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Plugins vs. Clonewheels vs. Modules


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Sure, you could spend a whole weekend setting up MIDI Learns on a plasticky controller, only to have your laptop crap out on you in the middle of a gig for no reason, all to save a few bucks. But after a while the insanity of the whole endeavour dawns on you, when there have never been so many great clonewheels on the market.

 

I have really tried with VB3II, and it does sound impressive, but without the full ergonomic experience of the front panel layout - the waterfall action, drawbars, the big chunky controls that you can hit quickly in between phrases, and the correct scaling of the Swell pedal, are you even really playing Hammond? The chemistry between the Swell, Drawbars, Leslie, and Voicings (which are not piano voicings!) is like 95% of the sound!

 

I've never tried a Hammond Module, the Viscount Legend Module looks pretty great, any experiences regarding the 'ergonomics factor'? And how one would sit in on another keyboard in a gig scenario, without it going flying across the bandstand, when you hit the Leslie button a bit too enthusiastically?

Aynsley Green Trio - Caravan

Upper: Sequential OB6 or Roland Fantom 06

Lower: Nord Stage 4 Compact or Yamaha YC88

Sometimes: Hammond SK2, Roland System 8, Roland SH2, Roland SE-02, Roland JX-08, Korg Prologue 16

 

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Some people want a rig that replaces the exact experience of sitting at their B3 that's in their livingroom or their memory. Some people just want a great organ sound to play some Allman brothers songs. The different organ varieties you mention meet these different needs.

FunMachine.

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I am in the same boat. I"m an iOS guy (never got a PC or laptop new or powerful enough to negate the latency), so Galileo, B-3X, and VB3m, are my software organs of choice. Really got a great sound with B-3X and now also with VB3m, but it"s still kind of a hassle hooking that up to the Numa Compact 2X, even though it"s just one simple usb cable into the Camera Connection Kit. And somehow the 'feel' is just not there on a live gig. I actually prefer and chose to play the internal organ on that board at the last two gigs. Even with the inferior sound, there"s a better brain to hands to keys to ears connection than I get than when controlling software. Probably all in my head but regardless, the difference is there.

 

The Numa C2X"s rotary is just gawd awful, so pulled out my old RT-20 pedal. It"s a vast improvement and good enough for my bar gigs. Funny the connection is still there through the pedal and not as much with the iPad. Weird.

 

I"ve also been contemplating the Legend module, but still worry about fully connecting with it. However, it IS more 'hardware' than the iPad, and I envision getting it situated just so, over the top-left of a keyboard...just might do the trick. Still a hassle to set up another piece of gear.

 

Oh the woes of first world problems...

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Oh the woes of first world problems...

 

Hah! It's true, never has the technology been so good and portable.

 

I think that 'feel' thing has to do with latency? Or MIDI jitter? Even with my fancy RME interface that gets the latency right down to 2ms, it still isn't the same. I enjoy my Hammond SK2 much more, even if it is falling apart (nearly 10 years old, gigged with it heaps). It's just a bit impractical and unwieldly for pop gigs and such. Lately I've just been using the organs on the MODX (which with a bit of work aren't bad, the Leslie is surprisingly good). Or maybe I just have to sacrifice my credit card to the clonewheel gods for the Hammond XK5 + XLK5 Lower Manual, at least then you can separate them out for different gigs.

Aynsley Green Trio - Caravan

Upper: Sequential OB6 or Roland Fantom 06

Lower: Nord Stage 4 Compact or Yamaha YC88

Sometimes: Hammond SK2, Roland System 8, Roland SH2, Roland SE-02, Roland JX-08, Korg Prologue 16

 

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somehow the 'feel' is just not there on a live gig. I actually prefer and chose to play the internal organ...Even with the inferior sound, there"s a better brain to hands to keys to ears connection than I get than when controlling software. Probably all in my head but regardless, the difference is there... so pulled out my old RT-20 pedal..Funny the c9nnection is still there through the pedal and not as much with the iPad. Weird.

Not weird. As Aynsley said, with the iPad, you're probably experiencing the latency (and the iPad is still a computer). There would be no latency from adding the pedal.

