Organs and EP's on s90

[part1sts]

Are they really that good? Every reviewer on harmony central said that the s90 organs and Ep's are awesome. Can you guys verify this until i get a chance to play it myself?

[Billdar]

I have an S90 and the EP's are absolutely awesome. I like them as much as those on the Nord Electro, and there are more of them. The organs are awesome too, but I prefer my Roland VK-8m for B-3 sounds.

[Gods element]

I just bought the S90 two months ago and I concur. The EP's are outstanding. I think yamaha did a great job capturing all those great vintage EP's in one kb. The Wurli is the bomb! And all the different Rhodes are...well, AWSOME. It's a terrific classic board. I have a A102 with a 122 leslie so I dont use the organ sounds but they sound good to me. this board can be had for 1300.00 at GC.

[eric]

Yes they are strong. EPs are top notch. Romplers are not known for producing Hammond sounds, but if you are comparing romplers, the S90 organs are as good if not better than anything out there. I prefer a dedicated organ clone. The S90 has much more going for it than just EP and organ sound, however. It is my 2nd favorite modern keyboard I've owned.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Spaceboy92]

The rhodes sounds on the S90 are the BOMB!! I'm actually having trouble trying to justify the need to buy a real rhodes....

 

most noticeably, check out the "Vintage case" and "Wurliamped" patches.

 

The clav sounds are also excellent, but dont allow for as much customization as i'd like (at least not that i've found... a lot of stuff on the board is pretty foreign to me).

 

The organ sounds are decent, but there are too many "in between" tones that are missing. A dedicated clonewheel is def. a good option.

 

Not that I'm worried... I just bought a chopped B3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[part1sts]

how would that compare to the pc2 with the classic keys expansion?

[ELP71]

I am an S90 owner who grew up with a Rhodes in the house. The S90 has great Rhodes capabilities...meaning the samples are nice and the effects available allow you to get the sound you need. The presets are well programmed and you could probably get by with minor tweaks or none at all.

 

I played an RD700SX on a sub gig, and I must say that I have a newfound appreciation for my S90's action. Although the Roland keybed was OK, it felt - I dunno - more 'plastic' than the S90. It reminded me of why I chose the Yamaha two years ago.

 

I'm still thinking of 'getting rid' of my S90, though - selling it to my church! I would still get to play it all the time and get something new for the studio.

[part1sts]

What would you replace it with?

[Carlito]

What would you replace it with?

Let me guess. S90ES?

[Carlito]

Double post.

[ELP71]

Maybe the S90ES, it sure looks like a great piece of gear. I just can't stand the design of the thing. It's too thick and unwieldy. I am a big fan of the Kurzweil PC series design (and, to be honest, the Roland RD700SX), but don't really jive with that Kurz action.

 

Then again, most of my 'complaints' with the Yamaha design are with regard to live playing/gigs, of which I do little these days.

[mate stubb]

S90 Rhodes - wonderful musical fun to play.

 

S90 Wurli - not nearly as good as Electro

 

S90 Organs - if you mean Hammond, gag. The playing experience is so wrong on a fully weighted key rompler that there's no point in trying. No single trigger percussion, no individual drawbar control, mediocre rotary sim.

[burningbusch]

Originally posted by part1sts:

how would that compare to the pc2 with the classic keys expansion?

I think the Yamaha EPs (Rhodes, Wurly, FM) are the best overall collection out there in ROMpler land. There are three multisampled Rhodes, so you have a number of models to choose from. If I have any complaint it's that the velocity switch is sometimes very apparent on the patches.

 

I used to own the PC2R with Classic Keys expansion. I'm quite sure the Classic keys ROM does not add any new Rhodes waveforms, just new patches. The issue that I've had with the PC2x Rhodes is that it's weak in the upper register. This was very bothersome for me because when soloing it's common to go to the upper octaves when you're trying create a solo climax, and the PC2R would just be lame up there. I find that on a lot of PC2x patches, in that they are quite good in a limited range, but outside of that they lose it. My feeling is they're trying to cram too much in a very limited amout of ROM.

 

I think the Nord Wurly is excellent but I'm less a fan of the Rhodes on the Electro. Even when played on a weighted keyboard, I just don't dig them as much as some others.

 

I'm happy with the Rhodes and Wurly on the RD700SX. I would put them up against anything out there. The Rhodes requires a little bit of tweaking to get it to sound great.

 

Busch.

[jimmymio]

Originally posted by mate_stubb:

S90 Rhodes - wonderful musical fun to play.

 

S90 Wurli - not nearly as good as Electro

 

S90 Organs - if you mean Hammond, gag. The playing experience is so wrong on a fully weighted key rompler that there's no point in trying. No single trigger percussion, no individual drawbar control, mediocre rotary sim.

I just got the s90es and I'd have to say the above description fits the ES exactly too!

JP

[DanS]

Well I've always been happy with the organs & EP's on my S80, for live use anyway, so I can only imagine they've improved on the 90.

