Organ-Playing Motif Users, I Need Your Advice

[dsetto]

XS7->vent; XF8 for AP/EP. Or, tiny mixer to get top & bottom boards into Vent.

Regarding LH bass: I'm not sure what's required so I can't comment much. Does the vent 1 have a way to reduce the lower leslie speaker? (The 2 does.) This could achieve a "bi-timbral" kind of sound- where bass doesn't have leslie oscillation. (Especially useful if you prefer to do LH bass on the 76-key synth action XS7.)

 

I have gotten great results with Motif for rock organ with band. But that's with a somewhat complex setup, a good handle on the Motif, & prep time. I can also get great results with a simpler setup. But it sounds like you won't have much prep time & aren't familiar with the Motif. Sounds like a fun challenge to try to help, if that's the deal.

 

The drawbar controller sounds cool, but I don't know about it, and I'm inclined to recommend to not mess with that; but that's only because I wouldn't know where to begin to configure it.

 

The XS7 has 8 faders to control up to 8 discrete sounds.

 

Would you be willing to load in a sound (waveform &/or Voice), or are you planning to only work with a Preset Voice?

[MathOfInsects]

XS7->vent; XF8 for AP/EP.

 

This was my initial inclination. It's an international flight and I don't feel like taking the chance that my board gets even gate-checked, since the case I'd have to use pushes it above the size limit...and using the lighter one risks damaging the board.

 

I am going to bring the Vent II and run just the 7 through it, then play LH bass on the 8 as-is. The three organ players in the crowd will yell "Photoshopped" and leave, and no one else will care about the inconsistency. I will have to learn on the fly how to disable the 7's internal FX for the organ, but this is a first-world problem.

 

BL's position on stage items: a hard no, even visible phones. Water bottles, computers, set lists, phones, ipads, all look bad in photos and videos, and the bare stage has a way more "classic" look, which is his vibe. So we all memorize all tunes and the set order (which essentially never changes) as a condition of the gig. I may be able to get away with the drawbar controllers, as they look more "organic" than a phone. I'll see.

 

I started asking for backline items a month or so ago, starting with B3 and Leslie, and working down to a variety of clonewheels and multi-use boards. I just got word the day I posted here that they were only providing the Motifs. BL said he wrote back and asked at least for a Nord Stage. But that was one of our original requests, so I am not hopeful.

 

Thank you once again for all the input. Festival slot is Saturday. I will either report back in triumph or sulk quietly away in defeat when we return.

[dsetto]

There are 3 buttons, left of the screen. (2nd row from the top). On the XS they are labeled:

Effect Bypass: Insertion

Effect Bypass: System

Master Effect

 

Those will be the buttons. An XS user can tell you which way is off. My current preference is having them all off on my XF.

[AnotherScott]

I will have to learn on the fly how to disable the 7's internal FX for the organ

There are "effects bypass" buttons to the left of the screen. The one marked "insertion" ought to do it.

 

BL's position on stage items: a hard no, even visible phones. Water bottles, computers, set lists, phones, ipads, all look bad in photos and videos, and the bare stage has a way more "classic" look, which is his vibe.

That's understandable, but an i-device lying flat on the Motif (heck, maybe even on top of the Motifs's own screen, if you want) would look no more out of place than, well, the Motif's own screen. Except that wires would be coming out of it. You could presumably minimize that with a wireless MIDI connection...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-MIDI-Interface-mi-1-Rev-3/dp/B01D61QK6W

 

which, if your iPad is fully charged before the set, means you's only have one cable, the audio cable out of the headphone jack going into your Vent. With a little tape, even that wire coming uncharacteristically out of the "top" of your keyboard could be pretty well concealed as well (though more easily on the black XF than the silver XS).

 

All this just for future reference or anyone else who finds themselves in a position like this. For this gig, it sounds lilke you're set, and there would likely not be time to acquire and get comfortable with this other approach before the weekend.

[MathOfInsects]

There are 3 buttons, left of the screen. (2nd row from the top). On the XS they are labeled:

Effect Bypass: Insertion

Effect Bypass: System

Master Effect

 

Those will be the buttons. An XS user can tell you which way is off. My current preference is having them all off on my XF.

