Voce V5

Take a short look at the unit and you will be able to handle it.

It goes for a B3 - so no Leslie simulation, but that is ok as most of those are useless. The rest is just as B3 plus the possibilities of programming seven presets and adding much too much leakage noise and overdrive.

As an old Hammond player who plays a C3 and a RT3 I was a bit disappointed by the first sounds I heard from the V5. But I played it through a normal amp - no effects at all. The whole thing changed totally when connecting it to a 122 Leslie. The sound came much nearer to the real thing but IMO not close enough.
First of all there is one fact: the sound itself is ok, but when you change a drawbar setting on a real Hammond very slightly - lets say you change a single drawbar within two steps - you will hear the sound difference. But not with the Voce. Here you have to make much bigger changes of about four or five steps to hear at least something. That means you do not have the subtleties and variations a Hammond can offer.
Secondly the percussion is a bit cold and too soft. The so called normal volume just corresponds to the soft volume of a Hammond.
Thirdly the vibrato-/chorus-section cannot be compared with a Hammond at all. It misses the warmth and depth - another reason why you cannot play it without a real Leslie.
And finally there are some incredibly bad features like the overdrive/distortion and the leakage. You simply cannot adjust the levels properly as their ranges are somewhat like extremely odd. They obviously used wrong potentiometers.
As a roundup I would say the sound is ok for all sorts of music where the Hammond sound is not in first place. But if you want to play stuff like Emerson, Wakeman, Jimmy Smith etc forget it.
I use it to mix an Hammond sound with other sounds like strings or so. Something I cannot do with my C3 and for that purpose it works pretty well.

Never had a problem.

Once called them and did not have the impression that they were interested in my questions.

The big plus of this unit is the concept of a cigar box size with drawbars. The sound is much better than those so called Hammond sounds in various synthesizers but still cannot be compared with the real thing. There are some weak points but I can live with them as I only use it as my second Hammond on stage.

Very easy to use, controls are simple and physical. Drawbars control the tone and buttons toggle settings for "percussion" effect. 7 writable presets are easy to call up. Knobs for volume, overdrive, key click, and "leakage." You hook it up, you're ready to go ... if you're familiar with MIDI and drawbar organs. If not, check the manual. It's very small but it tells you what you need to know. My only complaint is that the chorus/vibrato effect is cyclical (you have to keep pressing the button to cycle through the 6 settings in order to get the one you want.

Full polyphony. Multi-channel control capability so you can use two manual keyboards and a pedalboard. Seems relatively easy to set up but I have never actually used it. On-board effects are very basic, similar to what would have been available on a classic Hammond organ: Key click, overdrive, tonewheel leakage, vibrato/chorus. What it has is adequate, but limited when comapred to other units (Roland for instance) that have all the bells & whistles. Onboard Leslie emulator is noticably absent - but that's arguably part of the Voce's "authenticity." I give it a 6 because its features are limited, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Velocity & aftertouch are irrelevant, it does not respond. As far as imitating the sound of a Hammond organ, this little box does the job, giving you the complete range of tonal possibilities from the nine drawbars. At first I thought it sounded a bit thin & feeble, but after tweaking & processing a bit, I've got it sounding SWEET. I live & play in an apartment where I can't make lots of noise, so a real Leslie cabinet was out of the question. Runing the Voce through a Boss RT-20 rotary emulator, it sounds pretty darn good. The Voce's onboard overdrive is ugly and useless; turn it up just a little bit and it's already too much. Same with the leakage. But the keyclick is great, the percussion sounds authentic, and the vibrato/chorus is very useful (though after I got my RT-20 I usually just turn the Voce chorus off.) You need to understand that this box just produces a basic, raw organ sound which you will need to process and/or amplify properly to get the most out of it.

This review is actually a follow-up of one I wrote in October 2003 about a V5 that was malfunctioning (controls were randomly mapped to the wrong buttons, drawbars and knobs were all mixed up.) I returned the defective unit and got a good one, and have been happily playing it since then. I feel like I can rely on it completely. It has never failed or malfunctioned.

