Viscount Legend Soul 261 Review

[Aynsley Green]

Hi KCers,

 

Made a thread about the 261 here: Viscount Legend Soul 261 vs. the rest - The Keyboard Corner - Music Player Network which finally arrived, and I did promise you a review.

 

Been on the road a lot, barely had time to sit down with the bloody thing. Have yet to gig-test it, but I did record it on a pop track - here are my early impressions of the Viscount Legend Soul 261:

 

+++ Sounds vastly better than my old Hammond SK2 - drawbars, Perc, CV, Keyclick, all sound right to my ears

+/- That said, output still sounds a little clean/digital. Using the Overdrive FX set to Algorithm 6, Drive 10 o'clock, Tone 2 o'clock fixes this problem, however. 

- Still might need a separate stompbox through the FX loop to warm up the sound further. Used some UAD Tape Sim in the studio to warm it up further, which worked well

+ Multi-contacts action just feels good, not as deep as a real Hammond - but close

+ Leslie Sim is pretty good if you fiddle with it, lots of settings to tweak. Rotary B sounds better to my ears.

++ Separate Bass Output internally and externally is game-changing. The bass can be unaffected by the organ/FX, layered, split Lower to Pedal, etc. Non-tonewheel bass sounds are rather good, I like the 'Organ Bass', Picked Bass and Synth Bass 2

- Bass cannot be decoupled from Swell Pedal, however

++ Sexy wooden beast, great build quality, looks right at home next to my Piano. 

+ Panel is well-laid out, most of what you need is right there, buttons are clicky and responsive, small learning curve from a real Hammond panel

- Pitch Wheel gets in the way of Upper Preset A# somewhat

+ Drawbars don't wobble

-- Drawbars are smooth, not ratcheted! How come Nord are the only ones to get this right?!? 

- More advanced settings are hidden inside an App that requires a USB connection, which feels unnecessary. They could have put those settings in an 'Advanced' menu onboard, given that some of them can profoundly change the tone

+++ Pedalboard 18 is surprisingly light, feels comfortable to play, and has the right proportions so you have somewhere to rest your feet

- That said, can occasionally bounce and double-strike. Possibly my rubbish pedal technique

++ Swell Pedal hooks into the Pedalboard at the right angle, and more importantly, feels like a Hammond Swell, not just an Expression Pedal

+/- Toe Tab is a plastic stretchy thing, but I find it easier to kick than the chunky Hammond one

+ Pipe Organ uses the Physis Plus engine from the Viscount Cantorum Plus and sounds bloody majestic

- Deliberately limited registration and settings for Pipe Organ, but enough to make music.

-- Transistor Organs are surprisingly bad, must have been an afterthought. No real settings to tweak, either
--- A bit large, and quite deep, I can just barely fit in under one arm, making it a bit awkward to schlep. Have yet to try to fit it in my sedan, fitting the whole rig in is yet to be tested.

+/- The optional Gig bag has no wheels and is pretty bare bones - yet to be gig-tested

+/- Needs a big stand, currently have it on an H stand. Optional stand is rather chunky, which I avoided

--- VERY unnerving bug with the Auto-Power Off function - organ won't turn back on unless you unplug it from the wall for a few minutes. Turned that setting off pronto. Really should get fixed.

 

All in all, a very satisfying instrument that doesn't get in the way of what I'm trying to play (the same cannot be said for the Hammond SK2). Have yet to gig-test it, so we shall see.

 

If you have the cash and the car space, I'd say do it!