From vjd3@yahoo.com Mon Jul 28 11:00:22 2003
Subject:Re: CX3 vs Electro = Sound vs Weight

I recently bought an Electro 73 and had the chance to A/B it against my CX-3.
I give the CX-3's Leslie a slight edge, it's more "swirly," particularly on the high
speed. But I think the Electro's overdrive is very warm sounding and more
tubelike than the Korg's. And I have to say, in the mix, the Electro's Leslie
sounds just fine, so the difference is pretty subtle overall. I think the Rhodes,
Wurly and clavinet sounds are excellent, and the acoustic piano is usable,
especially if you download the alternate samples from Clavia's website, which
is very simple to do. It has a powerful parametric EQ that you can sweep and
cut or add 10 db too which definitely helps finetune the sounds. And it does a
very nice CP-80 electric piano, although you have to get that sound from the
website. And has good analog-sounding effects, too, like an autowah, phaser,
flanger and chorus, and very realistic tremelo as well. If you use an
expression pedal for the organ, it functions as a wah-wah pedal on the
keyboard patches if you activate the wah effect. And the sustain pedal for the
pianos functions as a slow/fast pedal for the Leslie on the organ effects. It's a
well-thought out instrument. And it's great to be able to add some nice warm
tubelike overdrive to the Rhodes, Wurly and even the acoustic piano.

On the organ side, the drawbars do work in realtime although they are not as
convenient as the real bars on the CX3. However, you can have 8 presets at
the touch of a finger and on the organ side and it doesn't interrupt the signal
when you change, so that's an alternative for changing on the fly.

What I really love about it is it's so small and light, and I can plug it right into
my Eons without messing with a separate mixer and carrying another module,
MIDI cables, dealing with additional power cables, etc. Very fast setup and it
won't break your back. Electro makes a nice padded gig bag for $55 or so that
goes easily over your shoulder and has a pocket for cables and pedals. Well
worth the price, I'd say, especially since I got a brand new version 1 that was
factory upgraded to the new software for $1450 shipped to my door (8th Street
Music). I've sold the CX3 (I think) and I have a Kurzweil MicroEnsemble
available if anyone's interested -- just make me an offer.

Vic

> From: "jake92028"
>
> >
> > Is the Electro a good enough swap to seriously consider keeping the
> > Korg home, or even (gulp) selling it, bought new this year. Can the
> > Electro's drawbar settings be made to 'morph' like push/pull drawbars
> > on Hammond/clones? Is the Leslie simulation as good or (I've heard)
> > maybe better? How good are the piano sounds compared to Roland or
> > Yamaha and the e.p's, especially Wurlitzer? Can the Electro's
> > patches be played with a 2nd keyboard controller? Has anyone A/B'd
> > them considering weight vs sound? The clone sound would have to be
> > extremely good to play instead of CX3. All opinions welcome, thanks.
> >