Organs

The Yamaha Electone D-85 is a three keyboard analog organ. While they call these Electones organs, they don't have the traditional sounds you would think of when you think of a pump or Hammond organ, as this has more synth organ and synth emulations of acoustic instruments built in. It has a built in speaker and is a fully polyphonic keyboard. The two bottom keyboards have full sized keys, while the top one has mini sized keys. UTILIZATION The configuration of the Yamaha Electone D-85 is somewhat complex because of how many different sections there are, but after some playing around it won't take long to understand exactly what everything does. On top, there are levers for adding different instrument tones to your sound, and there are then a ton of buttons and sliders for various arpeggios, sustains, and other settings. There is then a section for effects and another for making drum and rhythmic patterns. While it would take forever to outline each section of the Yamaha Electone D-85, suffice it to that they are a great deal of options available on this organ. I don't have a manual for the this keyboard, but it would probably be a good idea to have it around while learning this unit, as there are a lot of ins and outs. SOUNDS The sound of the Yamaha Electone D-85 is unique and while the emulations aren't too realistic sounding, the outcome is a unique blend of emulation of acoustic instruments and synth like sounds. This will work in a lot of situations, but I wouldn't recommend it at all as a emulation of any other instrument. It is what it is in the sense that it has its own unique sound and should be used creatively as its own instrument. OVERALL OPINION I've been using the Yamaha Electone D-85 for about five years and have come to really enjoy playing this. It is really its own instrument, sounding like a unique synth that definitely has the 1980's mark branded on it. If you can find one of these used, you can probably find a pretty good deal on one, and if you do it is definitely worth a play to see if it might fit with your style.

The C2D by Nord has dual 61 key organs. It has real drawbars on it, I have recently let go of the Electro 2 for the C2D because of the dual keyboards and real drawbars on it. I was waiting for the release of the C2D for a long time and finally got my hands on it a few months ago. The C2D is very expensive but it is a must have, if you can not afford it then save up your money and get it as soon as you have to money for it because you will not have better sounding organs. If you love the B3 then this is the only board that is going to give you that sound in the portable version. I have tried tons of keyboards, many of which had some good sounding organs. Nords organs have always been the best, but the C2D makes the previous versions of the Electro’s sound horrible compared to the sound of the organs on the C2D. UTILIZATION Setting up the C2D is pretty simple, but this was the first time that I have owned a Nord dual keyboard. The interface was different and it did have a small learning curve but it only took me a few hours to fully have a good grasp on how everything works. SOUNDS It does come with a manual but I didn’t use it to get the hang of the keyboard. I just started messing with it until I had everything down. It was easier for me to learn like that than to start reading through the manual. OVERALL OPINION The organ sounds are the best, period. You will not find better sounding organs on a newer portable keyboard. They C2D may be heavy and it is a lot of work to transport it around but it is worth the backache. It is heavy and well built. You just can’t go wrong with the C2D.

The Clavia Nord C3 is an organ simulator. It's basically one of the best, if not the best, out there right now, giving you perfect replications of the Hammond B3, Farfisa, and Vox continental organs, as well as pipe and church organs. Since these are among the most popular and celebrated (and therefore fiercely loved) organ sounds out there, a simulator needs to be really accurate, and it's really impressive just how accurate this thing is. It has two keyboards which contain 61 keys each. There are accessories for a foot pedal to add the additional foot pumps, and there are a ton of different parameters to adjust, for instance, adding a leslie rotary speaker effect, reverb, delay, and different oscillation settings. There's also an EQ. UTILIZATION With all of these features it can be a real struggle to manage this thing well, however, setting different presets isn't too hard and can help make this thing a lot easier. Basically you just have to take the time to get used to switching between sounds, if you plan on doing a lot of switching during songs. If not it's pretty easy. Getting this thing setup is simple if you want to use it live but it's definitely less conventional than plugging a keyboard into an amp, assuming you want to use it at its full potential. For all the features it offers, however, this is a small complaint. SOUNDS I honestly still can't believe how accurate these sounds are. Organs, which are notoriously difficult to record, seemed even more impossible to replicate digitally, but Nord seems to have this thing nailed. While the church and pipe organs do a great job replicating the original sounds (especially in the studio!), the real highlight for me is for the Hammond and Vox, as well as Farfisa, emulations. This is where the instrument becomes invaluable for gigging. There's so many variations that you can get virtually any kind of Hammond or Continental sound you want. OVERALL OPINION Overall this is probably the best simulator out there. I can't believe how realistic it is. These are expensive but absolutely worth it to any organ player who doesn't have the means to tow an organ from gig to gig. I absolutely highly recommend this to almost any keys player who wants to get into playing organ, as it's really the next best thing.

