From mkp@mkp.net Thu Jun 09 14:39:17 2011
Subject:Re: NUMA - Joey's influence was NUMA (or whatever) - should you wait to buy?

>>>>> "Craig" == ccmacdon writes:

Craig> Split points on clones generally refers to the split between
Craig> upper and lower manuals, NOT pedals.

But since the pedals and lower manual go hand in - uh - foot musically
it makes no sense to separate them. They inherently belong together.
Whereas the pedal part has absolutely no business interfering with the
swell.

Craig> You're suggesting that "jazz players asked for this" and if so,
Craig> one does certainly wonder why Joey did would not insist on this
Craig> feature if it was so important to Jazz players (as one of the
Craig> greatest jazz players around). Personally I don't think it's
Craig> important but that's just me.

I guess it depends what you want from your bass sound.

When I play the real thing I use the traditional jazz method of thumping
the pedals to accent the line I play on the lower manual. I find the
organ bass sound without thumping to be woolly and not very desirable.

So to me the pedal to lower feature means I get a way to add that thump
to the bass without having to bring pedals. Ideally, the pedal split
would follow the lower manual split. But I'd be perfectly fine with
having a fixed pedal split at B2 instead of C3. That C3 is a very
important note for a lot of jazz organ material.

The problem can be somewhat alleviated with the bass EQ in the sense
that by cranking the low range you can get away with manual bass
only. But I still find it sounds better with the pedal thump. With good
spacing between the notes ala McDuff the numa bass sounds fantastic.

Anyway. My main beef, I guess, is that Joey has been touring with this
thing promoting it as a clone suitable for jazz. He's not playing Deep
Purple covers on the youtube clips. I guess his amps have delivered
enough bass that he hasn't felt the need to use pedal to lower feature.
Otherwise I'm sure he would have complained.

And in discussing this with Elvio: The pedal split was a genuine
consideration in the design of the KeyB solo and a result of feedback
from jazz organists. IOW, it's not just me being a weirdo :)

Craig> I agree that using the sideways modwheel is very awkward, I don't
Craig> like it, and like yourself I would have prefered a half moon
Craig> option down closer to the keys, and I would have liked a
Craig> traditional style pitchbend/modwheel. But as the engineer told
Craig> me, that's what Joey liked/wanted, as did the focus group.

Well, I'm sure Joey would have preferred having it within reach as
well. Looking at some of the youtube clips he also has to sacrifice the
bass to switch speeds here and there. I'm sure the location of the
switches was one of the many compromises you inherently have to make to
build a commercially viable product.

Martin