We’re super pleased to have Mitch Towne back on the show, to give an update on his work since our last interview (including his great new album Refuge), as well as taking a decent dive into the Viscount Legend One. Lots to enjoy here! To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button in...
The post Mitch Towne Redux / Viscount Legend One Discussion appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The things that happen while I'm in the middle of playing are where the story gets told.
Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you and mybrilliant, Malifluous, which is the word I use in episode 72 to describe Paul Bindig still
(00:25):
applies.
How are you Paul?
I'm Malifluous as ever, I hope.
You are.
Good, good.
And the reason I use that word again from episode 72 is we've got the brilliant Mitch Townback with us.
um
We reached out to Mitch because he's been a heavy user of the recently released ViscountLegend 1.
Plus we're aware that Mitch has sort of had an interesting couple of years since we'vetalked to him.
(00:50):
So we jumped at the chance to have another chat with him.
So I think you'll get a lot out of this, whether you are interested in organ playing orotherwise.
but particularly if you're interested, Paul, I reckon in purchasing a Legend 1, there'slots of detail covered.
Yeah Mitch goes into quite some depth about it which is really welcome to be honest whenyou have a power user to describe a keyboard so I won't ruin any of the surprise.
(01:17):
David we'll just roll into that and uh look forward to hearing your thoughts viewers andlisteners after you've heard it.
Exactly here we go.
Mitch, sir, it's an absolute pleasure to have you back.
(01:39):
I looked through the archives, the very esteemed Keyboard Chronicle archives, and it wasepisode 72 we had the pleasure of speaking with you, so it's so lovely to see you again.
Great to be back.
You guys have had a run.
The people you've had on this show are incredible.
I'm just very honored to be one of the people on the list.
Very deservedly so.
(01:59):
And we're really excited to talk to you because before we jump into the legend one, whichwe will be getting to in some depth, but we do want to sort of recap with you because it
has been a while.
You've had quite the couple of years.
Last time we spoke with you, you were sort of just about to go out on the road and tell ushow that went.
And then I know you've got an upcoming album.
Sort of give us a potted history of Mitch Town over the last 18 months.
(02:23):
Well, you know, I think I talked to you just as SRT was getting off the ground and we hadan amazing run in that year.
We toured Japan.
We hit the Billboard live clubs in Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo.
And that was, that was life changing, you know, cause I'd never been there.
I'd always wanted to go to Japan and all my musician friends had said, they're going totreat you like a rock star.
(02:45):
And I'll tell you what, they were not exaggerating.
this will give you a good example of
of how different it is, how different they view culture and art there is we would playthese beautiful clubs called Billboard Live.
And so we would do two sets and then we do an autograph line and the audiences were all soknowledgeable and would ask these really pointed questions, you know, and it was just
(03:09):
fabulous.
So then we would gather up our stuff and our handler would lead us through the back of theclub out to the van and the entire staff, including the kitchen staff of the club would
line up.
and clap for you as you walked out.
And we're so jaded.
Andrew, the guitar player in SRT turns to me and he goes, are they being serious?
(03:33):
Are they making fun of us?
I was like, no, I think they're serious.
You know, but that's, you know, that's the difference of how artists are treated, youknow, other countries.
And we just had a wonderful time.
I think the big highlight of that one for me was our album was put out by a Japaneselabel.
called P Vine the week before we went there.
(03:55):
And so they told us, said, when you're in Tokyo, go to Tower Records.
They still have Tower Records.
Tower Records is long gone in the United States, but they had like a three or four floorTower Records.
And we went to the jazz floor, not the jazz section, the jazz floor.
And there was a display of us.
(04:19):
of our record and our faces.
And so here I am walking into a record store in Tokyo, and there's my face, you know, Imean, it was one of those like, wow, you know, and so that was a great tour.
And then later that summer, we toured the East Coast, we did a week at Birdland, we werejoined by the legendary Tom Scott on saxophone, who is the saxophone player on a
(04:43):
zillion songs, hits, everybody from Michael Jackson to Joni Mitchell to George Harrisonto, you know, mean, Toto to everything to Steely Dan.
He arranged the horns for Steely Dan, you know, so it was really a great time for me toget to be with guys like him, guys like JR, and to be able to say, okay, what was it like
to work with Steely Dan, you know, and then Tom tells you the stories, you know what it'slike.
(05:06):
And so it was really wonderful.
And so that was great.
And like you said, I just recently completed
I just put out my first album as a leader and it's called Refuge and it's six, it's seventunes, six of my compositions.
And it was really kind of what I wanted to kind of show what my view of where the Hammondorgan falls into jazz.
(05:27):
know, it's a little more modern, but still I think accessible.
And yeah, I'm just really excited about that.
And that just came out.
It's getting some nice reviews and I'm just really grateful for that.
I apologize Mitch I was thinking it was still coming out because I haven't listened to ityet, but I certainly will be
It's everywhere.
You can find it on all the normal places.
Yeah.
(05:48):
So no, looking forward to that.
And SRT likely to go out on the road again.
Other plans?
Yep, I think we'll be doing some stuff.
I was just at the baked potato, the famous baked potato with Andrew and a couple otherguys.
So I've got a lot of, a lot of things going on.
I might have a couple other things I can't talk about yet happening.
you know, but things are going, things are, I'm having a good time.
(06:08):
Great.
And look, in any keyboard's player's life, all you can ask for is some great gigs and somegreat gear.
And I think it's fair to say as an attempted segue, the Viscount Legend 1 has taken yourfancy.
So let's dive into that a little bit.
And then I thought we might get you to do a little bit of a comparison to some of theother clone wheels as well.
(06:30):
um
It's probably a good idea to say upfront that I've recently become a Viscount endorsingartist.
everybody can take, everybody can take however much salt, grain of salt, you know, withwhat I have to say.
But I will say that I did become that after I bought my own keyboard.
They haven't given me anything.
(06:50):
paid, I paid full price for this.
And once I played it, once I heard it, that's when I was in contact with it was like,guys, this thing is off the chain.
is Just to keep Mitch honest, which no one needs to keep him honest because he inherentlyis, but I own one as well.
But as I was saying to Mitch before the show, I've spent all of half an hour with it dueto some work commitments.
(07:11):
I'm devastated to say I haven't played with it to any extent that Mitch does, let alonethe fact that I can only play a tenth as well.
But yeah, we're not going to have hyperbole about the Viscount ledger.
Why don't we just really talking about what we do.
like about it and definitely no sponsorship involved.
Yeah.
And thank you for that disclosure, Mitch.
But anyone who has read anything Mitch has written, you will know he takes this stuffvery, very seriously and gives an honest professional considered opinion.
(07:37):
we're delighted to have you on the show to discuss this.
And David, look, I was disappointed.
was really hoping, as David has just said, he also owns a Legend One.
I was hoping we'd have a keyboard shootout today.
You and Mitch trading off chops.
As if I was ever going to agree to that.
You
So Mitch, the best place to jump in is just your overview of the Legend 1 and what yourinitial thoughts were when you did play it for say the first half hour to an hour.
(08:06):
Well, if, okay, so if anyone's not totally familiar with what the Legend I is, it is whatI kind of refer to as a Swiss Army Knife keyboard.
Keyboards that fall into that category are definitely the Nord Electro, which is thegranddaddy of those Swiss Army Knives.
know, the Yamaha YC series, the YC61, it would be comparable to the Legend I.
(08:28):
you know, and each one of them, I think, sort of has a strength.
You know, for instance, I think out of say those three, let's compare those three becausethey are, you know, there are dedicated clones, obviously, but these three keyboards are
trying to sort of occupy the same space, right?
And I think what I would say if, if I could get the best of all three of them together,the Nord would have the best piano.
(08:55):
The Nords are known for their pianos.
Their pianos are sensational and they're great in the electro, because they're the same asthe ones that are in the
the stage and the you know, and I think that the the electric pianos in the CP or in theYC 61 in the Yamaha, those are really good.
I like those the best out of those three.
But the legend one, for me, being primarily an organ player, it's all about the organ, theorgan in it.
(09:22):
And I have played everything.
Okay, going all the way back to my first clone was
Voce made a box.
It was a preset box.
It's called the micro B and you can just dial in various drawbar settings and it was wasreally good for its time.
(09:42):
You know, so I have really used everything and tried everything since I've made it apoint.
It's like whenever there's something new, I got to try it.
got to buy and got to play.
Yeah, and just to interrupt me is too, you've also got massive credibility in theoriginal.
So I can't remember whether it's you, but I believe you have a number of B3s around thehouse.
(10:04):
you've obviously got...
gotten you know what the last time we talked I think I told you I had eight different ordifferent Hammons of various vintages but since then I'm down to about five you know so
it's like I finally yeah you know I'm trying to spread the love around you know Ishouldn't have everything and so I once I find one that I think is better it it you know
(10:25):
goes up in the in the list and then the other one drops off and I can sell it you know sothat's the thing is I have spent a ton of time on the real thing you'll get a lot of
people with
the opinions on him and Oregon clones, they call it the Clone Wars, right?
I mean, it's the best online inside Oregon player joke ever.
(10:45):
It's the Clone Wars and people have such, myself included, have had such strong opinionsabout why we pick this one over this one or why this one isn't as good as this one.
um But it comes from the real thing, which is right here is my A100, right?
So I'm looking over at it.
You can't see it, but it's there.
That's the gold standard, is this ridiculously complex tubes and wires instrument that wasmade in 1962 or started being made even earlier than that before the B3s, the A series was
(11:19):
out in you know, what, the 50s and the 40s, I think.
you know, here we are 50, 60 years later trying to replicate just like a digital piano,we're trying to replicate something that was made in the what, 1600s, 1700s, right?
And we're trying to get as close as possible.
And I think what we really try to achieve whenever we're playing a digital piano or a fakeRhodes or definitely a Hamlin organ clone is suspension of disbelief.
(11:46):
When I'm on the gig, when I'm not playing the real thing and I'm not playing through aLeslie and I'm playing through a speaker or a motion sound or a PA speaker, what clone is
gonna get me closest to forgetting that I'm playing a clone?
And or that that what is what digital piano is going to give me that Steinway feeling orthat Yamaha feeling that you're that you want from the real thing as keyboard players.
(12:12):
I might've lamented this last time as keyboard players.