The Viscount DB5 is a fully fledged drawbar organ of the type commonly referred to as a "Hammond Clone". It has two excellent quality 61-note manuals, of the "waterfall" type. Each manual has a full set of nine drawbars. There are also two drawbars (16'+8') for the pedals, as 13-note and 25-note pedalboards are available as optional accessories, and the lower manual can be split for lower keyboard bass-playing. A standard 6-point rotation switch controls chorus and vibrato. There is of course the usual 2nd and 3rd percussion harmonics, which can be adjusted for volume, attack and decay in the usual manner. The organ has a very acceptable Leslie rotation emulator which has an excellent chorale sound and a good fast rotation effect too. A set of rotation knobs provide control of reverberation, overdrive, and pedal and lower manual volume in the mix. I felt that the pedal volume was just a little low for my preference. Presets are provided for upper and lower manuals, as well as 50 memory settings. Presets store only the drawbar settings, whereas memory settings store all selected options. This organ has a wealth of connection options which will satisfy any musician: MIDI IN, OUT and THRoUgh via standard DIN sockets; PEDALBOARD socket; AUDIO IN and OUT in STEREO, and MONO through the left channel; EXPRESSION control, two 3/4" jack sockets for CONTROL SWITCHES (e.g. rotor fast & slow and preset switching); an 11 pin standard LESLIE socket for an external Leslie speaker and of course MAINS in. This organ has full polyphony (required for dual palm glissandi). Apparently the Viscount DB5 has analogue sound generation, using 91 oscillators (as per the 91 speaking tonewheels of the Hammond B3), but the control system is digital. The case is walnut and very good-looking, but quite easily scratched! As there are no controls on the top tier, it is easy to mount an additional keyboard on the top (I use my Nord Electro 3 73 note), or the music desk can be attached, as provided. The organ is bulky, partially because it is full B3 width (many clones are less wide because the controls on the left side of the DB5 manuals are mounted above the keyboards) and quite heavy at 37 kilogrammes. UTILIZATION The Preset controls are quite easy to use: these are not keys as per the original B3, but two rows of 8 push-buttons: the leftmost (black) transfers control to the drawbars, whilst pressing one of the other 7 (white) causes transfer to the stored settings for the upper or lower manual+pedals. To store current drawbar settings in a preset, press the leftmost (black) button with the required preset button (white). Memory Settings are accessed using the Memory button: pressing it loads a memory ready for use ("booked") and causes the memory LED to flash. Pressing the Enter button then causes its settings to be applied, when the LED becomes steady. Thus a memory can be made ready at leisure and activated when required. The +/- buttons enable scrolling through the available 50 memory locations. Individual presets and memories, or the entire organ, can be reset to factory settings, but unfortunately the factory presets and memory settings do not seem to be provided in the documentation. The organ has a two-line LCD screen coupled with a set of buttons for controlling the editing of the settings. When first switched on the display reports the operating system version and then overall volume level and the relative boost or cut of the High and Low frequencies. When switched off, the organ remembers the last used settings for the next playing session. There are a very wide range of adjustments which can be made to all parts of the organ via the following menus: Scaling: controls of the distance from the tonewheel to the pickup on the B3; Percussion: the level, duration, upper key limit and attack are adjustable; Bass: controls sustain, pedalboard accessory, lower manual split and organ model; Keyclick: attack and release click level and click brightness; Noise: Leakage and motor noise levels can be set; Reverberation: many types of reverberation and delay are provided from hall to spring, and each can be set for HF level, volume, decay, and duration; Rotary: the Leslie simulator can be configured for order (before or after reverb.), chorale and fast rotation speeds and the rise and fall rates between chorale and fast; Vibrato and Chorus: speed and depth are adjustable via this setting; Overdrive: the maximum degree of overdrive applied can be set. The manual is not bad, but I would prefer more explanation of the the technical terms behind the electromagnetic drawbar organ, such as Scaling. It has been reported that the manual is in German, but mine was in English. Make sure you have the latest edition, version 2.2. SOUNDS I consider the Viscount DB5 to be an excellent clone of a B3. As mentioned, I also have a Nord Electro 3 (76 note), which has a highly thought-of B3 emulation, and I have been able to compare these two instruments very carefully. They are very similar indeed, from drawbars sounds to effects. Many of the sounds are indistinguishable to my ears, and the two Leslie simulators are very comparable. It may be that the 888888888 settings on the two organs are slightly different, most B3 players would prefer the sound of the Nord Electro on this settings. OVERALL OPINION This organ is something like half the price of most of its competitors. But it is a real contender in the Hammond B3 Clone market. Of course it has no "Extra Voices", but in my view if those are required it is better to go the whole hog and get a proper multi-voice keyboard and mount it on top of the DB5's flat top tier. Very few of these organs are sold (possibly only 5 per annum in the USA, and fewer here in the UK. I have no idea why, because all of the other two manual clones are so much more expensive! Find one, try it and see for yourself. I had to get mine especially imported from Italy by Viscount UK, as one of the UK dealerships was quite reluctant to get hold of one for me. He said he didn't like the sound, but I do not know why he felt like that.

