Before you try out a Roland Classic Series Organ...
Call ahead and make an appointment. Here's why. Sitting down at the organ or keyboard you can definitely try out the stops and sounds but you may miss out on the wealth and riches of the Organ Stop Library in the organ. So call ahead and make sure that there will be someone there that will be able to ship how to use the stops AND the internal Organ Stop LIbrary and explain the stop library and how you can use it to enhance your playing.
You may end up visiting someone who owns one that the dealer recommends….you really, really need to get a full demonstration to be able to see if these organs and keyboards meet your musical needs.
noel
PS: You may call me or email me for help and advice…there's never any charge. I am working with churches in a number of the states of the US and more than one overseas right now to make sure that they get a complete, full demonstration of these great new organs.
Loading My Pistons From USB
Download: Pistons - C-300 and Above Generals
On the left side, you will see excerpts from the owner's manual of the C-330 and 380 that are on page 62. I've cut out a couple of the panels and gone straight to the panels you need to load pistons to the organ.
On page 62 it also tells you how to format the USB for reliability, so do that first.
Download the file above to your USB using your computer.
Insert the USB drive into the organ USB slot.
1. Going into the window click down to 11.
2. Press the knob to get the select Bank window up,
3. There will be one file on it, the one you just loaded.
4. Press SET.
5. When the window says Load Bank OK? Press SET.
Now you can play these pistons. If you have only used the stops on the organ you can set by hand, you should have some pleasant surprises ahead. I have read reviews by people who heard Hector play (always a GREAT experience) and then tried the organ themselves and walked away disappointed. They've said that Hector must have special settings he uses and takes away….well, that's not how this works. All the sounds are in there, you just access them through the USER stops.
Hector does incredible work on this organ, my pistons are humble, but I hope that they open up your ears to some of the possibilities that you too can create on this organ.
Happy new user...
Here's a message form the ROUG, our general Rodgers discussion group at The Frog.
Hello everyone!
My name is Earl Green and our church just purchased the new Rodgers 558 in February. I have had hours of fun playing with all the voicing adjustments. We are currently running the sound through our sound system which has 2 subwoofers. When we bought the organ for our newly purchased building, I knew our sound system should be updated as well. We settled on a pair of 2 QSC K12's and 2 QSC Ksubs. With the settings on deep base for the subs they give a full 32' sound to the pedals and the K12's nice clear mids and highs.
I thought I read somewhere that Hector Olivera had compiled voice settings for the Roland Classic Organs and that included the Rodgers 558. Does anyone know about this? I've read he has options for the MX200 but it seems he also was instrumental in developing the Roland Classic which is the basis for the Rodgers 500 series.
This organ is truly amazing. When I went into the showroom to play it they had an older larger 2 manual available that was used. But, after playing them both, I knew the 558 was perfect for our church. Having the ability to voice everything and store those settings in separate voicing files, it would be endless how many different organs could be created. They have truly done their homework on this series. My only complaint was the exclusion of more useful orchestra sounds like piano, strings, choir and digital piano that are available on other models. There are several theatre sounds that I don't care for but they could be eliminated in place of the other sounds more useful for churches.
Thanks for any info you may have.
Earl Green
Playing the C-300/R500Harpsichords
The harpsichord is one of my favorite instruments to play. I have helped build 4 of them and love the freedom of playing them in the Roland C-30 and Roland C 300 & Rodgers 500 series organs.
But most people, and I am guilty of this myself, sit down at the organ and play the harpsichord like it is an organ. There are some special techniques that harpsichordists use to play that can really improve your sound when playing and I will be covering them (I am working on a guide to playing the C-30 and will post some of that here) but let's talk about musicianship at the harpsichord first.
Two videos of a Scarlatti Sonata, played first by Horowitz (note that this is his piano tat he toured with with a VERY light action....I actually touched this piano once after he died, but was too shy to even play a note on an instrument that was his) and see how a pianist interprets this piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaHMdDjNnZ8
Now hear a very musical performance on the harpsichord:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcABQXPbRhY&feature=related
Notice that the harpsichordist stretches time and takes time between phrases as well as "turning a phrase", making a very simple instrument sound elegant. Try this the next time you use the harpsichord stops.
Casework
I've heard some comments about the durability of the case on the Roland C-330 Organ that irritated me. I was very pleased to tour with a Roland Classic Series Harpsichord...and touring means nicks, bumps and actual dents, especially with a lighter instrument like the Harpsichord and the C-330.
The harpsichord suffered some abuse and when I sold it....it looked brand new. The side where it got bashed in (ok, I know you should have two people pick it up and carry it....but I was in a hurry) I easily replaced along with teh strip of wood under the the keyboard that didn't quite make it through a doorway one night. (ok, I was tired and...)
Imagine buying a car which, if you damaged the fender, you could just swap it out for a new fender, much less expensive than having it pounded out, filled with Bondo, sanded, painted with primer, then the final color....the C-330 is built so that all casework can be taken off and replaced.
While Rodgers Organs are built to be solid, long lasting pieces of furniture, these organs and other classic instruments are designed to be useful, as light as possible and easy to bring back to a like-new status.
Temperaments
The Temperamental Bach
Just got word from Germany that our Temperamental Series Cd's were not available from Amazon for purchase there, so we now have direct links on our site for people around the world who wish to listen to the same pieces played in various temperaments.
This should be of interest to those playing the C-300 and R-500 series of organs. It's very interesting that people who listen to the CDs end up deciding that they do not like Equal Temperament as much as they once thought that they did....
Here's a link to the Temperamental page.
The Temperamental Mr. Purcell