I'm so jealous of a sax player or a guitar player, someone that actually gets to take theinstrument that they shed on every day to a gig.
I hate them.
They walk in, they play the same instrument that's been in the practice room with them.
I never get to do that ever.
Right.
(12:33):
So we really have to find something that gets us as close to the real thing.
And I have to hand it to, I have to hand it to, to Viscount, to Hammond Suzuki, to Krumar,to Nord, to, to MAG, to all of these, all of these companies that have dedicated time and
resource.
(12:53):
Two.
something that's a little bit of a niche instrument almost, you know, it's pretty, it'spopular, it's played on so many different kinds of, but let's face it, they're, they're,
they're devoting a ton of time and money to one instrument to try to get it as close aspossible.
as organ players, and I'm filibustering here, I don't mean to, but as organ players, we,we need to be very grateful to these companies.
(13:18):
Roland has had, know, Korg has made them.
They you know, they've all really tried to make a dedicated Oregon Yamaha with the the YCseries dip their toes in it, you know, and it's like, so we're very fortunate that we
don't have to haul around, you know, an actual B three to get in that ballpark anymore.
And Mitch, I know there are so many aspects of trying to replicate a B3 and obviously theLeslie comes into part of it.
(13:47):
And I know from some of your comments, I'm just interested in your perspective.
A lot of our listeners and viewers out there will play clones.
They may own some of the ventilator gear or whatever.
And I know you've said essentially the inbuilt stuff with the Viscount Legend 1 is as goodor better than what you can with adding the ventilator onto whatever you've got.
(14:07):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I am one of the few people I've never been a giant fan of the ventilator.
just it always kind of left me kind of wanting.
I mean, at one point, it was obviously the best simulator out there that you could get,you know, off board, I guess.
But I was always I played a crew Marmojo for a long time, and I thought their internal SIMwas pretty much just as good.
(14:28):
And I used it, you know, but I think the things that I the everyone's got a different setof priorities.
If you talk to Pat Bianchi, he's going to tell you
A, B, and C are the things for him that he wants out of a clone.
And my A, B, and C, I might have a couple of the same things, but they might not be in thesame order.
And it's whatever those things for you get you there.
(14:50):
the thing, obviously the Leslie simulation is very important.
That's, know, and I'm not giving you these in any order, but say my top three are theLeslie simulation,
the keyboard feels and the chorus vibrato that to me a bad chorus vibrato will justabsolutely turn me off i will not want to play i won't want to hear it there are records
(15:16):
that i that i know that were made on clones and i don't want to hear it they they don'tsound good because the clone didn't have a good it was too warbly or there was too much
vibrato in the chorus and it sounds like this you know and it's just i just can't stand itand
One of the reasons that I played a Kumar Mojo for so long, because out of the box, theynailed the VC 13 years ago.
(15:42):
I mean, it was dead on out of the box, you know, and that's what kept me with them for solong.
Because of that, now you can get close on some of the others.
Now we fast forward to the Legend 1.
That's one of the things about it is they, I'll be honest with you, like I told youbefore, I'm a Viscount endorsing artist.
But I wasn't a huge fan of the original legend because I didn't like the chorus.
(16:06):
I thought it just wasn't quite right.
And you could adjust it.
You could get in there and play with it little bit, but it just never, it wasn't that forme.
Well, I tell you what, I got to hand it to Viscount because I mean, their leading endorserfor was Joey DeFrancisco and Joey loved it.
And I'll be honest with you, I didn't like the chorus vibrato and he loved it.
(16:31):
So you could have easily, if you were Viscount, you could have easily said, you know what,Joey D likes it, then it must be great.
But they kept at it.
And I'd tell you, somewhere in the last couple years, they kept at it.
And boy, they absolutely, for me, just nailed it.
(16:51):
They certainly have.
that's a big thing is the course.
The course vibrato is a big thing.
I said the action, the thing that you're never going to get on a clone is the action'snever going to be right.
because they're all using a short length keyboard.
And if you actually look at a real Hammond keyboard, it's got a very long key.
(17:11):
So the fulcrum is different.
Well, with these Fatar key beds, even, I think Hammond might make their own, but they'restill working with a small, they're not making extended keys.
You're always gonna be sort of struggling with that springy action compared to gentlytouching the key on a real Hammond and it goes down.
But with a variety of springs and grommets and some of these companies have really gottenclose.
(17:35):
Once again, crew mart, their, their feel is great.
And now the legend, didn't like the feel of the original legend, but with this and thesoul, they have really gotten a lot closer to what the real feel is.
So, and then once again, Leslie sim, the Leslie sim in this is just outstanding.
So they've really hit my three boxes there, you know, with those things right off the top.
(18:00):
How do you experience some of the other features that I imagine organ players would belooking for such as percussion, key click leakage, sorts of things?
The percussion is great.
Percussion is this weird thing.
know, it's a ping, but it's a wooden ping.
The real percussion is an amazing, I have no idea why they even use that on a real organ.
(18:21):
I don't know what it was for originally, but it's, that's the sound, right?
I mean, that's the thing that makes a B3, not a B2, is the percussion.
And it's this mysterious thing that they do with the tube.
And I don't know how it creates that woodney.
thing and a lot of the clones don't get that right.
But the legend, it feels right when I hear it.
(18:41):
It's like the things that happen while I'm in the middle of playing are where the storygets told.
For me, it's as I'm playing.
If I'm playing on a clone that maybe the vibrato is not really good, maybe the chord ormaybe the maybe the percussion isn't right.
Imagine the gif of I think it's from the hangover.
(19:02):
It's Zach Galifianakis and he's
there's all these numbers and equations happening.
Okay, that is sort of what happens in my brain when I'm playing.
So if I'm playing on a real Hammond organ, and bear in mind, there are a lot of Hammondorgans that sound like crap.
Believe me, I've run into them on the road.
Not every just because it's the real thing doesn't necessarily mean it's inspiring to playall the time.
(19:24):
But say you're playing on a really good organ.
And it's like all of these
I've got all these avenues that I can go.
like, I could go here.
I could go here.
This made me think this.
If I'm playing on an instrument that doesn't sound good or doesn't respond well, well,there's maybe this one, you know, there's maybe this thing, you know, there's way less.
So a really good sounding instrument inspires more ideas.
(19:49):
And that's what I've found.
Even the first time I gigged with the legend, I couldn't wait to get it out to play.
And on the gig, it really felt
Like I had all these options that I have when I'm playing the real Oregon, you know, andthe guys in the band, they were just like, what is that?
I mean, they heard it because they, play with me all the time when I've got differentclones and they also play with me when I'm playing the real Oregon.
(20:12):
And they were just like, that thing sounds like the real thing.
And I really felt like it inspired them to play.
Real thing to, you know, the really go for it like we do when we're playing on the realstuff.
So to answer your question, Paul, the
The percussion is great.
The draw bar, the different levels of draw bar, it just feels right.
(20:33):
It just, it all mixes in nicely.
The key click, one of the things that's different about the Legend 1, the flagship of theViscount stuff is the sole.
And the sole's two manuals, you know, it's got all the bells and whistles and the sole isa little more editable in some of the deep editing you can do.
So on the Legend 1, the key click is basically a level amount.
(20:55):
it's I have a volume there's a there's a key click knob right here on the front that youcan adjust the key click I think on the soul, you can adjust some of the attack parameters
you can adjust a little bit of the I think you can EQ it a bit.
And I think there's also an attack frequency with the key.
So there's there's that's one of the reasons the soul is the flagship there's a littlethere's more you can edit.
(21:18):
There's more things you can edit in the Leslie simulation on the soul of the Lesliesimulation on here.
includes their most recent SIM, and you can control a lot of things you can control wherethe mics are.
But on the sole, you can actually like visually move the mics around.
Here you have set to you know, rear at 60 rear far 60 side 180.
(21:40):
You know, you can select different presets.
But on the sole, you can dial it, you can put one mic back there and one mic right upfront.
If you wanted to do something like that, you can set that kind of stuff.
So there's more editability.
within the soul.
But the legend one really provides a lot of what you're looking for.
(22:00):
mean, and let it there.
There are those of us organ players who were deep divers, you know, and will, you know,tweak until the cows come home.
And there's guys that can make clones that I would consider maybe not as good, they canmake them sound really, really good, you know.
uh So it just depends on what you want to do.
And I like that there's a lot of good presets in this.
(22:22):
There's a ton of presets that are named, not named directly after songs, but you know,purple deep or whatever, you know, it'll be called something clever like that.
So you know what they're going for.
So they've spent a lot of time programming classic sounds here.
But for me, it's like, give me the bass sound.
I'm going to dial it in.
And uh it's got a crosstalk.
(22:42):
There's a crosstalk that you can add in.
um There's a hum, which you can have.
you go to that level of realism, there's a home that you can just have.
It just is just running in the background.
You know, you walk away from the keyboard and it's still making a sound out of the amp,you know, if that's what you want.
It'll do that too, you know.
But think what I'm hearing there Mitch is if I were to do something like what David didand just purchase one to use with my cover band or whatever out of the box I'm going to
(23:09):
get some really great authentic...
You're ready to go.
Yeah, you do that.
You do a you do a Pink Floyd thing, right?
Yeah, well, I got a I got a feeling.
I haven't gone through every preset name, but I got a feeling there's a couple in therethat are probably named after Pink Floyd patches.
So yeah.
Just on that, so Mitch, with the organ, you talk about the range of presets.
(23:31):
I have no doubt you've dialed up your own sounds, as you said, and tweaked them and savedthem.
Do you want to give us a quick listen to what some of your go-to organ sounds you love atthe moment?
Well, yeah, I'll just, you know, and, well here, little...
This type of chord is kind of like, it's the make or break for me.
(23:52):
It's like, if I play a chord like this on a clone, it's gotta...
drive kind of cranked up so you can hear how it breaks up if I turn the drive all the waydown m it's a much cleaner sound now with the drive down you can probably hear the
(24:25):
crosstalk a little in there
But that CV, now without the chorus vibrato on, so we'll go back to the original settingthere.
So without the CV on there, the straight organ sound with no chorus.
(24:47):
But when you kick that on, the way that distortion breaks up is right.
