From las8323@rs175174.ks.boeing.com Wed Jun 06 05:44:59 2001
Subject:My Clone

Hi there, I'm Larry
New to the group. (obligatory life story to follow)

Long time Hammond owner and Long time Clone owner (uuhh .. old guy).
After complete rebuilding and then chopping a Model A and 145, then carrying a
CV with 2 147's, I got TWO Korg CX-3's (the original model) and never looked
back :-)

The CX-3's were $1050 apiece (1980) and the BX-3 was $2500 so I went with
separate units. Got TWO manuals of percussion :-)

Right now, have a C2 that's undergoing my own livingroom grade restoration BUT
just recently, finished my "ultra-clone" prototyping :-) My "ultra-clone"
is based on building a nice ham clone with the stuff I've had lying about for a
(sometimes a very loooong) time so, while it could be done "better" it could
hardly be done cheaper.

What I did:

Roland MKB300 (76 note midi 'master' kb) -- stripped, gutted. Used the keys
for the lower manual. Yes, I wanted a longer manual cuz I sometimes want the
piano and EP sounds. This manual controls a Voce Micro b and an Emu ProFormance
Plus. Program change is accomplished with an Aleis MPX -- little known 'midi
accessory': 10key box with a midi out. This also doubles nicely as the right
end block filling up the lower manual just right.
Upper manual is an Oberheim Xk 61 note midi controller. This goes only
to a Voce DMI-64 with Drawbars. The DMI-64 output goes into a DOD GFX-1 Twin
Tube guitar preamp/fx. This output along with the micro-b both go to a Voce Spin
module. I took all this stuff and crammed it into a cabinet that is non other
than a chopped hammond C cab (with the quatrefoils!) -- about the top 12 inches
or so.

I'm convinced that the richest clone sound can be had from 2 seperate units and
boy, does this sound nice. I never use the on-board leslie sim one either the
micro or the DMI but prefer the Spin unit. Switches allow me to instantly
change the lower manual to organ or piano/ep or both. The upper manual is always
organ (well, occasionally farfisa and accordian :-)

Though the unit is sounding *pretty* good -- I still have my chopped 145 (hey, i
just keep stuff) and will set that up. I'm working on an idea for a slight
departure from current leslie thinking and need another "top end" (horn, motor,
bearing, driver, idler...) to experiment with. Anybody got a lead on this??

Sure, it could be done with a V3 with 2 drawbar upper and a V5 lower, or maybe a
New CX-3 upper and whoknowswhat lower, or dx7 upper and cx3 lower (or something
like this) but I didn't have the cash and didn't really wanna spend it, anyway.

It's been a fun go at building and I might look around for an old rocker or blues
gig to try her out a little -- after I get the leslie issue in good shape.

Thanks for the bandwidth

Larry