[rodgersorgan] Re: SOL
- From: "John G. (Jack) Cormack" <jackjack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 20:19:30 -0500
At 02:24 PM 11/13/2002 -0500, Bob Leety wrote:
>Hi Paul,
>
>While not denigrating either the PR300S or Hector's work by any
>means...somewhere along the line, with the PR300S you will reach the
>point of diminishing returns. The Rodgers' digital organs are not
>limited to "talking" to the PR300S. May I suggest a sound module,
>sampler, sequencer with a lot more horsepower...like, for example, a
>Kurzweil? Sure, it will cost a few bucks, but the flexibility,
>expandability and quality of what can be done with it is absolutely
>amazing!
>
>I have a keyboard model (K2600XS) and the rack model (K2600R). I use
>the rack model to interface with digital organs and also as a sound
>module, etc. for my wife's Yamaha WX-5 wind controller (and you can do
>both, simultaneously). You can really do some awesome things if you let
>your mind go wild.
=======================================================
The following are comments from Jack Cormack who also has a Kurzweil K2600RS.
The Kurzweil is extremely powerful, and at first extremely intimidating --
it was to me
at least. !!!! But what you can do with it is absolutely amazing and
wonderful.
On a 3-manual organ, the Kurzweill can address all 8 MIDI pistons
simultaneously, each with a different sound.
I received a set of tibia samples that had:
Tibia 8 tremelo
Tibia 8 & 4 tremelo
Tibia 8 & 2 tremelo
Tibia 16 & 2 tremelo
Tibia 8 no tremelo
After I learned enough about the Kurzweil to examine the above
combinations, they are
composed of one or more layers of sounds. For example, the Tibia 8 & 4 has the
8 foot stop on layer one and the four foot stop on layer 2. I can adjust
the amplitude
of each layer independently and the tuning of each layer independently. I
can also add layers,
tuned to whatever pitch and loudness I choose.
So I have made a "doppler tibia 8" by tuning the second layer to the third
harmonic of the
8 foot layer. Just how much "doppler" sound you want is done by choosing
the loudness
of the second layer as compared to the first layer. I have also made a 3
layer tibia stop
with the first layer at 8 foot, the second layer at the third harmonic, and
the third layer
at the fifth harmonic, adjusting the amplitudes of each layer to provide
the sound, that
to my ears sounds best. That combination also is saved as one stop. Of
course if your organ
has an 8 foot flute, a 2 2/3 flute, and a 1 3/5 flute, you can get a
similar sound by selecting
all 3, but in that case you have no control over the relative loudness of
the three stops.
With the Kurzweil, the sounds are available on any of the any/all MIDI
pistons of your choice.
There is a set of theatre samples available free from the Kurzweil web
site. They are passable,
but not great. They include tibias, strings, voxes, reeds from Wurlitzer,
Barton, and Kimball theatre
organs. One can manipulate the relative amplitude and tuning of the
various layers in the many
combinations already set up in this group of samples. This set combines
tibias, voxes,
strings and reeds in many "presets" .
One is not limited to 3 layers -- some of the built in sounds in the
Kurzweil have over 20 layers.
In my view the Kurzweil sounds are the among the best in the industry, if
not the best. But
for organists, there are relatively few sounds that I find useful.
I have added an internal hard drive to my K2600RS, and external CD player,
and a JAZ drive.
When I want to listen to the MIDI files that Noel ( our group moderator)
produces, I get the
General Midi sounds via my computer with a sound card that has the GM and
GM extensions
and is also interfaced to our Rodgers Trillium 927. There are several sets
of classical pipe
organ samples available for purchase -- none cheap !! I haven't bought
them yet.
If anyone has bought such, I would appreciate your recommendations.
A real expert in the use of Kurzweil as a source of pipe organ sounds is
Ron Pearcy in New
Zealand. His Rodgers 360 as augmented by Kurzweil has been used as the
instrument for
a professional musician to make a CD for sale to the public.
To sum it all up, the Kurzweil is really great, but requires a fair amount
of dedication to be
able to understand and use its capabilities. The voluminous instruction
manuals that come
with it are written by people who already know how to use the
Kurzweil. The manuals are
difficult to find information without considerable digging. Typical
manuals written by people
who already know the Kurzweil and only need the manuals occasionally to
refresh their
memory. The info is there, but it isn't always easy to find.!!!!! <grin>
We are on our second Rodgers organ and never bought the PR300 since, in my
view, it
is quite limited and has no pipe organ sounds built in. I want pipe organ
sounds to
augment the organ, not helicpoters, whistles, gunshots, birdcalls, and
orchestral sounds, etc.
Some may disagree with the above -- after all this is the land of freedom
of speech, isn't it?
And it is obvious that the above are my opinions -- nothing more.
Sincerely,
Jack Cormack
Potomac, Maryland
========================================================
>My point is, the PR300S is great for what it is...an entry level sound
>module, sequencer. It sounds to me like what you want to do really
>calls for some hardware with more muscle.
>
>Hope this helps,
>Bob Leety
>Monroe, CT
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