This is probably the best drive I've heard on a clone ever because it a lot of times itgets sizzly you know the fake overdrive gets a little sizzly this breaks up the way you
(25:13):
expect it to when you're playing it just has that like it just grinds in the back thereand they have different
One of the cool things and you can't see the keyboard here, but they've really assembledthis thing in a really smart way So there's there's a dial for the chorus vibrato just
(25:34):
like there is on a Hammett organ But if you push on it, it takes you right into theeditable part where you can pick the chorus Type so they have four chorus types that are I
think based on different organs and I think different vintages So type a and I'llhopefully you can this will come across type a is not as
(25:54):
not as strong, it sounds like this.
Type B, it's got a little more.
Type C, it's probably not coming across too well, but in here you can hear the high endscome out a little more like the Chorus Vibrato does on a real Hammond, because when you
turn it off,
(26:18):
brings out the chorus vibrato brings out a little more of those high ends and they andthere's four types in here I think in the soul you can get in actually tweak down to the
nth degree on here you just get four presets but they are so good they're just I there'snothing I would change about them personally on a granular level ah
(26:40):
So yeah, so like I said, if you click on the rotary simulator, it'll take you into therotary simulator where you can start changing where the mics are.
I'm not sure if this will give you an idea of...
Here, let's try...
uh
(27:02):
Sorry guys, I'm just trying to figure out.
Okay, so like the mic setup, like right here it's set at what's called rear 60 far.
So it's in back, you know, let's go to uh side 180.
Totally different, Gives you totally different.
(27:23):
And what that gives you the ability to do is
whatever system you're playing through.
Like right now I'm playing through a motion sound stereo keyboard, a KP-12, right?
Which is a great keyboard amp.
But if I was playing through like a mono PA speaker, well, I can go in and kind of figureout what the right thing for that is.
(27:44):
Or if I was running direct into a board to record in a studio, I can set up.
what sounds good for that.
So you have a variety of setups which you can do for different situations.
it's got one of the things that, one of the tricks of recording a Hammond organ that youmay or may not know is that when Rudy Van Gelder recorded the Jimmy Smith stuff, not only
(28:11):
did he have a Leslie, but he took a direct off of the organ.
So you get a little extra click, you get a little extra bass.
That's the real secret sauce to recording like a Hammond organ record.
Like when we did my record, that's what we did.
And you can then take that.
It's a full range signal.
So you can take it and kind of do whatever you want with it.
(28:33):
Well, this allows you to dial in direct into your Leslie simulation.
So you can get a little more click.
You can get a little more of that direct sound through the same speakers.
So, you you can really customize this to.
you know, very high degree.
That's amazing.
And Mitch, I need to ask, obviously no single manual organ can hope to replicate a dualmanual in some ways, but I know the legend one even from my little bit of playing, it's
(29:01):
got some amazing options there.
Tell us about how you're approaching that.
It has four what they call memory buttons that are right under the display.
And these are not just for organ, they're for every single setting.
Any of the other sounds you use, you can set up memories.
(29:23):
for like a jazz organ context where...
Like when you're playing jazz organ, you're not really usually doing a lot of draw barpulling because ah you're busy.
You're playing left hand.
Like if you're playing in a band with a bass player, a lot of guys will do a lot of drawbar pulling and, you know, do that John Modesky kind of thing where they're playing the
(29:46):
draw bars.
That's a cool, that's a cool thing.
That's not, that's not so the Jimmy Smith kind of Joey D kind of thing because you're busyplaying.
There's too much going on.
You don't have time to reach up.
So a lot of times you use the presets.
You know that that and you'll have them set up for, you know, a jazz sound and then you'llhave also on the top your full organ, right?
(30:14):
And you balance between those on presets.
So you're playing along and also need pop a preset to change that, right?
So then on your bottom manual, you usually have a comping manual, right?
You're playing bass and comping with like 8-3-8 is usually, right?
Well,
So with these, since I'm playing a single manual, I have to be able to go between like asolo sound on top and then be able to come behind somebody.
(30:40):
And that's what these memory spots are perfect for.
So say we're playing a tune and we play the head, we get to the end, and it's a guitarsolo.
I'm immediately.
to that, because I just pop that preset.
So then when I go to my solo, then I go back to the solo setting.
(31:04):
I can't comp while I'm soloing, is a comp.
You bababooda, and then comp a little bit, and then play.
You lose that on a single manual.
um But you know.
Everything's a sacrifice.
This thing sounds so good and I love playing it so much.
I'm like, you know what?
I'll deal with it, you know, and then of course so on the third set I've got the full outorgan, but then you can do things like, you know, the classic thing that, you know, Joey D
(31:31):
or Jimmy Smith would do, they would hold the big chord and then drop down the manual, youknow, well, you know, I can do that, you know.
You know, I can imitate that a little bit.
I've got a video up, have a YouTube short where I'm doing that on a ballad, and I tell youwhat, if I had my eyes closed, I would think that I had just done that.
(31:54):
Even though I knew what I was doing, it sounded good.
And I'm not bragging about my technique, I'm just saying I was able to manipulate this ina way to get that sound.
It's got two sets of drawbars and a set of pedal drawbars.
So a lot of people don't like the single manual clones because they often have one set ofdrawbars.
Well, this one's got two, so you can set it up.
(32:16):
They really, and we're not even talking about the other sounds yet.
I don't know we time for that or not.
But they've really gone about this in a smart way because the drawbars can also be usedfor the synth parameters, unlike some of the synthesizers.
So if I'm playing a synth pad,
I can do filter cutoff, can do resonant and uh attack, decay and release, all of yourtypical, you know, your bread and butter synth parameters with the drawbars.
(32:44):
It's just, it was really brilliantly assembled.
And that's probably a good segue pitch because I do want to talk about the other sound.
just...
um
As I said, I've only played with it for half an hour, but the reason I bought the Legendone is I currently use a Moody X7 as my main board.
I currently use a virtual, an Arturia MIDI controller as my top board.
I'm so sick of not having a decent organ sound and my current band has probably 10 songsnow that require a really decent organ sound.
(33:11):
So I threw out on the Legend one based on the videos and just from playing, it's got, Iwould argue, and I've stupidly have owned the Electro 5D and the YC61 and sold them both.
um This is by far and away the best set of synth sounds I've heard on an organ clone.
They're really good.
Yeah, there's not a ton of them.
(33:34):
But I kind of have a lot of faith in Viscount in their constant...
They update a lot, and they have made a lot of stuff backward compatible to some of theirolder...
I don't think they can uh go backward to the original Legends with some of the stuffthat's in the Soul and the Legend now, but I know that they did.
(33:58):
when they did some new chorus vibrato changes to the soul, were able to put them in theoriginal legends.
But I know that from talking to them, there are plans for updates to this.
I mean, this is an investment keyboard, I think.
They've proven that they're always moving forward with this stuff.
(34:20):
I feel that any of stuff that I'm not 100 % in love with, I got a feeling that'll changeover time.
Agree, and you're right, there aren't a massive amount but the ones that are there, sothere's just a really good stable of pads, there's a really good stable of synth leads.
(34:42):
It's got all you know, and this is a good Etsy synth.
We're on.
OK, so here's our here's our pad.
I can change the filter cut off and all that.
Let's not.
wait, I didn't turn it on.
I'm just messing with the resonance and the cutoffs and...
(35:03):
So you can really dial in the stuff like you would live, just to adjust it the way youwant.
Exactly.
And the other thing I want to call out to listeners and viewers that use virtual rigs,I've already started setting mine up with the Viscount One and bringing in sounds from
main stage.
(35:24):
Like any decent keyboard nowadays, the MIDI implementation is excellent.
It works really well.
I'm actually about to try and integrate it with GigPerformer as well, which should be eveneasier.
So yeah, can't recommend that side of it as well.
And Mitch, do you use that side of the Viscount March Live?
I know it's predominantly organ, but you do use it a bit, yeah.
Yes, ah yeah, I'm in an ensemble that does a lot of like live funk, total improv where I'mthe bass player too and I play a lot of synth stuff so I have set up some presets where
(35:58):
it's not only does it have, know, it's got great synth basses.
I don't know if you can hear.
You know, it's all have it set up with strings on top.
So I'm playing all the bass parts here and playing the synth.
It's got some really cool leads in it uh Their name like mr.
(36:21):
Mr.
Yan and mr.
Duke, you know, so they definitely like here's mr That's the Yan hammer patch, know theDuke George Duke
You know, mean, you have to do your eyebrows when you do that kind of stuff too, you know,so I can't not do that.
(36:43):
So it's got, you know, it has a handful of each kind of sound you're looking for.
And I got a feeling over time that'll increase, but then you can edit them and save themthe way you want.
know, if your pad doesn't have as much resonance or you want it have a longer decay, youcan set that and then save it that way.
And then you've, know, so you really do have...
quite a lot of stuff to...
(37:04):
I can take that George Duke sound and change the resonance a little bit and make it my ownthing a little more.
So it's such a well thought out keyboard.
not using probably a third of what it's built for just because I'm playing organ so much,right?
But it's got...
(37:30):
Richard T.
And it responds nicely too for being a non-weighted keyboard.
It's got velocity levels, can set velocity curves and that kind of thing.
So um it's really kind of built for that so you can dial it into the way it's going torespond to your playing.
(37:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for showing one of the EPs off too.
I I know you mentioned at the start that each one has its strengths and you look like youthe electric But um certainly the pianos are, for what I need in a cover band, extremely
strong and I'd argue better than the Maydx 7s.
uh
mention this too that I have not played the 73 key version.
(38:19):
This is the 61.
And I got the 61 because I can't play organ on a 73.
It's my feng shui is off, right?
I will not do I can't do it.
And one thing that Viscount did is and I haven't played the 73.
But the actions I guess are slightly different.
Because they geared the 73 to be a little more towards Oh, it's not weighted.
(38:42):
But it's a little different action that's more
keyboard that and all the reports that I've read on all the forums and anyone that has oneand that has played them at NAMM they said they can still easily play organ on the 73.
So that's great.
I went for the 61 because it's designed for organ the actions a little more is moreorgan-y.
(39:05):
That's what I want.
That's what I'm shooting for.
And so I will sacrifice for the other sounds so the organ plays the way I
What percentage of the time are you taking this one out and using it versus maybe havingsome
Once I got this, haven't taken any other clone out.