There are "effects bypass" buttons to the left of the screen. The one marked "insertion" ought to do it.

 

Thank you. Love this place.

 

My first gig with the group, I had an iphone with a set list hidden behind the ledge of a B3. BL came over, saw it, and said--more an instruction than an observation--"You'll have it memorized soon enough." Message received.

 

Now, between you and me, there are a couple of hidden iphones on that stage. But I really can't get away with one that he'll see anywhere, and rather impress with my resourcefulness, than my clever sneakiness.

[AnotherScott]

Now, between you and me, there are a couple of hidden iphones on that stage. But I really can't get away with one that he'll see anywhere, and rather impress with my resourcefulness, than my clever sneakiness.

though if you were so inclined, you also might be able to put the phone in a rugged phone case and velcro it to the bottom of the Vent itself, especially if you go the wireless MIDI route. You could attach some rubber feet to the bottom of the Vent to raise it a bit more off the ground to provide the clearance for the phone without the phone having to "support" the Vent. Totally invisible, better sound, maybe he'd even approve.

[Delaware Dave]

Another case of form over substance. It's better to look good on the stage for pictures than to have the right tools to create the right sound for the job at hand.....

[MIDI2XS]

There are 3 buttons, left of the screen. (2nd row from the top). On the XS they are labeled:

Effect Bypass: Insertion

Effect Bypass: System

Master Effect

 

Those will be the buttons. An XS user can tell you which way is off. My current preference is having them all off on my XF.

There are "effects bypass" buttons to the left of the screen. The one marked "insertion" ought to do it.

 

Thank you. Love this place.

That's useful information, but be careful. The buttons are labeled differently and work differently on the XS versus the XF.

 

With the XS:

When the Insertion and System EFFECT BYPASS buttons are lit, those effects are turned off.

When the Master Effect button is lit, Master Effects are turned on.

 

With the XF:

All three buttons are EFFECT ON/OFF.

When one of those buttons is lit, the related effects are turned on.

When one of those buttons is unlit, the related effects are turned off.

 

So the Master Effects button works the same on the XS and XF, but oppositely for Insertion and System Effects.

 

[MathOfInsects]

That's useful information, but be careful. The buttons are labeled differently and work differently on the XF versus the XF.

 

With the XS:

When the Insertion and System EFFECT BYPASS buttons are lit, those effects are turned off.

When the Master Effect button is lit, Master Effects are turned on.

 

With the XF:

All three buttons are EFFECT ON/OFF.

When one of those buttons is lit, the related effects are turned on.

When one of those buttons is unlit, the related effects are turned off.

 

So the Master Effects button works the same on the XS and XF, but oppositely for Insertion and System Effects.

 

Thank you greatly.

[dsetto]

So, here's my take on doing jazz trio B3 on an XS/XF with no Motif knowledge, prep-work, or tech-lackey.

 

100 Disclaimers: I have an XF7 & a Vent 2, and don't have 1st-hand experience with an XS. It's my understanding (& yours, & here) that they're fundamentally similar. I am also not an experienced organist, but through here, online, my XF7, listening, & my intensity, I know I've got a decent handle on the fundamentals. What I'm gonna recommend isn't what I do for my uber-sound fetishes, motivated by the motif's reputation around these parts. But it's simple enough to get going for a maiden voyage. I just tried it: XF7, vent 2, bass amp. It's more than fine. It can be about the music, and you've got a decent amount of faders, knobs, & buttons to shape the sound as you move about. XS person: please review in case there's an XS-specific thing that's different from my XF perspective. This can be better organized. I'll proofread this later. Read what MIDI2XS writes.

Can someone with an XS confirm that the sound I suggested is on the XS. And that the drawbar arrangement I provided here (that are on my XF) are also on the XS. Edit-> view elements 1-8, oscillator page, waveform name.)

 

 

First, give thanks for your Vent 2.