My only dealings with the company involved a phone call to the service number in the manual regarding the first, defective, unit which I had purchased. The person I talked to seemed uninterested in my problem and told me to "just return it."

If something happened to my Voce I would probably buy it again. It was cheaper than any comparable item available at the time (though adding the rotary effect pedal which I bought to go with it pushed the price up to about the same as a Roland drawbar unit with the Leslie effect built-in) I have played a Nord Electro and I really like it, but the price makes my chest hurt. It would all come down to price-point, but I would definitely consider Voce again if I had to replace it.

I bought this used on Ebay after over a year of reading everything I could get my hands on concerning this module. I've always been on a Quest to find the best possible Hammond B3 emulator. I HAVE ARRIVED!!! The factory presets are GREAT and I use almost all of them one way or another. I'm telling you it doesn't get any better than this orange box!!! I have owned alot of stuff in my Quest. I am 53 years old and have been playing keyboards of all sorts on and off since 1965. That's right I'm a product of the 60's. I started with a Farfisa mini compact thru a Silvertone twin tube head and cab. Later bought a Farfisa 2 manual Compact Combo with pedalboard used. Holy Cow it came with a Leslie 147 and preamp....Didn't have a clue of what I had!!! Long gone now. Had my share of Roland, Korg, Yamaha Synths. Later I had a Roland VK09 which I used beneath an original Korg CX3 with a Brianizer footbox gizmo for "leslie effect", Owned the Voce DMI MKII organ module and the Peavey Spectrum organ module also. Broke down at one point and bought a Hammond M3 and a Porta B. I've owned 2 Korg G4s (jump on one if you can find one!) and the MotionSound Pro 3t. Wasn't that impressed for the money I had to lay out for it. So, you're getting a good idea about my Quest! IMHO FORGET everything out there....this is the BOMB!! Voce has blown all the competition out of the water...and at a price no one can touch.

Full polyphony just like the real deal. Ok, here's my complete setup.... I play a Roland 250s piano (read about this ole girl) Atop the piano I have a Fatar 610 (61 key controller) Velcroed next to Fatar is the Voce V5 (the top of the 250s is deep enough as to place the V5 so the drawbars are not hanging inspace vicariously. Next to the V5 is an Alesis NanoVerb for alittle reverb flavor. Atop the Alesis is a BlueTube stompbox (by Butler) with a 12au7 tube for the right amount of gain for the solid state amp. I guess I better explain the amp setup. For $499 plus $150 shipping.. I won this wonderful compliment to the Voce V5 on Ebay. It is a Universal RS10 setup. Never heard of it before. It is essentially a copy of the Leslie solid state model 760. Looks almost identical. However it is in two sections. Horn assembly in top cab and the speaker and rotor in bottom. It cranks out 200 watts and has the footswitch for slow to fast action of the horns and rotor drum. Seems someone would have been in a patent lawsuit over producing this baby....it's a Leslie! The BlueTube is there to drive the solidstate amp for those Lee Michael Stormy Monday licks or to date the Gary Moore/ Gov't Mules organ riffs. Out of overdrive mode the Blue tube provides a creamy thick bluesy tone for the Voce/Universal combo. I run to V5 into the Blue Tube and then into the Alesis into the Universal. I have less than $1,500 invested in this awesome Hammond B3 TONE MONSTER setup.

Today, I play mostly Blues, Blues, and more Blues! This setup more than fits the bill. I am constantly leaving people scratching their heads trying to figure out where the organ is in my rig. I've had more compliments from musicians and music lovers on this beast!!

I have to depend on all my gear. Too poor to replace any of it very quickly! No backup...flying by the seat of my pants!

Only called Voce once and got an immediate answer to my questions concerning Leakage and Overdrive functions. The guy seemed in no hurry to get off the phone. Very down to earth and very INFORMATIVE!

If it were lost or stolen, I would have to get a perscription for anti-depressants immediately. I don't want to even think about losting this awesome, long waited for center of my setup! As if I haven't mentioned this enough in my review.......BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!

few,intuitive controls on a small,nice,metal box.
Nine beautiful touch feeling drawbars.No display.