The Leslie 147 is a standard speaker cabinet for use with Hammond organs. You must know this if you are looking at this review, but Leslie cabinets are unique because they have a rotating tweeter which gives Hammond organs it's signature sound. I've used the Leslie 147 with a Hammond C3 organ. UTILIZATION You don't need to control the Leslie 147 in any way really as everything is controlled via the organ you're using it with. You can control the tweeter in terms of if you want it to be rotating or not, but beyond that there's no real parameters to work with beyond volume control. Some Leslie cabinets have been modded over the years, but the 147 that I've used was standard. A manual isn't necessary for use with the 147, but perhaps you might want one for the organ you're using it with if you're feeling lost. SOUNDS The Leslie 147 absolutely does the job for use with a Hammond organ. It sounds great through this speaker, but unless you have a few Leslies set up next to each other to shoot out, it's hard to tell what's the speaker and what's the organ itself. Having said this, the 147 sounds as good as any other Leslie cabinet that I've used before with other Hammond organs. Basically it's got a nice and full sound and has the classic rotating tweeter. What else could you ask for? OVERALL OPINION The Leslie 147 is really the perfect speaker cabinet for your Hammond or other comparable organ. There's nothing on paper that really makes the 147 stand out, as it's got the same features that you'll find with most Leslie cabinets, but the sound of the organ is impeccable through this speaker and that's really all that evidence I need. If you're choosing a Leslie cabinet for your organ, the 147 is a fine choice...

The Hammond B3 is the organ. When you think of the organ, you think of the B3. It is the holy grail of organ and cannot be matched. It has 2 levels of keyboards, bass pedals, a ton of draw bars and presets with the black keys. You can a variety of different organ sounds from the B3, ranging from the classic leslie sound to a more subtle sounding. UTILIZATION The B3 has a pretty simple layout. There are two keyboards so you can have two different sounds going at once and there are separate draw bars for each of them. It is easy to get a good sound on the B3 using the black keys on the left that have presets for different organ sounds. There is also the leslie switch for use with a leslie cabinet. I've never seen a manual for the B3, but it has a much copied design to it and has become almost the standard set of controls for the modern organ. SOUNDS The sound of the B3 suits a number of different musical styles that I play, including blues, rock, and folk. You can find the B3 in almost any genre as it seems everybody can't get enough of it, and for good reason. I love everything about the tones this organ produces, and it is an extremely fun instrument to play. It has a great feel to it and you always feel good while playing it because the sound is so brilliant. While some modern day organs can replicate the B3 sound pretty well, ain't nothing like the real thing. OVERALL OPINION I first used a B3 five years ago and have used it extensively on a number of projects. While I can't afford to own one, like most, whenever I need to record organ for a serious project I always arrange to have one for recording. For some reason I can't live without using a real B3 whenever I feel I need an organ part. It has a beautiful, expressive tone that has become ubiquitous in modern music and has a staple in music history as the holy grail of organs.