 

This approach will give you:

- 8 faders (opposite direction of drawbars!!)

fader 1 = 16' & 8'

fader 2 = 5 1/3'

fader 3 = 4'

fader 4 = 2 2/3'

fader 5 = 2'

fader 6 = 1 3/5'

fader 7 = 1 1/3'

fader 8 = 1'

- options for 2 percussion sounds. (I think it's both standard choices.) non-standard is that you can have both at the same time.*

- option to have built-in cheap digital stock set chorus & reverb. Initially I suggested not to use this. But honestly, I just tried it, and it may work to make the sound a little more soggy, jazz-ish (the chorus, specifically-- up to fully on; and the verb, maybe a little.)

- option have the motif stock leslie effect add to the vent warble

- all that the vent does: including reducing bass leslie speaker to zero, which can help do LH on the XS7 itself.

 

Okay, here we go.

 

1. --- Find the sound "All Bars Perc AF 1&2". ---

An XS-er could tell you exactly where it is. On XF: it's Pre 1, G2.

First thing you do after the XS loads is press the Voice button. There are 3 buttons, under the word "Mode", to the right of the jog wheel. You want the Voice button to be lit. You want the other two Mode buttons (Performance & Master) to not be lit. (This means you will be in Voice Mode.) (Make sure arpeggiator button doesn't go on. If it goes on mistakenly, and you're new to the board, it's annoying if you don't understand what's happening.)

 

2. --- Reset the faders. Get to know 'em. ---

Move all the faders all the way up, and then all the way down. This puts you at a zero volume state for each.

Get to know your faders. Turn up Fader 1. It's a combined 16' & 8'.

 

Bring in the vent. Go through those as you continue with the faders.

As it's jazz, I'm guessing:

Add a little Fader 3, the 4'. Add a little less of Fader 5, the 2'. Add even less of Fader 8, the 1'. Make a visual-auditory connection.

Bring in the 5 1/3'. It's weird. It's not under the 8'. It's over the 16'. (The 8' is baked into the 16' - onto Fader 1.) Fader 2 is the 5 1/3'. Learn that.

Bring in the octave above the 5 1/3'. Fader 4.

The top range should be familiar. The two dissonant drawbars in between the 1' and 2' are where you'd expect them; where the right-most fader equals the right most B3 drawbar. Which is the case with the sound we're using.

 

It makes great sense to write out the faders & drawbars I suppose. On the plane, of course. Not in front of BL. Draw it on your left forearm? -- Joking aside, it may be comforting to have stickers prepared, that you can put over the faders; as you won't have a chance to practice.

 

To memorize it quickly:

Rightmost faders are like rightmost B3 drawbars. From Drawbar 9, all the way left to Drawbar 4.

Let f=fader, db=drawbar, Math of Insects

f8 = db 9

f7 = db 8

f6 = db 7

f5 = db 6

f4 = db 5

f3 = db 4

 

3. For percussion:

XS User: please confirm. I read Assignable function buttons function a little differently on the XF than on XS.

Assignable Function Buttons. Two buttons, far left of keyboard, left of Master Volume fader. On my XF, each one is one of the percussions. I quickly tried to ascertain what they were replacing, or adding. I couldn't figure it out, totally. But, pressing one or two of these buttons made them present & useful. However, I'm concerned these won't function on the XS as I observed them on the XF.

 

4. For Chorus & Reverb. Effects: System button. [see MIDI2XS notes on how this buttons function.] Note, if you press this button while you are playing, there's a non-musical interruption in sound. So plan on pressing these Effects buttons when you are not playing. It takes about 1 sec to engage.

To adjust chorus or reverb: the markings on the board explain it well.

Press the selected part control button on the top left corner of the board, until Tone 2 gets lit. Now, the knobs under reverb & chorus adjust those. I'd begin by removing reverb all together. And see if you like the chorus. Including turning the chorus all the way up. On one hand, use the vent for leslie sim, and avoid the ehh motif chorus. Or, maybe, the ehh chorus, softening the sound is better for you. Both work, in my opinion.

side note: i noticed when i turned chorus all way up (which could very well be good for you), it made the overall volume significantly louder. Thereby distorting my vent input.

