vk7/srx12 vs. Electro...opinions

[EdMusic]

Im about to expand my setup with a 2ND board on top of my RD700sx, but Im jumping on two thoughts. As I play in a disco-dance classics band I am looking for good piano, EP and organ sounds.

 

So here are my options that would possibly fit my budget :

 

1. The rational approach

Roland VK7 + SRX12

 

2. The emotional approach

Nord Electro

 

I think that I cant go wrong either way, but just like to know some more opinions.

[Nordude]

SRX-12 into a suitable host, I presume?

 

I'd go for the first option. Love the Electro, but it's monotimbral.

[EdMusic]

There is a perfect slot for the SRX-12 on the RD700sx

[King Julien]

I'd probably go with the first of those 2 options. You might also consider the Hammond XK-1 instead. (I personally didn't like the feel of the electro's action)

 

John

[retrokeys]

Of course,if you wanted to trade in...the Roland VR 760 seems to solve your needs in one package. Just a thought.

[Nordude]

Originally posted by EdMusic:

There is a perfect slot for the SRX-12 on the RD700sx

Sorry, didn't read properly.

 

So, splits and more sounds at a time are covered? Then, I'd go for the Electro (ánd SRX-12 ).

[Ed Coury]

Originally posted by retrokeys:

Of course,if you wanted to trade in...the Roland VR 760 seems to solve your needs in one package. Just a thought.

I wish more people had played this board...I personally feel that it's organ sounds as good as the Electro -- the keyboard feels 3 times better than the Electro's -- and it has synths, expansion capability, etc. I was very surprised when I played my first electro -- after reading all the raves I was expecting so much more...

[niacin]

Originally posted by Ed Coury:

I wish more people had played this board

I think quite a few of us played it. We just weren't impressed enough to buy it. The organ section was very good and the layout was good but the rest of the sounds weren't great imo. With the SRX12 rhodes/wurli/clav though its sound palette would be on par with the Electro (they would both still have crap acoustic piano patches, oh and the Roland would have a few weedy sounding synth leads up its sleeve). The Roland has real drawbars though.

[daBowsa]

I'd consider the VK-8 instead of the 7.

[EdMusic]

Originally posted by retrokeys:

Of course,if you wanted to trade in...the Roland VR 760 seems to solve your needs in one package. Just a thought.

I love the sound and feel of the RD, so trade in for a VR is no option for me.

At this moment some of my setups on the RD are so "tight" in splits/layers/keyzones that the only solution is a 2nd board. This will give me a lot more flexibilty.

A few weeks ago our band had to play a few songs at the guitarist wedding. We used the hired band's back-line were i was confronted with a 3 keyboard setup. Hey, piano/ep on the bottem on a weighted keybed, organ on 2nd non-weighted keys.

I loved it !

[retrokeys]

As a second keyboard, the electro is a nice lightweight choice. I run a 61 over an XK3 and love it. My thought was that you might want to simplify the moving chores. Good luck with your search.

[Phred]

I have a vk7, and considered upgrading to a vk8. I like the vk7 better. Real LCD, better leslie (however I use a MS PRO3T now anyway). The VK8 has better amp modeling, but I don't miss it.

[ProfD]

Originally posted by Ed Coury:

I wish more people had played this board...I personally feel that it's organ sounds as good as the Electro -- the keyboard feels 3 times better than the Electro's -- and it has synths, expansion capability, etc.

Ed, sounds like I really missed the boat on this keyboard because I never played it. Not a real Roland kinda guy

 

Is the organ sound similar to the VK7/8?

 

So, rather than being "thrown in" a la VK, the other sounds in the VR are better?

 

With that SRX-12 expansion board, drawbars, etc., the VR seems like an appealing package.

 

Just what I need, another option to look at before I jump on an XK-1

[burningbusch]

I would go with the Electro and then add the SRX-12 (at a latter date if you need to). As a B3 emulator the Electro is on the level of the dedicated clones, while giving you top notch clav , Wurly, and Rhodes (the Rhodes are my least favorite emulations on the Electro).

 

Busch.

[J.H.]

