From youngman@eznet.net Thu Mar 07 23:09:12 2002
Subject:Re: Has anybody tried roland vk-77

Perhaps you are right, it may have been added later as a preventive measure.
I have never used the registration lock and have had no problems.

As for how do you change sounds........remember the drawbars???? They are
still active, so are the master keyboard controls. The lock button just
shuts off the preset buttons between the manuals. As for an octave of
reverse color keys as presets that would be very cool...but the VK-77 would
be about 6 feet wide, 20 lbs. heavier and far less portable.

Like I said, I use this instrument to make my living. I play it and lug it
virtually every day.....it is reliable, and sounds good. I am just a poor
man who had to make a choice when the VK77 was the only (and damn expensive)
choice. If it did not work for you OK, but how can you recommend an
instrument unless you are totally familiar with it? That's like me telling
you to buy a Cadillac instead of a LIncoln when I have never owned either.
You know I once drove a Ferrari...it rode like a buckboard...I don't think
anyone should ever buy one of those....that kind of thing.

As for Roland, I salute them for even trying to sell a dual manual organ on
which you can play jazz with pedals. I bet they did not sell 500 of them
total...and neither will Korg or Hammond. They are simply too expensive for
a weekend warrior to justify, and that seems to be the marketing sweet spot
for clones...weekend rock band keyboard players. Imagine if you will what my
wife said when I told her "Honey,I just spent $4900.00 on a new instrument!"
It is a good thing I travel, or I would have worn out the couch.

If I did not have to play bass and pedals I would love to have a single
manual, tuck under my arm instrument. In fact when I tour Europe I take a
VK7 just in case the rented B3/C3 sucks. I used the VK7 in the Salzberg Jazz
Herbst Festival. When we arrived for sound check there was only a 122 and a
combo pedal....no organ. And guess what... we tore the joint up... I have
the newspaper reviews to prove it...nobody said.... but......you are playing
a shrill Roland not a Korg....

I once heard Charles Earland play a gig on an XB2 which was a first
generation clone known for its many problems....he could swing on an ironing
board if he had too....no one and I mean no one said anything about his
instrument. Bottom line is, it is the PLAYER not the INSTRUMENT. Joey
DeFrancesco could kick my ass on a dusty,in the corner for 20 years Yamaha
SK20 any time, any place.

You are right...someday there will be a perfect clone, it will look like a
B3, sound like a B3, have presets like a B3...in fact it exists now..HS just
announced it at the recent NAAM show.....gee at 20-30 grand each I think I
will order a couple!!! 8^)

Please do not take offense James I am just having a little fun with you and
at your expense...YOU are absolutely entitled to your opinion...

Enjoy whatever Clone you own, become as good a player as you can possibly
be, learn something new every day...bring some joy into this awful world
with music...remember, we are all in this together...

My Best To YOU and all the folks on this list who are each in their own way
keeping the Hammond sound alive,

G


Gerry Youngman
Paradigm Shift Trio
youngman@eznet.net



> From: "elggobo"
> Reply-To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 22:08:28 -0000
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [CWSG] Re: Has anybody tried roland vk-77
>
> --- In CloneWheel@y..., Gerry Youngman wrote:
>> I find it amusing that there are all these opinions on the VK-77
> from people
>> who neither own or play them. The issue with the presets is easily

Big Snip

>
> That the majority of 'Test drivers' made the same mistake is
> reasonable evidence that it is flaw in the user interface design.
>
> What exactly did Roland think was so wrong about Hammond's original
> design I wonder...
>
> Kind regards
>
> James