From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Sun Apr 06 05:33:20 2003
Subject:Re: Digest Number 1129

Hi Mike,

>Ohman why didn't you wait for the Key5 Bruce?MikeW

Because our tastes differ, Mike. I've owned the V3, and I've played the V5, and they are both fine products. There are two areas where the Voce products come up a little short, though -- and unfortunately, they are important to me. YMMV.

- Vibrato -- As much as people whine about the CX-3 V2 vibrato, it's much better than the V5's weak vibrato. The V5 is better than the V3, but only in an incremental way. Based on the postings that I've seen here, I suspect that the Key5 will again be incrementally better than the V5, if it changes at all. I went as far as to add a $700 effects unit (the Alesis Quadraverb 2) to my V3 just to replace the scanner vibrato -- that's how much it bothered me.

- Percussion -- I use Green-Eyed Lady percussion a lot in the tunes I play, and I need it to "snap" on the low notes. The Voce percussion has that little "warble" in it from the way that the percussion envelope is generated, so it never quite has the hard definition that I'm looking for. I suspect that it won't be changed, because it's somehow part of the basic design of the Voce engine. This was the another selling point on the CX-3 for me: Voce was too weak, and Roland was a little too strong, IMHO. Korg got the percussion right.

The Korg also has a more realistic leakage emulation than the V3/V5, IMHO, and it has more programmability, which is important to me. I like to dial in several different organ sounds for different songs when I gig.

The biggest complaints that I've heard about Korg are 1) the shrillness in the top octave, and 2) the fact that it "doesn't cut through" in a band mix. V2 and a Speakeasy fixed the first problem, and for whatever reasons, I don't have the second problem. I've often been asked to turn DOWN my CX-3, but that's another story ...

Maybe the Key5 will come out and I'll be kicking myself for going Korg, but I took that risk.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com