From aevett1@yahoo.com Tue Jan 02 21:18:23 2007
Subject:Re: Tweaking Clones

This ties in with some thoughts I've been having
lately regarding the state of my clonewheel
'sound'...Bruce and all: I'd be interested in your
thoughts/suggestions...

I currently use a VK-8M, and based on Josh Lawrence's
observations from his recent post regarding the VK
engine within his RD-700, the VK sound is indeed much
'too polite' for my tastes. And, the front panel
editing capabilities of the RD 700's VK engine
apparently cover the needed parameters to get the full
potential out of the VK's engine - as opposed to
having to do a lot of sysex command work on the VK-8M.
In an editing situation, I have found it much easier
to grab, tweak, listen and store - than to deal with
hidden parameters, sysex strings, etc...
So, much as I like the basic sound/capabilities of my
VK-8M, it seems necessary to 'jump through hoops'
programming-wise to get at the sonic nuances within -
and I want to get my VK-8M to sound much less
"polite"...I want the 'greasiness' and fullness of my
NI B4 (without having to take my laptop into a
bar...), but a loaded Muse Receptor seems like
overkill, at this point (my wallet feels the same...).
I've played the XK-3 and XK-1 - to get an idea of what
an XM-2/2c would do in my rig; I'm quite impressed
with how well the Vase 3 engine seems to cover many of
the bases we clonewheelers are looking for - though
the rotary sim. isn't quite as good as the Electro,
for my taste (I don't use my Roadbox on all of my
gigs). The Electro does capture some of the soul of a
drawbar organ, along with the rotary sim.; but
something is missing sonically for me - kind of like
what Bruce referred to about the drawbar balance...
I wish that Native Instruments would make the same
move into a hardware box that Creamware did. A B4
hardware piece would likely do the trick for me. I
listened to Creamware's B4000 audio examples on-line,
and wasn't blown away. If any of you have played, or
own a B4000, I'd be interested in hearing about it...

Any/all thoughts, insights, suggestions are
appreciated...

Thanks,

Allan

--- Bruce Wahler wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Given the choice, I would rather have the
> adjustments, any day.
>
> It's not a question of whether the XK-3, CX-3, VK-8,
> etc. have been "dialed in" -- of COURSE they've been
> dialed in by the designers, to the tastes of one
> person or team. Unfortunately, since we're talking
> about tonewheel organ clones -- and tonewheel organs
> themselves vary from instrument to instrument -- my
> "ideal" settings might not be the same as yours. My
> acceptable compromises are almost CERTAINLY not the
> same as yours.
>
> With adjustable parameters, one has a choice: spend
> time dialing the sound in, or stick with the factory
> sound. Without the adjustments, one must get used
> to the unwanted artifacts, or eventually move on to
> another clone. The Electro is a great case in
> point. I've played one fairly extensively, but
> never learned to love the sound. The drawbar
> balance is a bit off for my tastes, and the Leslie
> sim spools up and down too quickly, etc. You get
> the picture. I'm not knocking the Electro; it's a
> great instrument, just not my personal favorite.
> The thing is, if the Electro had more adjustments, I
> might be able to play around and get it more toward
> my liking. Sadly, though, it doesn't have much in
> the way of adjustments -- at least, for the organ
> section.
>
> Regards,
>
> -BW
> --
> Bruce Wahler
> Online Music Sales
> AshbySolutions.com™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
> 978.386.7389 voice/fax
> bruce@ashbysolutions.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>

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