Post by Tone_Deff (Musicmaker) on Mar 10, 2009 3:20:52 GMT
.
Hi Folks,
I don't know if this will interest you, but it might be worth reading if you are interested in expanding the voices on your keyboard or Organ. You must remember however, that unless recorded in .wav or Mp3 (not .mid), the sounds will not reproduce in another keyboard or organ, as it will not have those samples to 'trigger' - So - expanders can only be used for 'Live' performances, or performances recorded in .wav format (that can be converted to Mp3).
You can buy all sorts of 'Expanders' that attach to your Keyboard / Organ to add more varied sounds - they connect to the midi in and out sockets. They sell on Ebay from about 20 - 100 pounds, and all have different voices to add.
I have just bought one on Ebay for less than 50 pounds to use with my Yamaha HS 8 Organ, which, without a lot of 'Tweaking' does not have many actual Organ Sounds. This one is an 'Orla DE49', which has a load of 'Flutes' which are the basic sounds of any organ - If this topic interests you - read on !!
Here is a very good review of the 'Expander' on the 'Harmony Central' Website ........
Price Paid :
I purchased this expander to use with my Yamaha HS 8 Organ, which did not have much choice in the way of different Organ Sounds. Currently, I use it with my Yamaha Tyros Keyboard.
In 1993, I paid 440 pounds for it, and have never regretted buying it - It does most of what I want, and reasonably well. Today (January 2006), they can be purchased on Ebay, etc. for around 80 - 100 pounds.
Ease of Use :
The basic functions are easy to use: "drawbars", buttons for percussion, chorus and tremolo, sliders for sustain and volume, programming presets. The MIDI functions (set a split point for the keyboard, chose a MIDI channel) are much more complicated, because they are controlled on on a second layer of the Buttons, but the second layer descriptions are not printed on the case. Without the manual there isn't any chance to find it out.
Features :
The expander is made to emulate a drawbar organ very straight forward. So it has slide controls for the 8 sine waves in the upper and the 4 in the lower section (upper: 16, 8, 5 1/3, 4, 2 2/3, 2, 1 3/5, 1', lower: 8, 4, 2, 1').
The slide controls are a small, but not noisy or scratchy. There are buttons for 3 upper and 3 lower presets, and 10 buttons for programmable general presets. Also there are buttons for 4' and 2 2/3' percussion, motion effect ("chorus" and "tremolo"), and a mysterious function called "O.M.C." - this is kind of adding certain harmonies depending on the keys played in the upper and lower section; it's mostly useless.
On the back there are plugs for the external power supply, for mono output, and for MIDI in/thru. Also there's a power switch.
You can play the expander with any MIDI organ or keyboard, can set the split point and chose MIDI channels for upper and lower. That's all.
Expressiveness/Sounds :
Now, the sound. It's not a Hammond. It's not even a Hammond clone. It's more like Bontempi, Farfisa, Wersi and other ogans made for nice playing at home. If you are brave enough to make gigs at retirement homes, where elder people sit and drink their tea while you play Cha-Chas, Foxtrots, Waltzes and such kind of stuff, then the Orla is right that what you want. If you want to play at home with reasonable organ sounds then it's o.k. If you want to become a second John Lord or Jimmy Smith then you better get another gear.
The expander doesn't sound really bad, but it's too well-behaved, very clean and without a soul. And there's no kind of any overdrive sound. Definitely there is a need for pushing the sound by a good leslie effect. The onboard chorus effect is useable, but the tremolo effect is very bad. I bought a Danelectro Rocky Road and combined its fast rotary effect with the slow chorus of the Orla - this is a fine sound!
Features :
* UPPER FLUTES SECTION. 3 Fixed Organ Presets, PIPE ORGAN, JAZZ ORGAN, FULL ORGAN.
* UPPER FLUTES Have 8 Adjustable Draw Bars
* PERCUSSION 4` & 2 2/3`
* LOWER FLUTES SECTION 3 Fixed Organ Presets, ORGAN 1, ORGAN 2, ORGAN 3, Also Has 4 Adjustable Drawbars.
* CUSTOM PRESETS can store up to 10 Combinations of Drawbar Settings, Tremelo/Chorus, percussion, Sustain, Master Volume O.M.C. (Orla Magic Chord).
* Midi Set
* Upper Flutes on Midi Channel 1
* Lower Flutes on Midi Channel 2 With The Midi Set Button you can change the above channels to suit your setup.