Full poliphony with two 61 keys manuals and a 25 notes pedalboard
(In this eventuality you must use a MIDI merge box)
Overdrive.Likeage.No Leslie effect inside.

This is THE BEST Hammond clone module.It gives you superwarm,organic,fat Hammond B3 sound,and doesn't sound digital at all.Overdrive is so-so,likeage effect is strange buzzy noise you must use with moderation.With no overdrive,keyclick on thirteen,and just a bit likeage you obtain a realistic sound.Percussion and VibratoChorus
are better than those in the V3:With a Pro3T sounds astonishing,but also with an all digital Leslie makes you wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strong,all metallic construction,but the drawbars must be handled carefully,because are without protection.

If lost or stolen,I'd look at the new VOCE V5+
which seems to be a classic V5 with improved sound quality ( ! )

Couldn't be much easier. Everything is pretty much one button, one function and there is not a lot to know, just as on a B3. It is all in the playing and using the drawbars, percussion and vibrato/chorus to advantage. The only drawback is switching to a chorus/vibrato effect. There are 6 settings here and they must be chosen sequentially with one button which means you may have to press the button 5 times to get to the setting you want. The manual tells you everything you need to know.

Polyphony is full over 3 different manuals so you can't ask for more. Built in effects include percussion, key click, leakage and overdrive. The overdrive is only alright and I much prefer overdriving my pro 3T for that distortion effect. Key click and leakage I find can add to the sound if used sensibly. No expansion capability which is a definite minus. I see Voce have just released the V5+ which includes an improved vibrato/chorus section and increased volume on the percussion effect. Such a pity that V5 owners can not receive this update to their modules as with these 2 improvents the V5 would be the bomb and more.
Multi-timbral control is possible on up to 3 channels simultaneously for use with double manual and footpedals.

Having owned a B3 in the past I am pretty familiar with the sound that Hammond clones are trying to emulate. The V5 takes you there. The sound is organic and realistic. More so than any of the other clones I've tried.

I've used it for about 6 months and not had a single problem yet.

If lost/stolen I would replace this immediately with the V5+. I know there is nothing out there that competes with it in terms of quality for money. If the Nord Electro or the Roland/Korg emulators were comparable in price then they would get consideration but this box can't be beat.

The manual is dead easy as the unit is. Plug the cables in, use the buttons, knobs and the drawbars! And you'll be ending up with a superb sound!

Polyphony is indefinete, just like the real thing. Midiing is easy for both manuals plus pedals, just works out great. No expansion, but why? It is just ok. The effects are great, except the (why is this there?) overdrive which has no effect but disturbing the other effects - that's the reason for the "9". The keyclick and the leakage just sound stunning!

This sounds like the real deal - I have the real deal at home (M-100 plus Leslie 122) so I can tell you!
It performs even for the Jazz-Ears really well. Nothing better on the market.

I run it without backup.

don't know of a customer support over here in Europe.

If somebody would steal it I'd get my organ bench and get this person .... and would try to replace it immediately - with a V5. Yes. The price I paid is a lot less than what I would have paid for a VK8-M or Electro Rack or even Hammond XM-1 - and all of these sound worse than the V5. I had a EMU B-3 before, also sounding great but - not ready for street use (unreliable) and its Leslie sim and Overdrive sucks - so I had a Korg G4 plus ADA MP-1 anyway - and this combination (V5 + MP-1 + G4) gives you a killer sound. People turn round and ask where this Hammond is... It is an inspiring and very very useful little orange box - I love it and don't want to miss it anymore!

Very easy to use -- plug it in, connect a MIDI cable to the Voce V5's MIDI input from your MIDI keyboard, and make sure the transmit/receive channels are the same.
The presets sound fantastic -- especially through a Motion Sound Pro 3t or (even better) a Speakeasy Vintage tube preamp followed by a Pro 3t.
The drawbars, chorus/vibrato and percussion buttons basically act as the patch editor for this unit. Anyone familiar with a Hammond B3 organ layout will feel at home right away.
The manual is helpful, but not really needed unless you're new to MIDI and electronic keyboards.