 

Sometimes there can also be a difference if your internal sound responds to a high trigger point but your keyboard sends only the low trigger point to your external sound source, though that's not the case here, since IIRC, the NC2X doesn't have a high trigger point anyway.

 

If you notice the issue more live than you do at home, speaker location could also come into play. If at home you're using headphones, for example, and live you're hearing yourself from a speaker that's 5 feet away from your ears, just the 5 foot travel distance of audio in air will add a bit over 4 ms. Usually not enough to notice, but if you add that 4 ms to the rest of the latency in the system, it might push it over the threshold of noticeability.

 

I have really tried with VB3II, and it does sound impressive, but without the full ergonomic experience of the front panel layout - the waterfall action, drawbars, the big chunky controls that you can hit quickly in between phrases, and the correct scaling of the Swell pedal, are you even really playing Hammond?

As JR was saying, some want the whole expreience, some just want a better sound than what they're able to get out of the keyboard, and some may be okay with something in between. I don't think the existence of this software is going to stop people from buying clonewheels. Also, sometimes you may have (or can least expensively acquire) something which has perfectly suitable ergonomics (waterfall and whatever else you may be looking for) but sound that doesn't satisfy you (maybe an older clonewheel, for example) and then the software may provide you with a relatively low cost upgrade in sound that maintains those ergonomics. There's no requirement that VB3m et al can only be used on keyboards that make for lackluster organ controllers! You can certainly put B-3X on a Hammond XK3, VB3 on a Numa Organ if you prefer it, etc.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Sometimes those clone wheel copies can go too far. I have a Hammond XK3c with extra manual. I find the reverse colored keys on the left used for changing patches totally useless. I don't care if that is how the original B3's did it. Give me simple program changing with a touch screen that shows me 10 choices and lets me touch one.

This post edited for speling.

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Well if as you say from extensive experience all laptops crap out on everyone mid gig then why ask? But as the sole exception who has used a laptop on many gigs and not had it crap out in eight years you could try running B5 using a " plasticky " Hammond XK3c as a controller. Never going to measure up to your idea of the real deal though.

A misguided plumber attempting to entertain | MainStage 3 | Axiom 61 2nd Gen | Pianoteq | B5 | XK3c | EV ZLX 12P

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Sometimes those clone wheel copies can go too far. I have a Hammond XK3c with extra manual. I find the reverse colored keys on the left used for changing patches totally useless. I don't care if that is how the original B3's did it. Give me simple program changing with a touch screen that shows me 10 choices and lets me touch one.

Though that's also why they make all the variations of these things, to satisfy different preferences and markets. I've seen comments about buying pianos for the home where people specifically say they don't want to "see" technology... it's also furniture, and they don't want a screen on the piano in their otherwise more traditional looking living room. I could see people making the same argument about a touchscreen on an organ in a church, for example. Cost might also be an issue. The Numa Organ 2 uses the reverse keys, and I suspect that was cheaper for them than building in a touchscreen would have been (especially since they're the same company as Fatar, who is actually in the key manufacturing business). Plus as a bonus, those extra keys are playable when you use the board as a MIDI controller (giving you 73 playable keys instead of 61). So... reasons. ;-)

 

With the Hammond XK-5's sound engine making its way into the cheaper, lighter, and more flexible SK Pro (even with, I believe, an improved Leslie effect), a lot of the XK-5's remaining appeal is its full aesthetic and ergonomic authenticity (plus the tube, and the higher end action). It would be interesting to know how that affects XK-5 sales. It would be nice if they could get the improved Leslie effect into it, though there is probably also a decent percentage of XK5 owners using real Leslies, too.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Every keyboardist should always haul a Hammond C3 and 2 large Leslies to every $75 bar band gig every time, even if there is no room for any of it on the tiny stage.

Because tubes will never fail, ever and even if they did (they don't), it is very easy to intuitively know exactly which out of dozens of tubes has gone bad and to replace it in seconds.

Then everything will be perfect.

 

Which is why I play guitar, strings never break and cords never go bad. Laptops will always fail, avoid them.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I"ve also been contemplating the Legend module, but still worry about fully connecting with it. However, it IS more 'hardware' than the iPad, and I envision getting it situated just so over the top left of a keyboard, just might do the trick. Still it"s kind of a hassle to have to set up another piece of gear.

