Korg CX-3

This is the newer CX3, but NOT version 2. Who cares. This thing kicks ass! The serial number is in the 2000's so there is no double triggering problem.

All I can say is INCREDIBLE!!! I've been looking at these since they came out new, and my wait paid off because I got it used for way less than new. Worth every damn nickle and dime I paid!!!

For those who don't want to lug a real Hammond around anymore, this is it. I didn't even get into the edit menu and started playing around with the drawbars, vibrato/chorus, percussion, and leslie simulator. Piece of cake to operate if you know Hammond Organs.

Manual is easy enough to figure out, but if you're a plug-and-play Hammond player, you really don't need it.

Organ only. Full polyphony. No sequencer here. WHO CARES?

Easy for me to use, considering I was once an M3 player, and a ham-and-egger at best. NOW I CAN REALLY PLAY!

Yes, onboard Leslie is amazing. Vibrato/Chorus/Reverb very good as well.

Perfect, except the overdrive isn't that good. It sounds grainy, too digital, and not realistic enough. Maybe Korg should have a 12AX7 tube built into it to make the overdrive warm. Hey Korg, did you hear that?

I don't have the CX3 hooked up for stereo play. I play it through my beat-up little 60 watt Crate keyboard amp, MONO, and the Leslie sounds FABULOUS!

The keys feel great and the action is excellent.

The Leslie simulation is, in a word, IN-F**KING-CREDIBLE!!! It beats the crap out of the Roland VK7 and VK8. Believe me, I've tried them both. OK, Roland lovers, relax. The raw sound on the Rolands is great. But the Korg's Leslie simulation beats it, hands down. The CX3's Leslie simulation SHIMMERS, whereas the Roland's I'm not too sure. They sound too much like a glorified vibrato with a phase shifter. Listen to the sample MP3's on both websites and you'll agree.

Percussion is excellent. Vibrato and Chorus also SHIMMER!

Drawbar sounds very realistic. Sounds like a Hammond!

DID YOU KNOW that this thing also has VOX ORGAN SOUNDS TOO? HOLY SHIT! I can play anything VOX without having to resort to my 60's/70's expansion board in my Roland JV80 (which is also a good board, considering its over 10 years old), plus, the VOX sound can be changed with the drawbars too!! I must admit that the Hammond/Vox sounds in the expansion board are also very good.

Just got it. I'll see. From what I understand these things hold up well.

I don't think I'll fiddle with the 2.0 upgrade. This thing is cool as it is. I've never dealt with Korg, so I really can't give an opinion.

I'll never get rid of this AWESOME instrument.

I absolutely love this keyboard. I'd replace it lickety split if it were to get stolen.

Ignore the guy who wrote the previous review. I own a B-3 and both a 122 and 147 leslie. Does the CX-3 sound like a B-3? Of course it does. Why would I own both the B-3 and a Korg CX-3 w/ a motion-sound? Because it is a great alternative to a real one. Does it sound as good? Of course not! One is digital, the other is analog. Analog has characteristics that can't be duplicated digitally. Is it a great alternative to the beast? Of course it is.... The question is, if you're going to use a clone rather than the real thing, which is the best clone to use and does the best clone sound close enough to be used as an alternative? The answer? The Korg CX-3. If you run it through a motion-sound and use it in a recording, you would be hard pressed to hear the difference. I KNOW.... It's certainly close enough for me.

Is everyone out there on drugs? These organs sound like crap. I heard some people actually say that they could not hear the differene between a cx-3, and a real B-3. I have never heard such ridiculous statements in my life. BOTH the 1979 cx-3, and the new version sound like shit. I laugh when I think that people actually spend thousands of dollars on these pathetic clones. If you cannot transport, or maintain, a real b-3, than change your sound. Play a Rhodes, or play a synth, but for the love of the b-3, do not waste your time trying to convince yourself that this is, or comes even remotely close to, the real thing. All of the hype is really beacuse people love the b-3 so much and cannot come to terms with the fact that they are that hard to move and maintain. Also, 21 years of having our sonic awareness adulterated by digital recordings have also convinced people into beleiving that these sound like the real thing. Sure, if all I did was listen to digital re-masters of classic Jimmy Smith lp's, I might decieve myself into thinking that these "clones" sound like the real deal.

If it were lost, I would consider it a blessing...

Anybody who are used to a real console hammond is familiar to the cx-3 layout. This is the only clone that has similar layout as the real thing. This rewiev is about ver 2.0 software.

Full keybed polyphony, for real smears. Excellent leslie sim. All parameters tweakable, so emulating your favourite hammond sound is possible. Even the shrillness of the old ver 1.0 is gone with the new setting "mellow". The chourus/vibrato is a little thinner than ver 1.0 but blends better with the leslie sim. Even speakersimulation is now selectable on/off witch is a good thing if used with a real Leslie. And analog background noice is now tweakable. Key response is now selectable swallow(no more bouncing notes and the same action as on most keyboards) or light (true to a real hammond but generates keybouncing wih ver 1.0 keybeds "lipped")

I think this is as close a digital emulator can come to the real thing without adding real tubes. Due to the heavy tweakability it's hard to get the sound without having a clear picture of the sound you want. The only effect that is not so tweakable is the reverb. There are four types in ver 2.0 and the only two parameters thats adjustable are time and blend and ofcourse the ability to put it before and after the lesliesim, but the reverb on this clone is much better than the reverb in real hammonds.

It's Korg, so reliability is very high. I have only had good experience with Korg gear ower the years, and I have giged with this organ for two and a half year with no problems.

I can only speak about the support here in Sweden, and it's exellent.
Firmware uppdater including new software at www.korg.com

I think this clone is a killer, and tweaked to taste it sounds better than many real hammonds with leslies. It's a bit pricey but to get a better sound with real hammond and leslie is far more expencive and not so moweable. Here in europe you can compare the the price of it to a exellent renovated Leslie 122/147.

As synth programming goes, the CX-3 is fairly straight forward.

It has a better and easier user interface than other organ synths. Controls are easy to access and use.

Here is the one problem I see with the Korg CX-3. I own a Hammond XB-2 and XK-2 and a 122 Leslie. I spent days running A-B comparisons between the Korg CX-3 and the Hammonds. The Korg sounds great solo. It Leslie effect is superb compared to anything except a real Leslie. But as soon as you try to set it into a mix, it just does not want to fit. It sounds over processed, has a digital sheen, and there are some harmonics that just make it sound like a fish out of water in the mix--even when it is run through a Leslie. When you play with the band or with recordings, the Hammond XK-2 has a sound (harmonic character) that fits right in: funky and thick. I tried to love the CX-3 and spent days trying to get the that organic sound from it. But after several months, I sold it in spite of loving everything else about the CX-3.

It always worked fine for the months that I owned it.

A solid keyboard no doubt. Brighter sound than the Hammond with more bells and whistles. But when you are playing blues and jazz organ, do you really need the extras? Try and rent or play a Korg CX-3 with your band or a recording before purchasing to ensure the sound will work for you.