Seems like alot of whining on this site about this unit. I got mine from E-Bay, cut a rubber mousepad to size and glued it to the bottom of the unit, headed to Best Buy to purchase a Case Logic portable DVD player neoprene case to hold the Voce V5 and its AC power transformer (perfect fit), and was ready to go. The unit performs flawlessly. The mousepad mod allows it to fit on my Roland RD-700 or Roland XP-80 without incident. It sounds great -- excellent move to focus on the base Hammond B3 sound, since pros won't use a wimpy digital leslie simulator anyway. The MIDI merge capability will allow the one unit to be controlled by two keyboards for a dual manual effect, but I'm now considering buying a second dedicated Voce V5 so I have more drawbars, more soundshaping control, and less MIDI issues to deal with. For what it is designed to do -- replicate the B3 sound, this compact unit can't be beat.

I still can't believe the sound this small unit puts out! Very, very close to a real B3 when pre-amped/leslied/amplified correctly. The drawbars shape the sound very accurately and are easy to use. The percussion, vibrato and chorus settings are accurate, and I like the key click and leakage setting options, too (in moderation). I'm still getting used to the fact that the V5 only has a key range that's exactly equal to a real B3's (61 keys). For 76 or 88 key controllers, if you play too high or low on the keyboard, no sound emanates. This adds to the authenticity, though, and is easily worked around once the user spends some time playing.
There's a reason this module won a "gold" award for authenticity and balls in Keyboard Magazine's 1999 B3 Shootout. Even with newer boards like the Nord Electro coming out, the Voce holds its own, in a very portable way. Only a real B3/Leslie 122 or 147 would get a "10" rating from me here, so the "9" is a great achievement for a clone.

I have been able to depend on my V5 -- it always powers up and does what it's supposed to do.
Unlike other raters on this site, I'm not worried about the drawbars being too flimsy or susceptible to damage -- just push them in at the end of the night, and put the unit in a decent padded case like the CaseLogic I mentioned earlier.
I would use the unit on a gig without a backup.

I have not dealt with the company

If it were lost or stolen, I would immediately buy a replacement. This thing is worth every penny. It nails the Hammond B3 tone -- especially through the Speakasy Vintage tube pre and the Motion Sound Pro 3t. I have been playing professionally for over 20 years, and own a 1976 Fender Rhodes Stage 73 with Speakeasy Vintage Suitcase Vibrato preamp, a Roland RD700 digital piano and the Roland XP80 workstation in addition to the V5. I route everything through a Mackie 1642 mixer, and route the organ through an Ernie Ball volume pedal and the Motion Sound either before or after the Speakeasy Vintage preamp stage (depends on the gig). Two Roland KC300 amps are run in stereo for onstage amplification. I compared the V5 with the Roland VK8, the new Roland 760 combo keyboard (with drawbars built in), the Roland drawbar module - based on the VK8 engine), the Nord Electro, the Hammond XK2 and the Korg CX3. Because I already have the Roland XP80 workstation, the Voce V5 was the right choice for me. It's smaller than the competing Roland drawbar module, it cost less (since I found a used one), and I think it sounds warmer, too. The V5 and XP80 in combination do much more than any Hammond clone could do on its own, and I need the extra sequencing capability and overall flexibility to mix and match components for various gigs.
I love the V5's user interface -- it's easy to make adjustments on the fly. With the rubber mousepad mod, it sticks to any keyboard that I place it on, without any annoying velcro strips. It really helps me get the organ sounds I need. The percussion is a bit subdued, but the new V5+ supposedly addresses that. It's not a big enough deal for me to upgrade, but if I buy a second unit to get the ultimate double manual experience, it will be a V5+. I'm glad there's no digital leslie simulator on this unit to add more clutter to the interface, but I must admit a built in digital reverb would have been a good addition.

Voce refused to reply to emails from my service tech (CAE Sound)....
as a result they have given up trying to fix it and are sending it back unrepaired. What can they do? Voce won't send the parts!
Four months and not a single part sent, not a single email answered.

Decent sound to start with but what good is that if it needs repair and no one can fix it because the sole parts supplier won't send any parts? An orange $700.00 paperweight. Yippee.

