A B-3? They arr Awful... Heavy...maintenance is horrific.

Leslie's add more mechanical parts to replace...wood to polish and glue back in shape...tubes, belts and capacitors to replace

I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!

Torn Rotator and all, I'll have a working, fire breathing real B-3 until I can't climb onto the bench.

If you haven't been there, you won't understand.

You don't play nursing home appropriate music on a B-3. And they don't pay nearly enough to incur the expense.

But, man, on the right stage, with the right audience and the right sidemen it's life affirming.


R.

Amen.

chas

Never got to play the B3 - just helped lift them out of the van - my back still hurts! OUCH!


Gary

There'as an old saying that comes to mind when comparing a clone or synth/workstatio/arranger organ sound to a Hammond B-3.

"You don't know the difference until you know the difference!"

One of the important aspects of Hammond playing (or any clone for that matter) is the proper use of the swell/expression/volume pedal as there is no other means to control the loudness, other than the drawbars, but they are too tedious and quite limited.

My FC-7 Volume pedal packed it in after many, many years of service, and man do I miss it!

It was actually more economical to replace the entire pedal, than it was to have the rather unique volume pot replaced...plus the rest of the unit was pretty worn and may have given other problems in the future.

I'll have new one here by next week.

I can't imagine playing any non-piano sound (especially organ) without the expression provided by a swell pedal.

Glad to see you are able to stay with the "real deal", Russ, and I hope the rotator cuff gets sorted out soon.

Ian

The problem with any style of music in an arranger is trying to replicate not only the authentic sounds but also the live interaction of the "band mates ". This is the real Achilles heel for arrangers or any auto accompaniment type instrument . The Blues is just one example of many .

But there are techniques that can be employed to provide the illusion of a live band playing with you . As technology advances it will get better .

The truth is chas that for me , my aspiration as a musician is bigger than my talent or the available time I have to develops the talent I have . I will never stop learning and practising but I don't have 8 hours a day to practice like cory or perhaps most of the blues players in your clip . So I have to accept some limitations not because I am lazy or don't know what excellence sounds like . I won't ever be a top piano/organ/guitar etc player but thankfully that limitation is not sufficient to block my creative processes with the help of an arranger.

Very wise words, and while we allready have some tools to spice up styles, like fills variations and such and pads with audio and arpeggias.... These are not quite enough to make it dynamic... For reasons you described, i prefer general styles, and not specific song styles, i allways try to create my own version of a song, and not replay it like the orriginal artist..

I am wayting for more AI features in styles. Which because its midi should not be that hard, they can have a parameter to comtroll the timing of a track, and another parameter to controll the note volume, the volume of individual notes.. The parameter would controll how many times this would happen at random and how much the deviation will be...

Even more interesting is round robbin, these instruments have several samples of each articulation and sometimes they just play a slightly differently played sound.. Would be great in the accompaniment

And then there is Karma tracks. Which could be made to react based on the players actions...

Anyway, those de delopers are way smarter then me and should figure out many more ideas which all together would recreate the feel of a live band around you.. Some controlled by the player, but most by the AI of the instrument...



Back to your statement, because despite all my interest in the technollogy, when i am behind my keys, i also realise i will never be a top player, and while i also try to become better as a player each day, i also find joy in playing with what an instrument has to offer me, .... But in general this is also what drives me towards new instruments with unexplored features... And then many months later i realise how much was still unexplored in the previous instrument...


But i am getting there... I play atleast 30 minutes piano each day, improving my skills... And in general play for 2 hours each day, which is a lot for someone having a full time job and a fammily to atend to....

Anyway... I write to much about me and not enough about the music..... Ians great response about the B3 now triggered me and i found a lot of documentation on how to recreate sounds and other instruments on a B3, and now i am wondering how that will work on my T5, tonight i will start spending some time with just the B3 simulation on the T5. Looking forward to it, using the instrument from a different pov will be so much fun...