I've actually sold a couple since I got this.
(39:27):
was like, okay, this is my new Huckleberry.
I'm This is the one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think I would eventually like to get a soul because to have the two keyboards.
for now, I I just bought a car, guys.
Music's being good to me, but it looks like I have a budget.
(39:47):
You know, but eventually I think I would like a soul.
I tell you, this is just so easy.
I'll take this on a plane.
I think that's, this was maybe the first clone that I've had that I thought, okay, I'mgoing to get a road case.
And if I'm going to go to a gig somewhere and I don't know what's going on for backline,I'm going to this in a road case and check it and actually take it.
I've never taken a keyboard on the road like that.
(40:08):
I always just kind of deal with backline.
But you know, before he passed away, Joey D had made a Facebook post.
It was a little controversial.
He said, you know, there's no reason to be playing the real thing anymore.
know, because, I get his perspective was, I mean, that guy toured the world a milliontimes over playing all the back line and God knows what kind of crap he ran into, you
(40:31):
know, in far flung places, you know, yeah, we have an organ and God knows what it is.
Right.
And I think he was so happy to have an instrument that he was, he knew was going to soundthe same every night.
And I get, I totally get that.
I don't agree that.
I I feel like if you're recording, if you're in the studio, man, you know, and the realthings there, that's the real thing.
And I always wanted to hear Joey on the real thing, because that's the real thing.
(40:54):
But man, I get it, you know, when you could actually go somewhere and know this thing isgoing to sound the same.
And it's going to sound good no matter what amplification system they provide me with.
You know, all I got to do is I can pack us expression pedal than maybe not.
one of the cool features, by the way, speaking of pedals is is they have what's called
(41:15):
um the thud built into this and let me make let me get my setting up here and do i have ityou have to set it in the right oh yes yeah so it's a cap so as you guys know probably
when you're playing jazz organ you have pedalboard too and
(41:38):
Usually you're not playing each one, like on a ballad you might be playing each one, or ona medium tempo you can tap each pedal.
But a lot of times you're just tapping one pedal, because that gives you what they callthe thud.
And it's really like the pluck of a string.
So if I'm playing a bass line here with just my left hand.
It sounds good, right?
(42:00):
But if you're tapping a pedal at the same time...
Yeah, well.
Well, so they set it up so you can use a sustain pedal to tap and you can pick whateverpedal.
Like, I think every organ player might have a different tap pedal.
I use a B-flat.
I think Pat Bianchi uses a B.
I think Brian Charette might use an A.
(42:20):
You know, but it allows you to just get that little thump in there.
And uh the soul has a setting that I hope makes it to this, because right now all I can dois choose one pedal and tap it.
Now if I hold down, and the cool thing is if I hold down on the pedal, it'll play thatpedal tone, but it'll only play that one that I'm able to choose.
(42:43):
On the soul, they just added a thing where it will play whatever the lowest note is.
So if I'm playing uh F in my left hand and I...
play the sustain pedal, it'll play the pedal, see, right now it's playing the B flat.
So they call it like leftmost or whatever.
(43:05):
I really want that on this.
And I imagine they'll probably put it in this because then you can almost do a gig withoutpedals because you could still have a pedal tone long when you needed it.
But that kind of stuff, know, that kind of like, they really went to organ players.
They went to Joey D.
They went to Pat Bianchi.
They went to people who really know the organ and say,
(43:25):
What do you want in this?
have some amazing, there's some amazing Italian organ players.
Francesco Dillo, he's one of the guys who has been, you know, a part of the development ofmaking this instrument as just as full of whatever you'd want as it can be.
I gotta, I gotta give it, and I, and like I said earlier, I gotta give it to Krumar.
(43:47):
I gotta give it to, I gotta give it to Karsten who created the HX3 board.
You know, the module that's used in the MAG and in the UHL.
That's an amazing clone too.
You know, mean, the amount of time and just getting the goof, the amazing idiosyncrasiesof this insane instrument and all the, you know, the crosstalk.
(44:12):
This has a key compression.
So one of the things about a Hamlet organ is if you play a lot of notes, it actuallycompresses them so they're not so...
I don't know how it works or any of that, but they built that into this too.
So if you're playing a real balls out sound, it's not just cutting your head off becauseit actually compresses, like, because the real thing does that.
(44:34):
So they built that in and you can adjust that, you know, so there's so much that they'veput thought they've put into this, the to just make it as useful as possibly can be to
someone like myself and a variety of other organ players.
Absolutely, extremely well put Mitch and I think it's great that the bar just continues tobe raised and as you mentioned all the other companies, mean we had Scott May from Hamadon
(44:58):
recently, I mean they're doing amazing stuff so everyone's doing amazing stuff and keepingthis alive which is what counts.
And here's the thing, everybody has a different idea of what the Hammond organs wouldsound like.
Does it sound like the sound that Rick Wakeman used on Roundabout?
Yes.
Does it sound like what Keith Emerson used on Tarkus?
(45:19):
Yes.
Does it sound like what Jimmy Smith played on the sermon?
Yes.
Does it sound like what Larry Golding plays?
Yes.
It's all of those things.
They're all different.
That's why a lot of the clones...
have different models.
Like there's five or six different organs in here.
There's a C3, there's two different B3s from different vintages.
There's an A100, there's a BC where the full back goes all the way down.
(45:42):
So they have to give you like, you know, the Krumar has 24 of them, you know, I mean, sothat's just because they're all different.
And that's the I think that's one of the real hard things is everyone's got a differentidea.
So then they go, Oh, I like the Nord because it does this well, okay, because it soundslike the sound in your head when you think of the organ.
For me, it's the Joey D.
(46:03):
It's the Chester Thompson from Tower of Power sound.
If you can give me those sounds, man, I'll play your instrument.
That's what it is.
No, exactly right.
No, extremely well put.
Look, can't thank you enough, for running us through it because I said I certainly haven'thad enough time, let alone the skill you bring to it.
And I feel like we've even done a mini clone wheel shootout because you've mentionedbasically all the key organs, which is amazing as well.
(46:28):
So, yeah, look, I apologize if we don't have more time, but can't thank you enough forrunning us through it like that.
I'm definitely not babbling.
oh
(46:49):
There we have it.
um Paul, as we talked about in the introduction, mean, Mitch's passion is obvious from theget go.
Yeah, it certainly is.
He said so himself.
He's a passionate guy.
And that's why I love listening to him, because he really has a care factor.
although, as he disclosed, yes, he is an endorsed artist by Viscount.
(47:11):
You know his opinions, his opinions, and they're coming from the heart.
I just love hearing him talk about playing organ and every time I listen to him I justthink about how much nuance there is to that instrument.
Exactly and there is a lot of nuance and as a non-endorsed Viscount artist and nor shouldI be endorsed for the level of my artistry.
(47:32):
uh But look from what I've played around with the Vi I am sold on it I think it's got it'san amazing
board and I'm super excited to dig deeper into it.
And as I said, in the, I'm looking at actually integrating, updating my live rig andmoving off main stage to gig performer.
Um, and for those that listen to the David Jamison interview, or if you haven't get on it,if you're interested in gig performer, he sort of turned around my perception on how gig
(47:58):
performers framed, um, because I was really struggling with that.
And, um, I've, I've spent probably 20 minutes in gig performer and was able to so easilyset up a basic.
Set up for a song.
I'm super impressed with it.
So I'm excited to dive into that But yeah, the legend one it's MIDI implementation is nobetter than anyone else's but I just uh I won't put it up but there are other keyboards
(48:22):
where I've really struggled to find how do I get Main stage or gig performer to switch?
Internal things no issue at all, but there are lots of other keyboards that that's not anissue either but Yeah, think you know to the thing that that sort of came out towards the
end of that chat there David
is what seems to be really good about this instrument is you can be an organ playerrequiring quite some depth and complexity and subtlety and clearly someone like Mitch is
(48:51):
very very satisfied with what it delivers in that regard but then you can also be someonewho might be using it just to get killer organ sounds for your cover band or what have you
and it's going to do that job really well too and as Mitch said it's a
There's some presets that are already in there that will just help you get straight intosome of those classic iconic rock sounds that we all know from the Hammond through the 60s
(49:14):
and 70s and 80s.
So I think that's an exciting thing.
And obviously it's got the cool other stuff too, the electric pianos, acoustic pianos,synthesizers, like some of the other keyboards that we know and love.
So I think it was really worth exploring that and certainly intrigued me, no doubt.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And look, it's inspired me to, whenever I find some time,
(49:36):
in the next couple of years, I've always wanted to have proper organ lessons.
So I would love to be able to play say 10 % as good as what Mitch Town does.
um And I'll need lessons to be able to do that.
And this is the sort of board, albeit not a dual manual in an ideal world, I would have aB3, but as you know, in Paul and Australia, ain't that many of them.
I was just thinking, I think Mitch has more in his house than we have in our country.
(49:57):
That's right.
Yeah, sadly.
but no, it was a great chat with Mitch and I hugely appreciate his time um taking it.
And also thank you to all of you out there for your time as always.
um We certainly got lots of great shows to come up as well.
And a big shout out to our Golden Silver supporters, the lovely Tammy Katcher from TammysMusical Studio.
(50:20):
Thank you as always Tammy.
um The brilliant musicplayer.com forums, Dave Bryce and the team there.
Go to place to discuss keyboards.
particularly if you'd like, like I do the older style forum format, you know, it's so muchmore civilized than social media, but that's just me or not just me, cause there's lots of
people on musicplayer.com forums.
(50:41):
um The lovely Dewi Evans from the sunny land of Wales.
Thank you Dewi as always for your support.
And last but definitely not least, Mr.
Mike Wilcox from Midnight Mastering.
Paul and I both talked about how we've used Mike for
projects and we're both very happy customers and if you want your work mixed and masteredin a masterful way then Midnight Mastering is the way to go.
(51:02):
Thank you Paul as always.
We'll be chatting very soon and we're seeing each other face to face in a couple of monthswhich is very exciting.
I couldn't be more excited about that.
Our band's playing together.
We're going to have to do some kind of I don't know what episode or and like no one'sgoing to care because we're just a couple of blokes having a bit of fun.
(51:24):
But I think we just have to be self-indulgent, don't we?
just have an episode of us seeing each other and our bands having a fun night.
