1. Wersi OAS 7 with church and theatre voice packs

2. Tyros 2 with Total Transformation Technology Diamond Edition

3. PA2Xpro With TTT

4. Roland A60R - Whitley bay are selling this for £950 , and an AT45 for £1799 which seems pretty good value

As far as i can workout 1 - is possibly best for Blackpool tower sounds , but has anyone tried 2/3 ? also what about Roland Ateliers i think the samples are not as good as i think they are based on their old Roger organs

But as for ease of use the Ateliers are easiest , how easy or difficult are the samplers 2/3 to use live ?

I reckon the best solution is 2/3 for the average home user wanting a convincing theatre organ sound whilst still be playable with other types of music etc

If anyone has used the Wersi theatre organs , or TTT samples i would be great to have a user review

Thanks

[This message has been edited by tony harbour (edited 05-02-2008).]

Hi Tony
There are open days at the Blackpool Keyboard Festival on the Sunday and Wednesday, if you can pop up there you will be able to listen to and try all the items you mention.
The Wersi Theatre Organ samples are excellent sounding but they are not of the Wurlitzer type, but Barton and Morton type.
Also don’t forget there are plenty of Akai samples and VST instruments of Pipe Organs.
Wersi do have samples of the Blackpool Wurlitzer, but as of yet they have not been released.
TTT is not as good as it was due to the fact that a lot of the original samples of the Blackpool Tower have been removed. (Wersi have the rights to Blackpool Tower samples)
The Roland Theatre Organ sounds are sampled from an American Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, and sound superb.
Classical Pipes again vary between manufactures, and there are also plenty of Akai samples and VST instruments about.

Wersi Classical samples

ID Name
060-000-000 Bourdon
060-000-001 Clarinet
060-000-002 Cornet
060-000-003 Dulciana
060-000-004 Flute 4
060-000-005 Flute Celeste
060-000-006 Gamba
060-000-007 Gedackt 8
060-000-008 Gedackt 16
060-000-009 Mixture 1
060-000-010 Mixture 2
060-000-011 Mixture 3
060-000-012 Mixture 4
060-000-013 Mixture 5
060-000-014 Nasard
060-000-015 Oboe
060-000-016 Octave
ID Name
060-000-017 Rohrgedackt
060-000-018 Plenum 1
060-000-019 Plenum 2
060-000-020 Plenum 3
060-000-021 Principal 4
060-000-022 Principal 8
060-000-023 Principal 16
060-000-024 Quint 2 2-3
060-000-025 Regal 16
060-000-026 Rohrflute
060-000-027 Super Octave
060-000-028 Terts
060-000-029 Trumpet 4
060-000-030 Vox Celeste
060-000-031 Tutti 1
060-000-032 Tutti 2
060-000-033 Tutti 3
Wersi Theatre Samples

ID Name
061-000-000 TH Barton Full
061-000-001 TH Barton Melo 1
061-000-002 TH Barton Melo 2
061-000-003 TH Big Pipes
061-000-004 TH Bold Brass
061-000-005 TH Full Brass
061-000-006 TH Melo 1
061-000-007 TH Melo 2
061-000-008 TH Barton Tibias
061-000-009 TH Morton Str-Wurl.
ID Name
061-000-010 THMortonStrVox-Wurl
061-000-011 TH Robert Morton
061-000-012 TH Wurlizer Morton
061-000-013 TH Wurl.-Mort.-Barton
061-000-014 TH Wurl.-Bx-Morton
061-000-015 TH Morton Strings
061-000-016 TH Mixed 1
061-000-017 TH Mixed 2
061-000-018 TH Mixed 3
061-000-019 TH Mixed 4

Hope this helps

Bill


[This message has been edited by abacus (edited 05-02-2008).]

Hi Abacus

Thanks for your reply , the Wersi sounds good but is a bit pricey compared with other k/bs , just wondering about perhaps going for the Roland AT60R , and perhaps adding a ketron midijay module to make up for the fewer styles / more realistic guitars etc (or perhaps Yamaha PR900)

If i had the money there wouldn't be a problem - i would buy a Wersi Xenios or Abacus Duo as it ticks all my boxes (except the one touch settings)

If the AT60R has good theatre and pipe organ sounds i think that could do , but as you say it really needs to be listened to

Whitley Bay are also selling a Orla GT5000 GA1/Ga3 , all of which have some theatre type sounds but i've heard the Rolands are better

Just wondering if it's worth paying the extra for the AT45 or go for AT60R , as far as i can see the AT45 is similar to AT60R but has some articulation type voices

So much to choose!

I have a close friend who tunes pipe organs, and he played my PA800 last night ... WOW - in the right hands, the pipe organ sounds are AMAZING in this keyboard ! You gotta try it !

Everything is amazing in the PA800 - a real sleeper

Does the Korg PA2XPRO have the same pipe organ sounds as the PA-800?