I think Electro has one big advantage: Clavia's policy of OS and piano upgrades. It's been out for 5 years now and they're still working on its improvement (and the upgrades aren't just bug fixes)

[Mark Schmieder]

A lot of good points there. I think it shows how competitive this space is, that ALL of the manufacturers keep doing something on an annual basis to improve their organ and EP options.

 

I've been on the fence for some time on this issue, having sold my VK7 a few years back after too many bloody hands from swiping its synth keys.

 

The one compromise I will NOT make on my next choice is to forfeit having true waterfall keys with appropriate organ action (instant speaking of the notes, and a soft landing, with the ability to handle rapid re-triggerings).

 

Unfortunately the VR760 never showed up in the stores here, so I only had one brief three minute session at Winter NAMM when it was first announced. You can't hear anything at NAMM so it's a bad place to judge sounds. Too much waveform cancellation going on, even with headphones.

 

After some posts here on the VR760 a few months back, I decided to reinvestigate it. My notes are elsewhere so I forget what I concluded. I sure hope I can find one at Sam Ash in Hollywood when I drive down to L.A. over Labour Day weekend to visit friends and check out gear that can't be found in the S.F. Bay Area (as big as we are!).

 

Thing is, I'm fairly satisfied in the EP department now with my Kurzweil PC2r, but am least happy with its clavinets (and feel the Wurlies, except for those "Supertramp" sounds, are not as good as the Rhodes sounds in the Classic ROM; nor that either are ultimately as varied as I would like, even though they surpass any other ROMpler that I have tried). So the organ is the main "draw" (no pun intended), but action is critical.

 

Even so, I remain curious about the SRX-12 board from Roland. I have every reason to suspect it is one of the top three options available today (in hardware at least) based on the on-line samples and on the technical specs. At any rate it seems to be the most versatile of any current hardware solution -- even including the Electro, though future firmware updates might increase its programmability and impprove its relatively weak Rhodes sounds.

 

My top organ choice remains the current Hammond model (I never trust myself to remember the letter combination before the "3" as they have changed their model naming shcemes several times over the years). Its keybed action is the most authentic. But I also am investigating the new M-Audio Axiom controllers (are they waterfall?) as possibly being a good match for NI's B4II/B4D combination. Not likely to gig with a computer though, and Receptor is not yet in the budget... so the Hammond could be a more cost effective solution after all; especially now that its price has come down a few hundred dollars (was that temporary?).

[Jazz+]

dbl post

[kwgm]

Originally posted by Mark Schmieder:

A lot of good points there. I think it shows how competitive this space is, that ALL of the manufacturers keep doing something on an annual basis to improve their organ and EP options.

 

I've been on the fence for some time on this issue, having sold my VK7 a few years back after too many bloody hands from swiping its synth keys.

 

The one compromise I will NOT make on my next choice is to forfeit having true waterfall keys with appropriate organ action (instant speaking of the notes, and a soft landing, with the ability to handle rapid re-triggerings).

 

Unfortunately the VR760 never showed up in the stores here, so I only had one brief three minute session at Winter NAMM when it was first announced. You can't hear anything at NAMM so it's a bad place to judge sounds. Too much waveform cancellation going on, even with headphones.

 

After some posts here on the VR760 a few months back, I decided to reinvestigate it. My notes are elsewhere so I forget what I concluded. I sure hope I can find one at Sam Ash in Hollywood when I drive down to L.A. over Labour Day weekend to visit friends and check out gear that can't be found in the S.F. Bay Area (as big as we are!).

 

Thing is, I'm fairly satisfied in the EP department now with my Kurzweil PC2r, but am least happy with its clavinets (and feel the Wurlies, except for those "Supertramp" sounds, are not as good as the Rhodes sounds in the Classic ROM; nor that either are ultimately as varied as I would like, even though they surpass any other ROMpler that I have tried). So the organ is the main "draw" (no pun intended), but action is critical.

 

Even so, I remain curious about the SRX-12 board from Roland. I have every reason to suspect it is one of the top three options available today (in hardware at least) based on the on-line samples and on the technical specs. At any rate it seems to be the most versatile of any current hardware solution -- even including the Electro, though future firmware updates might increase its programmability and impprove its relatively weak Rhodes sounds.

