"If you have tried to replicate the sound of a genuine Hammond B3 on any of your keyboards, without success, then this is the bab" submitted February 6, 2005
By a customer from fozzersoft.freeserve.co.uk
Overall
Sound
Features
Quality
Value
The Wow Factor
Musical Background: 70+ years of playing all sorts of musical instruments...just for sheer fun...!
Feature:
The instrument includes a very good expression pedal...
..(pity they didn't include a foot-switch for the Leslie as well)..!
Luckily I already have a Yamaha alternate action foot switch. This can be programmed on the instrument to operate the Leslie in either alternative fast/slow mode, or only when the switch is held down...very good...!
Full programmable MIDI implication built in, and viewable on the large display.
Quality:
Quality...WOW...a typical Korg...!
I purchased the best bees-wax polish to keep the woodwork in glowing condition...just like you would on a real B3...!
The drawbars, switches and controls are excellent quality, and the very large display is probably the best out there, and so easy to read.
Value:
Value...?
Difficult, this one..
Mine cost brand new, Version 2,
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Sound:
Picking a B3 clone is a very personal experience, and you really have to spend some time playing and tweaking all of them in order to find what you're looking for. I've owned several of them, including:
Roland VK-7
Roland VK-8 (two of them)
Roland VK-8M
Native Instruments B4
As any B3 lover knows, there are a lot of variables that go into that sound, including the tone, leakage, C/V, key click, percussion, Leslie, reverb, distortion, etc. The reason I went clone shopping in the first place was to get all of those features in one place. Naturally, you won't find one clone that does them all perfectly. At some point, however, you find a sound you can live with and you go for it! For me, that choice was the Korg CX-3.
I am particularly picky about the Leslie simulation, as I do NOT want to carry a Leslie around...the CX-3 does a superb job!! The Roland VK line does a lot of things well, but their Leslie simulation can't touch the CX-3's. The VK-8 is also very difficult to edit, and you never know exactly which "value" you are setting a parameter to...it's a NIGHTMARE! The CX-3 is deeply editable, and you always know exactly what you're setting.
If I had to complain about anything in the CX-3, I would zero in on 3 areas:
- the C3 setting is a little too heavy for my tastes
- I wish I could get the Leslie rotor ramp down speed a little faster
- the EQ settings (particularly the midrange) are not what I'd choose to bring out the best sound in the CX-3. A proper Leslie demonstrates a peak at 2.5KHz, but the mid EQ settings on the CX-3 obviously don't accentuate that frequency. An outboard EQ is necessary.
Other than those things, the CX-3 is king!
Feature:
- Very editable
- Great Leslie simulation
- Leslie settings are stored with each preset which means I can configure it to mimic several B3/Leslie combinations and save them with each patch...very nice!
- The knobs & drawbars send PROGRAMMABLE CC messages, which means I can set them to control other devices. I set them up to operate the B3's controls in the studio...very useful.
- Nice keyboard with fast action
- Did I mention how editable it is???
Quality:
I think it's well made as far as the case and electronics go. My major complaint is the finish. It attracts dents, scratches, and nicks. It also starts peeling off (like that bad shelf paper my parents used in the 60s...ouch!). What's up with that?
Value:
It's expensive, but I a b-stock with a few minor dings and saved myself $350.
Manufacturer Support:
I haven't dealt with them, but they did release a major upgrade to the operating system (2.0), which added a number of new features that I really found useful.
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