 

I had the module for awhile & can relate to the not connecting with it worry. Plus it just didn't sound very robust, to me anyway. It was part of the 3 year odyssey that led to the SK Pro 73. I had been using an Sk-1 73 but it's shortcomings (not in the organ sound itself) resulted in getting a Roland FA-07 and the Viscount module. After that I sold the module & used an iPad for B3-X plus other vintage instruments. It was an improvement, IMO, for the organ sounds. Finally the SK Pro addressed the flaws in the SK-1 so that's the instrument of choice now. Since most of my playing is as a single the iPad went from virtual instruments to playing MIDI files which is an improvement over the internal sounds in the Roland. Of course there's still a lot of tweaking to be done on the Pro but after a couple years I had the extra voices on the SK-1 very close to my liking so hopefully the Pro won't take as long. So the conclusion for this long-winded ramble is that, for me at least, the dedicated clonewheel is the best route to go. With the 73 note model you can cover a lot of situations well.

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Which is why I play guitar, strings never break and cords never go bad. Laptops will always fail, avoid them.

 

Well, since it's guitar player we're speaking of here: cords, no - chords, well, that's another matter entirely (ducks for cover as he hits the Post Reply button :) ).

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Thr concerns expressed in this thread are all valid. It's the very reason manufacturers will continue producing hardware KBs.

 

Eventually, every KB player will realize there's a single plug and play KB that will effectively cover their sounds and gigs. Adding a laptop or module will just be icing on the cake.

 

The trick is 1) truly eing realistic about the sound(s) required for the type of music one plays and 2) finding the *right* KB that satisfies the FTEC (finger to ear connection) and is fun to play. :cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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Which is why I play guitar, strings never break and cords never go bad. Laptops will always fail, avoid them.

 

Well, since it's guitar player we're speaking of here: cords, no - chords, well, that's another matter entirely (ducks for cover as he hits the Post Reply button :) ).

 

Gotta keep the Sarcasm Meter on High sometimes. Chords are just a bunch of notes anyway.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Nice dig at the laptop players and their "plasticky controllers." I'm not a Hammond player and would never claim to be one, but I need a Hammond sound to do my gig â which is not organ-centric, but we play songs with some organ parts and even a few solos. I've never owned a Hammond so I don't have an attachment to any tactile experience â I just want to play good notes at the right time and help make the music on the bandstand happen â that's what's important to me. My plasticky controller is just fine. I'm happy for everyone that there are great choices for everything from plastic to real spinning tonewheels. BTW my laptop has never "crapped out" in the middle of a gig.
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Mac or PC, tanking during gig is a rare occurrence. But you have to take precautions. Keep the machine clean - so the OS and your performance software isn"t susceptible to other crap that gets into the system. Having a unique login for performance separate from whatever else you use the machine for is a good idea. And not fiddling with OS updates until software and hardware developers have tested that their stuff is working with the latest version. A power conditioner to make sure you"re aware of unreliable or inadequate voltage and having a spare battery are all good ideas. And if you have a laptop running great and retire it. Maybe keep it around as a backup on important gigs where a fail is unacceptable. Using stage pianos and synths as controllers is always a good idea so you can just fader up over to your bread and butter sounds.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I have now done two gigs with an ipad playing b3. Just as with two hardware keyboards, I always have a backup plan. If something happened with the ipad--and it's velcroed to my MODX and only has one cable+adapter connecting it, for which I have a backup--my fallback option is to use the b3 sounds on my MODX. I don't think they are great, but we are a low-level cover band and nobody but me would care or notice!

 

I used to have a couple clonewheels at different but I had to make a choice between a knobby synth and that. I'm not bringing three keyboards to a gig and as I say my gigs are not organ-centric any more than piano and other sounds.

 

I use a computer at home 100% but I'm still not comfy bringing a laptop out to gigs simply because I don't have a great safe place to put it. The ipad being able to velcro to the keyboard is super-handy, plus I run my monitor mix app on it so it's doubly useful.

 

I've had three "gear freakouts" at gigs in recent years, all have been with hardware keyboards, and I believe all due to power issues.