This is a version 2 updated model of this instrument. Persets are very usable. Didn't need much editing. Plug in and play. Manuel is easy to understand.

Full Polyphony I guess. Great effects that are east to use.If you know Hammonds you won't have any problems figuring out this thing.

Sounds are awsome!! Don't belive the garbage you read about this board. It's a portable Hammond, That's it. It has the sound that you're looking for. Don't buy an old 400 lb. Hammond. Plug this baby in and jam!. No tubes and all that crap! Clone technology has arrived! I have heard quite a few REAL Hammonds that did'nt sound this good!

Seems to be very well made! Good looks too!

No problems so far!

I'm very pleased with this organ!!! I Jam it at home, Load it into the car for road trips, comes in handy when a Church does not have a Hammond! BUY IT!!!!! KORG CX3 BABY!!!!!

i don't really use the presets only for the diffrent amp types etc. Its very easy editing and saving changes. Does'nt have a patch editor that i am aware of. Well what can you say about manuals ????

Love the features although i would have left out the expression knob i think that thing is useless i play for a gospel church and we don't us overdrive...i just think its retarded...

sounds are great, like i said i don't use much presets i use the drawbars to set what i need at that moment. The lesile is killer, the best in the buisness. Although i play through a powered mixer i cant figure out a setting to get the organ to cut through all of the other music. Its very frustrating. From what i understand you must purchase some type of lesile sim to help with that.

i sent it to the shop once because of the voltage here in turkey but i can understand that

never really needed them...don't know what type of support i would receive in turkey

if it we taken i could'nt buy another cause it costed an arm an leg as far as i'm concerened. yes it was worth it, i love everything (mostly) hate the overdrive knob. wish it came with midi pedals

Well I do not really come from a Hammond background but know basically every model they came out with while the tonewheels were being made. The CX3 attempts to duplicate those sounds of the A, B,C,D,G and RT series. This is a big keyboard and pretty heavy duty. The manual is pretty basic but really you have to play the keyboard. The presets are ok but I prefer to click off the drawbar preset and play things on the fly with the drawbars. They are meaty and nice to use.

THe keyboard action is really nice on this board you are able to do glisses and palm smeers really well. If you are used to double manual board playing you may have to take a backseat because it is one manual. The CX3 is basically just for Organ sounds and nothing else so do not expect paino and Rhodes patches. The only thing that was comfusing is the drawbar presets keys to the left of the manual. They are supposed to represent the black and white reverse colored keys on a Hammond. Everything else is set up like the real thing with the percussion presets on the right of the keyboard. I feel the wood case was not neccessary.

The sounds are pretty realistic and in the Global menu you can edit pretty easily. As I said these are all Organ patches so it will depend on your taste. Every Hammond was different so you may want to modify your drawbar patches to your liking. You can modify the Leslie effect as well such as wheel brake, slow, fast rotor speed. It may depend on what style of music you are playing as well.

I hope I can depend on it because the wood chasis worries me. Usually Korg products are pretty well done so they can survive most giging situations.

Never had to deal with them.

I am really a piano player that loves old Hammond tonewheel organs. I really serached the internet before I bought this and I am happy I did because it sounds great. It is a little better than Voce V5 because it has a great reverb , chorus and vibrato. People may argue the point but this is the top unit out there as far as Organ simulation goes. It is a little expensive and I think the wood chasis is to make organs players feel at home.

Having owned an L100/147 and played many B3/C3/A100-s, everything I remembered was useful. The only part that got me stumped was the upper/lower drawbar reference versus drawbar 1/2. It also mystified me why the percussion/leslie/chorus selection changed between patches the first time I played it in the store and then remained the same the second time. Final answer: there's a global setting for this that changed.

The manual is terse but informative. I think there should be a very detailed patch chart detailing all parameters, especially drawbar settings in numbers. The graphics are cute and in fact, can be accurate (from 0-8) but you have to look very, very closely and count pixels. Grab your reading glasses!

This was designed to do one thing and it does it really well - be a standalone B3 replacement that requires no other equipments besides amplification and control pedals/switches.

Since it does not support bass pedals, this is not the perfect plug & play unit for jazz/church players who require pedals. However, I think a small compromise will get those players a LOT further for a LOT less than the other double manuals (VK77, XB3) - get a small module for the bass (pick one here - the emu B3 box) and the Roland pedals and have a "standalone" bass pedal system. Add another low cost controller - I think 48 keys is fine for the lower manual and will cost like $200 - for the bottom manual, a two tier stand that will allow a deep unit (16") like the CX3 on top - I like the Apex stand - and for another $1400-$2000 you've got a very portable dual manual WITH DUAL DRAWBARS system that will fool even you.

I think the features I want could occur with new versions of the firmware, but until they allow me to control JUST volume using the expression pedal and allow mass copying of certain parameters - or have global settings that override patches so your amp type, gain, leslie settings can be used easily without editing EVERY DAMNED PATCH!

The expression pedal is an interesting but annoying feature - it doesn't control volume only, it serves the same function as the "overdrive" knob. I don't always want to turn it up to "11" when I want it loud, I want those two separate PLEASE!

If you want something that barks and bites like a Hammond it can get just about every sound I've heard from a fairly stock Hammond.

There is an organic quality to this digital box that amazes me. I'm not sure how they do it, but I suspect there's some random logic involved because when I play this it never quite sounds the same. It is FUN to sweep, shove and slam this thing and it never sounds artificial or contrived. Now I'm not breaking out the Ginsu knives and going Keith Emerson on this board, but my point is that it does inspire something more THAN ANY KEYBOARD since my Rhodes/Clavinet days.

It could be a complete delusion on my part, the psuedo-wood, the fatter-lower black keys, the "spit" of the on/off click being so loud (after adjusting it, of course:), the best leslie emulation to date - but with headphones on, I'm back thirty years. Call it a cheap time machine for the money, alright? With no back pain. That's like going back to have free love without condoms! (Yes, I should get out more)

And it actually CAN transmit velocity over MIDI, very nicely as I've doubled a piano for that one man Procol Harum/Band/Gospel sound. Take a load off Mary!

I already use it without backup. The leslie emulation is so good that I'm going to stop using my Motion Sound Pro3T Leslie style speaker.

There are occasional pops and I've had it stop dead twice. I have an early serial number (1172) and I understand the newest firmware fixes these problems. Not at all unusual for a new product and the good news is you can upgrade the firmware via MIDI (albeit SLOWWWWLLYYY..)
Compare that ($0) to $170 for a PROM for the XB2!

Also, the expression pedal and switches can be garden variety. I'm using the Yamaha FC7, very easily available for $50 and $5 foot switches - you can reverse polarity easily from the global settings.

There are occasional pops and I've had it stop dead twice. I have an early serial number (1172) and I understand the newest firmware fixes these problems. Not at all unusual for a new product and the good news is you can upgrade the firmware via MIDI (albeit SLOWWWWLLYYY..)
Compare that ($0) to $170 for a PROM for the XB2!