 

5. For motif leslie. To turn it off and keep it off, make sure Effects Insertion is properly set. An XS person can tell you what off is. (On the XF this labeled differently; and I don't know if it operates differently.) [see MIDI2XS notes on how this buttons function.] I did an experiment, and assessed it both with & without the leslie. For least fake sound, I suppose leave it off. That said, when I put it on, and added it to the vent leslie; it was fine. I could even see how it could be desirable. A taste thing. Both work. When Effects Insertion is in "on setting", leslie is controlled via the mod wheel. On my XF, mod wheel all way down was slow les.

 

---

More side notes:

 

- I like starting with the 16'+8' sound. It feels good (enough) to me. The higher drawbars alone, too loud, are not good. But, once I start building up the sound, building up with the lower harmonics, then, I can bump up (faders, here) the higher harmonics.

- To get a good level both to the vent 2 and to the house, I'd decide early on whether or not you will use the chorus, and if so, how much. (Because of what I wrote earlier.)

- the vent 2's mix/dist lo knob (2nd from right) controls the lower leslie speaker. i turned this all the way down, so i had high frequencies (right hand) getting leslie treatment, but lower notes (LH) pretty much not getting much leslie treatment. I think that set up would allow you to also do LH on the XS7.

- That said, Pre 1, G2 on the lower XF8 is the sound I've described. And, it would be totally fine to either use: no leslie on the LH. Or, press the Effect Insertion button so it's lit, and use mod wheel to get weighted LH motif leslie.

Good thing about the two boards is: each have their own 8 faders.

Which will allow you to do some RH on the XF8. Immediate two timbres; ever-evolving. XF8 action is probably decently suited for it.

- possibly un-needed complication: For XF8. swapping between AP/EP & B3 LH. Velocity curve setting. Perhaps, AP/EP put it on 'hard'. And for B3, either on straight, or fixed. This may be an un-needed complication.

It's pretty simple to adjust:

pressing Utility button: and you should see the Velocity Curve. If not, press F1 real button (soft-labeled "general"), and SF1 real button (soft-labeled "play"), and that should reveal the Velocity Curve. navigate to it with the navigation keys under the jog wheel, and move between different settings with the jog wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

*For Motif users: it's deep magic how this is here. Must be baked in at the waveform level.

[dsetto]

If you'll use this, hopefully it will be reviewed and corrected as needed!

[U.Honey]

That's useful information, but be careful. The buttons are labeled differently and work differently on the XF versus the XF.

 

With the XS:

When the Insertion and System EFFECT BYPASS buttons are lit, those effects are turned off.

When the Master Effect button is lit, Master Effects are turned on.

 

With the XF:

All three buttons are EFFECT ON/OFF.

When one of those buttons is lit, the related effects are turned on.

When one of those buttons is unlit, the related effects are turned off.

 

So the Master Effects button works the same on the XS and XF, but oppositely for Insertion and System Effects.

 

Ah, the beauty of the Motif user interface

 

And yes, I do play gigs with Moxf.

[Ulf]

So, here's my take on doing jazz trio B3 on an XS/XF with no Motif knowledge, prep-work, or tech-lackey.

 

...

 

 

Whoa! That's an impressive lesson.

 

[MathOfInsects]

So, here's my take on doing jazz trio B3 on an XS/XF with no Motif knowledge, prep-work, or tech-lackey.

 

100 Disclaimers: I have an XF7 & a Vent 2, and don't have 1st-hand experience with an XS. It's my understanding (& yours, & here) that they're fundamentally similar. I am also not an experienced organist, but through here, online, my XF7, listening, & my intensity, I know I've got a decent handle on the fundamentals. What I'm gonna recommend isn't what I do for my uber-sound fetishes, motivated by the motif's reputation around these parts. But it's simple enough to get going for a maiden voyage. I just tried it: XF7, vent 2, bass amp. It's more than fine. It can be about the music, and you've got a decent amount of faders, knobs, & buttons to shape the sound as you move about. XS person: please review in case there's an XS-specific thing that's different from my XF perspective. This can be better organized. I'll proofread this later. Read what MIDI2XS writes.

Can someone with an XS confirm that the sound I suggested is on the XS. And that the drawbar arrangement I provided here (that are on my XF) are also on the XS. Edit-> view elements 1-8, oscillator page, waveform name.)