 

My top organ choice remains the current Hammond model (I never trust myself to remember the letter combination before the "3" as they have changed their model naming shcemes several times over the years). Its keybed action is the most authentic. But I also am investigating the new M-Audio Axiom controllers (are they waterfall?) as possibly being a good match for NI's B4II/B4D combination. Not likely to gig with a computer though, and Receptor is not yet in the budget... so the Hammond could be a more cost effective solution after all; especially now that its price has come down a few hundred dollars (was that temporary?).

Great post. I too am interested in the new Hammond XK-1 (It's XK now and you're correct, they did change them at least once and it is confusing to keep track of all these model letters and numbers, especially after gliding past the big five-oh).

 

I'm more of an organ player than a synthesist (whatever that is), and I like the feel of the XK, as well as the big lettering on the back that says, well, Hammond.

 

The XK-1 is nicely setup to play top board on a two board rack with tone generators accessible via MIDI control for lower manual, as well as pedal. My Yamaha S90ES would make an acceptible lower manual if remember to avoid smears and slides down there.

 

And the price is right, well under $1500 street.

 

I'm this close (' ') to ordering the XK-1.

 

However, the XK-3 has a few more features (like two sets of drawbars), and is designed to play the top board in a two board setup with the new Pro lower manual. Its street price is about $600 more, and may be worth it to me if I truely want to build a Hammond Pro system with pedals. Even if I simply bounce on the F pedal ala Jimmy Smith, the two manual organ console seems more authentic for my kind of gig. And I sure appreciate the weight reduction!

[cdkey]

If you are looking for a VK model roland for organ sounds go for the VK8 over the vk7 it's a good sound but bigger and heavy compared to Electro 2 which sounds just as good, I would look second hand as well (massive saving) as the vk8 (not sure if they are still making this board any more) the module version and it dual manual brother is still in the catalogue though, and if you are looking to Nord Electro, you should check out the New Stage Compact (73 organ keybed) I have just got one last week and its now planted on top of my RD700sx (with srx 12 card)... 2 boards Roland RD and Nord Stage compact = Piano / E-paino / Organ & Synth all covered as good as it gets with 2 boards at the moment.

[jook]

Don't forget to give the Korg CX-3 V2 a spin if you haven't already. You'd have your waterfall keyboard, organ action (variable deep or shallow triggering), two sets of drawbars, and one of the best Leslie sims on the market. The latter being important if you're not using a real Leslie as the Hammond's onboard sim is often considered subpar.

[Mark Schmieder]

The Korg CX3 is very good, but different. I didn't ever hear the original CX3 from the 70's, but I suspect it is closer to that than a B3 -- even knowing that no two B3's are alike. I think it might have derived from the tonewheel modeling found in the Z1 and MOSS boards.

 

The CX3 is slightly aggressive in its "naked" state. The new action is very good but still not as fast as the Hammond XK's. But the price drop made it VERY competitive!

 

Don't forget that the XK1 is said to not have quite as fast/accurate an action as the XK3. Having not had the chance to try one yet, I have no idea if this is splitting hairs or really noticeable in a big way.

[Moon Zero Two]

I didn't think the new stage piano with the waterfall keys was shipping yet. Hmm.

 

I thought the electro had a great organ sound but the rhodes left me a little flat. I love the Rhodes I get out of my kurz pc2 and Motif ES rack.

 

I guess I have to play the xk3, but I love my cx-3.

 

hmm on the other hand maybe I shouldn't...

[eric]

Originally posted by cdkey:

If you are looking for a VK model roland for organ sounds go for the VK8 over the vk7 it's a good sound but bigger and heavy compared to Electro 2 which sounds just as good, I would look second hand as well (massive saving) as the vk8 (not sure if they are still making this board any more) the module version and it dual manual brother is still in the catalogue though, and if you are looking to Nord Electro, you should check out the New Stage Compact (73 organ keybed) I have just got one last week and its now planted on top of my RD700sx (with srx 12 card)... 2 boards Roland RD and Nord Stage compact = Piano / E-paino / Organ & Synth all covered as good as it gets with 2 boards at the moment.