Exactly.
No, looking forward to it.
So again, thank you all out there and until we see you next time, keep on playing.
The things that happen while I'm in the middle of playing are where the story gets told.
Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you and mybrilliant, Malifluous, which is the word I use in episode 72 to describe Paul Bindig still
(00:25):
applies.
How are you Paul?
I'm Malifluous as ever, I hope.
You are.
Good, good.
And the reason I use that word again from episode 72 is we've got the brilliant Mitch Townback with us.
um
We reached out to Mitch because he's been a heavy user of the recently released ViscountLegend 1.
Plus we're aware that Mitch has sort of had an interesting couple of years since we'vetalked to him.
(00:50):
So we jumped at the chance to have another chat with him.
So I think you'll get a lot out of this, whether you are interested in organ playing orotherwise.
but particularly if you're interested, Paul, I reckon in purchasing a Legend 1, there'slots of detail covered.
Yeah Mitch goes into quite some depth about it which is really welcome to be honest whenyou have a power user to describe a keyboard so I won't ruin any of the surprise.
(01:17):
David we'll just roll into that and uh look forward to hearing your thoughts viewers andlisteners after you've heard it.
Exactly here we go.
Mitch, sir, it's an absolute pleasure to have you back.
(01:39):
I looked through the archives, the very esteemed Keyboard Chronicle archives, and it wasepisode 72 we had the pleasure of speaking with you, so it's so lovely to see you again.
Great to be back.
You guys have had a run.
The people you've had on this show are incredible.
I'm just very honored to be one of the people on the list.
Very deservedly so.
(01:59):
And we're really excited to talk to you because before we jump into the legend one, whichwe will be getting to in some depth, but we do want to sort of recap with you because it
has been a while.
You've had quite the couple of years.
Last time we spoke with you, you were sort of just about to go out on the road and tell ushow that went.
And then I know you've got an upcoming album.
Sort of give us a potted history of Mitch Town over the last 18 months.
(02:23):
Well, you know, I think I talked to you just as SRT was getting off the ground and we hadan amazing run in that year.
We toured Japan.
We hit the Billboard live clubs in Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo.
And that was, that was life changing, you know, cause I'd never been there.
I'd always wanted to go to Japan and all my musician friends had said, they're going totreat you like a rock star.
(02:45):
And I'll tell you what, they were not exaggerating.
this will give you a good example of
of how different it is, how different they view culture and art there is we would playthese beautiful clubs called Billboard Live.
And so we would do two sets and then we do an autograph line and the audiences were all soknowledgeable and would ask these really pointed questions, you know, and it was just
(03:09):
fabulous.
So then we would gather up our stuff and our handler would lead us through the back of theclub out to the van and the entire staff, including the kitchen staff of the club would
line up.
and clap for you as you walked out.
And we're so jaded.
Andrew, the guitar player in SRT turns to me and he goes, are they being serious?
(03:33):
Are they making fun of us?
I was like, no, I think they're serious.
You know, but that's, you know, that's the difference of how artists are treated, youknow, other countries.
And we just had a wonderful time.
I think the big highlight of that one for me was our album was put out by a Japaneselabel.
called P Vine the week before we went there.
(03:55):
And so they told us, said, when you're in Tokyo, go to Tower Records.
They still have Tower Records.
Tower Records is long gone in the United States, but they had like a three or four floorTower Records.
And we went to the jazz floor, not the jazz section, the jazz floor.
And there was a display of us.
(04:19):
of our record and our faces.
And so here I am walking into a record store in Tokyo, and there's my face, you know, Imean, it was one of those like, wow, you know, and so that was a great tour.
And then later that summer, we toured the East Coast, we did a week at Birdland, we werejoined by the legendary Tom Scott on saxophone, who is the saxophone player on a
(04:43):
zillion songs, hits, everybody from Michael Jackson to Joni Mitchell to George Harrisonto, you know, mean, Toto to everything to Steely Dan.
He arranged the horns for Steely Dan, you know, so it was really a great time for me toget to be with guys like him, guys like JR, and to be able to say, okay, what was it like
to work with Steely Dan, you know, and then Tom tells you the stories, you know what it'slike.
(05:06):
And so it was really wonderful.
And so that was great.
And like you said, I just recently completed
I just put out my first album as a leader and it's called Refuge and it's six, it's seventunes, six of my compositions.
And it was really kind of what I wanted to kind of show what my view of where the Hammondorgan falls into jazz.
(05:27):
know, it's a little more modern, but still I think accessible.
And yeah, I'm just really excited about that.
And that just came out.
It's getting some nice reviews and I'm just really grateful for that.
I apologize Mitch I was thinking it was still coming out because I haven't listened to ityet, but I certainly will be
It's everywhere.
You can find it on all the normal places.
Yeah.
(05:48):
So no, looking forward to that.
And SRT likely to go out on the road again.
Other plans?
Yep, I think we'll be doing some stuff.
I was just at the baked potato, the famous baked potato with Andrew and a couple otherguys.
So I've got a lot of, a lot of things going on.
I might have a couple other things I can't talk about yet happening.
you know, but things are going, things are, I'm having a good time.
(06:08):
Great.
And look, in any keyboard's player's life, all you can ask for is some great gigs and somegreat gear.
And I think it's fair to say as an attempted segue, the Viscount Legend 1 has taken yourfancy.
So let's dive into that a little bit.
And then I thought we might get you to do a little bit of a comparison to some of theother clone wheels as well.
(06:30):
um
It's probably a good idea to say upfront that I've recently become a Viscount endorsingartist.
everybody can take, everybody can take however much salt, grain of salt, you know, withwhat I have to say.
But I will say that I did become that after I bought my own keyboard.
They haven't given me anything.
(06:50):
paid, I paid full price for this.
And once I played it, once I heard it, that's when I was in contact with it was like,guys, this thing is off the chain.
is Just to keep Mitch honest, which no one needs to keep him honest because he inherentlyis, but I own one as well.
But as I was saying to Mitch before the show, I've spent all of half an hour with it dueto some work commitments.
(07:11):
I'm devastated to say I haven't played with it to any extent that Mitch does, let alonethe fact that I can only play a tenth as well.
But yeah, we're not going to have hyperbole about the Viscount ledger.
Why don't we just really talking about what we do.
like about it and definitely no sponsorship involved.
Yeah.
And thank you for that disclosure, Mitch.
But anyone who has read anything Mitch has written, you will know he takes this stuffvery, very seriously and gives an honest professional considered opinion.
(07:37):
we're delighted to have you on the show to discuss this.
And David, look, I was disappointed.
was really hoping, as David has just said, he also owns a Legend One.
I was hoping we'd have a keyboard shootout today.
You and Mitch trading off chops.
As if I was ever going to agree to that.
You
So Mitch, the best place to jump in is just your overview of the Legend 1 and what yourinitial thoughts were when you did play it for say the first half hour to an hour.
(08:06):
Well, if, okay, so if anyone's not totally familiar with what the Legend I is, it is whatI kind of refer to as a Swiss Army Knife keyboard.
Keyboards that fall into that category are definitely the Nord Electro, which is thegranddaddy of those Swiss Army Knives.
know, the Yamaha YC series, the YC61, it would be comparable to the Legend I.
(08:28):
you know, and each one of them, I think, sort of has a strength.
You know, for instance, I think out of say those three, let's compare those three becausethey are, you know, there are dedicated clones, obviously, but these three keyboards are
trying to sort of occupy the same space, right?
And I think what I would say if, if I could get the best of all three of them together,the Nord would have the best piano.
(08:55):
The Nords are known for their pianos.
Their pianos are sensational and they're great in the electro, because they're the same asthe ones that are in the
the stage and the you know, and I think that the the electric pianos in the CP or in theYC 61 in the Yamaha, those are really good.
I like those the best out of those three.
But the legend one, for me, being primarily an organ player, it's all about the organ, theorgan in it.
(09:22):
And I have played everything.
Okay, going all the way back to my first clone was
Voce made a box.
It was a preset box.
It's called the micro B and you can just dial in various drawbar settings and it was wasreally good for its time.
(09:42):
You know, so I have really used everything and tried everything since I've made it apoint.
It's like whenever there's something new, I got to try it.
got to buy and got to play.
Yeah, and just to interrupt me is too, you've also got massive credibility in theoriginal.
So I can't remember whether it's you, but I believe you have a number of B3s around thehouse.
(10:04):
you've obviously got...
gotten you know what the last time we talked I think I told you I had eight different ordifferent Hammons of various vintages but since then I'm down to about five you know so
it's like I finally yeah you know I'm trying to spread the love around you know Ishouldn't have everything and so I once I find one that I think is better it it you know
(10:25):
goes up in the in the list and then the other one drops off and I can sell it you know sothat's the thing is I have spent a ton of time on the real thing you'll get a lot of
people with
the opinions on him and Oregon clones, they call it the Clone Wars, right?
I mean, it's the best online inside Oregon player joke ever.
(10:45):
It's the Clone Wars and people have such, myself included, have had such strong opinionsabout why we pick this one over this one or why this one isn't as good as this one.
um But it comes from the real thing, which is right here is my A100, right?
So I'm looking over at it.
You can't see it, but it's there.
That's the gold standard, is this ridiculously complex tubes and wires instrument that wasmade in 1962 or started being made even earlier than that before the B3s, the A series was
(11:19):
out in you know, what, the 50s and the 40s, I think.
you know, here we are 50, 60 years later trying to replicate just like a digital piano,we're trying to replicate something that was made in the what, 1600s, 1700s, right?
And we're trying to get as close as possible.
And I think what we really try to achieve whenever we're playing a digital piano or a fakeRhodes or definitely a Hamlin organ clone is suspension of disbelief.
(11:46):
When I'm on the gig, when I'm not playing the real thing and I'm not playing through aLeslie and I'm playing through a speaker or a motion sound or a PA speaker, what clone is
gonna get me closest to forgetting that I'm playing a clone?
And or that that what is what digital piano is going to give me that Steinway feeling orthat Yamaha feeling that you're that you want from the real thing as keyboard players.
(12:12):
I might've lamented this last time as keyboard players.
I'm so jealous of a sax player or a guitar player, someone that actually gets to take theinstrument that they shed on every day to a gig.
I hate them.