 

Plastic has pros and cons. I can pick up my 7-octave MODX7 with one hand and lift it off my keyboard stand, it has a lip along the back that works great for that. Would I prefer to play on something nicer (like my old pc361) that doesn't have a wall wart? Sure, but I also like have an easier and lighter load in/out and setup. Everything's a compromise. The only keyboard I've owned so far that was both light and had good build quality was my Nord Electro, and you pay for it.

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I used to have a couple clonewheels at different but I had to make a choice between a knobby synth and that. I'm not bringing three keyboards to a gig

Yes, as has been mentioned before (esp. by Elmer Fudd, IIRC), the combination of clonewheel and knobby synth is a surprisingly rare combination, considering that a single non-hammer board handling both would be such a logical thing to want to put over a piano hammer action board, and as you say, people don't want to take three. The only real options are Nord Stage 3 and Hammond SK Pro (a step down from the Nord here, in that the knobby synth is only for mono synth sounds, and there's no aftertouch, but still a very good--and much less expensive--organ/synth combo). I know that some have knocked the Hammond for not having all the real-time effects controls that many of its competitors have (Nord Electro, Yamaha YC61, Vox Continental), but whether for cost or panel space reasons, if they were only going to have one, I'm glad to see another board with synth controls rather than another board with real-time effects controls. (If you want both, you still need that NS3.)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Eventually, every KB player will realize there's a single plug and play KB that will effectively cover their sounds and gigs. Adding a laptop or module will just be icing on the cake.

The funny thing is that there are also folks essentially saying the opposite... i.e. eventually more players will realize that a laptop will effectively cover everything they need, and all they need is an action they like the feel of (and maybe a box of sliders and such if their board doesn't already have them). I see the virtue of both approaches. But I still gravitate toward hardware.

 

The trick is 1) truly eing realistic about the sound(s) required for the type of music one plays and 2) finding the *right* KB that satisfies the FTEC (finger to ear connection) and is fun to play. :cool:

...and embedded in that is the problem that people aren't going to all have the same requirements/preferences. One thing you have to give to the laptop crowd is the extreme customizability available. As long as our boards are not custom made, sonic flexibility will favor software. But maybe you mean that "every KB player will realize there's a single plug and play KB that will effectively cover their sounds and gigs" but the one you pick will be different from the one I pick?

 

If I had to choose a single board to be able to single-handedly cover as many scenarios as possible (perhaps supplemented by an iPad)--i.e. basically the scenario you're suggesting--I'd choose the Kurzweil PC4-7. I'm hard-pressed to think of anything I cannot do satisfactorily on it, or any board that could do better. (PC4 just as good, if you prefer the hammer action and are willing to carry around some more weight.)

 

To get back on topic... PC4's clonewheel function is ok (and the action on the -7 is very organ-friendly). Vent on an assignable out or iPad to B3X will make it better. It does have high trigger, even over MIDI, and it has audio inputs. Would I like to have a more authentic organ playing experience? Sure. But if I'm limited to one board, and it's not a 90% organ gig, this is an acceptable compromise.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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The laptop is not going to please everyone, but I observe an increasing number of laptops on stages. It seems the most common place to see laptops is in musical theater, as a workstation synth, and for electronic music. I should think that single-instrument performers such as acoustic pianists and B3 players are the least likely to rely on laptops completely. Why add complexity if you don"t need it?

 

Laptop reliability depends on your system. My Mainstage based system has never crapped out in me.

 

I am digging your rendition of Caravan. Tasty. ð

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I should think that single-instrument performers such as acoustic pianists and B3 players are the least likely to rely on laptops completely. Why add complexity if you don"t need it?

It was the desire to have a good acoustic piano sound on my jazz gigs that got me into using a laptop rig 20 years ago. Bringing a 9' Steinway to my gigs proved to be a bit more complex!

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Sometimes those clone wheel copies can go too far. I have a Hammond XK3c with extra manual. I find the reverse colored keys on the left used for changing patches totally useless. I don't care if that is how the original B3's did it. Give me simple program changing with a touch screen that shows me 10 choices and lets me touch one.