 

 

First, give thanks for your Vent 2. Is

 

This approach will give you:

- 8 faders (opposite direction of drawbars!!)

fader 1 = 16' & 8'

fader 2 = 5 1/3'

fader 3 = 4'

fader 4 = 2 2/3'

fader 5 = 2'

fader 6 = 1 3/5'

fader 7 = 1 1/3'

fader 8 = 1'

- options for 2 percussion sounds. (I think it's both standard choices.) non-standard is that you can have both at the same time.*

- option to have built-in cheap digital stock set chorus & reverb. Initially I suggested not to use this. But honestly, I just tried it, and it may work to make the sound a little more soggy, jazz-ish (the chorus, specifically-- up to fully on; and the verb, maybe a little.)

- option have the motif stock leslie effect add to the vent warble

- all that the vent does: including reducing bass leslie speaker to zero, which can help do LH on the XS7 itself.

 

Okay, here we go.

 

1. --- Find the sound "All Bars Perc AF 1&2". ---

An XS-er could tell you exactly where it is. On XF: it's Pre 1, G2.

First thing you do after the XS loads is press the Voice button. There are 3 buttons, under the word "Mode", to the right of the jog wheel. You want the Voice button to be lit. You want the other two Mode buttons (Performance & Master) to not be lit. (This means you will be in Voice Mode.) (Make sure arpeggiator button doesn't go on. If it goes on mistakenly, and you're new to the board, it's annoying if you don't understand what's happening.)

 

2. --- Reset the faders. Get to know 'em. ---

Move all the faders all the way up, and then all the way down. This puts you at a zero volume state for each.

Get to know your faders. Turn up Fader 1. It's a combined 16' & 8'.

 

Bring in the vent. Go through those as you continue with the faders.

As it's jazz, I'm guessing:

Add a little Fader 3, the 4'. Add a little less of Fader 5, the 2'. Add even less of Fader 8, the 1'. Make a visual-auditory connection.

Bring in the 5 1/3'. It's weird. It's not under the 8'. It's over the 16'. (The 8' is baked into the 16' - onto Fader 1.) Fader 2 is the 5 1/3'. Learn that.

Bring in the octave above the 5 1/3'. Fader 4.

The top range should be familiar. The two dissonant drawbars in between the 1' and 2' are where you'd expect them; where the right-most fader equals the right most B3 drawbar. Which is the case with the sound we're using.

 

It makes great sense to write out the faders & drawbars I suppose. On the plane, of course. Not in front of BL. Draw it on your left forearm? -- Joking aside, it may be comforting to have stickers prepared, that you can put over the faders; as you won't have a chance to practice.

 

To memorize it quickly:

Rightmost faders are like rightmost B3 drawbars. From Drawbar 9, all the way left to Drawbar 4.

Let f=fader, db=drawbar, Math of Insects

f8 = db 9

f7 = db 8

f6 = db 7

f5 = db 6

f4 = db 5

f3 = db 4

 

3. For percussion:

XS User: please confirm. I read Assignable function buttons function a little differently on the XF than on XS.

Assignable Function Buttons. Two buttons, far left of keyboard, left of Master Volume fader. On my XF, each one is one of the percussions. I quickly tried to ascertain what they were replacing, or adding. I couldn't figure it out, totally. But, pressing one or two of these buttons made them present & useful. However, I'm concerned these won't function on the XS as I observed them on the XF.

 

4. For Chorus & Reverb. Effects: System button. [see MIDI2XS notes on how this buttons function.] Note, if you press this button while you are playing, there's a non-musical interruption in sound. So plan on pressing these Effects buttons when you are not playing. It takes about 1 sec to engage.

To adjust chorus or reverb: the markings on the board explain it well.

Press the selected part control button on the top left corner of the board, until Tone 2 gets lit. Now, the knobs under reverb & chorus adjust those. I'd begin by removing reverb all together. And see if you like the chorus. Including turning the chorus all the way up. On one hand, use the vent for leslie sim, and avoid the ehh motif chorus. Or, maybe, the ehh chorus, softening the sound is better for you. Both work, in my opinion.

side note: i noticed when i turned chorus all way up (which could very well be good for you), it made the overall volume significantly louder. Thereby distorting my vent input.