I'm returning my Pro3T, so that's $550 saved. The expression pedal is included, so expect to pay $150 for the Hammond pedal and $100 for the Roland pedal. There are TWO sets of drawbars, allowing three different sounds at your fingertips FOR EACH MANUAL. ALL of the controls - vibrato, percussion, split, drawbars - send and respond to standard MIDI controllers. Play the demos and you'll see this in action - lights go on and off, leslie whirs up.

Everyone talks about this being expensive, but I don't think it is. You plug this straight into a great PA or keyboard amp and forget the bulk and setup of leslie emulators or real cabinets and miking headaches. Leslie settings are obvious by the lights on the switches so you can't really get lost when you're playing.

I got mine as a "B" stock unit, fair amount of cosmetic damage on one side of the wood end piece. It's not hard to get this for $1900 and when I think about the money I save on firmware upgrades, pedals, emulators, mikes - all more things that can AND WILL break or get lost - I think it's a great price. I don't care about pedals and I really don't want to plug into a leslie cabinet. At first I thought this was a disadvantage but one night after playing for eight straight hours, I grok'd this board - it's a B3 in one box, just add amplification or recording gear.

They say money can't buy you love but I say it can get you something so close you won't care. And I'll say the same about the CX3 - for about $2k with a case, you'll have something so close to the real thing you won't care. And you won't have to bribe your friends with beer to get it moved!

If you know what a Hammond organ is, then you should not have any trouble using this organ. Not sure of software version, but I know mine's is one of the newer ones with the bugs fixed (there were some problems with the first line of new CX-3's, check the serial number).

Laid out like a B-3, the drawbars are on top of the keybed (unlike the other clones, VK7, XK2, etc.) and the percussion controls are to the right, not the left. This can be uncomfortable to people who haven't used a B-3 (like me) or have gotten used to the other clones, but that's how a real B-3 is laid out, folks.

Presets are pretty accurate, half in normal mode, half in EX mode (where all 16 drawbars control one manual, pretty freaky). Some presets were designed by organ players, indicated with two initials like TC (Tom Coster) AK (Al Cooper) GP (Greg Phillanges) and so on. Some patches are designed for certain songs like "Turkish" (a cunning way of getting around saying "Tarkus"), "Whyter Shade" (duh?), "Gimme Some" (take a guess) and "Smoke in Japan" (please don't make me explain that one).

Patch editing is a breeze, you don't even need the rather flimsy and useless manual that comes with it. If you didn't know how an organ works, you wouldn't be buying it. The manual, if you bother to look at it, is pretty basic, no remarkable ground covered or any tips, but it does tell you how the presets are organized (letters representing genres; numbers giving different presets in each catgeory).

The only pain in the rear end is that the Chorus/Vibrato knob is very slippery, and it's very easy to miss the setting you want, which could be annoying during live performance (I don't use it too often, so it's not a big concern for me.)

Fully polyphonic, just like an organ. The action is the best I've felt on the clones, except that they kept the stupid piano lip. I cut my friggin' pinky the first time I tried a glissando on the organ, though now I've gotten used to it. Some have complained about the "hot action" on the keyboard (in a nutshell, you don't have to press the key all the way down to trigger the sound, supposedly to enhance the realism or some BS), but I don't really mind it too much.

Besides the chorus/vibrato switch (pretty accurate, I think), the Leslie sim is hands down the best I've heard on any of the clones. No Leslie sim is perfect (it's called a SIMULATION) but some of the ones on the clones really suck, and I don't want to add any more stuff like an external leslie sim (i.e. the Motion Sound Pro-3T). The Leslie sim generally makes or breaks an organ simulator, and the sim on the CX-3 sets it above the rest.

No expansion, because all it does is organ. I know that the Vk-7 came with a general Midi sound set of pianos, strings, etc. but I wanted an ORGAN, and the sounds on the Roland suck (I love Roland products, so it pains me to say that.

The keyboard is not velocity sensitive (because real organs are not) but the Cx-3 comes with an expression pedal which is really neat (I'll explain in expressiveness), the pedal feels good, and stays put when your foot is not on it.

It's also got two sets of drawbars, so you can split the keyboard too use both, or MIDI up a controller (preferably 61-key) and voila! A double manual organ at a fraction of the cost of a VK-77 or an OB-5, and a better sounding one at that.

This is the best sounding organ simulator on the market today (unfortunately, that also makes it the most expensive single-manual organ simulator out now). You could use the presets alone and still be quite happy with it, the fact that it lets you create and edit your own sounds ensures that some of your personality is input into the organ.

This organ works well for everything: rock, jazz, blues, gospel, soul, church, classical, ballet, whatever! If you need an organ, this will work. I love progressive rock, and finally I can do an ELP, Genesis or Yes song with accuracy, or even though I don't have Jimmy Smith's chops (yet!) I can definitely sound like him (check the "McJimmy" patch).

No effects besides the chorus/vibrato and leslie, but that's all you need. It's quite simple to turn off the leslie and, if you dare, hook up a phaser to duplicate the late 70s Tony Banks organ sound, and it will sound pretty damn accurate.

Completely forgot to mention percussion. The percussion is very accurate, and can be tailored very extensively (volume, attack, decay, etc.) If you use percussion alot (which I really don't), you'll be more than satisfied.

EX mode is amusing, you can get some pretty weird sounds out of the organ, but I generally don't use it.

Reverb is good, but not essential to the use of the organ, still nice to have though.

Onboard tone control makes tweaking that much easier. Distortion control is really neat. Instead of a dedicated distortion knob like on those OTHER simulators, the expression pedal controls volume and overdrive (like a real organ), therefore, when the volume is low there is no distortion, when you crank the volume, you crank the overdrive.

This is a minor thing, but I absolutely love this about the organ. There's a wheelbrake! With the touch of a button, or by assigning a footswitch to turning on/off the wheelbrake, you can essentially turn off the power and listen to the tonewheels slowing down, causing the pitch to lower until it is off. You can only use this effect sparingly without wearing it out, but this is the only simulator I know that can do this.

Very dependable, except that the bottom is made of particle board, which one feels one could break easily with one's hand. Would definitely use on a gig without backup (don't have anything to back it up really, unless I use the godawful organ sounds on my Casio WK-1200, which I still use as a controller and for its pianos and strings.) It's a relatively heavy keyboard compared to other 61-key keyboards, but it's about 1000% lighter than a real B-3, so I've got no complaints!

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

Would cry like a baby if it were stolen. It's a tad on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for. It is hands down the best simulator on the market.

I've had it for 7 weeks, and it works well in my setup, which is: CX-3, Roland JP-8000, and the aforementioned Casio WK-1200. It is definitely a great asset to music making and playing for me, and I love it to bits.

I hope this review has been helpful to you, as other reviews like it on this and other sites were helpful to me in choosing the CX-3.

