From eslawson@comcast.net Sat Dec 13 22:26:18 2003
Subject:Moderator back to basics - Update

Hello friends,

Some of you may have noticed that I've been flying under the radar for quite
some time. This was not intentional, as I've been out of pocket for a lot
of different reasons. My thanks to Ben Ninmann, Bruce Wahler and others
that have kept the engine running and the CloneWheel forum has been a happy
place for the most part!

I'll digress a bit by giving you all an update on what's been going on for
me. It started in June with a big do-it-yourself home renovation with scope
creep that is still ongoing. We gutted our kitchen, tore out walls, floors,
etc. Emptied the house to refinish hardwoods, totally repainted interior
and exterior, replacing windows, doors, etc. etc. A huge project. I then
had a 2-month diversion called Hurricane Isabel that dropped 15 trees that
were 100+ years old in my yard and on the house. No structural damage,
thank goodness, but months of clean-up nonetheless. I've become quite handy
with the chainsaw.

End of digression. Things are getting somewhat back to normal and I have
been through a MAJOR amount of gear flux, including clones, in my limited
spare time. Someone's got to do it and gear is one of my few escapes from
reality that really makes me happy when life is otherwise chaos! Let me
start by recapping my clone history. I'm not going into all the details
about what I used for the Leslie sound, but I've basically had almost every
Leslie simulator ever created, plus several real Leslies.

1989-1991 Korg CX3 (old school)
1991-2000 Hammond XB2
2000-2002 Hammond XK2
2002-2002 Korg CX3 (new version)
2002-2003 Nord Electro 73 v2.0
2003 Roland V-Combo
2003 Roland VK-7

So I've cycled through the Electro and V-Combo in the past year. I bought
the V-Combo during a moment of weakness, thinking it could be my "one
keyboard solution." This fantasy lasted about a month and I could not do
without an 88-not weighted keyboard and a dedicated Hammond clone.
Previously, my main rig was a Roland RD600 and Electro, with various
stand-in VA synths.

So I upgraded my RD600 to a Yamaha S90 (a KILLER keyboard) and found a great
deal on an old school Roland VK-7. My current rig has been stripped down to
just the S90 and the VK-7. It is my "rig on a budget" and does not include
the best clone available, but the VK-7 does a pretty darn good job for the
type of work I'm doing. I still feel that the overall tone of the Electro
puts it at the top of the heap, but I missed having real drawbars.

The VK-7 really has an alive and breathy sound that captures the essence of
a B-3 through a miked Leslie. I'm running stereo and have very few
complaints with this clone. The chorus is not the best and it is global
(can't be applied to each manual individually). But I only use it on
occasion, so it is not a deal-breaker. I will say that the C3 chorus
combined with the fast Leslie does kick up the realism of the Leslie sound
just a bit. As for the keyboard action, I would prefer a true waterfall
keyboard, but the VK-7 has a very durable semi-weighted synth action that is
a reasonable middle ground. The overdrive and tone is quite inspiring to
me.

That's it for now. Just wanted to resurface and let you all know what's
been going on for me. I'll hopefully start showing my face a bit more
regularly as we close in on the holidays. I'll take full ownership for
being a fickle gear freak, but I have really enjoyed my clone samplings over
the last couple of years. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season!

Regards,
Eric Lawson
Moderator
CloneWheel Support Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CloneWheel/

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