 

This times a hundred. Non-playable reverse-color preset keys are an instant and non-negotiable deal breaker for me. I'm not dealing with an extra octave of weight and length for a function that could be just as easily accomplished by a row of buttons on the panel. When I played one of the early prototypes of the XK5 I practically begged the guys at Hammond to make that octave playable, thereby allowing for an octave of "pitch overlap" when splitting the board and walking left hand bass. No dice. I don't think the concept had even occurred to them. Even when I showed how that would make it possible to play Jimmy Smith's "Blues For J" while walking bass on a single-manual instrument (which you basically can't do on a split 61-note board), they remained unmoved. Such is life.

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I am digging your rendition of Caravan. Tasty. ð

 

Oh, thank you!

 

The laptop is not going to please everyone, but I observe an increasing number of laptops on stages. It seems the most common place to see laptops is in musical theater, as a workstation synth, and for electronic music. I should think that single-instrument performers such as acoustic pianists and B3 players are the least likely to rely on laptops completely. Why add complexity if you don"t need it?

 

Laptop reliability depends on your system. My Mainstage based system has never crapped out in me.

 

Did the Mainstage thing for about 3 years. Even with a high-end MacBook Pro, an RME interface and a separate partition of Mac OS just for Music Apps, every 3rd night there was _still_ some kind of issue. Having to worry about it just takes you out of the music. One night it crapped out on me completely mid-song, running Keyscape - so I pulled up the volume on the old Yamaha Motif I was driving it with, and lo and behold, my old friend the cheesy 'Full Concert Grand' felt much more enjoyable to play, somehow. Lesson learned. Again, it's probably latency/bespoke velocity curves, but there's just something visceral about hardware, even if the sound isn't as studio-perfect.

 

Then I switched to a Nord, which was great, but too limited. Nowadays I gig a Yamaha MODX with custom libraries and it is almost the perfect machine...but the synths and especially the organs could be better. The Yamaha works as an interface via one USB cable, with it's own volume knob, and surprisingly good latency...so I have been tempted to return to the Dark Arts of the Laptop rig, if only to make myself suffer.

 

This times a hundred. Non-playable reverse-color preset keys are an instant and non-negotiable deal breaker for me. I'm not dealing with an extra octave of weight and length for a function that could be just as easily accomplished by a row of buttons on the panel. When I played one of the early prototypes of the XK5 I practically begged the guys at Hammond to make that octave playable, thereby allowing for an octave of "pitch overlap" when splitting the board and walking left hand bass. No dice. I don't think the concept had even occurred to them. Even when I showed how that would make it possible to play Jimmy Smith's "Blues For J" while walking bass on a single-manual instrument (which you basically can't do on a split 61-note board), they remained unmoved. Such is life.

 

I have to agree, it's wasted real estate not allowing it to be used for MIDI output. And probably an easy fix in the firmware! They are marketing the XK5 to the purists, I suppose...but then the reverse-coloured-keys are supposed to stay depressed!

The SKPro does seem a lot more sensible, and the Viscount Legend without the Reverse Keys is probably the happy medium - but the XK5 just looks sexy. I used to gig the XK3c System, which had its faults, but man, people see that wood and assumed it was a Chop or a Porta B, so I didn't correct them. Sex appeal is 90% of music, these days

Aynsley Green Trio - Caravan

Upper: Sequential OB6 or Roland Fantom 06

Lower: Nord Stage 4 Compact or Yamaha YC88

Sometimes: Hammond SK2, Roland System 8, Roland SH2, Roland SE-02, Roland JX-08, Korg Prologue 16

 

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I think it's ok to admit that you have a (positive) pavlovian reaction to the visual elements of a real Hammond. Maybe just a set of drawbars (as opposed to sliders) is enough of a trigger. Just because it's not rational doesn't mean it's not real. Especially for people who have owned a real Hammond and experienced the intoxication of playing that fabulous instrument, these psychological strands can be very persistent.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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There are trivial differences: a plugin depends on your computer and audio software and interfaces on it, a module has a midi interface with traditional midi a lot of notes are going to get smeared a nit, and a clonewheel might be as expensive as a computer, and it might not necessarily having great software or connections with the controls (notes played to sound comes out latency and the variation of such).

