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In studio next week: Electro or B4?


daBowsa

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We're going to start laying down the basic tracks for our album next week. I use my Electro all things live, but would B4 be a worthy upgrade for studio use? I guess I'd still use the Electro for its keybed and draw buttons.

 

I had a copy back when I was trying to go all vst, but haven't used it since I sold that rig off. I don't even have a decent laptop soundcard, so there's some investment I'd have to undertake, but no big deal if its really worth it.

 

What do you think?

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I have both. Go Electro. Add a bit of spring reverb, and external good e.q., maybe even borrow a nice preamp....

Hammond C3, Leslie 122, Steinway B, Wurlitzer 200A, Rhodes 73,

D6 Clav

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I'd vote Electro given the choice between these two, but wondering if there is any way you could get a real Hammond and Leslie or at least a real Leslie for the studio? That would add at least 41 oz of coolness to the rig :D

 

Good luck! Is this Badfish? I can't wait to see another live show.

 

Regards,

Eric

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VB3 - fantastic tone and leslie sim. I much prefer it to my experiences with B4.

 

I have programmed it to be controlled by the drawbars on my Nord Stage, so you should be able to do the same with the Electro.

 

VB3 sounds way better than the Electro too. Electro is muddy by comparison.

Moe

---

 

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Use the Electro, better Leslie sim. Shows up with full drawbars or with any of the upper ones pulled, Ehhr, I mean as in the case of the Electro - buttons.

Steve

 

www.seagullphotodesign.com

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It's long into the MIDI age. Use your Electro, since you have it, record the MIDI as you play, and if it doesn't sound good, THEN get or borrow B4 and see if it's better.

Botch

In Wine there is Wisdom

In Beer there is Freedom

In Water there is bacteria

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I have heard good things about VB3 (v1.2 released April 2008), and it includes two different Hammond models as well as Gibson, Vox, and Farfisa cheesy combo organs. Pretty versatile all around.

 

It's 49 euros, which isn't as cheap as a year or two ago but still quite affordable.

 

I never really looked into it very deeply, as it is Windows-only.

 

I frankly haven't been too happy with B4 II, but as I mentioned in another thread, I'm not exactly in an "organ mood" this past year, so that may be the reason, or it may be my laziness in going very deep to tweak the sounds (I do tweak the sounds, but I find it hard to get past the mindset of using a mouse for controlling an organ).

 

The most recent rev did change the distortion, and most turn it off as it's overdone. But even so, and this may be due to my weak CPU, it just doesn't sound very organic to me compared to the Electro or Hammond's own clones (or those of Voce).

 

For cheesy organs, I use the physically modeled Combo Sister (well under $100) from NUSofting (all of their products are great and get used a lot in tracking).

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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If you're working with Logic, you might want to try the EVB3 tonewheel clone, but I agree with Botch about recording the MIDI and sucking and seeing - so to speak.

Yamaha: P515, CP88, Genos 1, HX1

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I'd vote Electro given the choice between these two, but wondering if there is any way you could get a real Hammond and Leslie or at least a real Leslie for the studio? That would add at least 41 oz of coolness to the rig :D

 

Oh yeah, that would be sweet. Maybe I'll get up there and they'll just have one waiting for me! :thu: Would I be able to make things work with my Electro and a Leslie? Or do I need special 7-pin to 1/4" type hardware?

 

Good luck! Is this Badfish? I can't wait to see another live show.

 

No, this is the for the origianl project, Scotty Don't. Both bands will be back in Richmon on Aug 1st - let me know if you'll be around!

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It's long into the MIDI age. Use your Electro, since you have it, record the MIDI as you play, and if it doesn't sound good, THEN get or borrow B4 and see if it's better.

 

Good call. I'm already doing this for a string/orchestra passage. I thought I'd try it out with the Yamaha ROMpler I have and then plug in some fancy sample set if it need some convincing-up.

 

No reason not to do this with the organ parts, other than it feels a little weird/sterile...I guess I'll get over it. :D

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For overdubs on the same record, I recently used both:

 

A balls out rocker: Nord Stage's B3 thru Motion Sound KBR-3D's rotary channel. One room mic, full drawbars, lots of slow/fast phrasing - it was great.

 

A ballad: B4 direct, slow rotor sim only, aged tonewheel setting. Very ghostly and vibe-y.

 

I have a classic B3 and 122 at home. They stay there, and everybody's happy :)

HammondB3/M3/Leslie122, FarfisaCompact, RhodesStage88, Wurlitzer200A, HohnerClavinetE7/CembeletN, MoogMinimoogD/MP201, ArpSolina/ProDGX, KorgPoly800II/ARPOdyssey, RMI368, NordStage88, MemotronM2K
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Use what you're used to. They're both way good enough for the job: your playing will matter more than the instrument. And as mentioned above, record the MIDI. Just be aware that it'll be a pain to convert the controllers from Electro to NIB4, if you play the drawbars & such.
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Well it doesn't look like I won't be able to score a real rotating anything, so we'll see how the Electro sounds through a nice preamp. I'm going to be using it for EP's, so we'll be tweaking a signal regardless.
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Just managed to pick up an electro 2 rack for a bean on ebay.co.uk

 

Only had it home a few hours and I can't believe how musical this thing is - love it!

 

The one bit of advice I'd give is try it with a valve preamp or two + use a 'proper' weighted action kbd for the E pianos. Have fun.

 

Dan.

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