweil offers most of what I want but after my past experience I am apprehensive about buying another Kurzweil product without being able to thoroughly test it first.

One of Nord's weak points has always been splits and layers. The Stage 3 is the most advanced in this regard but has fixed split points rather user definable. You can fade sounds across the split points which helps somewhat. It has better layering capabilities than previously available but still has some limitations. I wanted to layer two Sample section sounds in the right hand and have a split for left-hand Bass. Couldn't do it because you can only use two Sample section sounds at a time and the Bass sounds are also in the Sample section. I have the Stage 3 Compact which is the least expensive model but is the only one with physical drawbars. Beyond that it has plenty of hands-on controls so you can do a lot of tweaking on-the-fly.

Wow! 7 years. He kept one of my Synths for only three years. It was a rare model he didn't have so he put it on the display floor. When I would call he would insist he was going to fix it. It had a couple of fairly minor problems when I took it in. Finally after three years of his promises to get to it I went in to pick it up. He said he had done some work on it and charged me $170. When I got it home and plugged it in it didn't work at all. My mistake for not testing it at the store. I took it to another tech who found parts left inside which shorted it out. If you read customer reviews you will find a lot of other people have had similar experiences. It appears his business model is to collect $100 deposits and hold off the customer as long as possible without doing any work.

I have a rev. 2 which I took to a well-known tech who has done numerous restorations on these. He did the power supply upgrade and then later started selling new PS kits. Unfortunately, the Prophet would work for a short time and then develop problems. It's been in the shop for most of the last five years. I spent a lot of money and haven't gotten much use out of it. Wish I had your skills so I could fix it myself. I'll be following your progress. Best of luck.

Only three letters I couldn't come up with anything for but I think other than unknown local bands I've remembered nearly every major music event I've attended a few of which were as opening act or performed with artist. A. Asia, Arctic Monkeys, Association, Allman Brothers, Ian Anderson, Brian Auger B. Blue Oyster Cult (Anaheim, CA 1976, same show upstate NY 1994), Eric Burdon, Black Keys, Band of Horses, Boxtops C. Eric Clapton, James Cotton, Curved Air, Larry Carlton, Canned Heat (same show Bethel, NY 1994) D. Deep Purple, Neil Diamond, Dr. Hook (same show NJ 2007), Micky Dolenz (opened CT 2014), Spencer Davis (same show NJ 2007) E. England Dan and John Ford Coley F. Fairport Convention G. Guess Who, Green Day H. Justin Hayward, Annie Haslam, Richie Havens (same show Bethel, NY 1994), Hudson Brothers, Clint Holmes, Woody Herman I. It's a Beautiful Day, Iron Butterfly (opened New Haven, CT 1993) J. Joan Jett, James Gang, Tommy James, Davy Jones (performed with Comic-Con NJ 2011) K. The Kingsmen, Robby Krieger (saw in NY 1999, performed with Paris 1993 and NY 2016) L. Arthur Lee M. Moody Blues, Roger McGuinn, Country Joe McDonald (Oregon 1971, on same show Bethel, NY 1994), Buddy Miles (met in 1976), Malo, 10,000 Maniacs N. Rick Nelson, Nektar (same show Asbury Park, NJ 2003), New Riders of the Purple Sage (same show Greenfield, MA 2012) O. P. Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Porcupine Tree, Robert Plant, Shawn Philips, Point Blank Q. Mike Quatro, The Quick (Danny Wilde) R. Rolling Stones, Buddy Rich S. Steppenwolf, Strawbs, Sugarloaf, Pete Seeger, Soul Asylum (same show Bethel, NY 1994), Smithereens, Earl Slick (same show NJ), Al Stewart T. Tower of Power, Three Dog Night (Salem, OR 1969, opened show CT 2012), Peter Tork (opened show NY 2011), Rufus and Carla Thomas U. V. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Andreas Vollenweider W. Steve Winwood, Roger Waters, Wilco, War, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Leslie West (same show NJ 2007) X. Y. Neil Young Z. ZZ Top

I have a K4 I've been using for many years. I have never been happy with it on it's own. It's okay at lower volume levels but Acoustic Piano sounds in particular become muddy at higher levels. At most gigs I run a line to the PA and it is acceptable as a stage monitor at lower volume levels. On some gigs I have run a powered speaker from the K4's Subwoofer output which vastly improves the overall sound and volume level. I use a QSC K12 but many other less expensive choices have become available since I got the K12. If you use a powered speaker by itself most have a very limited input options so an external mixer may be needed.

