Today at 3pm UK time (Or you can watch it later), plus as the software is the same for all OAX instruments, it also applies to the OAX1.

Enjoy

Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxERvoArfpU

Hi Bill,

I enjoyed listening to the full 90-min demo of the Wersi OAX Version 3 by Trevor.

I tune in every Tuesday to hear Trevor and Tom’s highly entertaining demos.

How do the Wersi Organs compare withj other brands like Lowrey, Roland, Bohm, Allen, Ringway, Thomas, Estey, etc.?

Is the Wersi the most advanced of them all?

How do they compare with the Roland Atelier organs or the Yamaha Electones like the STAGEA ELS-02C?

I know that Kawai stopped building the Lowrey Organs since Jan 2019.

Could you give us a breakdown of the current state of affairs in the Organ World?

Which countries enjoy the most popularity?

Lowrey: Easy to play but not the most advanced technology wise. (They always sound great though)

Bohm: is the competitor to Wersi, as they also constantly update (At a cost) their instruments, (Some requiring hardware updates) but definitely worth having a good look at. (There are plenty of You Tube videos featuring the Sempra models)

Allen: is for the dedicated Classical & Theatre organ enthusiasts, so no home entertainment features are included.

Ringway: are a very popular instrument as they are reasonably priced (For an organ) and are easy to play, however you are stuck with what you get, so you need to change the instrument for an upgrade. (There are 2 types, one voiced for the western market and one for the Asia market)

Thomas: the original firm ceased production decades ago, however the name was bought by I believe a Dutch company, but I haven't heard anything of them for years.

Estey: budget instruments which never seemed to take off.

Yamaha: still big in the Asia market, and many have imported them to western countries, (NOTE: the elctone (Organ) team are not the same as the arranger or synth teams) if you like Yamaha (And plenty do) then they are a great instrument but feature wise fall short of Bohm or Wersi.

Roland: great instruments, but they pulled out the market a long time ago, so the technology is older than current instruments still in production by other manufactures. They are great value on the used market, and their onboard amp and speaker systems are fantastic. (Defiantly worth a look at if you like the sound)

Hammond: well! there is Hammond, so no more needs to be said.

The rest went by the wayside long ago.

Popularity sales wise:
Asia
Europe
US
It is a niche market, but there are still enough buyers to keep the existing manufactures going.

As always, there is no one size fits all, so the choice will be up to the individual.

BTW: the VB3 organ used in the Wersi, is actually a Hammond emulator VST made by GSI, (Hence the VB3 name) which Wersi have licensed from them and designed their own interface. (All the other organ emulations have been created by Wersi)

Bill

Wow!!

Thanks for that detailed breakdown Bill. This is why you are the resident expert on all things Organ related.

Many decades ago it was watching a skilled performer on the Technics SX-GX7 organ that got me first interested in the Arranger World. I could not believe my ears how this single instrument was recreating the sound of a full orchestra.

I could not afford it. It was too big, too expensive and too heavy.

My first arranger was the Technics KN1000.

I watched how home organs got replaced by portable and affordable arrangers from Korg, Yamaha and Roland over the years.

The Korg i3 was the first professional arranger released in 1993.
The Yamaha Tyros was released in 2002.
The Roland G-70 was released in 2005.

These 3 models were the standard bearers that paved the way for the state of the art Arranger Landscape we are in today with the Yamaha Genos2, Korg Pa5x and the Ketron Event.

I am sad to see so many organ manufacturers leave the market. Technics pulled out because Korg and Yamaha introduced more feature rich arrangers at a lower price point. Eventually, Roland dropped out. The G-70 was their best arranger.

It is now a 3-way race between Korg, Yamaha and Ketron.

I am happy to see that traditional organ players still have WERSI and BOHM to advance their hobbies. They are constantly reinventing themselves to keep up with the times.

The Yamaha Electones are popular in Asia. It requires a certain skillset to play them. They are not sold in the US. I guess organ players in the US do not want to deal with dual manuals and a pedal board. The concept is too complex.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxUdoWCfvNA


Wersi and Bohm will continue to thrive in Europe catering to a mature clientele.

Here is Brett Wales at the Musical Museum entertaining his audience on a Wersi.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08dNYy0NydY


The talented Brett Wales is to Wersi as Peter Baartmanns was to Yamaha.

While the G70 was a great arranger in its day, I think that the BK9 surpassed it in many ways, and came in well under $1000 less. Yes, I miss the amazing action, and I miss the touchscreen, and I miss the main Grand Piano sound (the E80 and BK9 have a sound called Classic Piano based on SOME of the same samples, but they aren’t as rich and the default programming has them filtered down duller and less dynamic). I miss having 3 UPR & 2LWR & MBS, but the vastly larger User Set or Registrations (UPS) which went from 128 entries to 999 (!) made it easy to set up multiple Performances per song to circumvent that limitation.

But the return of the Chord Sequencer (missing since the G1000) alone was transformative for the arranger. The audio playback, both backing tracks and Live Loops, made it a modern do everything one man band keyboard (most pro arranger players I know use a lot of audio backing nowadays). And dropping the weight from 45lbs to 20lbs made it a lot gig friendlier. The soundset was completely E80 compatible, and the ROM includes a LOT of SRX card sounds, so having no expansion isn’t a dealbreaker…

They fixed the B3 sim to be MUCH better (it now can grind out Deep Purple without swamping the arranger parts!) and the synth sound selection is the best I’ve ever heard on an arranger (which you’d expect from Roland!).

I still have my G70, but must confess, haven’t switched it on for a couple of years. The BK9 is simply THAT good ❤️🎹

I agree with your observations on the Roland G-70, E-80 and BK-9.

I have the E-80. I like the key action. Inclusion of the on-board speakers and metal casing made this into a massive 49lb beast. It is built like a tank.

Roland addressed the weight problem with the BK-9 and added many of the sought after features that you pointed out.

I was disappointed to see Roland bow out of the portable arranger market. The Atelier AT-900EX was their flagship model in the home organ market introduced in 2007. Roland discontinued the Atelier line in 2015.


https://www.roland.com/global/products/AT-900/


Technics was once a leading manufacturer in the home organ and portable arranger market.
I think the biggest reason for their demise was not the lack of innovation by Technics engineers but rather the greed of the Technics dealers.

Back in those days, Technics allowed their dealers to charge whatever price they wanted to their customer base. The Technics dealers raked in enormous profits from their loyal customers. It spiraled out of control.

Korg seized on this opportunity. Their introduction of the Korg i3 which they called a Professional Arranger with an excellent set of voices and styles at down to earth prices with a set MSRP marked the end of price gouging by Technics dealers.

Customer who wanted a portable arranger now had a cheaper yet feature rich alternative.

The Korg i3 set the stage for the long list of competitive products that followed it.