 

5. For motif leslie. To turn it off and keep it off, make sure Effects Insertion is properly set. An XS person can tell you what off is. (On the XF this labeled differently; and I don't know if it operates differently.) [see MIDI2XS notes on how this buttons function.] I did an experiment, and assessed it both with & without the leslie. For least fake sound, I suppose leave it off. That said, when I put it on, and added it to the vent leslie; it was fine. I could even see how it could be desirable. A taste thing. Both work. When Effects Insertion is in "on setting", leslie is controlled via the mod wheel. On my XF, mod wheel all way down was slow les.

 

---

More side notes:

 

- I like starting with the 16'+8' sound. It feels good (enough) to me. The higher drawbars alone, too loud, are not good. But, once I start building up the sound, building up with the lower harmonics, then, I can bump up (faders, here) the higher harmonics.

- To get a good level both to the vent 2 and to the house, I'd decide early on whether or not you will use the chorus, and if so, how much. (Because of what I wrote earlier.)

- the vent 2's mix/dist lo knob (2nd from right) controls the lower leslie speaker. i turned this all the way down, so i had high frequencies (right hand) getting leslie treatment, but lower notes (LH) pretty much not getting much leslie treatment. I think that set up would allow you to also do LH on the XS7.

- That said, Pre 1, G2 on the lower XF8 is the sound I've described. And, it would be totally fine to either use: no leslie on the LH. Or, press the Effect Insertion button so it's lit, and use mod wheel to get weighted LH motif leslie.

Good thing about the two boards is: each have their own 8 faders.

Which will allow you to do some RH on the XF8. Immediate two timbres; ever-evolving. XF8 action is probably decently suited for it.

- possibly un-needed complication: For XF8. swapping between AP/EP & B3 LH. Velocity curve setting. Perhaps, AP/EP put it on 'hard'. And for B3, either on straight, or fixed. This may be an un-needed complication.

It's pretty simple to adjust:

pressing Utility button: and you should see the Velocity Curve. If not, press F1 real button (soft-labeled "general"), and SF1 real button (soft-labeled "play"), and that should reveal the Velocity Curve. navigate to it with the navigation keys under the jog wheel, and move between different settings with the jog wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

*For Motif users: it's deep magic how this is here. Must be baked in at the waveform level.

 

Wow.

 

Holy smokes.

 

Thank you.

[MIDI2XS]

1. --- Find the sound "All Bars Perc AF 1&2". ---

An XS-er could tell you exactly where it is. On XF: it's Pre 1, G2.

First thing you do after the XS loads is press the Voice button. There are 3 buttons, under the word "Mode", to the right of the jog wheel. You want the Voice button to be lit. You want the other two Mode buttons (Performance & Master) to not be lit. (This means you will be in Voice Mode.) (Make sure arpeggiator button doesn't go on. If it goes on mistakenly, and you're new to the board, it's annoying if you don't understand what's happening.)

That Voice (and all other Preset Voices) are in the same location on the XS and XF.

 

 

3. For percussion:

XS User: please confirm. I read Assignable function buttons function a little differently on the XF than on XS.

Assignable Function Buttons. Two buttons, far left of keyboard, left of Master Volume fader. On my XF, each one is one of the percussions. I quickly tried to ascertain what they were replacing, or adding. I couldn't figure it out, totally. But, pressing one or two of these buttons made them present & useful. However, I'm concerned these won't function on the XS as I observed them on the XF.

The Voice is the same on the XS and XF. Activating (button lit) either AF1 or AF2 turns off Element 8 of the Voice, which is the 1'. In addition, AF1 increases the Common LFO depth of amplitude modulation for Element 3 (4'), while AF2 does the same for Element 4 (2 2/3').

 

[MotiDave]

your vent solves 50% of the XS deficit, you'll be fine. I wouldn't bring a large checkin for an int'l one-shot gig, just go with the XS7 as you probably won't like playing organ on the XF8 weighted. If you use a second lower board for bass, you can leave the XS7 in voice mode and you can use the 8 sliders for real time controls like pseudo drawbars as desetto outlines. You can also search by category to find tonewheels (organ group). On the XF8 you'll be ble to search for bass tones the same way. Tinker with drawbars and vent during setup and find what you like to hear for your gig.

