From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Wed Apr 09 13:41:31 2003
Subject:Re: gearing up to upgrade gear

Hey Damon....

Your motif will handle the eps and clavs better than
the Electro (that's my opinion anyway and I have
both). As for the distortion sounds you crave, the
overdrive in the Electro probably won't cut it for
that, but a decent distortion box or Speakeasy will.

T
--- Damon Fibraio wrote:
> Let me take your points one at a time.
>
> >The Electro has excellent EPs and Clav, and the
> organ is very
> >good. Personally I prefer the CX-3 organ tone by a
> >whisker over the Electro, but the difference is
> small and the
> >Electro's great EP/clav sounds more than make up
> for it (not to
> >mention that the Electro is about half the
> weight!).
>
> Well, the weight thing is good. I am not sure I care
> if the cx3 sound is
> better than the nord, Ijust don't want to lose
> anything from my vk7 by
> changing over. if Iwanted a worse organ sound, I'd
> just get another
> workstation keyboard. The light weight is a relief
> and the fact that the
> organ sound, even in the mp3 demos sounds really
> good, is a good plus. A
> friend hated the leslie sim, but Ithink it sounds
> OK, just as good as the vk7.
>
> >I don't think that heavy distortion is the
> srongest point on the Electro,
> >but the
> >overdrive sound is quite servicable and it'll
> pretty much do what you
> >want, I think.
>
> Well, as long as it works. I don't always go for
> full steam smoke on the
> water sound, my main distorted sound is like that of
> Tony Kay's or the
> sound of Perfect Stranger's by Deep Purple. As long
> as the Electro can hit
> that, I am fine. The vk7's distortion seemed OK for
> the task. Again, Ijust
> want to be sure I am not taking any steps back from
> the VK7. Whatever I
> replace the VK with has to be at least equal to it.
> I have been avoid the
> vr760 due to the bad reviews of the vk8 I keep
> reading here, so that's why
> I have been leaning towards the electro, since the
> cx3 only does organ, and
> Ineed more than that.
>
> > The Electro output is a bit weak for some
> reason, and
> >so a preamp would help, though it isn't necessary.
>
> I use the power amp in my mackie ppm808s, so I would
> just have to make
> adjustments. Probalby not the best solution for an
> organ, but hell, what
> else can I do
>
> >The Electro Leslie simulation is as good as the
> best competition.
>
> That's what I thought, too, in fact, it sounds just
> as good as, if not
> better than the vk.
>
> >As to your specific needs, Damon, there is
> something else to
> >consider. Switching between organ and piano on the
> Electro is s-l-o-
> >w. I would estimnate it takes a full half second
> to switch between
> >the organ and the other sounds, maybe a little
> more. When I have
> >less than one beat to switch from clav to organ in
> an uptempo tune,
> >this is a problem.
>
> Well, maybe in that situation, that is where I can
> set up the motif to
> handle any spillover work.
>
> > Add to that the small and not-so-visible preset
> >buttons and the Electro can be pretty awkward on
> quick patch changes
> >in/out of the organ.
> I would imagine that is processor intensive, as it
> has to quick load in the
> samples and such. I wish i could put my hands on an
> electro to learn its
> mappings of buttons and such. Also, the drawbar
> buttons, how do they work
> to change organ registrations in realtime as opposed
> to drawbars?
>
> > Changes between non-organ sounds or between
> organ presets is
> > instantaneous. I work around this problem, but
> it's
> >an annoyance.
>
> Iwuld have figured that much. Hence the reason that
> I still have a motif,
> to handle anything that I can't handle quickly with
> the electro. The motif
> rhodes sounds are quite nice, so if Ineed the
> electro organ and can't wait
> the second or so for the switch, the motif can cover
> it.o
>
> > Anorther small annoyance, when you change
> programs
> >while holding a chord, the chord disappears from
> under you until you
> >restrike thye keyboard on the new sound(!). Given
> the stuff you play
> >quick changes are obviously a part of your needs,
> so you should
> >consider that. I'm not trying to disuade you from
> the Electro, I love
> >mine and think it's the most playable digital axe
> I've ever owned
> >(and I've owned a few), but these are things to
> consider.
>
> Again, the motif can probably cover that. Iusually
> hate changing sounds on
> a keyboard in the middle of a song unless Ihae to,
> due to the fact that I
> am operating by touch exclusively, while playing so
> I try to keep one
> keyboard dedicated to one sound for an entire song
> unless I have no choice.
>
> >Reading your interesting post, I think an improved
> MIDI setup might
> >ease your life on stage quite a bit. Since that's
> not really your
> >forte (pun intended), it would be worthwhile to
> hire some MIDI jock
> >from a music store for an afternoon to get your
> live setup more
> >comfortable. Set all your stuff up in the living
> room like on a gig,
> >have the manuals handy for all your gear, and show
> the guy the sound
> >changes you frequently make on a gig. Seems like a
> worthwhile
> >investment. He might be able to do a few quick
> programming
> >improvements over the factory sounds as well.
>
> I have thought of this time and time again, but I
> would have to look around
> for that help. Ultimately, I wanted to be that midi
> tech, but it doesn't
> seem to be possible with all the displays and
> inaccessible manuals and such
> out there. I want to play, but I love programming
> and I love gear and my
> inate desire to be self sufficient has been plaguing
> me for some time. If I
> knew of a good midi tech who would help me, I would
> definitely enlist his
> services, but it would have to be a bit of an
> ongoing project anyway.
>
> >A knowledgable tech could also set up a sequencer
> (one of your synths
> >must have a decent
> >sequencer) to setup all your gear at once for each
> sound set you use
> >with just a few button presses, but even that may
> be more than you're
> >comfortable with. Anyway, just a thought...
>
> It's a good thought. The motif6 should be able to
> cover that fine. I used
> to do that with my old Ensoniq TS10, set up
> sequencer templates with sounds
> for quick changes and the like, but I stupidly sold
> that board and no other
> board has been that intuitive to a blind person that
> I have found. A blind
> friend uses the motif and that is why I traded in my
> ex5 for it, so
> hopefully I can get up to speed with that and get
> back to being a
> functional player as opposed to somebody who can't
> even use the gear he
> spent money on. that's what I want from all of my
> gear, to be able to
> access its features. Teh VK seems to be another
> board that gives me trouble
> when I want to go outside of its presets and its
> physical knobs and
> drawbars, and without the manual, it becomes even
> more complex. The electro
> and the cx3 have their manuals readily available and
> I
=== message truncated ===

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