.
Hi Folks,
I don't know if this will interest you, but it might be worth reading if you are interested in expanding the voices on your keyboard or Organ. You must remember however, that unless recorded in .wav or Mp3 (not .mid), the sounds will not reproduce in another keyboard or organ, as it will not have those samples to 'trigger' - So - expanders can only be used for 'Live' performances, or performances recorded in .wav format (that can be converted to Mp3).
You can buy all sorts of 'Expanders' that attach to your Keyboard / Organ to add more varied sounds - they connect to the midi in and out sockets. They sell on Ebay from about 20 - 100 pounds, and all have different voices to add.
I have just bought one on Ebay for less than 50 pounds to use with my Yamaha HS 8 Organ, which, without a lot of 'Tweaking' does not have many actual Organ Sounds. This one is an 'Orla DE49', which has a load of 'Flutes' which are the basic sounds of any organ - If this topic interests you - read on !!
Here is a very good review of the 'Expander' on the 'Harmony Central' Website ........
THE ORLA DE49 'FLUTES' EXPANDER
[/u][/center]Price Paid :
I purchased this expander to use with my Yamaha HS 8 Organ, which did not have much choice in the way of different Organ Sounds. Currently, I use it with my Yamaha Tyros Keyboard.
In 1993, I paid 440 pounds for it, and have never regretted buying it - It does most of what I want, and reasonably well. Today (January 2006), they can be purchased on Ebay, etc. for around 80 - 100 pounds.
Ease of Use :
The basic functions are easy to use: "drawbars", buttons for percussion, chorus and tremolo, sliders for sustain and volume, programming presets. The MIDI functions (set a split point for the keyboard, chose a MIDI channel) are much more complicated, because they are controlled on on a second layer of the Buttons, but the second layer descriptions are not printed on the case. Without the manual there isn't any chance to find it out.
Features :
The expander is made to emulate a drawbar organ very straight forward. So it has slide controls for the 8 sine waves in the upper and the 4 in the lower section (upper: 16, 8, 5 1/3, 4, 2 2/3, 2, 1 3/5, 1', lower: 8, 4, 2, 1').
The slide controls are a small, but not noisy or scratchy. There are buttons for 3 upper and 3 lower presets, and 10 buttons for programmable general presets. Also there are buttons for 4' and 2 2/3' percussion, motion effect ("chorus" and "tremolo"), and a mysterious function called "O.M.C." - this is kind of adding certain harmonies depending on the keys played in the upper and lower section; it's mostly useless.
On the back there are plugs for the external power supply, for mono output, and for MIDI in/thru. Also there's a power switch.
You can play the expander with any MIDI organ or keyboard, can set the split point and chose MIDI channels for upper and lower. That's all.
Expressiveness/Sounds :
Now, the sound. It's not a Hammond. It's not even a Hammond clone. It's more like Bontempi, Farfisa, Wersi and other ogans made for nice playing at home. If you are brave enough to make gigs at retirement homes, where elder people sit and drink their tea while you play Cha-Chas, Foxtrots, Waltzes and such kind of stuff, then the Orla is right that what you want. If you want to play at home with reasonable organ sounds then it's o.k. If you want to become a second John Lord or Jimmy Smith then you better get another gear.
The expander doesn't sound really bad, but it's too well-behaved, very clean and without a soul. And there's no kind of any overdrive sound. Definitely there is a need for pushing the sound by a good leslie effect. The onboard chorus effect is useable, but the tremolo effect is very bad. I bought a Danelectro Rocky Road and combined its fast rotary effect with the slow chorus of the Orla - this is a fine sound!
Features :
* UPPER FLUTES SECTION. 3 Fixed Organ Presets, PIPE ORGAN, JAZZ ORGAN, FULL ORGAN.
* UPPER FLUTES Have 8 Adjustable Draw Bars
* PERCUSSION 4` & 2 2/3`
* LOWER FLUTES SECTION 3 Fixed Organ Presets, ORGAN 1, ORGAN 2, ORGAN 3, Also Has 4 Adjustable Drawbars.
* CUSTOM PRESETS can store up to 10 Combinations of Drawbar Settings, Tremelo/Chorus, percussion, Sustain, Master Volume O.M.C. (Orla Magic Chord).
* Midi Set
* Upper Flutes on Midi Channel 1
* Lower Flutes on Midi Channel 2 With The Midi Set Button you can change the above channels to suit your setup.
.