The single manual and dual manual Mojos are now available in black with reverse color keys. It looks like they are only available from Sweetwater, Perfect Circuit, and Thomann at present. Let's see if Korg follows and offers reverse keys on the Continental.

There is a Prog/Metal band here in New Jersey called Symphony X that has been around since about 1994. Few people in their home state know who they are but they have been huge in Japan since their first album and have also built a big following in Europe. Much of their earlier material was Keyboard heavy incorporating excerpts from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Bartok, Paganini, Holst and other classical composers. Their later material still has Keyboards but usually in a more supportive role. [video:youtube] [video:youtube]

Since I haven't driven my car in the last month and will probably have no need to drive for at least a couple more months I raised my car insurance deductibles to the max and dropped or reduced other coverage which knocked close to $200 off my current premium bill.

The Behringer Crave is within the size requirements. It has a single CEM3340 VCO similar to a Prophet 5 oscillator, Model D Highpass/Lowpass Ladder Filter, Step Sequencer, Arpeggiator and it can be poly-chained. Perfect Circuit Audio has it for $199.99. Thomann has it for £144.

The original recording of "Hungry Like the Wolf" used a Roland Jupiter 4 which has Random mode on the Arpeggiator rather than just the Up/Down modes found on most Synths. The Arturia Keystep or Beatstep Pro may do this. Another possibility is the EHX 8 Step which is an inexpensive sequencer that allows you to input notes and then randomize the order. The Behringer Crave is somewhat more expensive but looks like it could do what you want. There are demos of all these units on YouTube.

In the late 50's the federal government allocated $4 billion dollars as an incentive for companies that manufactured goods for educational purposes. Rheem saw an opportunity to acquire some of these funds by branching out into audio/visual equipment that could be used by schools. They started a new division called Rheem Califone Roberts for this purpose. They had a minority share of Roberts which was started by two men who both had the first name Robert. Roberts tape recorders were built in Japan by Akai to Roberts specifications and sold in the USA while similar Akai branded products were sold in the rest of the world. Other audio/visual equipment was sold under the Califone brand and later Rheem branched out into collaborating with Japanese manufacturers to sell musical gear. Rheem did manufacture their own solid-state guitar amps and a few other products in Culver City. Rheem had little experience in this area and were finding their way when the general manager of the music division was killed in a plane crash which permanently shut down this part of the operation.

I got a Model D. Have had problems getting it to work well with any of my MIDI Keyboards. Tried it with a Casio PX-5S and it worked briefly but then stopped working. I then tried a Nord Stage 3 Compact and again it worked briefly and then cut out. Next I tried a Juno 60 w/Minerva that has MIDI and it worked consistently but plays in too high of a range and apparently no way to set the MIDI octave. A Jupiter 6 w/Europa was slightly better but still played an octave too high with no obvious way to change it. It does work well with PK5 MIDI pedals for a Taurus-like set up. A modern MIDI controller Keyboard would probably work fine but I really wanted to use this on stage without adding another Keyboard. A friend has the Neutron and Odyssey. He had problems with his first Neutron and received a replacement. He especially likes the Odyssey.

Rheem is the company that now makes water heaters and air conditioners. They distributed several music related products in the 60's including the Rheem Mark VII Combo Organ which was made in Japan to Rheem's specifications and can sometimes be found badged with the Barclay name. The Kee Bass was originally designed as a pedal bass to be placed under a Piano and was apparently built in the USA at Rheem's plant in Culver City, CA. http://www.combo-organ.com/Rheem/Barclay1_small.jpg

I still occasionally play with a band that found me on Bandmix many years ago. On two occasions Ritchie Blackmore's manager contacted me through Bandmix. It was down to me and one other guy for the Keyboard position and the other guy got it and is still with them I think. The second time was for Bass guitar and they also wanted to hear examples of my acoustic guitar and flute playing. Plenty of great bass players around so never heard from them again.

In my earliest days when I played Hammond and electric piano I always sat down. In the polysynth era with three Keyboards on an Ultimate Support A-frame I started standing. In the early 90's I started sitting again when playing certain vintage keyboards. That was followed by a period of several years when I played bass pedals that also required sitting down. Now I stand on gigs when playing modern gear and sit down on the gigs with vintage gear.