Jim Alfredson

I used re-filled cartridges for about two years on my Epson R220. It eventually got to the point where some of the heads would not clean. Whether that's the re-filled cartridges fault or just age is anyone's guess. It worked well when it worked. For the cost of new cartridges you can literally buy a new printer every time. It's absolutely insane. I have a new Epson now, so new that my local refurbished cartridge store doesn't stock the replacements yet. When it does, I'll be using them, no doubt. I tried the cheap off-brand cartridges (not re-filled bu also not originally OEM) and they sucked. Bad color, clogging, and they ruined my other Epson after only a few uses. But re-fills of OEM cartridges is a different story, imo.

Larry Goldings often plays at Vitelo's. I've seen him there twice while in LA.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I'm currently at the Flint airport, heading down to Florida for a week of rehearsals and then gigs with Janiva Magness. I'll be out on this run for two months. Whew. Here are all the dates so far, up through April: FEBRUARY 2012 16 New Smyrna Beach, FL Om Bar 17 Orlando, FL BB Kings 18 Lake Worth, FL Bamboo Room 19 Clearwater, FL Clearwater Blues Festival 22 Hollywood, CA On The Rox Gravity Summit After-Party MARCH 2012 9 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room 10 Tucson, AZ Plaza Palamino 14 San Diego Humphrey's Halfmoon Inn 17 Los Angeles, CA McCabes Guitar Shop CD RELEASE PARTY! 21 Lincoln, NE The Zoo Bar 22 Omaha, NE 21st Saloon 23 Riverside, IA Riverside Casino 24 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota 25 Galesburg, IL Fat Fish Pub 28 Topeka, KS Uncle Bo's 29 Columbia, MO Mojos 30 Evanston, IL Space 31 Cleveland, OH The Winchester APRIL 2012 1 Buffalo, NY Sportsmens Tavern 4 Cambridge, MA The Regattabar 5 Fall River, MA Narrows Center For The Arts 6 Manchester, CT The Hungry Tiger 7 Stanhope, NJ Stanhope House 8 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater SPECIAL EASTER SHOW! 12 Detroit, MI The Magic Bag 13 Grand Rapids, MI Billy's Lounge And you can pre-order the new CD (which I'm on) here: http://www.janivamag...stores/home.php

Bob, that's great news! I'm glad you're happy with the 3300. I think it's possibly the most versatile Leslie they've made. Yesterday I experimented with running VB3 on my laptop (a really great sounding B3 simulator software) and controlling it via MIDI from the XK System. I had the output going into the 1/4" input of the 3300. I could easily compare the sound of VB3 to the XK3. The general consensus is that VB3 is the most authentic sounding B3 simulator on the market. But here are my thoughts, which I originally posted on the Keyboard Forum. As I mentioned in this thread, I need to use VB3 for some gigs / rehearsals in Florida in the next few weeks with Janiva Magness. I've used VB3 once before on a gig with that band but it was with a really crappy synth (Yamaha W7 iirc) and I had to play it through a tiny guitar amp. Needless to say, the experience wasn't fun. I wanted to test my rig and make sure it was stable, with no clicks or pops and no crashes, so I took my laptop, my Steinberg C1 interface, and the necessary cables to my gig tonight in Grand Rapids. It was a low-key gig; a jam session really. We (organissimo) play the first set and then people sit in. Easy. I had my normal organ trio rig with me as well; the Hammond XK System (with the XK3) and full pedals along with the Leslie 3300 and a powered subwoofer. Lots of headroom, full and loud, it's a really fun rig. I connected my laptop's MIDI interface to the MIDI out of the XK3, loaded up Cantible Lite with VB3 running, got everything talking fairly quickly, and connected the 1/4" left output of the C1 interface to the 1/4" of the Leslie. I also had the 11pin connecting the XK3 to the Leslie so I could easily compare the two sound engines. All I had to do was turn down the C1 and turn up the XK3 to hear my normal rig, and likewise turn down the XK3 and turn up the C1 to hear VB3. Well, first and foremost, VB3 ran like a champ. I had the Steinberg latency set at 96 samples. I tried 64 but there were pops and clicks. 96 worked great. The latency was around 9ms, not so bad. The XK3 was definitely faster. The bass pedals worked great, the lower manual worked fine, and I also had that free MIDI mapper so the drawbars controlled VB3 as well. I played the first half of our first set using VB3. The only drag was that it wouldn't correctly respond to the XK3's chorus/vibrato on/off switch, nor and of the percussion switches. Not sure why that was. I tried the MIDI learn function. No dice. Any way, here are my impressions: VB3 has much less bottom end that the Hammond. I had to crank the sub way up to get the same amount of low-end punch from VB3 as I get from the XK3. VB3 has better sounding percussion and key-click. The chorus/vibrato? I preferred the XK3. It was deeper, added more shimmer, and sounded better with the 3300. In terms of playing live? I have to say, I liked the XK3 better. It was more direct, cut through the cymbals better, and the bass was much fuller. I know it sounds crazy and I wasn't expecting it, but that's my honest opinion. VB3 sounds great and is overall more authentic in that it sounds vintage, but the XK3 just cuts. VB3 sounds rather tame in comparison. I'd sum it up this way: VB3 sounds like my old 1954 Hammond C2 with the original tubes. Mellow and warm and a little worn around the edges. The XK3 sounds like my 1974 Hammond B3; bright, muscular, and snappy. Both are perfectly valid, just different flavors. What surprised me the most was how close they sounded in general. The differences I'm talking about are pretty minute. I was expecting a much more obvious difference between the two. Maybe the 3300 is the great equalizer. I should try putting the XK3 through the VB3's Leslie sim and compare them that way.