What about the PA-500?

Ian

I agree with Dave and Zuki, the Pa2xpro/Pa800 have some incredible Organ sounds. There are patches called Pipe Tutti 1, 2, 3, and 4 that sound unbelievably realistic. These are perfect for wedding ceremony music.

I have the Pax2pro, but I'm sure the Pa800 has the exact same sounds.

Al

------------------
Al Giordano http://www.arrangerworld.com


Korg Pa2xpro, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums, Roland TD-12 Vdrums, Roland SPD-S.

[This message has been edited by kbrkr (edited 05-04-2008).]

I have decided , if i can afford it , probably best to go for PA2XPRO or Tyros 2 and use the sampler for theatre organ / church organ samples from TTT or other

(else my living room would start looking like a music showroom if i had an organ and keyboard)

PA2XPRO i prefer the 76 keys as it makes possible splitting the keyboard (i would find going back to 61 on Tyros pretty restrictive)

I prefer Tyros 2 for a few of the super articulation voices , and especially the IDC and music finder but am loathed to pay the high p/x prices i have been quoted for a keyboard that came out at the same time as the G70 about 4 years ago

So may go for newer PA2XPRo ... or wait a bit longer for something new to come along from Y/R



[This message has been edited by tony harbour (edited 05-05-2008).]

You also have to check :

hauptwerk

Which is the ultimate church organ vst

And it runs on the Wersi too

[This message has been edited by Bachus (edited 05-05-2008).]

Hi Bachus

I have tried Hauptwerk 2 years ago , purchased the licence and he theatre organ sample disk , but found it hard to v. hard to setup / or use live

I bought a PC with 4 Gigs and dual core processor but still got notes hanging and delay times between pressing note and playing (as bad a second or worse)

Hauptwerk, i found needs v. v fast PC if you want to play several notes at once over many ranks

With memory / processors getting more powerful and cheaper it is getting more viable as a system each year but at moment i think it would be cheaper and easier to buy a keyboard with sampler (or organ) although i have never used a sampler like Tyros 2 or PA2Xpro so don't know how easy or hard it is to set up preset sounds but has to be easier than running software on a PC then have to midi it up to a keyboard and foot pedals etc.

But i agree the sounds you can get are v. good though

Hi Tony
It sounds like you were using the standard Windows Multimedia drivers, or a very poor sound card, (Or both) if you have a quality sound card and use ASIO drivers you will find that with the computer you mentioned you will be able to use everything that Hauptwerk has to offer without problems.
Don’t forget all the products you mention can be tested at the Blackpool Keyboard Festival open days, and is a good way to compare before spending your money. (Special deals and pre-owned instruments are also available)
You may also wish to visit the Miditizer website, http://www.virtualorgan.com (It’s free) its main downside is that it has to run stand alone rather then as a VST.
Enjoy whatever you finally decide on

Bill

Hi Tony,
as far as I'm aware , with the PA2x you can actually record samples?? wheras the T2 only plays samples??
You may want to check that out if you intend to do any sampling.

Also if you require using either the T2 or the PA2x as a master keyboard to control your sampler, the T2's controller functions aren't as good as the korgs.

I've used my PA800 as a controller for my sd1 , sd2 soundmodule & psr1500, ie
pa800 plays style parts, I use sd2 or sd1 as soundsource for melody tracks ( or style parts). My PSR couldn't send out the correct program & bank changes to the sd's to be able to be used as a soundsource for rh/Lh melody tracks.

May not be of any importance to you , but thought I'd mention it just in case.

DAbbled for a while with soundfonts & softsynths, haven't as yet tried midiing my laptop to the PA800 for that type of use, but I'm fairly certain I'd able to use the PA800 as a controller for my PC & soundfonts, when I get around to it. Unfortunately I don't think my laptops quite up to scratch for the better software samplers available.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by tony harbour:
[B]
although i have never used a sampler like Tyros 2 or PA2Xpro so don't know how easy or hard it is to set up preset sounds

Thanks Rikki

Having just found AllegroMusic.co.uk are saying they have info on Tyros 3 , it seems this may be on the horizon , i am willing to pay more for a machine that has advanced 2 models on

So will be now waiting to see what happens , trouble with buying a Tyros 2 now is they still have high p/x value compared to G70 , and if it is about to be superceeded it would mean be tempted twice (ie: T2 then T3) so i'll hang on and spend out once!

(The G70 is still a very good instrument , i'm still finding new things to do it with it approx 4 years on , so in no rush)

THe PA800 seems good on midi , the G70 is pretty good too , although i'm not a keen midi fan - hate extra wiring / setting up! - I'm sure we all would like the perfect instrument all in one!

I've had almost every brand out there, and the Korg PA800 has lasted the longest in my "honnymoon" period so far. I'm still loving this unit more than all the competition.