Software Version without Bugs. ( Different to the Vk7 Software Bugs in the latest Version )
Editing of Patches is very easy , its an Organ not a Synthesizer.
Editing is so easy that you dont need no manual.

The CX 3 is fully polyphon ! I dont know exactily the meaning of an WATERFALL Keyboard. Every Organ has its own keyboard, so it's just another Organ, but she is rally a great Organ !
My FIRST impression playing the CX 3 was:
Oh impossible to play Piano Sounds using this keyboard.
( Should be the 1st impression on every organ )
The SECOND: Feals like an very old keyboard. Is everykey OK ?
The THIRD. Wow i didnt know, that i can play so fast.
I spend a lot of time, programming Organ Sounds using Synthies.
The old analog Synthies did it very well. But using an digital
Workstation you always get problems with the speed. Perhaps you
can create absolutely original Hammond sounds, but you cant play them, because the Hardware is too slow.
( The Reason B3 Software Clones for PC are toys )
This problem is concerning all Vintage Sounds, e.g. D6 too.
The new CX3 provides analog Raltimespeed. The Roland Vk 7 too.
But if you use an VK7 its more the fealing:
Wow great keyboard, I am shure, I can play piano sound on it too.
Thats baaaad !
- MIDI Featers
Looking for Pitch Bending or Modulation Wheel ? Thats Silly !
Ok Pitch Bending would be nice to emulate the function Power OFF !
No Problem, you can emulate the Pitch Bending Wheel with any Drawbar.
Its possible to assign any Controler Midi Message to one of the 18
Drawbars ! A really mighty possibility ! Using an additional Sound
Expander you can create a totally new music instrument !
I am beginner, actually just using drawbar 8 to control the Volume of my JV 880.

- PERFORMANCE
With the new CX 3 its possible to create and store up to 68 new Hammond Organs. Same as VK7. Do i really need 64 Hammond Systems ?
Me not. The VK7 can reduce Bank switching to 16 Sounds. You can
select Bank a/b and 8 different Sounds, providing great switches.
The Vk7 provides additional some non Organ Sounds. The additional
Sounds are not in high quality, except the choir sound, but fits together with convinient 2 Bank switching.
Performance Switches are one of the most Important Details:
Naturally it is impossible to use 64 different Hammond Systems:
Unfortunately the performance Switches of the CX3 are hidden.
Pehaps they dont fit the Vintage Design. They are black same as
the Console.
- Conclusion
Keyboard 10 Points
Speed 10 Points
Controller 10 Points
Sound Switches 0 Points
Bank Switches 0 Points
========================
Sorry only 6 Points








the keyboard too. ( You know waht i mean ? )

I played and owened alsmost every kind of organs.
I like my Phillicordi GM, of corse it does not sound like a C3 or any kind of stuff. But she was cheap 100 $ and sounds very pretty.
It is stupid to compare anything with this old Hammonds. I prefer any kind of organ if she has any kind of charakter.
My first organ was an phillicordia, my second a Yamaha BK3, 3000$ with lovely Transistor Sound and build in rotary speaker. You can still get this Kind of Orgen about 50 $
In the 80 i bought an Korg CX3 ( 200 $ ) I am still using her, because there are some advatages in spite of Hammond Models.
The Main Advantage is: Manferd Mann used her up to nowdays !
Additional the old CX3 has the widest Frequenzie Range of all
Organs.
So its not a bad choice !
Vk isnt bad too, she has an good keyboard, logical stable knobs:
Very good percussion:
Addiotinal an terribel Amp simulation and Leslie.
AUf deutsch: Sie ist einfach nur brav !
Very good and cheap insrument for Jazz Musik
If your music is Rock music, try to buy an old CX3
Best Organ for rock music better than any Hammond
If you make Jazz Music buy an Roland VK
If you want the whole Story buy the new Korg CX 3

She ist a little bit too heavy

You can even get Chips for the old CX 3 via Siemens
The worst support is Roland. Here you can get nothing
Even the latest VK / own their typicall SOftware Bugs
This Bugs are Terrible

If it were stolen:
I would use my old CX3. Perhaps i would miss the real Hammond Sound.
If you dont have 3000 - 5000 Dm its really just a little bit of difference . You can get an old CX3 about 500$
I play 30 years organ. I own all the important kind of keyboard up from ARP Odyseee to minimoog
The CX3 is close to the VK7. Both instruments are lovely !
Both Instruments have their own charakter.
With Exception the VX7 Amp simulation is terribele , every OP AMP with Diode does it better. And the Leslie is pure.
The CX3 is the better Instrument:
The old CX3 is another Instrument:
She sounds always good. The old CX 3 cant be compared like any Hammond:
For Rock Music she sounds better like any Hammond ever build.
Same as Vox International.
Try to play any door song on a Hammond. Sounds pure. Better Results
you get with an old Cx3 or an phillicorda. Best result with VOX
INTERNATIONAL.
With an Vk7 you get not result.
With the new CX3 you can even simulate an old phillicordia or VOX !

the manual is quite good. I'm a novice player, so I've had to read the manual several times and am still figuring things out.

Keyboard action is excellent. I''ve tried hooking up my old korg p-3 piano module to the cx-3 so that I can switch back and forth between piano sounds and organ sounds, without success as of yet. Any suggestions welcome.

Sounds great for rock and blues, and jazz contexts.

I am bringing it without backup to my first gig tonight.

There is no number for tech support in the manual! I can't find it at their website either. This is incredibly frustrating.

I've been playing keys for about 4 years; I 'd buy one again if lost or stolen. It should come with a PS-1 footswitch; guitar center tells me it will take a minimum of 2 weeks to special order one. I bought a Roland FS-1 switch but I have to click it twice to turn the leslie on or off, so I am going to take it back. Also, there is some distortion (sounds like a blown speaker cone) that goes away inconsistently with turning the expression knob. I may have to take it back for exchange.

As a Hammond Clone - it's exceptionally easy to use, assuming you know your'e way around Hammonds. If not, the unit is a great learning tool for the day when you do get to play the real thing.<P>
For comparison, I played the old CX-3 for about ten years before I got to play my first B3 w/ a band. I found the real B3 to be VERY different. Not that the old CX was a slouch by any means -- it was a great instrument on it's own.<P>
I listed a few more Ease of Use items:<P>
<li>Leslie Sim - good enuf you can leave the MotionSound at home. Oh, you'll miss it, but you'll get by without it</li>
<li>Comes with a Foot Pedal -- Definitely one of my requirements, and you don't have to shell out for it</li>
<li>Standard detachable power code</li>
<p>
Cons<P>
<li>Odd Size - Rather Large, not as easy to fit in a case, and case must be larger</li>
<li>Particle Board Bottom - ick !</li>
<li>Expensive, but so was the original (approx $1200).</li>

Features are covered pretty well by the other reviews. Basically, you get a full-featured Organ/Leslie Combo with programmable MIDI and potential two manual operation.<P>
Here's the standouts for me:<P>