 

I have an XF7 and am local (north county) if you want to check any of this out., just PM me

[HammondDave]

XS7 and a Korg module is the way to go.

[Steve Nathan]

I am doing a fly-in organ-trio gig this weekend.

 

Tell the BL that an organ-trio gig will require an organ!

[Steve Nathan]

Useful info here should you decide to carry.

http://www.afm.org/what-we-are-doing/travel-resources/afm-travel-kit/

[HammondDave]

I am doing a fly-in organ-trio gig this weekend.

 

Tell the BL that an organ-trio gig will require an organ!

 

+1!!!

[Doerfler]

great link, Steve. Thanks for posting.

[MathOfInsects]

I should clarify: this is not "organ trio" in the Jimmy Smith sense--I am not good enough to pull that off all night. He uses that term whenever I will be LH bass, since most of his tunes are organ tunes (so I used it as shorthand here as well).

 

Which leads to...

 

I decided just to bring my NE5D. I made a few easily accessed splits with the B3+Bass mode, and padded the board up in a good Mojo gig bag (since the road case would have guaranteed I'd have to check it). But literally at the door of the van for the drive to the airport, BL argued strongly against it in financial terms--his position was, he was fine with whatever sounds I got from the backlined boards, even if they ended up not being organ, so neither of us should take the chance of having to pay for my own board. I VERY reluctantly brought the board back into my house and decided to make the best of the Motifs. Part of the flight was potentially on a little Buddy Holly plane, and I couldn't conscience something happening to the board if I had to check it, just to keep its owner slightly more comfortable at a gig.

 

Got to the stage in a country far away, and...guess what? They'd found an NS88 for me and had it set up and ready to go. Some quick splits and patch-making, a footswitch or two (which I'd brought), and all was good in the kingdom. Not perfect, of course--hard to go back to organ on the NS after getting used to the real thing and close-approximations--but definitely best-case, given the other options.

 

I never feel that I am at my best on LH bass gigs, but this one--with all the variables that could have gone badly--went just fine in the end.

 

HUGE crowd. Cripes. I took some pictures (not while we were the ones playing--I hate that sh*t) and may post later.

 

KC: I love you. Thanks for the help. Off to go download movies so I can distract myself from the certainty that our Buddy Holly plane will crash into the mountains in a few hours.

[mate stubb]

Off to go download movies so I can distract myself from the certainty that our Buddy Holly plane will crash into the mountains in a few hours.

 

Man don't joke about that! I used to live somewhat close to Clear Lake and drove to concerts at the Surf Ballroom. They still remember that crash up there.

 

Also my band in the 70's was talking with Detroit guitar player Steve Gaines about joining us. He later joined Skynard and died in their plane crash.

[AnotherScott]

his position was, he was fine with whatever sounds I got from the backlined boards, even if they ended up not being organ

Nice that he had that flexibility. That would have made things easier no matter what. If you couldn't find an organ sound that was working for you in some song, you could have called up a wurli or whatever. But yeah, great that you ended up with the NS88. Especially if you had your Vent with you. And even if you didn't have a second unwighted board to MIDI into it to trigger it, that particular weighted action is not so bad for organ either.

[David R]

Glad they got you a Nord. Given your BL's ridiculous restrictions re: phones, computers & setlists on stage, he needs to play hardball with the festival or backline company to make sure you can do your job.

 

As an aside, I really don't comprehend putting the precedence above how things look on stage & on camera above how things sound to the paying audience - no one except him is going to notice a phone or a piece of paper on a B3 if it's going to help you play better. What instrument does your BL play?

[stoken6]

Yeah Nord's not the greatest organ, but better than the alternative. Did you use your Vent? Did you get a Motif as well (MIDI an unweighted action into the Nord's organ)?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[dsetto]

Glad the gig went well.

____

 

... In addition, AF1 increases the Common LFO depth of amplitude modulation for Element 3 (4'), while AF2 does the same for Element 4 (2 2/3').

Wow! That's unravels the magic trick of adding a 9th & 10th to an 8 group. Thank you.