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Not sure how many paying members who might read this are currently in bands – I joined one as soon as I could grab basic triads quickly and I’m learning my voice leading on the job, with patient bandmates, natch. My rhythm, at least, is in place. :>
Anyways, I can’t afford a real B3 or much else in terms of new gear, but I do have a Roland VR-09 as well as Ableton Suite and a few controller keyboards, and I’m attempting to nail down exactly what I should plan to bring to the stage with me.
Thus far I just use the VR synth, which is actually a marvelous instrument, includes physical drawbar action and a pretty durn good B3 sound, and there is a program called ctrlr that actually digs deep into the midi implementation and lets you do stuff like four-way splits where Roland only made two zones available by default. I do find myself fighting with its ability to generate bass, but that’s largely cause I haven’t wrangled it all into a stable configuration, I’m forever readjusting the strip EQ when I plug into the PA.
It’s kinda funny cause learning the instrument itself is going a fair bit more smoothly than learning all the technology. Very curious if anyone else who is or is going to be gigging is lurking in here, and what kinda rigs yall use.
In another year or two, if I stay focused, I might be ready to invest in some sort of fancy beast like a Nord or something, but I also feel like maybe I should just shift over to using Ableton with some good quality VSTs. There would be better ability to control the whole thing with a single button, in that scenario, cause the VR is kind of hostile to other midi gear – it’s the good organ action it affords that keeps it firmly in the mix, for the moment.
Hi James, as you see the forum is getting off to a slow start. When we re-launch the site in June, we’ll be putting more effort into getting this going.
That Roland keyboard looks like a great one, with so many sounds, and easy to access. I have not heard one. It’s great to have the 9 sliders…which I assume also work at the 9 drawbars on a real B3. You should be able to work it just like you see in the Organ course on A of R. If you can do a piano/organ split, that’d be great.
As for VST’s for organ, I think the absolute best is “Vintage B3″ that comes with Logic and Mainstage. I use that with an Akai MPK261 controller. It’s got 9 drawbars and the plugin automatically maps the sliders as drawbars, most of them anyway. I think they combine the highest two drawbars into one. Not sure why.
I also use the Hammond organ plug in Kontakt, using Ableton. That is great but in my opinion not a good sounding at the ‘Vintage B3.”
Whether using a hardware keyboard such as your Roland or even a Nord, or Hammond digital (like the SK pro), you MUST use two speakers for amplification. This will make the leslie effect sound much better…be sure to connect them in true stereo. I have two QSC K 8.2’s. 2000 watts and easy to carry. This is for small local performances. Everything sounds better in stereo!
My current set up is a Nord Stage 3, weighted touch, and a Hammond SK pro. I also just got the new Line 6 DL V mk II for effects (reverb slams, etc) that replaced the old classic DL4 which I use in the dub effects One Shots on the A of R sight (the one I pained red and gold to make for a custom red, gold and green theme. (I painted the MKII as well. That makes them sound better…haha!)
There’s my equip two cents for now!
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