From EamonnF@earthlink.net Sat Oct 26 13:10:04 2002
Subject:Re: [CWSG]Electro Convert

Eric,
First of all, I'm glad that if Bruce has to step down that you are going to
be the one to step in. Dan Simpson best expressed all our gratitude and
appreciation to Bruce and I know that you are a great person to take over.
Now, to the Electro!

Let me start by saying that my aim here is to make you part with your hard
earned dollars and buy the &^%*ing thing. Just kidding - but I'll try and
answer your questions. Let me start by saying that the type of music I
usually play is funk/ r'n' b etc... The only thing I'd use for hammond sounds
over the electro is a hammond organ. Electro organ sounds excellent through a
leslie but also very, very good through my roland kc500 amp. I was extremely
dubious about the drawbuttons - I'm a real drawbar grabber. Not an issue for
me _ I've gotten used to them. The reason I bought the electro was that I got
a gig where I knew I'd be needing clavs, good ep's as well as organ. I am
totally happy with the electro for all these tasks. When they get the
acoustic piano sound down, this keyboard will be bordering on perfect. Set up
is a breeze. It could totally cover what your cx3 and rd600 do - except for
real good acoustic piano - and apparently they are working on that. The only
other limitation - and it is a big one - is that you can't play two electro
sounds at the same time. Personally I can live without 88 keys but you might
feel differently. The action is very enjoyable to play for organs or pianos.

I WAS using a VK7/ kurzweil micropiano for clone gigs/ casuals etc... I also
had/ have a Voce V5 that I thought had an excellent basic sound (through a
leslie) but was too much of a hassle (wallwart, seperate midi controller
keyboard/ midi cable/ velcro/ no leslie sim/ weak percussion and chorus) to
use that often. This is the first keyboard that has come out that I felt
would be enough of an improvement over that rig to justify the expense. It's
not perfect. I think that for quieter gigs - the sounds are a little
compressed and don't cut until they are turned up loud. I've found that when
you have a good stage sound you can really tell how good this thing sounds
but when things are muddy, the organ in particular can get a little lost on
stage. The same would apply to a real hammond however. But for sure, it's
cutting through - without being shrill or sounding digital - outfront. I find
the leslie up ramp a little fast for my taste. I would have preferred some of
the organ features (percussion tabs, leslie on/ off etc...) to have been laid
out in a slightly different fashion. But bottom line - the wurly sounds
unbelievable, the clav and rhodes - incredibly good, the organ very, very,
very good - the instrument has simplified (as well as funkified) my life and
I'm a happy electro owner. It sounds like you already have a very nice rig so
I wouldn't get too worked up about it, but if you do get a chance, try out an
electro. Put it this way - I probably wouldn't have made the investment
unless I HAD to (needed clavs and better ep's) but I'm SO glad I did.
Cheers,
Eamonn

Eric Lawson wrote:

> I'm with Tony! I have actually been eyeing the Electro 73 pretty
> hard from a distance and it is very enticing to me as an "all-in-
> one" solution for rehearsals and smaller gigs. (snipped)