They walk in, they play the same instrument that's been in the practice room with them.
I never get to do that ever.
Right.
(12:33):
So we really have to find something that gets us as close to the real thing.
And I have to hand it to, I have to hand it to, to Viscount, to Hammond Suzuki, to Krumar,to Nord, to, to MAG, to all of these, all of these companies that have dedicated time and
resource.
(12:53):
Two.
something that's a little bit of a niche instrument almost, you know, it's pretty, it'spopular, it's played on so many different kinds of, but let's face it, they're, they're,
they're devoting a ton of time and money to one instrument to try to get it as close aspossible.
as organ players, and I'm filibustering here, I don't mean to, but as organ players, we,we need to be very grateful to these companies.
(13:18):
Roland has had, know, Korg has made them.
They you know, they've all really tried to make a dedicated Oregon Yamaha with the the YCseries dip their toes in it, you know, and it's like, so we're very fortunate that we
don't have to haul around, you know, an actual B three to get in that ballpark anymore.
And Mitch, I know there are so many aspects of trying to replicate a B3 and obviously theLeslie comes into part of it.
(13:47):
And I know from some of your comments, I'm just interested in your perspective.
A lot of our listeners and viewers out there will play clones.
They may own some of the ventilator gear or whatever.
And I know you've said essentially the inbuilt stuff with the Viscount Legend 1 is as goodor better than what you can with adding the ventilator onto whatever you've got.
(14:07):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I am one of the few people I've never been a giant fan of the ventilator.
just it always kind of left me kind of wanting.
I mean, at one point, it was obviously the best simulator out there that you could get,you know, off board, I guess.
But I was always I played a crew Marmojo for a long time, and I thought their internal SIMwas pretty much just as good.
(14:28):
And I used it, you know, but I think the things that I the everyone's got a different setof priorities.
If you talk to Pat Bianchi, he's going to tell you
A, B, and C are the things for him that he wants out of a clone.
And my A, B, and C, I might have a couple of the same things, but they might not be in thesame order.
And it's whatever those things for you get you there.
(14:50):
the thing, obviously the Leslie simulation is very important.
That's, know, and I'm not giving you these in any order, but say my top three are theLeslie simulation,
the keyboard feels and the chorus vibrato that to me a bad chorus vibrato will justabsolutely turn me off i will not want to play i won't want to hear it there are records
(15:16):
that i that i know that were made on clones and i don't want to hear it they they don'tsound good because the clone didn't have a good it was too warbly or there was too much
vibrato in the chorus and it sounds like this you know and it's just i just can't stand itand
One of the reasons that I played a Kumar Mojo for so long, because out of the box, theynailed the VC 13 years ago.
(15:42):
I mean, it was dead on out of the box, you know, and that's what kept me with them for solong.
Because of that, now you can get close on some of the others.
Now we fast forward to the Legend 1.
That's one of the things about it is they, I'll be honest with you, like I told youbefore, I'm a Viscount endorsing artist.
But I wasn't a huge fan of the original legend because I didn't like the chorus.
(16:06):
I thought it just wasn't quite right.
And you could adjust it.
You could get in there and play with it little bit, but it just never, it wasn't that forme.
Well, I tell you what, I got to hand it to Viscount because I mean, their leading endorserfor was Joey DeFrancisco and Joey loved it.
And I'll be honest with you, I didn't like the chorus vibrato and he loved it.
(16:31):
So you could have easily, if you were Viscount, you could have easily said, you know what,Joey D likes it, then it must be great.
But they kept at it.
And I'd tell you, somewhere in the last couple years, they kept at it.
And boy, they absolutely, for me, just nailed it.
(16:51):
They certainly have.
that's a big thing is the course.
The course vibrato is a big thing.
I said the action, the thing that you're never going to get on a clone is the action'snever going to be right.
because they're all using a short length keyboard.
And if you actually look at a real Hammond keyboard, it's got a very long key.
(17:11):
So the fulcrum is different.
Well, with these Fatar key beds, even, I think Hammond might make their own, but they'restill working with a small, they're not making extended keys.
You're always gonna be sort of struggling with that springy action compared to gentlytouching the key on a real Hammond and it goes down.
But with a variety of springs and grommets and some of these companies have really gottenclose.
(17:35):
Once again, crew mart, their, their feel is great.
And now the legend, didn't like the feel of the original legend, but with this and thesoul, they have really gotten a lot closer to what the real feel is.
So, and then once again, Leslie sim, the Leslie sim in this is just outstanding.
So they've really hit my three boxes there, you know, with those things right off the top.
(18:00):
How do you experience some of the other features that I imagine organ players would belooking for such as percussion, key click leakage, sorts of things?
The percussion is great.
Percussion is this weird thing.
know, it's a ping, but it's a wooden ping.
The real percussion is an amazing, I have no idea why they even use that on a real organ.
(18:21):
I don't know what it was for originally, but it's, that's the sound, right?
I mean, that's the thing that makes a B3, not a B2, is the percussion.
And it's this mysterious thing that they do with the tube.
And I don't know how it creates that woodney.
thing and a lot of the clones don't get that right.
But the legend, it feels right when I hear it.
(18:41):
It's like the things that happen while I'm in the middle of playing are where the storygets told.
For me, it's as I'm playing.
If I'm playing on a clone that maybe the vibrato is not really good, maybe the chord ormaybe the maybe the percussion isn't right.
Imagine the gif of I think it's from the hangover.
(19:02):
It's Zach Galifianakis and he's
there's all these numbers and equations happening.
Okay, that is sort of what happens in my brain when I'm playing.
So if I'm playing on a real Hammond organ, and bear in mind, there are a lot of Hammondorgans that sound like crap.
Believe me, I've run into them on the road.
Not every just because it's the real thing doesn't necessarily mean it's inspiring to playall the time.
(19:24):
But say you're playing on a really good organ.
And it's like all of these
I've got all these avenues that I can go.
like, I could go here.
I could go here.
This made me think this.
If I'm playing on an instrument that doesn't sound good or doesn't respond well, well,there's maybe this one, you know, there's maybe this thing, you know, there's way less.
So a really good sounding instrument inspires more ideas.
(19:49):
And that's what I've found.
Even the first time I gigged with the legend, I couldn't wait to get it out to play.
And on the gig, it really felt
Like I had all these options that I have when I'm playing the real Oregon, you know, andthe guys in the band, they were just like, what is that?
I mean, they heard it because they, play with me all the time when I've got differentclones and they also play with me when I'm playing the real Oregon.
(20:12):
And they were just like, that thing sounds like the real thing.
And I really felt like it inspired them to play.
Real thing to, you know, the really go for it like we do when we're playing on the realstuff.
So to answer your question, Paul, the
The percussion is great.
The draw bar, the different levels of draw bar, it just feels right.
(20:33):
It just, it all mixes in nicely.
The key click, one of the things that's different about the Legend 1, the flagship of theViscount stuff is the sole.
And the sole's two manuals, you know, it's got all the bells and whistles and the sole isa little more editable in some of the deep editing you can do.
So on the Legend 1, the key click is basically a level amount.
(20:55):
it's I have a volume there's a there's a key click knob right here on the front that youcan adjust the key click I think on the soul, you can adjust some of the attack parameters
you can adjust a little bit of the I think you can EQ it a bit.
And I think there's also an attack frequency with the key.
So there's there's that's one of the reasons the soul is the flagship there's a littlethere's more you can edit.
(21:18):
There's more things you can edit in the Leslie simulation on the soul of the Lesliesimulation on here.
includes their most recent SIM, and you can control a lot of things you can control wherethe mics are.
But on the sole, you can actually like visually move the mics around.
Here you have set to you know, rear at 60 rear far 60 side 180.
(21:40):
You know, you can select different presets.
But on the sole, you can dial it, you can put one mic back there and one mic right upfront.
If you wanted to do something like that, you can set that kind of stuff.
So there's more editability.
within the soul.
But the legend one really provides a lot of what you're looking for.
(22:00):
mean, and let it there.
There are those of us organ players who were deep divers, you know, and will, you know,tweak until the cows come home.
And there's guys that can make clones that I would consider maybe not as good, they canmake them sound really, really good, you know.
uh So it just depends on what you want to do.
And I like that there's a lot of good presets in this.
(22:22):
There's a ton of presets that are named, not named directly after songs, but you know,purple deep or whatever, you know, it'll be called something clever like that.
So you know what they're going for.
So they've spent a lot of time programming classic sounds here.
But for me, it's like, give me the bass sound.
I'm going to dial it in.
And uh it's got a crosstalk.
(22:42):
There's a crosstalk that you can add in.
um There's a hum, which you can have.
you go to that level of realism, there's a home that you can just have.
It just is just running in the background.
You know, you walk away from the keyboard and it's still making a sound out of the amp,you know, if that's what you want.
It'll do that too, you know.
But think what I'm hearing there Mitch is if I were to do something like what David didand just purchase one to use with my cover band or whatever out of the box I'm going to
(23:09):
get some really great authentic...
You're ready to go.
Yeah, you do that.
You do a you do a Pink Floyd thing, right?
Yeah, well, I got a I got a feeling.
I haven't gone through every preset name, but I got a feeling there's a couple in therethat are probably named after Pink Floyd patches.
So yeah.
Just on that, so Mitch, with the organ, you talk about the range of presets.
(23:31):
I have no doubt you've dialed up your own sounds, as you said, and tweaked them and savedthem.
Do you want to give us a quick listen to what some of your go-to organ sounds you love atthe moment?
Well, yeah, I'll just, you know, and, well here, little...
This type of chord is kind of like, it's the make or break for me.
(23:52):
It's like, if I play a chord like this on a clone, it's gotta...
drive kind of cranked up so you can hear how it breaks up if I turn the drive all the waydown m it's a much cleaner sound now with the drive down you can probably hear the
(24:25):
crosstalk a little in there
But that CV, now without the chorus vibrato on, so we'll go back to the original settingthere.
So without the CV on there, the straight organ sound with no chorus.
(24:47):
But when you kick that on, the way that distortion breaks up is right.