(Originally written by fonck/translated from Audiofanzine FR) ( https://imageshack.us ) Nice organ that sounds like its big brother B3 with its scanner vibrato and tone wheels. You get the real Hammond sound. I don't have a Leslie but I plan to buy one. The sound is not comparable to the one of new emulations... It's authentic! This model was produced between '61 and '67 and Hammond sold more M-Series instruments in one year than all other Hammond models together!! It's true, you must learn to play the bass with your feet and get a real organist playing feel. But it's a delight to play it. I've tested several B3s and the sound has nothing to envy them! It's a real pleasure! UTILIZATION Easy configuration. Easy sound. You won't need the user's manual! SOUNDS Real vintage Hammond sound (I don't like their new products). OVERALL OPINION For sure!

The Voce V5+ is a tone wheel organ module that can give you that old school organ sound in no time. I am not talking about the VST organs, am talking about real organs that were on classic hardware modules 20 plus years ago. The Voce V5+ has adjustable overdrive and generator levels plus, it is very easy to set up and start using it right away. It is a full polyphony module with no sequencer on board and no arpeggiator or sampling. Also you cannot use the Voce V5+ for MIDI connections because there are none. You will have to just record the audio straight out of it to your DAW or computer. That is the only set back to me, but for this type of module you cannot expect to have MIDI connections. UTILIZATION The fact this does not have MIDI connects could be a deal breaker because you will have to play whatever you want to sequence or record in real time and cannot do loops or any MIDI programming. So if you are a good key player then it will work out great. For people who don’t really play the keys that well and rely on placing the notes in a MIDI editor then this could be difficult for you. But none the less you will be getting some great organs. SOUNDS It comes with 7 presets, and that might not seem like a lot of presets when you are paying almost a thousand dollars for this module. But these organs are very good and well worth the money spent. You will love how authentic and classic they sound. OVERALL OPINION You won’t find a better sounding organ on recent keyboards that have come out, or sound modules. Voce has done a great job of capturing that classic sound in a small portable unit that can be taken anywhere with you.

The Farfisa Combo Compact is an electric organ with a unique sound. The Farfisa sound in it's own is it's own type of organ sound, as it's pretty cheesy and thrives on this notion. This isn't too much unlike many of the other Farfisas out there, but it's hard to find one that's better than this as to me this one does it all. The studio I work at has one of these and it will see some use from time to time. It's definitely fun to play with to say the least. It's got an attached 1/4" cable as well as a built in power cord. The keyboard has full polyphony... UTILIZATION Operating the Farfisa Combo Compact isn't difficult. The keyboard itself spans about four octaves, and it has a pretty good feel although the keys are pretty light and flimsy. I think you're going to find this to be the case with any Farfisa, however. It's got a variety of controls to work with, including switches to control the bass volume, reverb, tone boosting, and the different voices. Included in the voice to choose from are strings, flute, oboe, bass, trumpet, and piccolo, with a few of them have multiple buttons for different sized sounds. It's a simple push and play systems, so no manual should be necessary here. SOUNDS The sound of the Farfisa Combo Compact is everything you would hope it would be for those familiar with the Farfisa sound. If you don't directly know what this will sound like, you've certainly heard it on records. I like it as it's a great change of pace for to your more traditional sounding organ. It's definitely a cheesy sound, but that's the novelty to it in my opinion. There's also a good amount of differing sounds possible between all the voices on here since you can mix and match them. OVERALL OPINION The Farfisa Combo Compact is an awesome electric organ to have in any studio. I don't know if it's worth it to have one of these otherwise as it's somewhat bulky to bring around and is a sound that can be emulated digitally easier than most other instruments. I'm really glad that we have one at the studio where I work, as although it doesn't get used as much as the Hammond B3, it's definitely a nice color and option to have around. I don't know what one of these would cost, but it's certainly worth looking out for for any fan of Farfisas.

