From dfibraio@comcast.net Wed Jul 28 09:15:35 2004
Subject:my review of the VK8M

Hi, everybody. Here it is, the blind guy'sreview of the VK8M after a few
hours of working with it. I am coming from the perspective of a VK7 owner,
and keep in mind that I cannot read the manual. I will be scanning it into
my computer once the scanner is hooked back up to the machine.

First impression. When I pulled it out of the box, my first thought was
that this thing was small enough to shove into a backpack to take to a
friend's house. Cool. I was a little put off by the fact that each bank
only holds 6 sounds, but when I recognized how to change sounds, it isn't
so bad. I mean, 36 organ sounds should be enough, especially with all the
realtime tweaking you can do. I had to guess which jacks were the output
jacks, again, because I hooked it up without sighted help, and of course,
the midi in port is the right hand midi port, which is ass backwards, but I
leave it to roland to do things like that just to keep things interesting.
While I am not a fan of custom power supplies, at least it is not a brick
that plugs into the wall taking up 14 outlets. So, I plugged it in, hooked
it up to my triton extreme 76 and turned it on.

Sound...
Honestly, and maybe I am deaf, too, but I don't hear a major difference
from the VK7. This is not a bad thing at all, mind you. The advantage of
the VK8M is its portability and better realtime control, although I wish i
could control key click with a knob. I have not tried the active expression
option yet and probably won't, since I don't need it and the D-beam does
get in the way and usually I have to turn it off so that I don't trigger it
while reaching for the overdrive knob. However, the sound is what I have
come to expect frm a VK organ, it sounds authentic enough to me for Rock
purposes, I can actually bring it home at the end of the night instead of
leaving the VK7 at my drummer's house and never getting to experiment with
it, I can change amp models a lot easier than I could with the VK7, and the
D-beam is pretty cool. I like the tactile feel of the knobs, and I like
being able to select chorus and vibrato from the knob as opposed to the
menus. Makes me wonder what editing features are available to me beneath
the knobs. With the soundiste upgrade I do notice some difference in the
spin up and down times and I like it. The distortion is great, too.
Overall, I love the VK8. It allows me to have my organ sound in a compact
package that I can easily take with me anywhere, it has more controls on
the surface to get at, it has the authentic hammond sound Ineed, so I don't
have to suffer through workstation sampled organ sounds with subpar leslie
simulators, and I think it is a great buy at $845 through Musician's
Friend. I bet it could be had cheaper, but to me, it is well worth what I
paid. I can't wait to hear it on my next gig this Saturday.

--
Damon Fibraio, email dfibraio@comcast.net
Musician, broadcaster, computer technician, and troublemaker
aol instant messenger screenname: dfibraio MSN Messenger screenname:
dfibraio@comcast.net: Band site: Visions: http://www.visions692000.com
Listen to no Holds Barred Radio. Go to our site at http://www.nhbradio.com

"To those who understand, I extend my hand
To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am
Not under your command, I know where I stand
I won't change to fit your plan, take me as I am."--Dream Theater, As I am