This is probably the best drive I've heard on a clone ever because it a lot of times itgets sizzly you know the fake overdrive gets a little sizzly this breaks up the way you
(25:13):
expect it to when you're playing it just has that like it just grinds in the back thereand they have different
One of the cool things and you can't see the keyboard here, but they've really assembledthis thing in a really smart way So there's there's a dial for the chorus vibrato just
(25:34):
like there is on a Hammett organ But if you push on it, it takes you right into theeditable part where you can pick the chorus Type so they have four chorus types that are I
think based on different organs and I think different vintages So type a and I'llhopefully you can this will come across type a is not as
(25:54):
not as strong, it sounds like this.
Type B, it's got a little more.
Type C, it's probably not coming across too well, but in here you can hear the high endscome out a little more like the Chorus Vibrato does on a real Hammond, because when you
turn it off,
(26:18):
brings out the chorus vibrato brings out a little more of those high ends and they andthere's four types in here I think in the soul you can get in actually tweak down to the
nth degree on here you just get four presets but they are so good they're just I there'snothing I would change about them personally on a granular level ah
(26:40):
So yeah, so like I said, if you click on the rotary simulator, it'll take you into therotary simulator where you can start changing where the mics are.
I'm not sure if this will give you an idea of...
Here, let's try...
uh
(27:02):
Sorry guys, I'm just trying to figure out.
Okay, so like the mic setup, like right here it's set at what's called rear 60 far.
So it's in back, you know, let's go to uh side 180.
Totally different, Gives you totally different.
(27:23):
And what that gives you the ability to do is
whatever system you're playing through.
Like right now I'm playing through a motion sound stereo keyboard, a KP-12, right?
Which is a great keyboard amp.
But if I was playing through like a mono PA speaker, well, I can go in and kind of figureout what the right thing for that is.
(27:44):
Or if I was running direct into a board to record in a studio, I can set up.
what sounds good for that.
So you have a variety of setups which you can do for different situations.
it's got one of the things that, one of the tricks of recording a Hammond organ that youmay or may not know is that when Rudy Van Gelder recorded the Jimmy Smith stuff, not only
(28:11):
did he have a Leslie, but he took a direct off of the organ.
So you get a little extra click, you get a little extra bass.
That's the real secret sauce to recording like a Hammond organ record.
Like when we did my record, that's what we did.
And you can then take that.
It's a full range signal.
So you can take it and kind of do whatever you want with it.
(28:33):
Well, this allows you to dial in direct into your Leslie simulation.
So you can get a little more click.
You can get a little more of that direct sound through the same speakers.
So, you you can really customize this to.
you know, very high degree.
That's amazing.
And Mitch, I need to ask, obviously no single manual organ can hope to replicate a dualmanual in some ways, but I know the legend one even from my little bit of playing, it's
(29:01):
got some amazing options there.
Tell us about how you're approaching that.
It has four what they call memory buttons that are right under the display.
And these are not just for organ, they're for every single setting.
Any of the other sounds you use, you can set up memories.
(29:23):
for like a jazz organ context where...
Like when you're playing jazz organ, you're not really usually doing a lot of draw barpulling because ah you're busy.
You're playing left hand.
Like if you're playing in a band with a bass player, a lot of guys will do a lot of drawbar pulling and, you know, do that John Modesky kind of thing where they're playing the
(29:46):
draw bars.
That's a cool, that's a cool thing.
That's not, that's not so the Jimmy Smith kind of Joey D kind of thing because you're busyplaying.
There's too much going on.
You don't have time to reach up.
So a lot of times you use the presets.
You know that that and you'll have them set up for, you know, a jazz sound and then you'llhave also on the top your full organ, right?
(30:14):
And you balance between those on presets.
So you're playing along and also need pop a preset to change that, right?
So then on your bottom manual, you usually have a comping manual, right?
You're playing bass and comping with like 8-3-8 is usually, right?
Well,
So with these, since I'm playing a single manual, I have to be able to go between like asolo sound on top and then be able to come behind somebody.
(30:40):
And that's what these memory spots are perfect for.
So say we're playing a tune and we play the head, we get to the end, and it's a guitarsolo.
I'm immediately.
to that, because I just pop that preset.
So then when I go to my solo, then I go back to the solo setting.
(31:04):
I can't comp while I'm soloing, is a comp.
You bababooda, and then comp a little bit, and then play.
You lose that on a single manual.
um But you know.
Everything's a sacrifice.
This thing sounds so good and I love playing it so much.
I'm like, you know what?
I'll deal with it, you know, and then of course so on the third set I've got the full outorgan, but then you can do things like, you know, the classic thing that, you know, Joey D
(31:31):
or Jimmy Smith would do, they would hold the big chord and then drop down the manual, youknow, well, you know, I can do that, you know.
You know, I can imitate that a little bit.
I've got a video up, have a YouTube short where I'm doing that on a ballad, and I tell youwhat, if I had my eyes closed, I would think that I had just done that.
(31:54):
Even though I knew what I was doing, it sounded good.
And I'm not bragging about my technique, I'm just saying I was able to manipulate this ina way to get that sound.
It's got two sets of drawbars and a set of pedal drawbars.
So a lot of people don't like the single manual clones because they often have one set ofdrawbars.
Well, this one's got two, so you can set it up.
(32:16):
They really, and we're not even talking about the other sounds yet.
I don't know we time for that or not.
But they've really gone about this in a smart way because the drawbars can also be usedfor the synth parameters, unlike some of the synthesizers.
So if I'm playing a synth pad,
I can do filter cutoff, can do resonant and uh attack, decay and release, all of yourtypical, you know, your bread and butter synth parameters with the drawbars.
(32:44):
It's just, it was really brilliantly assembled.
And that's probably a good segue pitch because I do want to talk about the other sound.
just...
um
As I said, I've only played with it for half an hour, but the reason I bought the Legendone is I currently use a Moody X7 as my main board.
I currently use a virtual, an Arturia MIDI controller as my top board.
I'm so sick of not having a decent organ sound and my current band has probably 10 songsnow that require a really decent organ sound.
(33:11):
So I threw out on the Legend one based on the videos and just from playing, it's got, Iwould argue, and I've stupidly have owned the Electro 5D and the YC61 and sold them both.
um This is by far and away the best set of synth sounds I've heard on an organ clone.
They're really good.
Yeah, there's not a ton of them.
(33:34):
But I kind of have a lot of faith in Viscount in their constant...
They update a lot, and they have made a lot of stuff backward compatible to some of theirolder...
I don't think they can uh go backward to the original Legends with some of the stuffthat's in the Soul and the Legend now, but I know that they did.
(33:58):
when they did some new chorus vibrato changes to the soul, were able to put them in theoriginal legends.
But I know that from talking to them, there are plans for updates to this.
I mean, this is an investment keyboard, I think.
They've proven that they're always moving forward with this stuff.
(34:20):
I feel that any of stuff that I'm not 100 % in love with, I got a feeling that'll changeover time.
Agree, and you're right, there aren't a massive amount but the ones that are there, sothere's just a really good stable of pads, there's a really good stable of synth leads.
(34:42):
It's got all you know, and this is a good Etsy synth.
We're on.
OK, so here's our here's our pad.
I can change the filter cut off and all that.
Let's not.
wait, I didn't turn it on.
I'm just messing with the resonance and the cutoffs and...
(35:03):
So you can really dial in the stuff like you would live, just to adjust it the way youwant.
Exactly.
And the other thing I want to call out to listeners and viewers that use virtual rigs,I've already started setting mine up with the Viscount One and bringing in sounds from
main stage.
(35:24):
Like any decent keyboard nowadays, the MIDI implementation is excellent.
It works really well.
I'm actually about to try and integrate it with GigPerformer as well, which should be eveneasier.
So yeah, can't recommend that side of it as well.
And Mitch, do you use that side of the Viscount March Live?
I know it's predominantly organ, but you do use it a bit, yeah.
Yes, ah yeah, I'm in an ensemble that does a lot of like live funk, total improv where I'mthe bass player too and I play a lot of synth stuff so I have set up some presets where
(35:58):
it's not only does it have, know, it's got great synth basses.
I don't know if you can hear.
You know, it's all have it set up with strings on top.
So I'm playing all the bass parts here and playing the synth.
It's got some really cool leads in it uh Their name like mr.
(36:21):
Mr.
Yan and mr.
Duke, you know, so they definitely like here's mr That's the Yan hammer patch, know theDuke George Duke
You know, mean, you have to do your eyebrows when you do that kind of stuff too, you know,so I can't not do that.
(36:43):
So it's got, you know, it has a handful of each kind of sound you're looking for.
And I got a feeling over time that'll increase, but then you can edit them and save themthe way you want.
know, if your pad doesn't have as much resonance or you want it have a longer decay, youcan set that and then save it that way.
And then you've, know, so you really do have...
quite a lot of stuff to...
(37:04):
I can take that George Duke sound and change the resonance a little bit and make it my ownthing a little more.
So it's such a well thought out keyboard.
not using probably a third of what it's built for just because I'm playing organ so much,right?
But it's got...
(37:30):
Richard T.
And it responds nicely too for being a non-weighted keyboard.
It's got velocity levels, can set velocity curves and that kind of thing.
So um it's really kind of built for that so you can dial it into the way it's going torespond to your playing.
(37:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for showing one of the EPs off too.
I I know you mentioned at the start that each one has its strengths and you look like youthe electric But um certainly the pianos are, for what I need in a cover band, extremely
strong and I'd argue better than the Maydx 7s.
uh
mention this too that I have not played the 73 key version.
(38:19):
This is the 61.
And I got the 61 because I can't play organ on a 73.
It's my feng shui is off, right?
I will not do I can't do it.
And one thing that Viscount did is and I haven't played the 73.
But the actions I guess are slightly different.
Because they geared the 73 to be a little more towards Oh, it's not weighted.
(38:42):
But it's a little different action that's more
keyboard that and all the reports that I've read on all the forums and anyone that has oneand that has played them at NAMM they said they can still easily play organ on the 73.
So that's great.
I went for the 61 because it's designed for organ the actions a little more is moreorgan-y.
(39:05):
That's what I want.
That's what I'm shooting for.
And so I will sacrifice for the other sounds so the organ plays the way I
What percentage of the time are you taking this one out and using it versus maybe havingsome
Once I got this, haven't taken any other clone out.
I've actually sold a couple since I got this.
(39:27):
was like, okay, this is my new Huckleberry.
