Organ options - how far can you go?

[JiminWales]

Hi,

I ask the question after musing on how modeled "clone wheel" instruments might develop.

Do manufactures dwell on ever more refinements of vintage recreations or do they expand the palette at risk of alienating the purists?

How about the option of including spinet versions which could sound different to the consoles. "Whiter shade of pale" was recorded with an M series (Didn't they have the key click eliminated by a pre-emphasis circuit?).

I've got lots of ideas, but rather than bore everybody with them, does anyone else have similar musings?

Jim

[RedLeo]

I suspect that the reality is they balance the amount of time and effort it would require against the number of people who really care about very detailed vintage recreations, which is probably quite small. Another thought is how far do you go? Ultimately, pretty much every tonewheel Hammond ever made will have something individual about it. To me, there still needs to be work done on Leslie and distortion simulations. I think improvements in this area will add a lot more value to the overall quality of the the sims in general. For instance, if you use a lot of distortion, then playing in low registers doesn't currently reproduce that distinctive throaty growl at all, which I find quite frustrating.

[jazzystu]

I think the KeyB Duo is more highly developed than anything, including the scope of the originals.

What I'd like to hear is an ambient leslie simulation. Something which gives you the perspective of your ears in a room, rather than mics pointed at a leslie in an anechoic chamber. I think all of the leslie simulations sound crap.

[JiminWales]

Maybe at the heart of it is the difference in expectation between those who know the real thing up close and those who only know if from auditorium and recording? The manufacturer should perhaps cater for both?

Speaking of expectations, if your taste in organ sound wasn't formed by listening to artists who used the "classic" B/C + Leslie but instead the 70% or so of British Prog/Rock bands who had the Spinets (and not always with a rotary either) - a really accurate Clone-Wheel/Rotary combo could still be disappointing.

When the clonewheels are all perfect then - how does a manufacturer get ahead? More Organ types? I'd go for that, but I'd also like to see options that go beyond the classic instrument. No key click at all, stepless drawbars, percussion on both manuals. Stuff that Organs would have developed if the appearance of cheap polysynths hadn't killed most of the breed off.

Jim