Hi Stephen
The only thing lacking was the dual MP3 player/recorder for my PA800. It will be here in a few days. It is an amazing machine.

Mark
I brought my MPP to the Technics Jam in Central Florida when Scott Yee flew in a couple of years ago. There was a young man from Orlando named Mark there, and we discussed the MPP. I am wondering if that was you.
Bernie

Chas, the biggest downer for me is the lack of drawbars..If you are trying to imitate a B3 ..they should have added another $200 and gave us drawbars..."real ones"...

At 34 pounds..I would have liked another pound for drawbars...
Personally I still think Native Instruments B4[original version}..is the best copy cat(weighs in at 6 pounds.(laptop).........not counting my 45 pound controller..

The unit we tried at Guitar Center , was the Nord 61[used]...and it wasn't worth righting home about..not bad , just not great...

I always thought the Roland VR760 was the best piano/organ board about 32 pounds...and drawbars..Also 76 waterfall keys that felt perfect..

Chas, I used my new Electro for the first time this week-end. It's a keeper. Well worth the $1350.00. I'll decide about the C-1 after the first of the year, but this little thing is a great way to get acceptable B and Rhodes sounds.

Thanks for the heads up!

R.

I would have to say the Lack of Real Draw-bars is what turned me off on the Nord ....actually the sound was pretty acceptable....but without the Db's its more difficult to sculpture & navigate your sound IMO.

Donny, I'd say you're right if the purpose was use as a stand alone. I had the Nord on my right hand this week-end for slow-rotor chords and Rhodes lead lines. For that use it was fine. Didn't have enough time to play with the drawbar issue.

I like it!


Russ

Good points Russ....I was talking as a stand alone, but I can see your uses could be sufficient in that situation ....who knows maybe they'll add them in future models if players keep requesting them?

Donny and Fran, if I had my "druthers", I, too, would opt for drawbars. Most guys (and girls) used to a B3 would. However, I have not found this to be a big problem, and for this reason: I play mostly jazz organ; Jimmy Smith/Jack McDuff/Groove Holmes/Jimmy McGriff/Lonnie Smith/Johhny "Hammond" Smith/Don Patterson/Charlie Earland (a good friend of mine before he died way too young) type jazz organ. Oh yeah, and Tony Monaco and of course, Joey D. BTW, I never was a fan of Barbara Dinerlien; great technician, great left foot, not much soul. In fact (forgive me Rikki), I've never heard a female JAZZ organist that I did like, and that includes pioneers like Shirley Scott and Dee Dee Sharp. Maybe it's just a man's instrument (how sexist is that?).

But the point of all this (the drawbars) is that most jazz organist use a signature solo sound and maybe 3 or four other registrations (forget what some of these non-organist have said in past posts; I know what I'm talking about. That being the case, as many as nine registrations can be acessed with one or two button pushes (a preset covers both manuals and the pedals) giving you 18 custommized voicings between the two manuals plus 9 pedal settings, if needed. Plus, modifying a registration on-the-fly is dead simple once you learn where all the buttons are.

Given all the plusses, the lack of physical drawbars is a minor distraction (which will go away, by the way, once you become thoroughly familiar with the board). A larger problem for those who need it, is that you need to go into a menu to transpose (no dedicated button). Of course, the original offered no transposition at all, you just had to learn to play in every key (or have the singer sing every tune in C, regardless of his or her range ).

Now if only they would make an inexpensive pedalboard. Oh well.


chas

BTW, love that red color; just don't play at any bullfights.

The problem with using drawbars for an organ that has electronic presets is that the drawbar display (what you are seeing on the drawbars themselves) does not reflect the actual setting (of course, the same on a B3), but when you go to modify the preset (which you can't, on a B3, but of course will if you can!), real drawbars will be in the wrong position, and will make timbral 'jumps' rather than smooth movements. In fact, only motorized drawbars will ever reflect the presets actual state...

But all this is moot... I can't believe, after listening to the constant whining about the odd few pounds one arranger weighs over another, that you are actually dissing the 34 lb. C1 in favor of a B3 clone with drawbars. What is the weight of the LIGHTEST two manual Hammond clone with drawbars? Got to be a good sixty pounds more than the C1...

Many of you are content with small, toy-like, utterly horrible actions on your arrangers to save maybe ten or fifteen pounds. And yet here is quite possibly the ONLY full B3 clone under 80 lbs. Considerably UNDER 80 lb., at that.

Me, I would be ecstatic to get two full, waterfall keyboards at that weight, and after spending some time with an Electro2, I can tell you that dealing with the buttons is NOWHERE as difficult as you guys make out. You can still grab a handful at the same time, or just nudge one imperceptibly. Yes, it's harder to 'flick' one in instantly (takes over one second to go from full out to in), but other than that, it's pretty much the same time to modify registrations.

But any drawbar shortcomings are completely overwhelmed by, firstly IT HAS TWO MANUALS...! And, it is UNDER 35 lb....!

AFAIK, nothing with two manuals comes anywhere near that weight. And that is, from all I've read here, the overwhelming priority for most of you. You want the ultimate B3 clone? Hammond/Suzuki New B3... No doubt about it. It will fool most anybody. Then lift it's 290 lb.

Me, I'm prepared to forego real drawbars (that never reflect the actual state of the presets) over 290 lb. of perfection, any day! Oh, and don't forget the $24k price tag...!

Diki, I agree with the rest of your post but don't quite understand the above. MY C1 displays the EXACT, CORRECT, position of all the drawbars in either of the two "live" modes or any of the 120 presets. When you modify a drawbar setting, you will be starting from the real setting. There is never a time when the drawbars display anything other than their true position. I can't speak for the other Nord's that have electronic drawbars, but that's how the C1 works. Just a minor correction; doesn't change the validity of the rest of your post.

chas

Another idea for the Festive Season
A New Hammond clone has been released with Real Drawbars, and just like the Suzuki B3 and Native Instruments B4, uses sound modelling rather then samples.
It’s called the Key B Duo http://www.musicworldonline.co.uk/


Bill