The Hammond S6 Chord Organ is a unique keyboard instrument that has a traditional keyboard as well as a section of chord buttons, like those found on an accordion. The keyboard itself spans about three octaves and has a unique knee lever for setting the volume. It has built in speakers and two bass pedals. There are a few different versions of the Hammond Chord Organ, although I'm not sure when these were made. UTILIZATION Using the Hammond S6 Chord Organ takes a little bit of getting used to, but since there isn't really all that much on here, most users will catch on rather quickly. As far as controls go, there are a series tone buttons for choosing different types of sounds. Basically, it has different organ, strings, and flute sounds. The chord section is it's own little thing, as it's got a button for virtually every type of chord. A manual probably isn't necessary, and it would probably be hard to locate anyway. SOUNDS The sound heard from the Hammond S6 Chord Organ are definitely unique. This isn't going to give you any real traditional Hammond organ sounds, so don't expect that from it. It's kind of it's own animal, as if you can play the chord buttons and keyboard at the same time (which I can't), you can get sounds unlike other organs out there. In general the sounds are a bit cheesier and less defined, which can definitely work in some situations where a B3 wouldn't, and vice versa. OVERALL OPINION The studio that I work at has one of these Hammond S6 Chord Organs, but it doesn't get used very often and has almost become sort of a piece of furniture I'm sorry to say. It certainly looks cool sitting there, but the one we've got needs a little bit of work before it can be used for recording since it's so old. Even when it was working 100% is wasn't be used very much. While it's definitely got some cool sounds and features to offer, unless it's in your studio it's not really worth it to have around since it takes up so much space and isn't very flexible in what it can do. This having been said, what it can do is quite cool and is worth messing with if you ever get the chance...

The Hammond ExtraVoice F-100 is a unique electronic organ that is unlike most other Hammond organs out there. I believe that this was made in the mid 1960's. We have one of these at the studio where I work, and it's definitely nothing like the B3 we have that often sits right next to it. There is one 52 key keyboard as well as a series of foot pedals as well. It has built in speakers and weights a whole lot, so I wouldn't recommend trying to use this for gigging! It is a fully polyphonic keyboard and doesn't have any pitch or modulation wheels. UTILIZATION It did take me a little while to get used to everything going on with the Hammond ExtraVoice F-100, and to be honest I'm still learning things with it. The basics are definitely easy to get a hold on, but figuring out what the best sounds are and what the best combinations are is a different story. It's a lot of fun to mess around with the ExtraVoice, so don't be afraid to try things out! The manual is put together well and should be informative for anyone who wants more information on this organ. SOUNDS The Hammond ExtraVoice F-100 offers up a few different emulations of different acoustic instruments, including settings for strings, flutes, and reeds. It's basically a little smorgasbord of sounds, and it's a lot of fun to see what different types of tones you can get from it by combing different tones. It also has a variety of effects and other parameters to further utilize your sound. Generally speaking, the sounds on the F-100 aren't exactly realistic, and at times they can be a bit cheesy, but when it works, it works really well! OVERALL OPINION Don't expect a classic Hammond organ sound from the Hammond ExtraVoice F-100, as it isn't that type of organ. Instead, it's a unique organ with a variety of other sounds available. I wouldn't recommend this as a go to organ for any sort of use, as the sounds aren't reminiscent of an organ at all! However, if you want some cool colors to have on the side for when the mood strikes, the Hammond ExtraVoice F-100 is a great tool to experiment with!

The Rhodes VK 1000 organ is a full sized digital keyboard that is mostly known for its organ tones but contains all sorts of keyboard sounds. It has full polyphony and has a ton of different features for controlling different patches and effects. UTILIZATION The configuration of the Rhodes VK 1000 isn't too complicated, but there are a lot of features and it did take me a little while to get used to the keyboard as a whole. On the right side it has a series of buttons for controlling your sound, while the left side contains a number of draw bars that can be used with any of the sound patches, not just the organ. It also has a digital screen which will display everything you needed to know about editing the sounds. I don't have the manual for the Rhodes VK 1000 so I can't say how complete or helpful it is or not. The feel of the keyboard is also very good as the keys are weighted and have an overall great feel to them. SOUNDS The sounds on the Rhodes VK 1000 are pretty good as a whole, with some of the tones being better than others. Since this is mostly a digital organ, these are the sounds that this keyboard excels with, but the other keyboards sounds are not bad by any means and it is certainly nice to have so many different sounds within this single keyboard. There isn't too much more that can be said about the sounds and I would encourage those interested to try it out for themselves or listen to patches online as thats the only true way you can get a good idea of if the sounds will work for you. OVERALL OPINION I first used the Rhodes VK 1000 organ about a year ago and I'm glad that I came across it as its a very cool sounding little keyboard. They are somewhat hard to find but not impossible and usually sprout up at pretty reasonable prices. If you are looking for a nice organ that also hosts a variety of other sounds, the Rhodes VK 1000 is worth looking into.