LX888

I guess its great if you can afford a Soul. I haven't checked the price.... I do listen to the Joey D. NAMM show videos, but its hard to tell from those... his settings are all over the place. I am surprised at how loud his percussion seems to be. There are some recordings where touch sensitivity shows up on a real Hammond tonewheel. On Don Patterson's recordings you can really hear a soft attack that reveals key click and just the edge of tonewheel contact. Also Joey D.'s demonstrations....particularly squabbling .....demonstrate the contact effect so I know that it is a factor. In my case... the way I use a clonewheels is mostly for fairly loud classic rock and blues settings. In that environment I doubt that the 9 contact thing would ever be an issue. But more power to who is ever able to afford these. What I did come up with is how affordable it can be to have a C-2 or a B-2 with Trek II percussion. This C-2 was free! I just had to buy the percussion ...300 dollars but the thing is.... I am surprised at how much I like it. From the G G terminals on the Hammond preamps... you can wire up a headphone jack. Also... you can plug in a clonewheel and run it through the preamp and do a real A/B comparison between a clonewheel and a real Hammond. When I do this the Legend module comes damn close to the sounds on my C-2. A few years back it was not uncommon for people to be running clonewheels through tube preamps. I also have an outboard B-2 preamp that I can use for clonewheels if I want to. This can also be something to try because these preamps show up on ebay from time to time.So If I really wanted to get fussy the outboard tube preamp is an option.

Are 9 contact points really that critical in a loud rock or blues environment? A local piano shop recently dropped off a fairly mint and low mileage C-2 at my house. I have a headphone out so I can really hear what is going on. I installed the Trek II percussion so I am all set. On this... I can barely hear the contact point unless I use an extremely light touch. I ran my Legend module through the preamp and I really can't her much difference unless I back off the way I play quite a bit. This C-2 cured me of GAS for a clonewheel.I have Mojo and Legend modules and by the way...don't try to tell me the Legend has inferior CV! Just love the C-2 by the way....1954. What I hear is a difference in the preamp. I have to say I prefer the 2 series. On the Legend, the BC sample is a game changer for me. I use it quite a bit due to the CV of the BC... it is different in such a cool way. It has become a must have... Glad they thought of it.

This is a bit unrelated but...how hard is it to contact the people at Studiologic/ Numa these days? I have a Numa 1 organ and I use to communicate with a person named Carlo Maffaei about it. He set up a percussion volume mod... but I was never able to able to get it to work. I am curious he if he still is with the company. This was all actually a while ago...around the time that the numa organ was released. ;But anyway info about whoever is with the company now would be appreciated.

Thank you. Yes I want to chat about Roland. People tend to like to chatter about the latest and greatest thing. So right now it seems to be all about the Yamaha CK models. I am reluctant to get into Yamaha again. I bought used CP5 a few years back. It is extremely confusing to use for one thing. The other thing about it is on the bass notes... there is a distinct "twang" in the upper harmonics. This thing should have been built to last but it wasn't. On the same token I have a Roland RD300GX from the same era that was built to last. To me the Superior Grand sample on that still sounds good. And it hs possibly my favorite Rhodes to be found on a DP to this day. And there is no stupid key noise that I had to put up with from Yamaha. I also checked out the Yamaha P 515, but I am passing on that. Thd CFX sample is not for me.I won't get into it too much....I don't want to risk insulting 515 owners. As far as PHA 4 action...I am OK with it. I like many things about the FP 10 which is actually quite similar to the FP 30. So yes ... I am quite interested in the FP 90x at the moment... but there are none to try in the Portland area. Portland area businesses in general have been taking a hit.... there is such a crime wave connected to the homeless population that businesses are packing up in droves. The keyboard dept. in Clackamas looks like a ghost town. To the above post... how does Pianoteq 8 stack up with the Roland modeling? I could probably live with FP10 Pha4 if that was good enough

