The Hammond Organ and it's Immitators - Your Opinions

[werenotdeep]

I have a Yamaha PSR 530. This doesn't do it, guys. I'm going to be saving up my pennies and I'm going to get me either an actual Hammond Organ, or some sort of keyboard that comes as close as possible. Now, Hammonds aren't light or portable, even the "portable" X-5 consoles. I've played the Roland VK-7 and I played a thingamajig that Korg makes that made a decent cop of a B-3, and I played an old Hammond M-3 that was good enough for government work, and I understand that Hammond makes the XB-2, which does alright as well. I definately want something that actually has pushbars, and presets would be nice. Plus, I know there are some other decent organ keyboards out there too. I also don't have a really big budget to work with, but it wouldn't hurt me to know about all kinds of keyboards (I'm mostly looking on Ebay and buy-and-sell-type music stores), because it might be just as simple as which model is the best for the cheapest and most available at the time. So, what do you know about these things? There's a local music store that's had a portable Hammond for sale for quite a while, and when I asked, the guy said $900. It's been there for years, so I think I could get away with paying only $700. But then again, something more portable would be nice. Tell me about your favorite and other decent boards. Anybody?

[Shailat]

The main problem is that to achive the real and wonderfull sound of the B3, you need the real Leslie.
With out it every thing will be a imitation........

You can try these. They are the best imitators in my opinion

1. Voce V5
2. The plug in - B4
3. Rolands vk77

John Novello made I think with EMU, a rack module of only B3 configurationsand sounds, I heard a recording and it sounds excellent.



















B4 %

[Krakit]

I have a Hammond and I have the late 70's Korg CX3.

If I'm gonna record, I'll use the Hammond (which is in the garage and has to be relocated first). When going on the road, I'm more than satisfied with the Korg CX3. Not that new one with samples and MIDI, that dosen't sound as good. It's the vintage one or nothing.

[F_cksia]

I have got the Roland RD500, with great organ sounds.

But I agree, without Leslie, everything is fake.

Maarten.

[werenotdeep]

I guess I should have brought that up earlier. I'm pretty much sold on the "real leslie for real sound" idea. I have a friend whose band lost their organ player, but he didn't own any of the equipment himself. They had a portable hammond organ that looked like a 9th grade shop class put it together and sounded like somebody had opened it up, stepped on everything a good two or three times, and then glued it shut. The organ is pretty much no good, but, they also have a small, portable leslie cabinet that helped a lot. It's just sitting around in this guy's house waiting for me to buy it, but I think getting an organ first is a good idea. Heh heh. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. As for the "new korg" I don't know which model you're talking about, but the one that I just recently played that's newer had nothing on it but organ sounds, and even though it had been a while since I had touched a Roland Vk7, I tried to compare the two in my mind, and I remembered (to my suprise, actually) liking the Korg better than the Roland. But not on such a scale that I'd pay $100 more for it if the two were sitting next to each other at a music store.

[Bobsleigh]

The strangest things always seem to come out of Finland. So be on the lookout for the WLM "Hit", favoured by Herbie Hankock amongst others.

It's extremely portable, actually folds into it's own stand and becomes a flight case...manufactured during the 70's and 80's.

I own one. Dirt cheap and all, paid 90$. This guy has about the only info on the web about it.

http://users.utu.fi/juhpalmu/wlm.htm

[cerealchamp2000]

I got an old Spinett out in the garage. And the drum only Leslie. Even this simple setup will step on the finest midi stuff. But I record using VOCE stuff because of ease and need to sequence,

I play organ like I type. With one finger.

[JimH]

Originally posted by Krakit
I have a Hammond and I have the late 70's Korg CX3.

If I'm gonna record, I'll use the Hammond (which is in the garage and has to be relocated first). When going on the road, I'm more than satisfied with the Korg CX3. Not that new one with samples and MIDI, that dosen't sound as good. It's the vintage one or nothing.

Hmmm. I don't know if you're serious or not. Do you really like the old CX3 more than the new one?

And you know, the new one doesn't use samples...or is that just sarcasm?

I've always wanted to get a Hammond clone, I have to say I'm tempted more than ever with the CX3 now. I really like the keyboard, how it triggers at the top. It's the whole playing experience. This is why I'd take the CX3 over the B4. Unfortunately, it just costs too much.

[bongolation]

OK, supposing a guy with a hernia doesn't have the money or back muscles for a B3, what's the closest approximation one can get in a soft syth w/plugins?

I'll bet this is a whole new thread. 8-)

[cerealchamp2000]

The VOCE V-5 is a consistent winner in the shootouts. Very rock-oriented machine. Today I went into Sam Ash and played the EMU rack thingy for 10 minutes. It's very good sounding too.

[bongolation]

Originally posted by cerealchamp2000
The VOCE V-5 is a consistent winner in the shootouts. Very rock-oriented machine. Today I went into Sam Ash and played the EMU rack thingy for 10 minutes. It's very good sounding too.

Hmm. I'm talkin' pure software run from a cheap controller here, which I know is a step down, but it's what I want to try.

Funny about the Leslie thing. I don't see why there's any serious difficulty in working out an algorithm for it as it's just nothing in the world but pure Doppler effect - which seems like by its very nature should be easy to digitize.

[JimH]

Originally posted by bongolation

Hmm. I'm talkin' pure software run from a cheap controller here, which I know is a step down, but it's what I want to try.

It's the Native Instruments B4. Download the demo from here.

Funny about the Leslie thing. I don't see why there's any serious difficulty in working out an algorithm for it as it's just nothing in the world but pure Doppler effect - which seems like by its very nature should be easy to digitize.

I agree. And actually, I believe that the current best leslie simulations probably do sound close to a miked leslie. I say "probably" because I've never owned a leslie and can't really compare closely. But whether a leslie simulation can sound like a real leslie that's in the room with you is another thing. Having the sound come out of one or two fixed speakers would not be the same as having it bounce all around the room from a moving speaker.

I like to hear from anyone who's tried recording with both a real miked leslie or Motion Sound and also with a simulator and can describe how different the recorded sound is.