<LI>I CAN CARRY IT ! -- Seriously, I have a '57 B3 & Leslie that I play out with about twice a year, but it requires professional cartage to move it (about $150 a pop !).</li>

<LI>Layout/Design - I needed a piece I can reach up and play my organ parts on in a typical frenzied hurry. Cannot tell you how nice it is to look up and check the percussion by looking at the upper right...wow!<li>
<li>Effects - The built in Leslie sim is OK. Chorus is good, but a little much. Overall - very nice emulation. I would like to sit down and tweak the leslie parms so they match my Motion Sound.</li>

<LI>Drawbars can be MIDI controllers ! -- Potential uses include:
<li>Controlling Fiter/Resonance on my Midi Moog</li>
<li>Controlling the B4 I plan to buy for home/studio</li>

My first impressions are very good (and for the price it better be !).
I found the following things worked well/ were easily translated:
<P>
<li>Mid Range Comps/Stabs that cut. Hit a big chord in the middle of the keyboard with the bottom two drawbars out. This is where the Old CX-3 really excelled. The XB-2 totally flops at this. New CX-3 did just fine.</LI>
<li>Palm Sweeps - start at the bottom and "wax on/wax off" your way up to the top, Leslie on slow to start, switch to fast 1/2 way up. For the other clones, (XB-2/CX-3), you really need a Leslie/Motion Sound to pull this off. New CX just fine as is.</LI>
<li>Percussion is pretty Faithful. It's a lot like a Hammond in that
it's not really, really loud. For really loud passages, I usually forgo percussion. Using an XB-2 taught me to use it sparingly anyway.</li>
<li> Volume Pedal is better than I thought it would be. Trying out in store, I thought 'Man this thing is wimpy', at least compared to the XB-2 pedal (which costs $150!). But, it stayed put, and had a lot more travel room than the an Ernie Ball or the XB-2 pedal.</li>
<P>

No idea yet. My last CX-3 lasted almost 18 years with about three trips to the tech. That's pretty darn good. Most of it can be attributed to an Anvil ATA Flight Case. <P>
For this new one, we found a nice soft case that's easily manageable.<P>

No idea

Is it worth what I paid ? ...Come to one of my shows and find out !<P>
Hey, at the end of the first gig, the cute female vocal sub came over and complemented me on my playing -- that's worth something !<P>

No really, I had an extremly tough time making the decision. Here's how the comparables laid out for me<P>
<li>Don't care for MIDI Modules -- I love the VOCE sound, just don't like the physical setup of the module for B3 sounds (and I owned a Micro B).</li>
<li>XB-2 Would work, don't like the action, but they can be had for cheap.</li>
<li>XK-2 Never really turned me on. Neat, but something missing in the sound</li>
<li>VK-7 Nice piece, really liked it. A tad expensive for those GM sounds</li>
<li>Real B3 - Got it, just don't wanna move it around !.</li>
<P>
If your'e still worried about the high price, consider this:
To me next best clone is the Hammond XB-3 - which runs about $17,000!<P>

This instruments tries its best to recreate the vintage hammond B3. The design layout proves this. Drawbars, rotary control, and chorus vibrato easy to access for realtime control. -1 for the master vol. placement- not the easiest to reach in a live setting. Manual is well written. Presets are nice and varied although I was a bit surprised how much I had to modify the settings to get the basic B3 sound I wanted.

Total polyphony with a great action. The oversized hammond black keys do make a difference when playing the blues scale. Heard alot about the scanner technology creating a "hot action", but really didn't notice a huge difference. So one should not fear getting used to it. Adequate midi features for my purposes. I enjoy the detailed editing features of the leslie effect permitting a wide variety. The one big negative for me is that Korg left out transposition in the preset editing, and only has one octave global transposition (which affects all presets). So in a live application, this causes problems since I favor certain keys for high velocity playing.

Now the most important- does it sound real? answer-yes and no. Like other reviews, the percussion, leakage, chorus, and even the overdrive are very realistic. The tone generation does supply me with that gritty sound you hear on the old recordings. For this I'm happy. However, for that warm sound you hear on many recordings from a real B3 -this has seemed to elude me so far. I probably need to run the cx through a tube amp and it will get me the warmth I'm longing for(I may be too critical on this point). As for the leslie effect, it deserves high marks. One reviewer said he sold his motion sound pro 3T and xk-2 after hearing this model. This is one reason I bought the cx-3 because I didn't want a complex setup when playing live. As for detail, the horn effect sounds better than the rotor(rotor being too electronic,) but it does add to the realism. For some reason, the rotary effects sound more realistic in ex mode when both sets of drawbars are in use (with certain presets). So overall, this effect should save you from getting an expensive outboard leslie sim.

I bought this board used with no club hours. I hate to admit that I am having a couple of problems with it. Occasionally I get this random popping sound that comes and goes. Also I'm getting a low soft rumble originating from the overdrive effect when the overdrive knob is at 12 o'clock. Both are tolerable to me right now but may cause problems come recording time. Don't let this scare you since it probably is an isolated gliche.

no contact

I too read all the reviews on this model and believe I made a good decision. I think its the best clone out there today. I thought about going the voce 5/motion sound route but am glad I didn't. I tested the roland vk-7, hammond suzuki xk-2, and even the Emu B3 sound module(which by the way only crossfades for a leslie effect)but decided the cx-3 was the best overall. Check out the review of the cx-3 on the Keyboard magazine site. Anyway,I just like the genuine look and feel of a real B3 which this has. I also considered buying the real thing but am glad I didn't. I'm just not THAT committed to transport a 400+ lb beast around town. For the club/church gigging player this is what you want. The overall sound with some careful tweaking will yield a general contentment. I would not recommend this model to larger studios for you guys have room for the real McCoy. I hope I helped with this life and death decision!

Extremely intuitive. I have been playing Hammond consoles for 30 years. This is the closest yet. Up and running in seconds. Great presets already programmed. Wish Al Kooper would have included his preset for "Season of the Witch". -1Pt for the slippery chorus/vib wheel.

At first I hated the action.. then got used to it and now love it! My fingers seem to fly across the keyboard... -1 point for the keyboard being so noisy! With a little tweaking, the Leslie simulation is OUTSTANDING! Midi control is good.. -1Pt for no pitch/mod wheels though....

I have a 63 B3 and Leslie in my living room and this baby is reeeeeaaaal close! Love the authenticity of the key click and leakage. The vibrato chorus is the best yet, although it is closer to an A100 sound than a B3.. But I love that too!

Only had it a few weeks.. No problems yet....

See above....

I sold my XK2 AND Motion Sound Pro3T to purchase this keyboard. Who needs the PRO3T when you have this terrific leslie simulation? The next best thing for an old Hammond console player who needs a transportable instrument...