I'm not happy about the ads either, but they brought in just over $134 last month. That almost pays for the board. I haven't seen any dating ads. Mine are all about music software / hardware, electronics suppliers, and computer shit.

As Bev points out, it's a balancing act. I was frustrated with Zora about a year ago when she was in my studio and I was trying to show her how to play a simple C major scale (she's 7 and has taken rudimentary keyboard classes in elementary school) and she boldly proclaimed, "I can play piano, dad." And she wouldn't listen to me. And when I tried to get her to repeat what I was showing her, she had no interest. Then again, she can figure out melodies, like Happy Birthday, by herself at the piano. So what do I do? I am hard on her when it comes to homework. It's tough because she's so incredibly smart, she gets bored easily. But I make her sit down and do the math, do the problem solving for herself. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth. I can relate, though. I never, ever studied until I got to college. Never. I wrote full papers in mere minutes. I had all A's. I was just smart. Or school was really stupid. It's hard to keep kids like that interested. For me, it was music. I'm not sure what Zora will do yet to keep her sane.

I think the 8pin cable is wired direct pin to pin. You can purchase 8pin DIN connectors for around $1 a piece and wired up your own if you don't want to pay for the Hammond. One of my beefs with Hammond is the quality of the interconnects they use and how much they charge for them. I have Leslie cables that are 50+ years old and still function perfectly and are not loose when you connect them to their male counterparts on the Leslie amp. But the modern 6pin Leslie cable and the modern 11pin cable I bought from Hammond have broken plastic centers and are loose after several years of use. The DIN connectors on my XK System are easily bent and are starting to act up as well. I'm going to replace them all with my own cables made from solid DIN connectors with metal chassis (such as the ones from Switchcraft) and high-quality Amphenol connectors for the 6pin and 11pin Leslies. I just bought these connectors to make a DC/DC interconnect for my modular dotcom synthesizer and they are very sturdy. http://www.newark.com/deltron-emcon/610-0600/connector-din-audio-plug-6way/dp/69K6081?Ntt=69K6081

Tommy, I'd love to get my hands on an SK2. Yes, I wish Hammond included a pitch wheel and modulation wheel as well. But I think it's a valid trade-off for the smaller size. As for the voice libraries, it's unfair to compare to Nord since Nord has been doing this (extra sounds) a lot longer. But I agree, Hammond needs to release some new stuff.