Tone Wheel Organ vs Workstation ?

[Crazyfoo]

Are there any substantial advantages in buying a tone wheel clone organ as opposed to the organs found inside a late model workstation ?

I was looking at the new hanmond and the prices are about as much as a Korg Kronos.

 

Does it make sense?

[onelife]

The Hammonds, in the right hands, are terrific.

 

If you are a B3 guy and don't want the lug but still want the functionality then I'd say it's worth it but if you are more of a 'general' keyboard player then I'd say the modern workstations would have you covered.

[Crazyfoo]

The reason I ask is because my Kurzweil PC3X and Korg Oasys have some fantastic organs. I've never had a clone wheel and wondered if the difference in a stand alone unit wound give you enough of a added benefit to justify the cost.

[Keyrick]

Waterfall keybeds are important to some. The PC3X has a weighted action keybed that is great for piano, but not the best for organ. I have a VK8 clone wheel for the waterfall keybed.

[onelife]

Yes, I find it weird playing Hammond Organ on a piano keyboard.

 

I liked the DX7 keyboard for that and sometimes I still use mine as a MIDI controller for Yonac's Galileo Organ on iPad.

[Outkaster]

One other question.....how much organ are you playing per gig?

[pinkfloydcramer61]

I would say it's not worth it unless you came up playing organ or if you are really intrigued by organ jazz and gospel and want to give yourself the best shot at learning how to play that. It's not so much the sound as it is the ability to control the sound- not just drawbars, but also waterfall keys, shallow triggering, percussion that triggers at the 1st note of a run, which make for notes that "melt" into each other and realistic glisses.

 

RE glisses, to me musicians in bands seem to place more value on that above all else. In some mixes that's the only time you really hear the organ. Sometimes I think bandleaders would be happy with just a drummer or anybody triggering sampled organ glisses at breaks or the end of songs, lol. Sorry for the aside.

[wesg]

There's way more to organ than glisses. Like palm smears!

 

Asking if a workstation can replace an organ is a little bit like asking if you can replace a 12-string guitar with a Tele and a multi-effects pedal.

 

If it doesn't have 9 drawbars, a wide-throw expression pedal, gliss-friendly keys with a high trigger point and a real Leslie...frankly, I don't want to be bothered playing only part of an instrument.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Playing organ parts with a weighted action piano keyboard is definitely not my idea of a good time. A synth action keyboard is better, and of course a true waterfall keyboard that triggers like an organ is better still. If you can't have a real Hammond but you need to play a lot of organ, that's the way to go IMHO.

 

[wesg]

A high trigger point is definitely a must, but there's NOTHING the triggers like a real organ. I'm tellin' ya, there's magic in the 9-contact system that you just can't replicate with 1 (or 3). It's most obvious playing things like conga slaps.

[Outkaster]

Unless you are playing organ 90% of the time a real rig is not worth it.

[Meatball Fulton]

Are there any substantial advantages in buying a tone wheel clone organ as opposed to the organs found inside a late model workstation ?

 

The advantage is they work like real Hammond organs. The patches in workstations usually don't give you drawbar control or switches for percussion and chorus/vibrato. Kronos does have a clonewheel engine so it gets the sound OK and you can use the sliders as drawbars (still no switches, though) but other workstations don't offer this. The Hammond clonewheels get top dollar but they do sound really good when played by someone with B3 experience but the Roland VR-09 is only $900 street and does the job for much less money...it has pianos and some basic synth sounds, too.

[Outkaster]

Roland VR-09 is kind of garbage if you are going clonewheel get a Hammond, KeyB or Mojo.