Okay, right up front: Mine is the Original analog 1979-model CX-3, NOT the slick new 21st century reincarnation. It took me a year to talk my good friend from Ohio into selling me his, but baby was it worth it. . . . Now back to the regularly scheduled programming. Ease of use? Plug it in (regular A/C, no warts), turn it on, crank a few knobs to taste, and you're cookin'. The only thing I used the manual for was to figure out what the presets are (e-mail me if you need to know.) The drawbars are smooth and precise, no dead or sticky spots that I could find anywhere.

It's an organ. Period. Well, not period - - it's a darned convincing B-3 imitator organ, with the same types of sound creation features: One set of nine regulation Big-Hammond drawbars; percussion, including separate buttons for the 2nd and 3rd, with spin-able volume and decay; keyclick amount; bass and treble response knobs; overdrive knob and volume. Oh yeah, and a tuning knob to sync up to your tone-deaf band-mates. There are separte high and low gain outputs in back and even an effects loop. There is a built-in Leslie effect, with an "On/Off" button and "Fast/Slow" button. There are three presets plus the drawbar option. Five octaves, good response-keys, but they are pointy on the end, unlike those nice smooth Hammond "waterfall" keys, which is why I give it a "9" instead of a "10." But remember: it's an organ - - you want a synth, get a synth. And I have to mention that the exterior is real wood, and nicely done at that. So what if it weighs in at a hefty 23 lbs?

Ohhhh, man. I defy you to find a bigger, fatter sound in today's digitals. I play through a chopped Leslie set up (separate mystery-model rotor and 147 horn pieces) without the original amplification. I use a simple solid-state P/A head with a 5-band EQ and 50 watts of output. The result is a monster bottom end and a wonderfully Hammondy sound overall. The overdrive adds nice roundness or grind, depending on how you dial it up, but if you're using the drawbars, the drive fades up or down as you change each of the bars, which I think is pretty darn cool, rather than some flat response. Now, having said that, I have to add that the Leslie effect (remember, this is 1979) will fool absolutely nobody, especially on the fast speed, and the wind-up is abysmal. Solution? Use a Leslie, or find another simulator. But the front-end organ sound-generation is divine.

I've had it just a little while. The reputation on these is good, but I've been told that Goff Organs on the net is the place to go for repairs or replacements.

Haven't tried them yet - - I don't really expect that they throw a whole lot of effort into a model that was discontinued 18 years ago.

If it were stolen, I wouldn't be out buying another because my sole purpose in life would be to find the S.O.B. that dared to lay his foul mitts on it, and upon doing so, disemboweling him with a rusty exacto knife. This thing is priceless. B-3, schmee-three. I have enough stuff to schlepp around already. What I'd really like to do is save up for another one and have a second manual, but it will probably cost me even more. Good luck finding one on eBay, but if you do, please don't bid against me. Remember the exacto knife. (I'm kidding. I think.) Bottom line: These are terrific organs: Warm, strong, easy to use. I think it's the best of both worlds for the gigging musician: Great, rich, recognizable sound and back-saving portability. Thank you Fred; I'm forever in your debt.

The control setup is very B-3-like -- 4 percussion switches on the
right, vibrato on the left (switches for each keyboard), complete with V-C knob -- and this is the first clone I've used that puts the drawbars back above the keys, where they belong. (I've never had the opportunity to play an XB-3 or VK-77.) The presets cover a wide range of Hammond styles: You'll probably find 3 or 4 of your favorites in here right away. Editing the patches is pretty simple, and the preset buttons serve as quick scroll tabs to move around the different programming feature groups in Edit mode. I wish the drawbar readout was numeric, rather than graphic though, because it's not very tall, so small changes are tough to see. I skimmed the manual once at the start, and probably won't need to touch it very often from this point on. There are decicated knobs for reverb, bass, treble, volume, and overdrive -- knobs beat menus and scroll buttons on the job, any day. The CX-3 comes with a Korg-labeled version of the Yamaha FC-7, my personal favorite volume pedal. The pedal can be adjusted for sitting or standing use, and stays put without being hard to push.

The basic keyboard feel is great. Palm glisses are easy to do, and
there is very little black-key wiggle, a pet peeve of mine on newer
keyboards. Korg offers a very "hot" action which sets the keys off
at very little depression (1/8"?). This is great for "machine gun"
trills, but makes runs with percussion on a little tricky. For the
most part, I don't like it -- it was meant to mimic the fast action of the original Hammond keyboards, but it trades off key travel to do so. Luckily, there is a way to turn the feature off, although it requires a MIDI cable. (Maybe Korg will add a disable feature to the menus?)

The CX-3 mimics a lot of subtle features of the B-3 -- the percussion only works on the upper keyboard, and only on the right-hand set of drawbars; if you're holding down a key when the percussion is turned on, you get a ping from the held-down notes; the chorus vibrato adds some high end to the tone; etc. The dedicated bass, treble and reverb knobs have a "+/-" function: If you set them to 12-o'clock, they obey the settings of the individual patches; if you turn them from that point, they add or take away the effect from the patches nominal setting. The built-in reverb is a little bright, but useable, and can be put ahead or behind the Leslie simulator -- a nice touch. The two sets of drawbars can be used for either or both manuals. There is a mode where you can add the two sets of drawbars together to make a more X-77-like Hammond, but I don't have any use for it in my playing. One feature that I especially like is the ability to change patches without changing drawbars, percussion, vibrato, etc.: It essentially allows you to queue up a new sound in the preset, keep playing as you were, and then change to the preset at a certain point in the song. I don't use the internal Leslie simulator much, but it's decent, and very adjustable. (The stock settings are not the best ones, IMHO.) There are inputs for up to three pedals. The MIDI implementation is good, but this is NOT a replacement for your master keyboard in a complex MIDI setup. OTOH, the 2nd channel (below the split point) can have its own MIDI transmit channel, and can send either fixed or velocity-sensitive key data. It's good for adding in an extra synth pad part or something in mid-song. For whatever reasons, Korg left off the ability to connect a set of MIDI bass pedals to the CX-3; it doesn't bother me, but if you're in a jazz trio, it would be a drawback.

I love the sound of this thing! Played through a real Leslie, this
keyboard is VERY close to the real thing. I've only owned the CX-3 for about three weeks, but I've been playing Hammonds for over 35 years, and clones for the last 19, and I think I can tell a good copy when I see one. I mostly play rock, R&B, and blues, and this keyboard covers all of those genres well. I'd almost forgotten how good 888000000 can sound when the tone generator sound is right.

If I want to be extremely picky: The vibrato-chorus is a bit too shimmery for my liking -- more like an A-100 than a B-3 so I use C2 rather than C3 most of the time; the percussion is not quite perfect in the lowest octave (but much better than the percussion on my V3); and the overdrive is your typical digital simulation. All in all, though it mimics a B-3 extremely well. I've owned more Hammond clones than I care to admit, and they've always been close, but no cigar. We're lighting up with this one! As soon as I heard it through my Leslie 251, I could tell you exactly what was missing in my other clones.

