From tymelys22@tadamson.greatxscape.net Tue Aug 08 15:35:30 2000
Subject:Clones R Us.

Hi, perhaps this group should drift along the lines of Clones R Us,
as there is a fair amount of discussion about Hammond/Leslie Looky
likeys apart from Voce products, which makes, I believe for an
interesting read and some useful information.
I came to this group because of my wish to get a reasonable Leslie
Sound from my Hammond Clone, the XM1 module. I had variously used a
Korg G4, which has now gone to another Voce egroup contributor across
the big pond. (I live on a small island just off the edge of
Euroland, the UK), and also a Hughes and Kettner Tube Rotosphere and
the in-built digital "Leslie" of the XM1.
All of these were good(ish), after a fashion, but did not sound
quite right compared to the CD's I have at home especially in the
area of Leslie simulation.

The following will not be right for every-one, but this is what I
have done and I'm over the moon with the result which is giving me a
great deal of pleasure.

I use two Technics keyboards, the KN2000 and the KN3000, tiered to
provide an organ two manual set-up. The keyboards' midi outputs are
merged into the new E-mu B3 module.
There are a multitude of brilliantly multi-sampled B3 patches,
sampled thru Leslie fast and slow settings. Using a specially
designed LFO., the patches may be morphed between slow and fast to
give a smooth Leslie change.
Because the keyboards can transmit "Right One" and "Right Two"
messages as well as "Left" and "Bass" on separate midi channels it is
easy to set up almost any drawbar setting and save to the Technics
Keyboard Panel Memory Registrations for quick changes to the
different settings, from subtle drawbar changes to completely
different registrations.
The main thing though is that the module's Leslie sound is tne real
thing (well recordings of the real thing) and not a simulation and
boy does it sound good after years of making do for years with
pretend rotors.

I use this set-up at home where space is limited but if I had to gig,
this would be my choice for great sound, and ease of transportation
with no hassle.
I appreciate that the physical push-pull is missing which is perhaps
a no no for many egroup members but the sound is magnificent IMHO.
I can always add back the Hammond XM1 into the set-up using both
modules together for some drawbar action but I am enjoying the E-mu
B3 so much that I'm in no rush to complicate matters.
I have posted before on this issue but now after several weeks
getting to know the module I'm still in awe of the product. Hope you
don't mind this post which is " an off Voce topic" but if you too are
exasperated trying to get just the right sound and have either not
the room for a separate Rotary Cabinet or find transportation a pain,
you might also find the E-mu the way to go.

Two demo MP3's can be downloaded from the www.emu.com site. Although
better sounds can be coaxed from the module itself, the downloads do
give some idea of the sounds available, especially when spun up to
the fast speed.

Finally, and still a little off topic, there is another interesting
site worth a visit. Especially for copmputer musicians there is
available for a fairly modest sum, a virtual B3 by
www.nativeinstruments.com. There are some occasions where there are
demos illustrating quite a reasonable fast spinning tremelo, I think
better than any sim that I have heard to date.