Here's the deal. I'm a piano player in a classic rock band.. trying to fake the B3 stuff. I have a Yamaha P80 88note piano/keyboard controller with VERY limited controller functions.

I WAS using the organ patches in a Kurzweil MicroPiano but over time I started to hate it. I have a Motion Sound Pro3T and LP120 bass unit - a complete, LOUD, mini-Leslie. Sometimes I play organ by itself but most of the time I play piano and organ simultaneously. Organ volume adjusted via a Morley volume wah pedal.

A friend has the V5 and I thought it sounded good. So I saved my pennies and bought one.

What I found is this - the V5 has a 61-note range. Unfortunately their idea of Middle 'C' doesn't match that in my 88note controller. When I play a chord on the P80, the V5 plays that same chord an octave down!! Not tolerable.

I emailed Dave Amels on this. He did respond, like instantly. He said to fix that on the controller - transpose the midi notes transmitted.

Luckily those functions do exist in the P80. I stopped sending MIDI Program Change when I change patches on the P80, and I transpose the MIDI notes sent out +12 semitones, or one octave up. I hope the P80 remembers these changes between power-ups.

SO - if you play an 88note controller, be aware that the 61 notes in the V5 map poorly, if at all, and you're going to have to play some MIDI configuration games to make it usable.

For those of you with separate keyboards driving the V5, I'm sure you're ecstatic.

would I replace it? I don't know. I've had it two weeks, two rehearsals, and am about to do 6 gigs in 6 weeks. I may check back here. For now if it broke I'd go back, not happily, to the B3 sounds in the Kurzweil MicroPiano.

BTW the VOCE V5 and Motion Sound top and bottom can't be beat.

p.s. no, I won't give out Dave Amels' email address.

I want to make it clear that I just got my V5 but I have spent quite a bit of time with it, and I encountered a bizarre problem I wanted to share... Anyway, onto topic. Very easy to use. If you've ever played a drawbar organ, you already know how to use the V5. And if you've never played one, the skinny 14-page manual tells you what you need to know. The controls are all physical and intuitive. Most are single-function. No mystifying sequences of multi-function menu buttons and what-not. Even the MIDI channel selection is simple: there's a physical selector knob on the back of the unit. I would have given it a 10, but my unit has a malfunction. Read on...

This thing is just a drawbar module. It has no keyboard of its own, so the action depends on what you use as a controller. There are controls for Overdrive, Key Click, and Leakage. It has three levels of Vibrato and three levels of Chorus, plus Percussion on/off, fast/slow, loud/soft, and 2nd/3rd harmonic. Everything that would have been on a classic Hammond organ is here, and that's all that is here. It supposedly has the ability to play on 3 MIDI channels (two manuals and a pedalboard) and there's a "split" feature that puts the upper and lower manuals at both ends of one keyboard in a single channel. I was worried about the drawbars hanging out in space in front of the unit when I was shopping for one but after actually using it, the drawbars feel pretty sturdy. I'm no longer worried about them bending or anything. I wish the V5 had an onboard Leslie emulator, which would make it more useful for my MIDI "silent studio" needs, but I have signal procesing gear I can use to fake my way around that. There are no expansion capabilities, no sequencer, room for only 7 presets. It's pretty bare-bones, just a box that sounds like a B-3.

I decided on this unit over the Roland VK8M because it was a hundred bucks cheaper, and all the reviews said it sounded "warmer and more real." Not being in an area where I can actually go and try one out without driving all day, I bit the bullet and ordered the Voce. It DOES sound really great. It's got all that I had expected from something claiming to replicate tonewheel organ sound. It's got the rich & syrupy and the sad & wheezy and everything in between. It doesn't quite have the aggressive crunch that you hear in 1960's psychedelia, but I suppose that is mostly dependent on what amp you are running it through. Perhaps the Roland has all that right out of the box, but for $100 I don't mind a little extra jury-rigging with stuff I already have. I will say that the onboard "overdive" doesn't really sound that great. The "key click" only controls the key-on click, and not the key-off which is unadjustable and noticeably snappy. The "leakage" sounds terrible even at lowest volume. I can't imagine a possible use for that.