I am curious to hear from any recent Roland digital piano owners or those who may have played any of the above recent issues extensively. Two years ago I bought the FP 10 package at Costco...it came with the FP 10 and a stand, headphones etc. etc. I have enjoyed having this tremendously. I like the PHA 4 action and the Supernatural sample. Of course it is very bare bones...it does not have 1/4 outs but I done care. I mostly go mini to RCA into a home stereo amp. I will say I have had to mess with it quite a bit. I use an EQ amp ( old home JVC) and a pair of AR Holographic speakers from the late 90's. So it actually sounds pretty good. After dumping the dreaded DEXIBELL VIVO S9 (YUCK!!!) I do have some money to re invest and I have been thinking of seriously looking into a Roland FP 90x. If you have one or have heard one I would like to know your thoughts. I am curious to how the EP's are on this also. There are not any around the Portland area to listen to and after my Dexibell experience I would not purchase sight unseen again unless there is a good reason to do it. It is getting harder to find high end boards to demo Also I would be interested to hear from people who have FP10/30x/60x. I am just curious if you have the same response as I did with my FP 10. My experience is that the Supernatural sample makes it preferable to any of the other entry level/ lightweight boards....Yamaha Casio etc. But only is you tweak it a bit with an outboard amp. The FP 10 external speakers are minimal at best. I think the FP 10 comes alive pretty much when you add some low end EQ and make adjustments to touch sensitivity and or the onboard brightness control I would also like to know how to get into the Piano Partner App....this thing has driven me nuts and I still can't figure out. BTW Stu Harrison at Merriam gives a major thumbs up to the FP 10. He is probably the reviewer I respect the most out of all of them Your thoughts...?

Thank you for answering questions about the CFX sample everyone. Let's hope it does share the same sample as the CP88. If the pianos are good then I would use this as a sort of sound module with the option of a battery powered portable...like a portable Casio on steroids. I can do most of my practicing on a 61 down an octave. It will be interesting to see what the organ really does. Do I expect accurate CV?....not from Yamaha. Hopefully there will be decent chorale sound and decent percussion... that shouldn't be too hard. They were capable of delivering fairly accurate drawbar tones s far back as the P 250.

How good could the piano sample in this be expected to be? Is the CFX anywhere near what a CP4 would be ? I would consider the 61 key version if I could use it with an 88 controller. I tried that with an MX 49 awhile back but many of the sounds were not up to par. If pianos and EP's are anywhere near the CP4 or P 515 I might be interested. The MX seemed like a somehow compromised version of theMotif...so is that what is going on here? And...are these out yet? Has anybody heard one. It would be nice to have a portable with CP4 or P515 level pianos. If it is not at least at that level I would not be interested. I assume anything organ from Yamaha would be a compromise anyway. They need an expert like Tony Monaco or somebody to do a reality check. Hopefully these will be hitting stores soon so we will see.

I did buy the Dexibell from a dealer but they specialized in mostly acoustic pianos. I asked them a bit about upgrading sounds but they didn't have clue I don't know if I can risk being truthful about how disappointed I was in this...particularly the EP's. I was sort of expecting it might be on the level of what Nord offers...but it was not anywhere close. I guess I thought that if I didn't like it it would be easy to flip but it took a year ! My next move is to try either Pianoteq 8 or try to get Ravenscroft to actually work which has also been a pain... not only for me but some fairly skilled computer geeks I know. I did demo a Yamaha 515 recently and decided to pass. My piano right now is a Roland FP 10 I got on Craigslist for 150 bucks! I like it way more than I did the 4000 list price Dexibell. The FP 10 has the ability to tailor the high end overtones through touch sensitivity or the on board brilliance function. Keyboards are not always easy to sell if you wind up making a mistake.

I have current issue modules for Viscount Legend, Crumar Mojo and HX3 My preference is the Viscount Legend. just for pure Hammond tonewheel emulation the Viscount comes closest to me because I use slow percussion decay. The percussion tapering on the Mojo is a little loud on slow decay. If you use fast decay probably not an issue. I have never heard chorus vibrato from HX3 or 3.5 that gets it for me. The Mojo is pretty good in that department but the Mojo leslie sim drives me nuts! Whereas the Viscount is a little less intense.... and there is no editing via i phone insanity. No thanks. You can edit leslie sim on the Mojo module but it still drives me nuts. At this point the Mojo has the best keybed but I am using an old Hammond X2 with these modules which feels pretty good too. For sound though...you can't beat what Joey D. got out of these Viscounts...he had the best clonewheel sound of anybody.

I don't have a great computer set up so downloading wasn't that easy or obvious The main thing is...why did they put such crappy sounds as default ? This assumption that you have to be computer savvy to get it to sound decent made me mad and made me just want to see it gone The organ was the best thing about it but even that... the percussion was too loud but t least they got the CV in the ballpark I did make a decent profit by selling it but it took a year to sell. Tax time is near and I guess that is what did it.