Where did you get a Stage Compact? I was under the impression these were not shipping until this fall? Please let us know where you bought the Stage Compact.

 

Regards,

Eric

[cdkey]

For anybody interested got the Nord Stage Compact with the waterfall keys via Sound Control at Leeds, direct from the clavia/nord distributers (Hand in Hand distribution) as soon as at came off the ferry / truck from the Factory. (I am in UK though)

It's very good and so are their distributors over here. (a bit pricey though)

[eric]

Originally posted by cdkey:

For anybody interested got the Nord Stage Compact with the waterfall keys via Sound Control at Leeds, direct from the clavia/nord distributers (Hand in Hand distribution) as soon as at came off the ferry / truck from the Factory. (I am in UK though)

It's very good and so are their distributors over here. (a bit pricey though)

Please share some photos of your rig! It sounds sweet and I'd like to see the Stage Compact up close.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[cdkey]

I will try and post some pics but I am 'working' at the moment. It is an electro 2 body (I think) with the stage electronics inside it. I have had it open to be nosey and it it is a seriously tight fit in the case. Due to it's lite weight nature the metal case is not super strong so care is needed when moving this board around, (keys are very close fit in casing) compared to the Roland bomb proof Rd700sx or volvo esque ex Kawai MP4. The action seems firmer than the roland Vk8 (stronger springs?) (but this is a multipurpose board)and it is longer travel to trigger (judging from memory here got rid of Vk8 before this showed up).

push button drawbars are very good as well they are very fast acting. also after touch is good and feels smooth on bottom of key travel.

still not sure on Piano sound though it seems good, but seems to have some slight extra sustain on both at the top end. (This is like trying to find the grail)

[emenelton]

I owned the VR760 for a year and gigged with it. I had the SRX11 card in it. The organ sound had the typical 'rich midrange and strident highs' of Roland. The organ had an expression pedal feature which allowed the pedal to variable control the COSM Overdrive, that was very nice. The Rhodes and Wurli were beautiful. They ran through the COSM with subtle amp and mic effects. The analogue piano how-ever was dull, even with the SRX-11. The SRX cards did not go through the COSM effect, which means the SRX 12(and the SRX 11) will not benefit from the COSM Stage

 

The analogue stage seemed to be very well engineered with a quiet 'black' background. I miss the Wurli and Rhodes. The organ was single manual also.

 

All in all a mixed bag. Heavy, extremely well engineered, beautiful waterfall action, a very nice smooth analogue sound. Possibly the best Wurli and Rhodes board. I have a X6 w/SRX12 now.

[Mixsynth]

Originally posted by Mark Schmieder:

Don't forget that the XK1 is said to not have quite as fast/accurate an action as the XK3. Having not had the chance to try one yet, I have no idea if this is splitting hairs or really noticeable in a big way.

I've tried one, and it is definitely noticeable. Rather than use the top contact for note triggering, as available on the XK-3, VK-8, CX-3, etc., it uses the bottom contact, which requires almost full key depression (on a rather stiff Fatar keybed) to get notes out.

 

Page 100 of the XK-1 manual suggests there's a setting called "Key Depth" that can change this, but nobody I've spoken to (including the salesman) knows how to change it.

 

Re the SRX-12: I've had one since May, fitted inside an XV-2020 on top of a VK-8. To my ears it has the most enjoyable to play Rhodes patches I've ever used. I actually prefer playing the SRX-12 to the Mk.1 73 I used to lug to gigs.

 

Hugo

[jon from oz]

I own and have used a VR 760 for a couple of years. As far as I know it has the same organ sound as the VK7 . The electric pianos are nice and I recently played some gigs in a disco funk band with the srx7 board in my 760 and my RD500 as the second board. The guys in the band were blown away with the sound of the VR760 . Thier keyboard player uses an XP30 over an RD700 and they asked me if I could help him with his sound.

I have done gigs with just the 760 but I missed a weighted action plus the one thing I don't like is the ac piano sound.

[LoFi]

I was under the impression that the modelled organs in the RD700SX were the same as those in the VK8 (though obviously with less control over Vib etc and software drawbars) - have I got this wrong then?