Here's where my problem lies. And apparently this is just MY unit. Other reviewers' comments indicate they have V5's that work fine. But when I unpacked mine, hooked it up, and turned it on, right away something was wrong. All controls were in the wrong place, i.e. the 1' drawbar was controlling the "leakage" instead of the highest harmonic. The 1 1/3' drawbar was controlling the tuning and the tuning knob on the back panel was controlling the key click. The leakage knob was actually controlling overdrive, and the overdrive and key click knobs were the 5 1/3' and 16' harmonics, respectively. All the rest of the drawbars were shifted down two spaces in terms of their actual function. It took me a while to figure all this out... And then, when I pressed the "split" button, everything moved. The controls seemed to rotate one space clockwise with each press of "split" (but not actually every time; it was sort of hit-or-miss) and by pressing it and testing a few notes, I was able to get everything in the right place. But then, turning it off and powering it up again, everything was back in the wrong place. I give it a rating of 1 in this category only because I assume it might have worked correctly when it left the factory (I hope they had some sort of quality control at Voce??) Otherwise I'd give it a big fat zero. Also, when I turned on the "percussion" the sound of the 1' drawbar would be turned off completely. I don't know enough about drawbar organs to know if this is supposed to happen. Seems like it shouldn't.

I called the phone number in the manual, and the guy I spoke to didn't seem to want to hear about my problem. He just said "return it" and that was that. I also sent an e-mail and I'm waiting to hear back. I guess I will return it, which is going to be a hassle, and I'll have to wait to get another one. What I have to decide is whether to exchange for another Voce or go ahead and shell out the extra hundred to swap for a Roland instead. At least the Roland will have Big Corporate Clout behind it, and their quality control will no doubt insure the unit is working when I get it. I'm seriously considering that option.

Based on the malfunctioning unit I got, I would not buy another one. If it was working right (and I was able to get a brief taste of that) I'd be delighted with it and willing to accept its limitations. But my confidence in it is shaken and I'm in doubt now concerning my original reasons for purchasing the Voce V5. Depending on what I do next, I may post a follow up on my exchanged, correctly-working unit.

This is the first time I've ever been compelled to write a review on HC, but I just HAD to defend the V5 from the absurd review below!!

The V5 couldn't be easier to use. If you've ever played a real B and plugged in a midi cable, you'll figure out how to use the V5 in about three seconds...

The polyphony is unlimited - you can play every key within the B3's range simultaneously. The chorus/vibrato effects are right on the money. The distortion is definitely usable, but not remarkable. Key click and leakage are nice in small quantities. I subtracted 1 point for the percussion - it sounds great but could be just a bit louder...

In the world of B3 clones, this is where we separate the men from the boys... I've been a professional/semi-professional musician for the past 22 years. Anyone that's worked with me over the years will testify that I'm incredibly difficult to please when it comes to tone quality, especially with piano and B3 sounds. Simply put, the V5 has NO competition in the B3 clone market, and believe me - I've tried them all (except for the Nord, but I've heard demos). It has a wonderful, rich, full sound that is impossible to describe with words. It's a real living, breathing kind of sound unlike the sterile "digital" sounding clones offerred by the "big" synth manufacturers. I play it through a real rotating horn called a "Rotophaser", which is about 30 years old. The sound is simply incredible - I still can't believe that a digital tone generator can sound so fat and warm!! It's my favorite piece of gear in my entire live rig.

No major problems, but every once in a while I get a strange midi glitch that locks the V5 up. A hard reset always fixes the problem. The fact that I'm using an original DX7 to trigger it probably has something to do with it. The DX7 is notorious for having a very unstable midi implementation and causing glitches in modules.

Never had to deal with the company for support...

If it were lost or stolen, I would have a new one by the weekend - period!!

Felt I had to write this in defense of the V5 and VOCE.

If you know your way around a real organ no problem. The little buttons could be a bit bigger, but you easily get used to it.

Midi could be a bit easier to deal with but if you are using it as a dedicated one manual clonewheel/module it's fine.

