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First Gen Numa Organ


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Just curious if anyone has direct experience with the original, gen 1 StudioLogic Numa Organ. Thoughts on keybed, sounds, build quality, etc. Anything relevant would be greatly appreciated.

 

It looks like the original just has Joey DeFrancesco's Hammond on it. Second gen looks plastic-y in pics, and supposedly has multiple different organs on-board, including Hammond B, A, C/G tonewheels, pipe, and a couple of electronic / transistor organs. Are those decent, worthwhile quality sounds?

 

Comparisons to the second generation are also welcome. Thanks in advance.

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I had a first generation Numa Organ that I really liked. It suffered at first from the random note warble which was fixed by a software patch. I loved the keybed. It was solid yet fast. The Organ tone was also very pleasing and authentic (to my ears). I like the Leslie sim but, it's more of a distant (mic in the room) sound than a close mic'd sound. I still liked it and thought it was very useable. I liked the C/V as well which sounded very authentic to me -- neither the sim nor the C/V suffered from any "warbling" or phasing which some other clones suffer from. Some have played the original Numa Organ through a vent and while I tried that at times, I thought the vent negatively altered the Numa's tone. Therefore, I never gigged the Numa Organ through the Vent.

 

I eventually sold it because I had purchased the Mojo 61, and the Numa Organ was a one trick pony...

 

Hope this helps,

 

aL

Gear: Yamaha MODX8, Mojo 61, NS2 73, C. Bechstein baby grand.

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Numa Organ is a very nice sounding board. There are some ways I prefer the Numa Organ 2, some ways I prefer the original, and some where they are just different (notably, a much fuller bottom on the 2... which may be desirable, or not... maybe they didn't implement foldback?). Leakage sounds better to me on the original. I prefer the rotary effect on the 2. I like the action better on the 2 as well. The original feels like the Hammond SK1, the 2 feels less resistant. Build quality seems similar.

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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Thanks for the input, aL! Great info and detail, much obliged. Interesting take on your experience with the Vent.

 

I'm thinking having one great Hammond sound, for me at least, would be more useful than others that I might not use, or have better examples on my other boards. One trick is acceptable if it's a big, great trick.

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I still have the original. Tough call as to which I like better, but the original was lighter and already owned, while the 2 was still returnable. These days, I've ended up using the Nord Stage 3 anyway.

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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I still own an original Numa organ. It has worked pretty well over the years, but there were some issues early on. The original Numa organ does have 3 different organ models to choose from, but you must connect it to a computer in order to change models ( I believe they were A-100, B-3 and either a C-3 or RT). Many users had issues with getting the computer connection to work. I was always able to get it to work, and settled on the A model sound as my personal preference. I dont know if the software to change this is still available on Studiologics website.

 

The keybed was decent (actually like it better than my original Mojos action), and the build quality is pretty good. I think the original Numa organ looks nicer than the Numa 2, but that is also a personal preference. The funky Studiologic red buttons and other controls have held up.

 

The only issue I had with it while gigging was a tendency to drop a half step in pitch !!! Seemed like this occurred in extremely humid conditions (did a lot of summer outdoor gigs with this organ). It happened only twice that I recall, and I was able to correct by using the transpose function, but it was odd.

 

I did use a Ventilator with my Numa organ. I had made up a cable with an octal plug, so I could control the Vent with the speed controller on the organ. It was pretty satisfying. And yes, I agree that the Vent did change the tone of the organ, but it was a tone I liked, and the Vents simulation had greater warmth and width to my ears, although the Numas internal sim was certainly good. I have kept my Numa organ even though I dont use it much these days (not gigging like I used to), because it is a good 20 LBS clone.

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Thanks for your input, unitjazz. I agree, the original looks way better, IMHO, aesthetically. Just looking at it, it looks like it'd be 40-50 lbs, not 20. The second gen looks like a cheap, flimsy toy, at least in online pics, never having seen one in real life.

 

Appreciate the insight on being able to change models, though it sounds like a bit of a pain...but okay if you find one that you like and works for you.

 

I wonder if / when there'll be a gen 3?

 

 

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I had the original Numa 1 and loved it.

 

There was quite a lot of bitching about it on this forum, particularly from some semi notorious endorsees of other brands.

 

But I got it from the horses mouth so to speak that this is THE SAME organ engine as the original Key B. All I have to do is refer anyone who is interested to the David Sanborn / Joey DeFrancesco live performance on Youtube that can give you an idea of what the original Key B organ engine from the 2011 era is capable of sounding like on a good live recording.

 

By the way, friend of mine has Music Al's Numa that he bought on e bay last year. That particular instrument has an unusually nice keybed ( they may not all be the same BTW )..

 

The original Numa 1 sounds fantastic IMO. They seem to be fairly durable too.

 

As far as gen 3 goes of this, it is probably going to pretty much be what the Viscount Legend live already is.

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