Breathing a sigh of relief.... Last year I purchased a Dexibell Vivo S9 at a blowout price. I was not able to hear it before a bought it but I assumed...incorrectly...that if something had a 4000 dollar list price it must be pretty good.... I have to say that I have never been so disappointed in all my life. I just could not get a decent sound out of it. Particularly the electric pianos...oh my god...what are they thinking ? The acoustic pianos...once again...what kind of piano are they using to sample or model this? I just don't get it...perhaps there was something I was missing? Maybe I needed to download one of the other available versions. But I could not get anything I could use. This thing sat for sale for over a year but finally....it sold And for a decent price too. On the other hand.... I picked up a used Roland FP 10 on Craigslist for 150 bucks. This one will be a spare for the one I already have. I like it quite a bit I wish Dexibell luck but geez....what is going on with this... Very strange ?

Is NAMM allowing non members? I really would like to go...I have very good memories of meeting up with forum people...the whole Red Key Lounge scene One early Sunday morning I was in the Rhodes booth... and who shows up and site next to me with his two female escorts and starts playing one of the Rhodes but STEVIE WONDER. You know what he played?....Superwoman... from his early 70's The Music of m My Mind album. Which was significant to me because that track featured Buzz Feiten who I gigged with in the late 80's. Other memories ... hearing and getting to know Joey DeFrancesco and having him invite me to dinner at Steamers, where we discussed distribution of the Numa 1 organ. I was able later to get some of these units out to various players in the Pacific Northwest region. I heard something about purchasing tickets if you are a non member and I seem to recall that they were allowing non members in on Sunday

I am not a huge fan of Rick Beato I just deleted a bunch of comments I wrote particularly regarding some of his "teaching" videos. I have seen a bunch of his stuff that just rubs me the wrong way. Rick is acquiring a lot of influence and I just wish someone else would have done this if it was going to be done Keith seems very vulnerable at this point. Saying he is disabled would be putting it mildly. I can't even imagine what kind of challenge he must be facing ...can you imagine someone being at the top of his game the way he was and then having to live with such a sharp decline in physical capability? I sense that perhaps at this point Keith needs support from qualified people. This just a guess but there would just about be some kind of need for emotional support for a person in his condition and I hope to God he is getting it. The period that I really followed Keith was when he released his first multi disc Solo Concerts set. He playing was quite beautiful at that point. Before that I really liked the album with Gary Burton and another highlight was his unaccompanied solo on Miles Davis Live/Evil where he played brilliantly on an out of tune Rhodes and Fender organ simultaneously. And don't forget Forest Flower live at Monterey... He left quite a Legacy. So I am not sure that I agree that this interview was such a good idea. I apologize for being so blunt about Rick Beato. It bothers me the way some people kiss ants with the stars while the rest olf us are just supposed to buy his merch. No thanks Rick

I did hear an HX3.5 recently and I couldn't hear any discernable difference in the CV.... but I am super picky obviously. Except for the fact that both the Mojo and Key B stuff has very usable C/V. Also had a chance to play HX3.5 through a real leslie.... now that was impressive. Its just that there are so many editing parameters on HX3 and I am not sure I am making things any better when I mess with them. Ditto for the Mojo but not as much. I can't screw up the CV on the Mojo like I can the HX3 . Just curious what the advantage of MAG organ is... To me the Mojo is the one with the best keybed

I mixed around on the Mojo module and it does not do what the Key B module does as far as emulating the older BC etc. type organs. The Mojo is good don't get me wrong.I go into McIntosh Audio near where I live and he gets in just about everything these days for me to try. No Viscount Soul has showed up yet... so I see a lot of Crumar and HX3 related stuff. I have to say...the new Mojo keybed is impressive! Not sure I could live with editing it on an I phone or whatever they do and it does need editing IMO. But I hardly ever have an issues with a Key B type product. And I never have to edit the damn thing. The Key B leslie sim is not as intense as some of the others. The spin is more moderate. The thing that drives me crazy as far as leslie sims go is the way they affect percussion. One thing I am doing about this is to have a separate module...in my case HX3... and trigger just the percussion . So on The legend Live you can run that into the Aux in. To me it matters because when you use slow percussion...you can really hear it get affected by the sim.I don't think I would do that on a gig but at home... I don't send percussion through the sim. Probably sounds crazy I admit. But the Key B Viscount is unique in the way it emulates the older organs.