[88keys4me]

While I agree with Eric and others who prefer a dedicated organ clone, it's fair to point out that the S90 produces some excellent B3/C3/A100 sounds, which can be tweaked to make them even closer to the real thing. There are presets for click organ (a la Brian Auger), heavy percussion similar to Emo's sound, some good gospel patches and many others. The Leslie sim is not outstanding, but it's OK and can be adjusted somewhat. The key (no pun intended) is that the S90 doesn't produce ALL the coolest voices that Hammond lovers want. But then again, it gives you that great portfolio of EP's in the same package, plus lots, lots more.

[88keys4me]

While I agree with Eric and others who prefer a dedicated organ clone, it's fair to point out that the S90 produces some excellent B3/C3/A100 sounds, which can be tweaked to make them even closer to the real thing. There are presets for click organ (a la Brian Auger), heavy percussion similar to Emo's sound, some good gospel patches and many others. The Leslie sim is not outstanding, but it's OK and can be adjusted somewhat. The key (no pun intended) is that the S90 doesn't produce ALL the coolest voices that Hammond lovers want. But then again, it gives you that great portfolio of EP's in the same package, plus lots, lots more.

[88keys4me]

Oops. Apologies for the double post.

[daBowsa]

Don't forget that you can get additional Voice Banks , such as Vintage Keys ( rhodes , synths , wurlies and clavs ) and B\'s Knees .

 

Hey Busch, where's the link to that quality recording you made of your custom S90 Hammond patch? Most impressive for a ROMpler!

[Jeff Irok]

Originally posted by DanS:

Well I've always been happy with the organs & EP's on my S80, for live use anyway, so I can only imagine they've improved on the 90.

Actually....I've heard some people say that the S80 EP's are a notch above the the S90 stock EP's. I've never compared them so I can't really say, but having an S80, I'd will say that its EP's kick royal butt.

 

But then again, S90 owners have access to the S80 soundset, so I would imagine that the S90's capable being 'as good' or better.

[mate stubb]

I feel more and more like an angry old geezer, who nobody understands anymore because I came from a different world. A world where instead of stacks of disposable synths du jour, you carried a Hammond. Period. Maybe an electric piano. You learned the instrument and you performed a complex ballet of orchestrated maneuvers to boss those big dual manuals, pedals, the preset keys, and of course drawbars, leslie switch, percussion tablets, and CV.

 

I agree that a rompler can produce sounds that resemble a single tiny window into the vast possibilities of Hammond playing, if you turn off the percussion (no single triggering for phrasing effects), the magical chorus vibrato shimmer (never heard a dedicated clonewheel get it right, much less a rompler) and you leave the leslie off.

 

If you never learned to play and appreciate a Hammond and that's good enough for the music you do, then great!

 

It's funny that the Rhodes on my S90 or even the acoustic piano patches are pretty satisfying to play for me, but the organs make me want to hurl.

 

Angry old codger over and out!

[part1sts]

i found the organs on the pc2 better than the s90

[DanL]

Moe, I'm with you. I found this old tape from 20 yrs ago of a band I was in that played Tower of Power, EWF, Chicago, AWB, Al Jarreau, etc. I had a B3/122, Rhodes, and a Juno 106. I forgot how good that band was and how great those 3 simple boards sounded.

 

That said, I love gigging with the Electro and S90ES combo. I think I'd not play any organ sounds at all if I had to use just the S90ES, but everything else it does is more than adequate. I suppose you could build a performance of different tones, and then use the sliders to fade them in and out like pseudo drawbars, and hard code it to an aux output so you can run it into a leslie.

[part1sts]

I still like the es organs. Especially for more electronic straight to the point stuff rather than blues solos, i think the s90 es is so amazing. I played one today and it sounds sooo clean. I dont want the pc2x anymore. I want the ES.

[SilverDragonSoun]

I have a S90 and the EP's and organs are all very good. The ability to tweak the organs is the clincher for me on the S90. There were a few that weren't to my liking but I was able to edit them and use them for the songs I envisioned using them for.

[DanS]

Originally posted by mate_stubb:

I feel more and more like an angry old geezer, who nobody understands anymore because I came from a different world. A world where instead of stacks of disposable synths du jour, you carried a Hammond. Period. Maybe an electric piano. You learned the instrument and you performed a complex ballet of orchestrated maneuvers to boss those big dual manuals, pedals, the preset keys, and of course drawbars, leslie switch, percussion tablets, and CV.

 

I agree that a rompler can produce sounds that resemble a single tiny window into the vast possibilities of Hammond playing, if you turn off the percussion (no single triggering for phrasing effects), the magical chorus vibrato shimmer (never heard a dedicated clonewheel get it right, much less a rompler) and you leave the leslie off.

 

If you never learned to play and appreciate a Hammond and that's good enough for the music you do, then great!

 

It's funny that the Rhodes on my S90 or even the acoustic piano patches are pretty satisfying to play for me, but the organs make me want to hurl.

 

Angry old codger over and out!

Why break your spine for an audience these days that generally doesn't give a sheitzer anyway?

 

I actually picked up an old 1975 Yammie Electone this year for $150 to learn how to play an organ properly. It's a lot of fun, and challenging as well, but @230lbs, it's not going to any gigs, ever!!!

[Bridog6996]

I agree. I've played my A100 on gigs before, and moving the thing was a PROJECT. Now I use my Electro which I can lift with one hand. My A100 now sits at home for good. The audience can't tell the difference anyway, so it's not worth it to give myself a hernia.