I'm This is the one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think I would eventually like to get a soul because to have the two keyboards.
for now, I I just bought a car, guys.
Music's being good to me, but it looks like I have a budget.
(39:47):
You know, but eventually I think I would like a soul.
I tell you, this is just so easy.
I'll take this on a plane.
I think that's, this was maybe the first clone that I've had that I thought, okay, I'mgoing to get a road case.
And if I'm going to go to a gig somewhere and I don't know what's going on for backline,I'm going to this in a road case and check it and actually take it.
I've never taken a keyboard on the road like that.
(40:08):
I always just kind of deal with backline.
But you know, before he passed away, Joey D had made a Facebook post.
It was a little controversial.
He said, you know, there's no reason to be playing the real thing anymore.
know, because, I get his perspective was, I mean, that guy toured the world a milliontimes over playing all the back line and God knows what kind of crap he ran into, you
(40:31):
know, in far flung places, you know, yeah, we have an organ and God knows what it is.
Right.
And I think he was so happy to have an instrument that he was, he knew was going to soundthe same every night.
And I get, I totally get that.
I don't agree that.
I I feel like if you're recording, if you're in the studio, man, you know, and the realthings there, that's the real thing.
And I always wanted to hear Joey on the real thing, because that's the real thing.
(40:54):
But man, I get it, you know, when you could actually go somewhere and know this thing isgoing to sound the same.
And it's going to sound good no matter what amplification system they provide me with.
You know, all I got to do is I can pack us expression pedal than maybe not.
one of the cool features, by the way, speaking of pedals is is they have what's called
(41:15):
um the thud built into this and let me make let me get my setting up here and do i have ityou have to set it in the right oh yes yeah so it's a cap so as you guys know probably
when you're playing jazz organ you have pedalboard too and
(41:38):
Usually you're not playing each one, like on a ballad you might be playing each one, or ona medium tempo you can tap each pedal.
But a lot of times you're just tapping one pedal, because that gives you what they callthe thud.
And it's really like the pluck of a string.
So if I'm playing a bass line here with just my left hand.
It sounds good, right?
(42:00):
But if you're tapping a pedal at the same time...
Yeah, well.
Well, so they set it up so you can use a sustain pedal to tap and you can pick whateverpedal.
Like, I think every organ player might have a different tap pedal.
I use a B-flat.
I think Pat Bianchi uses a B.
I think Brian Charette might use an A.
(42:20):
You know, but it allows you to just get that little thump in there.
And uh the soul has a setting that I hope makes it to this, because right now all I can dois choose one pedal and tap it.
Now if I hold down, and the cool thing is if I hold down on the pedal, it'll play thatpedal tone, but it'll only play that one that I'm able to choose.
(42:43):
On the soul, they just added a thing where it will play whatever the lowest note is.
So if I'm playing uh F in my left hand and I...
play the sustain pedal, it'll play the pedal, see, right now it's playing the B flat.
So they call it like leftmost or whatever.
(43:05):
I really want that on this.
And I imagine they'll probably put it in this because then you can almost do a gig withoutpedals because you could still have a pedal tone long when you needed it.
But that kind of stuff, know, that kind of like, they really went to organ players.
They went to Joey D.
They went to Pat Bianchi.
They went to people who really know the organ and say,
(43:25):
What do you want in this?
have some amazing, there's some amazing Italian organ players.
Francesco Dillo, he's one of the guys who has been, you know, a part of the development ofmaking this instrument as just as full of whatever you'd want as it can be.
I gotta, I gotta give it, and I, and like I said earlier, I gotta give it to Krumar.
(43:47):
I gotta give it to, I gotta give it to Karsten who created the HX3 board.
You know, the module that's used in the MAG and in the UHL.
That's an amazing clone too.
You know, mean, the amount of time and just getting the goof, the amazing idiosyncrasiesof this insane instrument and all the, you know, the crosstalk.
(44:12):
This has a key compression.
So one of the things about a Hamlet organ is if you play a lot of notes, it actuallycompresses them so they're not so...
I don't know how it works or any of that, but they built that into this too.
So if you're playing a real balls out sound, it's not just cutting your head off becauseit actually compresses, like, because the real thing does that.
(44:34):
So they built that in and you can adjust that, you know, so there's so much that they'veput thought they've put into this, the to just make it as useful as possibly can be to
someone like myself and a variety of other organ players.
Absolutely, extremely well put Mitch and I think it's great that the bar just continues tobe raised and as you mentioned all the other companies, mean we had Scott May from Hamadon
(44:58):
recently, I mean they're doing amazing stuff so everyone's doing amazing stuff and keepingthis alive which is what counts.
And here's the thing, everybody has a different idea of what the Hammond organs wouldsound like.
Does it sound like the sound that Rick Wakeman used on Roundabout?
Yes.
Does it sound like what Keith Emerson used on Tarkus?
(45:19):
Yes.
Does it sound like what Jimmy Smith played on the sermon?
Yes.
Does it sound like what Larry Golding plays?
Yes.
It's all of those things.
They're all different.
That's why a lot of the clones...
have different models.
Like there's five or six different organs in here.
There's a C3, there's two different B3s from different vintages.
There's an A100, there's a BC where the full back goes all the way down.
(45:42):
So they have to give you like, you know, the Krumar has 24 of them, you know, I mean, sothat's just because they're all different.
And that's the I think that's one of the real hard things is everyone's got a differentidea.
So then they go, Oh, I like the Nord because it does this well, okay, because it soundslike the sound in your head when you think of the organ.
For me, it's the Joey D.
(46:03):
It's the Chester Thompson from Tower of Power sound.
If you can give me those sounds, man, I'll play your instrument.
That's what it is.
No, exactly right.
No, extremely well put.
Look, can't thank you enough, for running us through it because I said I certainly haven'thad enough time, let alone the skill you bring to it.
And I feel like we've even done a mini clone wheel shootout because you've mentionedbasically all the key organs, which is amazing as well.
(46:28):
So, yeah, look, I apologize if we don't have more time, but can't thank you enough forrunning us through it like that.
I'm definitely not babbling.
oh
(46:49):
There we have it.
um Paul, as we talked about in the introduction, mean, Mitch's passion is obvious from theget go.
Yeah, it certainly is.
He said so himself.
He's a passionate guy.
And that's why I love listening to him, because he really has a care factor.
although, as he disclosed, yes, he is an endorsed artist by Viscount.
(47:11):
You know his opinions, his opinions, and they're coming from the heart.
I just love hearing him talk about playing organ and every time I listen to him I justthink about how much nuance there is to that instrument.
Exactly and there is a lot of nuance and as a non-endorsed Viscount artist and nor shouldI be endorsed for the level of my artistry.
(47:32):
uh But look from what I've played around with the Vi I am sold on it I think it's got it'san amazing
board and I'm super excited to dig deeper into it.
And as I said, in the, I'm looking at actually integrating, updating my live rig andmoving off main stage to gig performer.
Um, and for those that listen to the David Jamison interview, or if you haven't get on it,if you're interested in gig performer, he sort of turned around my perception on how gig
(47:58):
performers framed, um, because I was really struggling with that.
And, um, I've, I've spent probably 20 minutes in gig performer and was able to so easilyset up a basic.
Set up for a song.
I'm super impressed with it.
So I'm excited to dive into that But yeah, the legend one it's MIDI implementation is nobetter than anyone else's but I just uh I won't put it up but there are other keyboards
(48:22):
where I've really struggled to find how do I get Main stage or gig performer to switch?
Internal things no issue at all, but there are lots of other keyboards that that's not anissue either but Yeah, think you know to the thing that that sort of came out towards the
end of that chat there David
is what seems to be really good about this instrument is you can be an organ playerrequiring quite some depth and complexity and subtlety and clearly someone like Mitch is
(48:51):
very very satisfied with what it delivers in that regard but then you can also be someonewho might be using it just to get killer organ sounds for your cover band or what have you
and it's going to do that job really well too and as Mitch said it's a
There's some presets that are already in there that will just help you get straight intosome of those classic iconic rock sounds that we all know from the Hammond through the 60s
(49:14):
and 70s and 80s.
So I think that's an exciting thing.
And obviously it's got the cool other stuff too, the electric pianos, acoustic pianos,synthesizers, like some of the other keyboards that we know and love.
So I think it was really worth exploring that and certainly intrigued me, no doubt.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And look, it's inspired me to, whenever I find some time,
(49:36):
in the next couple of years, I've always wanted to have proper organ lessons.
So I would love to be able to play say 10 % as good as what Mitch Town does.
um And I'll need lessons to be able to do that.
And this is the sort of board, albeit not a dual manual in an ideal world, I would have aB3, but as you know, in Paul and Australia, ain't that many of them.
I was just thinking, I think Mitch has more in his house than we have in our country.
(49:57):
That's right.
Yeah, sadly.
but no, it was a great chat with Mitch and I hugely appreciate his time um taking it.
And also thank you to all of you out there for your time as always.
um We certainly got lots of great shows to come up as well.
And a big shout out to our Golden Silver supporters, the lovely Tammy Katcher from TammysMusical Studio.
(50:20):
Thank you as always Tammy.
um The brilliant musicplayer.com forums, Dave Bryce and the team there.
Go to place to discuss keyboards.
particularly if you'd like, like I do the older style forum format, you know, it's so muchmore civilized than social media, but that's just me or not just me, cause there's lots of
people on musicplayer.com forums.
(50:41):
um The lovely Dewi Evans from the sunny land of Wales.
Thank you Dewi as always for your support.
And last but definitely not least, Mr.
Mike Wilcox from Midnight Mastering.
Paul and I both talked about how we've used Mike for
projects and we're both very happy customers and if you want your work mixed and masteredin a masterful way then Midnight Mastering is the way to go.
(51:02):
Thank you Paul as always.
We'll be chatting very soon and we're seeing each other face to face in a couple of monthswhich is very exciting.
I couldn't be more excited about that.
Our band's playing together.
We're going to have to do some kind of I don't know what episode or and like no one'sgoing to care because we're just a couple of blokes having a bit of fun.
(51:24):
But I think we just have to be self-indulgent, don't we?
just have an episode of us seeing each other and our bands having a fun night.
Exactly.
No, looking forward to it.
So again, thank you all out there and until we see you next time, keep on playing.
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