From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Wed Jul 14 09:52:17 2004
Subject:Musings on the XK-3 brouhaha / lack of posts

Hi All,

This is not directed toward any one list member or group of members -- although it might shed some light on Mr. Hawthorn's lack of response ...

The XK-3 has seemed to touch a vein, both positive and negative. Some people love it, some hate it (for both rational and irrational reasons), but those that are somewhere in the middle seem to be mostly silent. Overall, I'm one of that "silent majority."

The XK-3 seems like a very nice clone, and I'm impressed by its sound and features -- just not enough to trade my current one. Why? For one thing, I'm quite satisfied with my BX-3, warts and all. I've spent a lot of time tweaking it, and the combination of a Speakeasy preamp, a Barker, and my Leslie From Hell (tm) gives me pretty much the sound I want. Maybe my tastes are different, or my ears aren't up to snuff, but I think the sound I have is killer, and a couple of other area players whose opinions I respect seem to agree. In fact, one list member was impressed enough that I have helped him to duplicate my sound path. Could I get the XK-3 to sound even better? Maybe, but right now my priorities are elsewhere.

For another thing, it's not dual-manual -- and the cost difference to jump to the B-3P and my present finances don't come close to meeting up. Dual manual operation is very important to me, because I consider myself mostly an organ/synth/clav player. A great piano sound is secondary, and real piano action is even further down the list, so having two fast, equal-action manuals spaced closely apart is a huge plus in my book. YMMV. If H-S comes out with an XK-4 or XL-3 or whatever that has the XK-3's sound (and relative price) and 122 playable keys, I might make the jump someday. (Note the word "might.")

The reason for the lack of XK-3 response as of late may be due to my request to kill the last couple of XK-3-related threads. I didn't make the request to stifle discussion; I did it in the hopes that all of the "XK-3's rule" / "XK-3's suck" banter would die off. I'm sure that this is just human nature: It's easier to keep a small group calm and focused than a larger one. However, anyone who has had to deal with large groups of people will tell you that "mob mentality" can ruin an otherwise excellent situation, and that's the reason why I requested that the XK-3 discussions of a couple of weeks ago be tabled.

Every clone that has come out in the last ten years has gone through four phases on this list (and related forums):

1. The particular clone is new. What's it like?
2. The new clone is awesome!
3. The new clone really sucks, because it can't {fill in the blank}.
4. The clone is a pretty good instrument, and most of the shortcomings can be worked around.

The Korg CX-3 went through the same phases, as did the Nord Electro, NI B-4, and Roland VK-8; in fact, so did the Voce V3 and H-S XB-2 several years earlier. So, what's so different about the XK-3, that it shouldn't just be allowed to follow the same path? Nothing, really. In members' PERCEPTION, though, there are some differences:

- It's made by Hammond-Suzuki, and justified or not, there seems to be a strong underground sentiment that H-S could really nail all of the B-3 aspects "if they only wanted to." This leads some list members to ding new H-S product for ANY divergence for absolute B-3 nirvana; and it also seems to make H-S owners sensitive to these criticisms. Let's face it: no clone -- including the B-3P -- is going to capture 100% of the aspects of the original B-3. Also, let's face it: If H-S has managed to get to 95-98% with the $20K New B-3, why do they want to come out with a $2K keyboard the pretty much makes the big boy obsolete? And please, "extra sales volume" is not an answer, because it won't amount to anything near 10x additional profits.

- This group has gotten a LOT bigger. At the time the CX-3 was discussed and dissected, the group was at ~400 members. When the Electro came out, we were at ~600 members. Today, it's more like 1100 members! The *percentage* of argumentative, reactionary, or ill-thought-out posts probably isn't any greater then before, but the *actual number* of them has gone up. This encourages both more animated discussions, and more lurking from members who might have posted a calmer reply in other circumstances. Net result: a very lively forum, with occasional posts bordering on flame status.

- The particular list members who own the XK-3 have chosen to be very active in the discussions. There's nothing wrong with that; it's simply an observation that these new owners are very "up" on their purchases, and more than willing to discuss them. The owners of some of the other organs have been less so.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com