I'm surprised by the previous review- Even though I know these forums can often be a testimony to make you feel better about why you bought something. I have used my V5 for almost 2years. At the risk of sounding like a pompous snob, I'm a proffesional musician. I own a real 1960 B3. I'm often able to request a real B3 in our band's production rider. I've played just about every B3 wanna-B out there. I think through a Leslie or Motion Sound the V5 sounds great in a no compromise way. Whenever I can't get a real B, which is about 90% of the time, I'll use the V5 and try to at least secure a leslie. I personally feel the V5 has a certain organic qaulity about it, more- so than the CX3. Which I've really tried to like. I was all set to upgrade to the new CX (I still own the 1979 model!!) because I was tired of the midi thing with the V5- but there is something about the CX3 that doesn't work for me live. On a recent gig I asked for one, and spent a couple of hours tweaking a few of the amp/setups and I still was never really happy with it once I did the gig. As said many times before the V5 has balls -period.

The V5 distortion is a little brittle, but I find it useful at lower settings when I don't want to push the Leslie or Motion Sound rig so hard.

I've found it to be very dependable.

Never tried to contact Dave, I know he's busy with Bomb Factory anyway. I've talked to him and his wife at NAMM shows a few times, and I thought they were very appreciative and friendly. DR Music was great when I needed to order a back up power supply. The price you pay for a boutique thing like this is that one guy can only do so much. In his defense, honestly folks were you sending an email just to bitch or was it an actual legitmate question?

I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Like others have commented I too wish the 1" drawbar was a tad louder, and the percussion was as well. But I'm happy. Besides my vintage stuff it's the only thing that feels like a real musical instrument. I've tried the Nord and I thought it was excellent too. The Roland stuff to me is too clinical sounding. The hammond is cold to me as well. And I've already commented on the CX3.

Best advice try to rent/borrow this anything else and try it ON A GIG. That's always the true test of how it's going to work, not in the store. BTW in the studio, through a real leslie, you can fool anybody.

Very skimpy manual.........buttons are too close together on the module.

Mono output only. VERY difficult to set up for multi-keyboard and pedal use..........no expansion nor upgrade potential.

The presets are wimpy. A hamster has bigger BALLS than this module.

Absolutely the worst..........mine has crashed after easy, occasional gigging.

This REALLY bites it........only 1 authorized repair center. PERIOD. CAE Sound in California. Apparently they can ONLY get parts from Dave Amels himself, who is spotty (at best) at returning emails and making parts available to CAE. So you may or may not be able to get your Voce (V5 or any other Voce product) repaired in a timely manner, if at all!!!!!!

My V5 failed after mild use within a fairly short period of time (after the warranty ran out, though, of course).........only 1 shop in the entire planet to turn to for repair help.......parts and repairs may or may not be available in a timely manner (if at all)...reclusive designer doesn't seem to give a shit once you trusted all the hype and plunked your hard-earned cash down (READ: he got HIS, snot puppies for YOU)........I'll never buy another voce product again.

Having owned a Hammond C3 and Leslie, and nearly every portable organ intent on replicating the B3/C3 sound, I ended up with the Voce V5 and Motion Sound Pro3=T and Lo Pro. I run the V5 through a small Yamaha R100 reverb unit (V5 has on built-in reverb). Anyone with any B3 knowledge will quickly master the user interface, and total novices will get it 2 minutes later. There is a manual (very short one, also on the Voce web site), and it is sufficient.

No keyboard, (it's a module). I love the color (orange) and the layout, drawbars, etc. I would have been nice to have a midi merge function built in (or 2 midi ins). Also would have been nice to have
tone controls and reverb. If it were re-designed or updated, I would vote for a dual-concentric knob for treble and bass (in place of the totally worthless and horrible sounding Overdrive knob). Also nice would be a dual-concentric knob with key on and key off click (in place of the existing key click knob (but the key click as it exists isvery good).

I think the V5 has an organic, thick, beefy sound that the other B3 wannabes are lacking. Most of the others (Vk's, CX3, BX3, OB3, XK2, Emu B3) have a gentler more processed sound. I haven't gotten my hands on the Clavia Nord Electro yet, but am very intersted in hearing it. Roland's 60's-70's expansion card for the JV series synthesizers has very good B3 sounds, but the percussion is multi-triggered (bad for legato playing), and the scanner chorus effect is missing.