I haven't owned it very long, so my comments here could change. In the past, my Korg gear has always been of workhorse quality. I hope the trend continues. During the first few days of use, another CX-3 reviewer and I found 3-4 software bugs in the MIDI implementation, which are aggrevating but not show-stopping. Since I'm using it through a patchbay, I was concerned that the basic MIDI operation of the CX-3 might be flawed, too. I tried to mess up the controller by doing a lot of two-handed palm glisses, fast trills, and such, all fed from MIDI Out to the patchbay and back through MIDI In -- this messes up my Voce V3 a lot -- and the Korg took the abuse without whimpering. That makes me feel a bit better.

One area of complaint: The top case is gorgeous, but the bottom side is ugly, unpainted particle board -- and mine had a small finishing nail sticking through the bottom a bit, which I had to clip off with cutters, so it wouldn't mess up the carrying case I use. (It fits like a glove in a Kaces Model #KKP-9KB.) I hope the cabinet holds up well over time.

I called Korg to let them know about the MIDI problems we found. They were friendly, and seemed genuinely interested in my comments. (I've called other music retailers to discuss flaws, and received nothing but an icy tone from the other end of the line.) OTOH, I emailed them a copy of the results of the tests, and asked them to let me know that they got them. My email program says they did (used a receipt), but I've heard nothing from Korg. Time will tell whether it was real interest, or lip service.

I've played Hammonds and clones for years, and I think this is by far the best merging of the feel and sound that is a Hamnmond B-3 that I've come across. I've owned a Voce V3 for several years, and I played a Roland VK-7 in a store for a couple of hours two days before buying the Korg, just to make sure I wasn't falling under the spell of the "hype machine." This keyboard seems to have the right blend of tone to capture the "B-3 sound". All the pieces are in the right place. Having said that, if I couldn't have found a way to turn off the "hot" keyboard action, I might have passed on the CX-3. I understand Korg's reasons for setting the action the way they did, but I still prefer the feel of a full-travel keyboard.

My overall rating is an 8.5, although the Harmony Central rating system doesn't allow .5's. So, I guess I'll have to round up ...

Just got this about a week ago. Very impressed with it. First, a little backround on my Hammond experience:

I owned a B-3 and Leslie 122 for several years, so I'm familiar with "the sound" this and other Hammond clones are after. Finally gave up the B-3 because of space and maintenance issues, and because cloning technology finally reached a tolerable level. I own a Voce V5. Before that I played a Roland VK-7, before that a Hammond XM-2, and before the, the original analog CX-3, which I played for a good 10 years. Yes, Korg was smart to use the same name for this keyboard -- plucks at the heartstrings of all us former CX-3 lovers. I've auditioned the Hammond XK-2, the EMU B-3, and the Oberheim OB3 and OB5. I take my Hammond sound very seriously, its been my #1 axe when playing in groups for almost 20 years.

The CX-3 is a piece of cake to use (sorry, I can't write with the provincial charm of the previous reviewer). If you understand Hammonds and Leslies, you may not even need the manual. But the manual is very good, if you do. The console is laid out exactly like a B-3. This is cool, adds to the feeling of authenticity. I wish they had broken with tradition by putting the percussion effects on the left with the other controls. Controls should never be on the right hand side of a keyboard. Same for the split button -- should be on the left. But fortunately, you can switch the split on and off with a footswitch. That's a feature I REALLY appreciate.

There are two sets of drawbars, which makes life SO much easier for us players who like to use two manuals. Or, as with a real Hammond, you can switch between drawbars (or the chosen preset) for a single manual. Again, everything about this keyboard seems designed to be as close to the original as they could get.

Weight is 30 pounds, which is nice. Well within my comfort range.

I like the action. Very much like a well-worn-in Hammond, which is to say, a little spongy. The keys have a nice feel and are rounded off so as to make sweeps more pleasurable. The XK-2 action, by contrast, is more crisp, keys a little bigger -- actual Hammond size. I like the XK-2 action better, except the Korg still wins out because of the scanner reading technology that triggers the note before the key hits bottom. The XK-2 lacks this, and the difference is noticeable. The OB5 keys feel similar to the CX-3, but the OB5 also lacks scanner reading. I think Korg really scored with this scanner reading thing. Some players may not like it. The first reviewer below describes how you can bypass it.

In general, the features are those of a Hammond and Leslie. Nuff said. No fancy add-ons, no new millenium effects. This is meant to look, sound, and feel like a Hammond.

Not designed to be a great controller keyboard. One cool thing is that, according to the manual, you can send midi data with each of the drawbars. Haven't tried this, but potentially its a very cool thing. The VK-7 does the same thing with its one set of drawbars. The VK-7 sends data in increments, not continuous. I don't know how the CX-3 does it.

The CX-3 sounds great. Korg obviously went to alot of effort to make the sound spot on just like a Hammond/Leslie pairing. You've got leakage (adjustable), key click (a very realistic "thunk"), and the sort of general scratchiness of the real Hammond. If you want a clean, pristine sound, this may not be what you're looking for. Hammond players will listen and say within 2 seconds, "that's the shit!"

Reacts very well to the touch. I really feel like I'm shaping the sound with my hands. Can't emphasize how important that is. A keyboard can have great sounds, but if you don't feel connected to them through the keys, it will be much harder to be expressive and personal in your playing.

Percussion, vibrato/chorus sound excellent.

The leslie effect is very good, in my opinion. I generally don't think much of the leslie simulators that come with these clones -- preferring a Motion Sound or H & K Rotosphere or Korg G4. But the CX-3's leslie simulator is very realistic. Does it sound like standing next to a real leslie? Of course not! What a stupid question! The only way to get anywhere near the experience of standing next to a real leslie is to do exactly that. In my opinion, when people criticize Hammond clones for falling short of the real thing, what they're really missing is the effect of running a signal into a tube amp housed in a big wooden cabinet with rotating speakers. There's simply no way to replicate that electronically. A better question is, does it sound like a recorded or mike'd leslie. The CX-3 comes pretty close. But digital distortion can't substitute for real tube distortion. When I run the CX-3 through a tube preamp to warm up the sound, round off the sharp digital edges, its much improved.

I think the CX-3 sounds better than most of the other clones. Much fatter and ballsier than the XK-2 and VK-7 (though the VK-7 is fairly close). The Voce V5 arguably has a warmer, fatter sound than the CX-3, but its not nearly as realistic for things like percussion and vibrato. I played the OB5 only briefly, not enough to really offer an informed comparison. It sounded very good, but probably not as good as the CX-3. If the CX-3 has a rival in sound quality, it might be the EMU. I love the way that thing sounds. The EMU is a rack unit, lacking drawbars. Its a different sort of beast in terms of implementation. But it sounds absolutely killer.

Its tough to say which of these clones really sounds best. Most of them are so good, they're really in the same league with each other. I'd put the CX-3, the EMU, and the V5 at or near the top together, the XK-2 and the OB3 at the bottom, and the VK-7 and OB5 in the middle. But hey, that's just one veteran Hammond player's opinion.

