[sdiy] Emu Vintage Keys Pro encoder issue

[synth at oldmail.charlielamm.com]

Yo tim.....

Um...am I in danger here of being accused of being too "Analog Heaven"?  
I know politics are a no-no on SDIY list....but IMO's about the likes and 
dislikes non-DIY gear?  

At the risk of being a pariah:

a) VKP's are/were available very inexpensively at music dealers, at least
when I got it it was. Probably used they can be had for next to nothing.  

b) VKP has the **potential** to sound pretty good.  EG: I worked for about
1/2 hour on a minimoog unison lead patch, and got fairly close when I a/b
it against a real minimoog.  

c) There are some interesting analogy filter sounds in it--whoever did the
filter DSP part of the engineering for Emu is very smart indeed.

d) You can get an OK mellotron sound out of it, again with patches you 
create--skip the factory ones.  

e) The factory organ sounds are pretty good; the leslie simulation is a
bit oddly implemented, but effective, and sounds OK on stage....not as
good as B4 or even Kurz PC2R or equiv, but usable.

f) Did I mention it was easy to break the rotary encoder off the damn 
thing?

OK, no more from me on the VKP.  Back to vactrols and circular waveforms.

--CL


On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Tim Parkhurst wrote:

> So what do you LIKE about the Vintage Keys? Between the cheap hardware and
> the mediocre sound, it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot to recommend
> it.
> 
> 
> Tim (vintage knees) Servo
> 
> "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
> 
> *******************************************
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: synth at oldmail.charlielamm.com 
> > [mailto:synth at oldmail.charlielamm.com] 
> > Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 4:57 PM
> > To: Paul Perry
> > Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> > Subject: Re: [sdiy] Emu Vintage Keys Pro encoder issue
> > 
> > 
> > I am thinking this weekend about trying to put something 
> > behind the knob
> > to shore up the thing, so it maybe survives next time it gets 
> > clobbered.
> > 
> > Maybe some sort of plastic flange.  Not sure yet but I will 
> > keep everyone 
> > posted (I know you guys are on the edge of your seats....)
> > 
> > If anyone knows the part number (Mouser?  Digikey?  etc) of a 
> > repl encoder
> > and can let me know I will buy a few, because I think there's 
> > an encodwer
> > replacement in my future, even if I can successfully goop 
> > this thing back
> > together....
> > 
> > BTW I am not too crazy about the way the thing sounds 
> > anyway...at the very
> > least, whomever programmed the synth sounds at the factory 
> > had never heard
> > a (Minimoog/Prophet/Obie/your vintage choice here) although with some
> > patch tweaking you can get it closer.  Some of the factory presets are
> > truly horrific and sound nothing like the originals they are 
> > supposed to
> > emulate and should be avoided at all costs.
> > 
> > --CL
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Thu, 17 Mar 2005, Paul Perry wrote:
> > 
> > > I can remember replacing one of these with a 
> > > new (identical) encoder from Farnell (a decade ago, so 
> > > I can't remember part numbers). Knob & shaft
> > > sheared off by falling object.
> > > So it must be a very common problem, but fortunately
> > > a common part.
> > > 
> > > paul perry Melbourne Australia
> > > 
> > 
> > -- 
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> >  
> > 
> 
>