joelbouchillon's Reviews

The "Perfect Piano"

The potential for this keyboard is fantastic...A complete 16 track Sequencer/workstation, weighted keys, After Touch/Midi master controller features and very fresh and unique sounding, include great sounding interactive drum machine with an awesome set of pre-programmed drum grooves.

Though, the ZR-76 not very road worthy...it's very heavy and very plasticky. Just carefully transporting it from one room to another, the entire keyboard creeks like an old wooden battleship. I would not want to tour with this synth as it may easy fall apart after a few tosses in the truck.

BUT, the primary reason I got this particular keyboard was for the 16MB PERFECT PIANO expansion card. The ZR-76 has one the BEST piano sounds for a 20 year old keyboard. The piano action is extremely realistic and expressive. The ZR-76 has become my perfect home practice piano.

CS6R: The Rack-version of the S80 !!!

As I have mentioned many times in many keyboard forums that I really love the S80, it's such an awesome, phat, warm very-expressive and dynamic keyboard. I've finally picked up what would be considered the rack-version of the S80: The CS6R. Now, I can transfer all my custom S80 voices & performances to the CS6R.

Replaced my 147 with the Vent

This will be a very short review of the Neo Ventilator.

For live use, I replaced my 147 Leslie with the Ventilator and have never looked back. Done, end of review! Now, you go get one.

Okay, one inherent feature I really do like is that the unit produces the 'swishing/swirling' sound a real Leslie makes. Even when there is no signal passing thru the Vent, the Vent sounds like a mic'ed cabinet. Without looking at the fast/slow LED meter, you can easily hear if the Vent is ready in slow or fast position before you play a chord.

Though, here is my wish list for improvements: -- need a rack-mount version -- needs separate L/R outputs for both Horn and Rotor. Hmmm, why separate? Because when using a real Leslie, I often like to put verb/ddl only on the horn and not the rotor. Also, I often like to pan the horn a left and the rotor a right...this creates a very wide stereo effect...with different speeds of motion going on in each speaker.....try it sometimes...you'll like it. -- needs separate acceleration/deceleration speeds for horn and rotor. -- remote fast/slow footswitch needs to have led-light that shows if unit is in Fast or Slow position.

Great for studio...Not great for Live

A lot of power in a 1U rack space synth module. Great for studio application especially when connected to a computer and using the editor, as you have the time to find the right sound---but for live use, thumbs down.

1st Thumb Down: Unlike the keyboard version (XS 6/7/8), the Motif Rack XS very limited due to the fact that it will not respond to program changes when in MULTI mode...Let me (try) to clarify....Yes, each individual 'part' within a Multi (on its own Midi Channel) will respond to program changes, but the MULTI itself will not change. If you take the time create-&-store many complex Multi's (with lots of parts--splits and layers), the Motif Rack will not allow you to change from one Multi to another via Midi program change. So, I only use the Motif Rack in VOICE mode...which limits me to only accessing a single sound (i.e. piano or string or brass or organ, etc, etc..) at a time.

2nd Thumb Down: Although you can load-up and group all your favorite and most-used voices under the Favorites category, there is NO-WAY to 'lock' the Favorites category so that you can thrown out program changes exclusively within the Favorites category. The only way to access your favorite sounds is to manually press either the {Enter} button, Encoder knob, or cursor {>} to actually call up the Favorite category and the scroll down to find the sound (voice) you're looking for.

As far as the sounds (the voices) go, they are top-notch! Every staple bread-and-butter sound you can imagine is housed in this unit.

My goto porable Organ!

I have gone through the Korg CX3, Hammond XB2 and XK3c as well as Roland VK-7. I was never satisfied with their Leslie sims and fighting an upper octave high-end screech sound. I recently stumbled across the Studiologic Numb organ and this organ sealed-the-deal for me! From bottom-to-top, the sound is smooth and even; the keybed plays like butter and is great for palm smearing and fast runs; the Leslie sim is as real as a 122 can get. The stereo image throws the sound around the room in a 3-D fashion. Downfall: there is no way to edit-and-save the fast/slow speed and mic'ing placement of the Leslie. I rather have the mic-placement just few more inches further inside the cabinet to get the more aggressive Leslie sound.

I love the midi-master controller feature as you can quickly-&-easily turn midi on/off and local on/off. I like the "flat-top" as it is easy to stack other keyboards on top of the Numa without getting in the way of the drawbars and knobs.

The only feature I LOATH is the fact the the master volume control is located on the extreme right-side of the keyboard. I have to cross my left arm over my right arm to control the volume as I play with my right hand. I would rather have the volume control on the extreme left side like the Hammond Xk3C does.

Nice PHAT AN1X !!

The best VA synth to-date! I have have enjoyed mine since I purchased it in 1999. For live situations, the AN1X is an excellent substitution for my Prophet 5 and OB-8. Though, I don't give it 5-stars due to it is little bit cumbersome to program.

Yamaha S80 -- Incredible!

Love it! I bought new back in 1999, when it first came out. The S80 basically replaced my KX-88 + MEP4 combo that I was currently using. The S80 already has the MEP4 built-in making it a Great Master Controller! The key action is superb! Weighted,but-yet still fast. Very responsive AfterTouch! I recent picked up a Motif XS and was very disappointed in the sounds as compared to the S80. The S80 is much phatter, warmer, punchier and much more expressive than the Motif. Basically, it's going to be a very sad day for me if my S80 every croaks.