Very good post, Worth (except for the last 6 words ). Obviously you are a big fan of Cory Henry. Me, I hate that little sucker....in his short time of this planet, he has managed to master an instrument (several actually) to the point where he could play me under the table with one hand tied behind his back and blindfolded . I'm kidding, of course. A talent like his is rare indeed and usually the result of that rare combination of natural talent and over-the-top dedication. A good support system, usually parents or a super mentor, also helps in a big way. Most of us fall outside of those lucky parameters and so must make do with what we have. I speak not out of animosity but just a POV, but I just don't see (the concept of) arranger keyboards as the answer to achieving one's highest possible musical goals. I still view it as somewhat of a crutch and a self-imposed limitation on one's creativity and playing potential. I was pleased to see that Bachus still devotes a portion of his playing/practice time to acoustic piano. By his own statement, that is what he views as the best way to improve his playing skills. I think that in the back of our minds, we all think that. Sadly, the second we start to have these types of discussions, the topic immediately turns to how much an instrument weighs or how portable it is or how many techno-features (read 'easy-play') it has......and how soon the next model is due out.

I've always had a 'geek' interest in arrangers and until I finally found an organ (clonewheel though it be ) that I felt was a suitable substitute for a vintage 'B', I played them quite a bit (well the Korg anyway, the T2 not so much). Even my C1 and C2D weren't quite as satisfying as I wanted but after purchasing the KeyB, I have hardly touched another keyboard since (except the C2D/Leslie 3300 that I use for gigging). I just seem to get the most fulfillment from playing the organ. It may just be my love for every variation of that great Hammond sound or my love for jazz/gospel/rock organ music, or just the feeling I get sitting behind that big console with full (25) pedalboard. It's like uncaging a beast. A few of you here know what I'm talking about. At least, I hope so.

chas

I think practicing piano is great if you are a piano player. I never played piano since a year or so of lessons when I was about seven.
Playing trumpet, guitar and drums when I was younger was much more "instrumental" in my development as a semi-accomplished arranger artist.
Since I was inadvertantly thrust into the role of vocalist (the real singer didn't show up and I wanted to get paid) the organ and then arrangers became my backing ensemble. I discovered early in my career that it was more lucrative to keep all the money than to split it four or five ways with an ever-changing cast of band members. As arrangers developed and became a viable force in music, even if most people didn't know it, arrangers were a perfect fit for me.
There are definite advantages to keeping an arranger for many years. I find there are more advantages to keeping up with the latest innovations offered by keeping a fairly current model. An informed buyer can purchase a new arranger, use it for a couple of years and sell it for close to the original purchase price. There are legions of fairly UN-informed buyers.
There are also advantages to depreciating gear for tax purposes that can make it cost-effective to upgrade periodically.
Plus I LOVE getting new stuff!

you will have seen this clip before Chas but please watch it again and this time analyse what you see and hear happening .

Marco is clearly using the arranger as a crutch but not in the sense that he can't play well but in the sense that he does not have extra hands and feet to Play all the parts himself simultaneously .

But is his creativity limited because of this or has his creativity actually been released by the auto arranger technology and the ability to smoothly transition between full use of the auto accompaniment and split keyboard live bass and searing lead.etc .

Where you might see limitation I see opportunity

I think you're confusing the performer with the instrument. It's like listening to Jascha Heifetz and giving all the credit to the violin. What it proves is that a great player can make ANY reasonable sounding keyboard sound amazing. Replaying these 'favorite demos' proves nothing other than we like the performer and the performance. Intellectually, I know that Claudia Hirschfield is a great organist but I'd rather "drink muddy water and sleep in a hollow log" than listen to her play. That says little about the instrument she's playing (except that I wouldn't buy one ). Listen to Marco on piano, organ, or synth. As with Cory Henry, you'll be equally amazed (maybe more).

All in good fun and in the interest of musical discussion. Everybody's opinion is valid (at least for them).

chas