Korg is a company I trust for reliability. I almost never have a backup. I play clubs and parties. The world won't come to an end if my rig fails me (which has never happened).

Its a great keyboard. I love it. It allows me to be creative and expressive and, dammit, I feel like I'm playing the real thing. Being able to run it through a real leslie would be all I could ask for. Maybe that will be my next big acquisition.

Many keyboard players will say, yeah, its great, but is it worth the price? If you're very, very serious about your Hammond sound, then yes, I'd say so. The Hammond is an incredibly expressive instrument. If you appreciate that, and if you feel you can get that same level of expressiveness, or close to it, out of a clone, that ought to be worth 2 grand.

Again, the leslie component is so important. I think if you play a Voce V5 through a real leslie, or through the Motion Sound r3-147 rack unit, you'll have a sound that might be better than the CX-3, for probably around the same price. The point is, if you're objective is a great Hammond sound, there are alot of ways to get there. The CX-3 is not necessarily the best or only way. But the CX-3 does put a great sound into one keyboard, and it feels under your fingers. My recommendation to the prospective buyer is to try to listen to and play as many different clones as you can. Especially try to listen to the Voce V5 and the EMU, though you really have to run them through a good leslie simulator to get an idea of how good they can sound.

shit, dun easier than eatin fristed flakes.

features everything but the power to create life.(I beleive there comming up with that upgrade this summer)

this thing sounds like they stuffed a little midget inside the organ(a midget with the lungs michael crawford, and the heart of gunther gable williams.)

She's as reliable as a 25 year old girl.(notice the score)

say what!

She's the one for me, I new it the first time I saw her. Let us remember that the world that made you, will leave you cold and alone, with nothing left to hold on to but these reviews.

This thing is pretty easy. I do wish there were some sort of rotary entry thing, cause hitting the +/- keys 4000 times gets a little tiring. And the percussion is only engaged when drawbar set #2 is being used. This may be a characterisitc of the original B3, I don't know. They stopped making them well before I was born. I am an avid listener and learner of the instrument, however, and this sounds just incredible. A lot better than the XK-2, or any other simulator I've ever heard.

Full polyphony, just like the XK-2, VK-7, etc. Action is great, better feel than the XK-2. Again, I'm not a B3 player, so it may not be totally authentic. It sure feels great to me. Standard effects, leslie, reverb, and distortion. Reverb and distortion are both controlled by dedicated knobs, distortion can be controlled by INCLUDED expression pedal. My only complaint is that the distortion and expression are controlled at the same time, making any adding of distortion accompanied by an increase in volume. This is, of course, entirely realistic. But I'd rather not have my sound jump by 30 decibels when I want to go from comping to bad-ass full organ. I'm almost positive there's a midi workaround for this. I'll have to figure it out. My fault, not Korg's. And wow, TWO SETS OF DRAWBARS. God forbid any organ sim be slightly faithful to the original setup of the B3/C3/A100. (Roland VK-77 and Oberheim OB5 not included). And they actually have the percussion in the same place as on a real Hammond, unlike the XK-2/VK-7. And the vibrato/chorus is on a rotary wheel, with upper/lower manual select switches. You can also easily midi a second keyboard to it, acting as a second manual to be controlled by the second drawbar set. It even has an analog-looking display. Don't ask me what that means, I really don't know.

This is an organ clone, so it obviously is very versatile as long as you're playing organ. It can make any B3/C3/A100 sound you want. The fast key scanning method is great, and the leslie is very realistic to my ear.

I would definitely depend on it. And I have no backup. :)

I haven't actually dealt with them yet.

Oh wow. This just absolutely destroys the XK-2 and VK-7. It sounds so warm, the feel is so great, and it looks fantastic. If I had any problems using it, I quickly discovered it was my own inexperience. I wanted a B3 real bad, but given my upcoming college education, I figured it would not be a good idea to spend a LOT more money on a real organ and leslie only to have to leave them behind when I cram myself into a dorm room. If it were ever stolen, I would buy another one immediately. Any questions, feel free to ask me.

It's easy to use - 2 sets of drawbars. The lower drawbars can be used in a split on the keyboard or midi-ed into another keyboard for dual manual organ. Everything is layed out nicely. I wish the percussion controls were on the left side with everything else. Oh well. Manaul was very good from what I remember (i misplaced it a few weeks ago). Easy to edit patches and global settings.

The action is great, comparable to the XK-2, but a little spongier feel. I like it a lot. The keyboard has this scanning action which triggers the note at the initial contact, rather than at almost bottoming out the note. This makes for a faster action, which I like for the the most part. I know a few players who don't like that, and its easy to disable the initial contact note triggering. Just turn the local off, and take a midi cable and run it from the midi in to the nidi out and presto! different action. I don't know if Korg is aware of this.

As a controller, it's OK but a few more features would make it much more attractive. I use it to control a Virus B synth, I midi through into my RD-600 so I can use the pitch bend/mod wheel, which the Korg doesn't have. There are 2 choices for velocity curves; a fixed one which you can set, or this other one, which is pretty expressive. The fixed curve triggers the note at the initial contact, and the other one triggers it at the lower point when pressing the key. This is much more expressive for clav, synth, etc. I'm going to look into the midi solutions velocity converter which would give me 40 curves to choose from. It also doesn't transpose incoming midi signals, only the internal sounds; you have to transpose the sound from the source. No aftertouch. A line in would be nice, like on the Hammond XK-2 I just sold.

Overall though, it's a very cool expressive keyboard.

The organ sounds and percussion sound killer. Real fat ballsy sound. I also own a Voce V5 which sounds great too - I haven't A-B'd them yet. Good overdrive, key click, chorus, vibrato. I feel far more creative on it than I did on the XK-2; I didn't really care for the key response to its own sounds, though I did like midiing my V5 into it. Also few drawbars on the XK-2 when put through a leslie at fast speed, warbled. That drove me nuts. The XK-2 does have a few more features as a controller, but this Korg, in my opinion, far outclasses it. Especially since you can change the key response, and it sounds so damn good. 2 sets of drawbars is key for me.
I use a Motion Sound KBR-M and a Goff leslie 302 and a Hughs and Kettner Rotosphere, so I really haven't experimented with the internal lesie effect much. But there tons of parameters to edit for it, so you can tailor it to your liking.
Great for any and all organ sounds - rock, funk, r+b, blues, jazz

Don't know yet. I've always had good luck with Korg, but I've only had it for a month now. I always bring the V5, just in case.

It was supposed to come with an expression pedal, which it didn't. I am still waiting for one from Korg (about 3 weeks - 3 phone calls), but I'm being very patient; it is Christmas time. Customer support has been responsive, but the parts guy apparently hasn't.

Pricey, but I love it. Glad I bought it. I'm very picky about organ sounds, and it takes a hell of a keyboard to make me use my Voce V5 as a spare.
Any questions - drop me a line. The controller features I was talking about are the only reason I didn't give it a 10.