From kanker@earthlink.net Wed Jan 28 22:05:25 2004
Subject:Speaking of EVB3...

On my gig tonight I had to kick bass organ style, didn't know that til I showed up, so I
walk in with my XV88, Nord Electro Rack, and my PowerBook. I set up the board and
the rack, play a couple of sets of jazz, trio with guitar and drums, and then get a wild
hair up my butt to try the EVB3. Understand that this is under far from ideal
conditions in a restaurant with a stage that's barely big enough to hold a cup of water,
set in the actaul bar, through the house monitors- 2 crappy EV monitors (molded
plastic coaxial 15/horn types) that have seen infinitely better days. I set up my
PowerBook, interfaces, then without the manual find the controller numbers for the
16' and 5 1/3' stops, and the percussion on off, set three of the XV88's control sliders
for those functions, and set the other one to the modulation controller to control the
Leslie speed (the one drag about playing organ on Rolands (minus the A90)- no mod
WHEEL). I split the board, turned on the ultrabass, a feature in the EVB3 that extends
the range of the bass- no foldback, and played a couple of more sets.

First impression- to really get the most out of a computer based B3, you need to have
a hell of a lot more sliders, dials, buttons, whatever than the XV88 has. I figured that
taking into account 888000000 as the starting point for jazz, and the 8' stop being
generally unoffensive left all the way out, that 16' and 5 1/3' were the essential stops
to have control of and sacrificed control over the 8' for the sake of the Leslie, followed
by percussion on/off (I prefer 3rd almost all the time).

Second impression- Ultrabass is very cool.

Third impression- The sim sounds great all around- from tonewheels to rotating
horns. Killer.

Fourth- while being able to control virtually every aspect of the organ's age, tone,
keyclick, and everything else is cool, I have to admit that the one thing I love most
about my Electro other than everything, is the fact that, as a few other Electro owners
have said, the organ you bought is the organ you got. My Hammond has drawbars,
chorus/vibrato and manual switches, percussion switches and a decay control (on the
actual chassis of course) a volume pedal, and that's about it. The Electro allows you
to adjust the key click beyond any of that. I know that not being able to change the
tonewheels and adjust the leakage etc... are seen a shortcomings in the Electro by
some people, but I like the idea that I have to deal with what's there as it is (not that
I'm complaining about the way any of these things are simulated in the Electro- I think
they sound pretty remarkably close to my own A-101). The amount of control you
have in EVB3 is almost overwhelming, and some of the parameters have such a subtle
effect that I could see one becoming over involved in the minutia of setting up a tone
instead of just playing the damn organ. That said, once you have your own organ
designed, you've definitely got a winner.

Fifth, and final-- If you have Logic and don't have EVB3, get it. By the way, and on
that note, if you didn't know, Apple has streamlined the Logic line to Logic Pro ($999)
and Express. Express is basically just plain Logic Audio, but the only soft synths you'll
have access to are EVP73 and EXSP (included with Express). For those of you with
Gold and Platinum 6 (and maybe even 5, call Emagic customer service) you can
upgrade to Logic Pro for $199, and Pro includes ALL of Logic's plugins- all the soft
synths (ES1, ES2, EVP88, EVB3, EVD6, etc...), all the effects (including Space Designer),
all the TDM support software, and there will be a free update that includes a drum
machine, an amp simulator, and some new soft synth (all of them got stellar reviews
at NAMM). That's a few thousand dollars worth of software that's now included as a
part of Logic Pro, and the individual pieces will no longer be available. If you've been
thinking about getting Logic, you can pick up a copy of Gold 6 from audiomidi.com
for a bit under $500, then get the upgrade for $199, and come out a couple hundred
bucks under the price of Pro (the speculation is that there might not be any discounts
off the list price on Pro, putting Logic in line with other Apple apps, but I defy you to
find more software for the money).

EVB3 worked extremely well for me tonight. In March I'll be doing a string of album
release dates in the midwest for blues harmonica player and singer Tad Robinson
(Chicago, Indy, Cincy, one other that escapes me, and shameless plugs to come), and
since I'll be using my Electro on my 88 for piano and EP, I'm now seriously considering
using EVB3 as my organ. Until then I'll probably stick to just the Electro for the ease
of setup and the equally killer tone, but I definitely have a viable and excellent
alternative in the EVB3.

Kevin