 

All these options share the property they're digital, and to my knowledge there are only very few examples of manufacturers at times doing digital right in terms of getting the reconstruction error of the used digital to analog within bounds. In order to sound warm and strong like a real organ that's quite a necessity.

 

T

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Nowadays I gig a Yamaha MODX with custom libraries and it is almost the perfect machine...but the synths and especially the organs could be better. The Yamaha works as an interface via one USB cable, with it's own volume knob, and surprisingly good latency...so I have been tempted to return to the Dark Arts of the Laptop rig, if only to make myself suffer.

Alternate possible solutions which avoid the laptop:

 

... add a second keyboard for organ/synth over the MODX. Even a cheap and light Roland VR-09B could do it.

 

... replace MODX with Kurzeil PC4/PC4-7. It has comparable sonic capabilities to the MODX (sample-based and FM sound engines) but adds organ and VA synth engines. Optionally put a Vent on the organ through its assignable outs. (You could kind of do that on you MODX if you panned your organs to one side and everything else to the other, but besides meaning you'll need to play all your other sounds in mono--which may or may not be an issue--it still leaves the synth side of the problem unaddressed.)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Nowadays I gig a Yamaha MODX with custom libraries and it is almost the perfect machine...but the synths and especially the organs could be better. The Yamaha works as an interface via one USB cable, with it's own volume knob, and surprisingly good latency...so I have been tempted to return to the Dark Arts of the Laptop rig, if only to make myself suffer.

Alternate possible solutions which avoid the laptop:

 

... add a second keyboard for organ/synth over the MODX. Even a cheap and light Roland VR-09B could do it.

 

... replace MODX with Kurzeil PC4/PC4-7. It has comparable sonic capabilities to the MODX (sample-based and FM sound engines) but adds organ and VA synth engines. Optionally put a Vent on the organ through its assignable outs. (You could kind of do that on you MODX if you panned your organs to one side and everything else to the other, but besides meaning you'll need to play all your other sounds in mono--which may or may not be an issue--it still leaves the synth side of the problem unaddressed.)

 

Hadn't thought about Kurzweil, but you're right, better feature set than the MODX. Played a PC2x back in the day a fair bit, is it pretty much the same Hammond emulation as back then?

But a Clonewheel up top makes a lot more sense. Synths and pianos on the bottom.

Aynsley Green Trio - Caravan

Upper: Sequential OB6 or Roland Fantom 06

Lower: Nord Stage 4 Compact or Yamaha YC88

Sometimes: Hammond SK2, Roland System 8, Roland SH2, Roland SE-02, Roland JX-08, Korg Prologue 16

 

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Hadn't thought about Kurzweil, but you're right, better feature set than the MODX. Played a PC2x back in the day a fair bit, is it pretty much the same Hammond emulation as back then?

I don't know how much they have or haven't changed KB3 over the years, though I know they have added more Leslie sim options.

 

But a Clonewheel up top makes a lot more sense. Synths and pianos on the bottom.

Clonewheel up top, pianos on bottom is typically the case... synths can go either way, people have different preferences, though more often people want it on a non-hammer action. I think that harkens back to the early days of synths where sounds typically weren't velocity sensitive. In that context, the additional dynamic control of a hammer action doesn't matter, so you're trading off speed for nothing. But if you make a lot of use of velocity in your synth playing, hammer action can be advantageous. Of course, MIDI can largely address issues of which sound you want to be playing from which set of keys. What size/action is your MODX?

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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It always amazes me there is more talk about clones than the real thing. A Leslie and a real Hammond have a lot of facets. I think it helps to know the actual instruments. There will always be guys that carry the real thing.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

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It always amazes me there is more talk about clones than the real thing. A Leslie and a real Hammond have a lot of facets. I think it helps to know the actual instruments. There will always be guys that carry the real thing.

There's also more talk here about digital pianos than actual grand pianos. ;-) And Rhodes simulations than real Rhodes, etc.

 

Not so amazing, really. Sure, there are people carrying the real thing. But relatively few people are interested in bringing 400-500 pounds of Hammond+Leslie to a gig anymore.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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