Product: Generalmusic Equinox
Price Paid: US $1400
Submitted
09/14/2005
at
03:58pm
by
Paul Cervenak
Email: PCervenak at charter<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
10
OS Update 11/10/2000
Board contains 1200 internal presets, each adjustable via parameter changes. Customized sounds can be stored for future use.
Patches are easily edited and stored.
The manual sucks.
Features
:
10
Features 128 note polyphony.
Keyboard action is good.
Effects functions can be diverted to foot pedal control via 1/4" jack and assignment. Great for creating on-slow effect for Leslie simulation.
Includes a 16 track on board sequencer. Easy to use. 3.5" disk drive allows for downloading of saved performances, sounds and songs.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
10
The best thing about the Equinox is its traditional sounds including Hammond Organ, Accoustic Piano, Horns, Reeds, Strings, Percussive instruments, even guitars which most manufacturers suck at trying to imitate on a synth. They wasted a lot of presets on weird sound effect type sounds but beyond that, you cannot beat the number of traditional offerings. There's at least 10 good Hammond Organ settings from percussion to full drawbars that, coupled with the Rotary II simulator built in and sprinkled with a little overdrive on the parameter setting, defies comparison with a B3 and 122 Leslie. I've hauled around B3s and Leslies for 40 years, playing professionally in Detroit and the Equinox is, by far, the best emulator for the money.
Accoustic Pianos need a lot of tweaking but the controls are there. You just need to take the basic offering and spend some time working the characteristics until you get something you like.
The sax is so real you can hear the air blowing over the reed. The flutes are extremely realistic as well. Strings are so so but again everything can be modified to your personal tastes. I think if you simply used the factory sounds, this board would rate a 5 or 6. However the customizing ability coupled with its other features makes this a "10" as far as I am concerned.
Reliability
:
10
General Music is based in Italy. Their US support guy is pretty good about getting back to you via email. They have a domestic parts depot also for service people to get the stuff needed to fix the units. No problem so far after 5 years of ownership other than replacing the internal battery (to be safe)a few weeks ago.
They are heavy units (about 45 lbs) and a little bulky but built like a truck.
Customer Support
:
10
US support is accessible through one guy who emails you back when you ask for it on their website. Pretty quick response in the few times I have had questions.
Overall Rating
:
10
You cannot find a better keyboard for live performances if you require traditional sounds like organs, pianos, horns, reeds, strings, etc. The Hammond & Leslie simulation rivals the best digital replicators out there including Voce, Hammond X series portables and Digitech's Leslie simulator. You've got all that in this unit plus way more.
Watch Ebay for used ones. They come up once in a while. Stay away from the 61 note version.