The percussion is good, but you need to lower the drawbar levels considerably in your presets when using percussion (if you want to have a loud percussion effect).

The Chorus/Vibrato is decent but understated. C1, C2, V1 and V2 are nearly inaudible. An update to intensify the Chorus/Vibrato would be at the top of my wish list. Still, it's usable, only the XK2 has a better one (in my opinion). I also wish the 1' drawbar had more volume (intensity). It's the weakest of the nine. Again, another welcome update would be to scale the output somewhat so that the higher up your keyboard you go, the treble and volume are somewhat increased (scream factor).

So far (2 years), no problems (except I had to order another power cord with transformer). The wire frayed on mine, could have been my fault.

I've tried contacting Dave Amels (V5 designer) with no success. Dr Music (distributor) is good about returning emails. I'd love to get a schematic - does anyone have one? Know where to get one?

Would love to see someone (Voce?) make a very similar module to replicate a Vox Continental, Farfisa Combo Compact or Gibson G101
combo organ.

I find this module very easy to use. The 7 presets can be changed or rest to the factory settings. There are 3 or 4 that I use most and make subtle adjustments using the real time knobs or the 9 drawbgaars.

This is where the Voce stands out. The sound has a wonderfully rich full and organic sound. Nothing about it hints that's it's some kind of smoke and mirrors attempt at a Hammond Organ. After playing it for a while, I have alos found my confidence has grown when I play it because I expect nothing but a very lush sound from the Voce. I receive more compliments from this module than any other. If you wnat to step into a class all it's own. Get the V5.

Seems reliable. No problems.

No opinion. They are a very small company. So not sure about this.

I love the overall sound and use it for Rock and Blues where it really shines. I think the only negative comment i have is the percussion is not as good as other organs I play like the Hammond XK-2 or the Roland VK-7. That's the only area the could be improved.

Drawbars, what fun! All other controls are a knob or button; not
really any deep menus or anything, it's all one-touch. The big issue
is the serious lack of information in the "manual" -- really about
a ten-page pamphlet. It's not a complex unit, so it doesn't need
a huge book, but it's really skimpy.

No features beyond your basic Hammond ops, but that's a good thing --
it's not like you're going to be sequencing on it. You get a lot of
control over the amount of vibrato, as well as instrument-specific
effects like key click and overdrive. Supposedly there's a way to
use two different MIDI keyboards for dual-manual operation, but I've
never tried it.

Wow, this is why you buy the V5. I've never owned a real Hammond,
but I have played them, and everyone knows what they're supposed
to sound like anyway. And this is it. Absolutely fantastic.

No significant problems here. The only nit I have is that my
vibrato selector button sticks, but it's always been that way.
I gig with it on a regular basis, no issues with that.

When I bought it, tried to contact customer support to find out more
about the presets. Never heard back. Their website was very little
help to boot.

I've had the V5 & Spin-II for about six months now, and they are a
dream machine. The only other Hammond simulator I've ever heard
that sounds any good at all is the Korg CX-3, which has a dedicated
keyboard (a plus or minus, depending on your perspective). If it
were lost or stolen, I'd buy one of them again in a heartbeat.
The sound, the sound, the sound -- if you're looking for a Hammond
simulator, especially a module instead of an entire unit, you gotta
check this out.

Before I start with my review I should have never owned a Hammond B3, C3, or A100. I have owned a Hammond M111 but I never played it through a Leslie. I have heard plenty of Hammonds live and before buying the V5 I scrutinized every possible clone. The V5 takes the cake. In terms of ease of use, it took me little while to understand all the ins and outs of the V5. The manual did not answer some of my questions (however customer support for the Voce products is very helpful). I must admet that this is my first MIDI instrument so it probably took me longer than others to understand all of the V5's features. As many have said before, the sounds is incredible. Right now I am playing the V5 through a Motion Sound Pro-3t and the bass through the cabinet of my Rhodes Suitcase 88. The sound is extremely warm and aurthentic to my ears.

I currently run the V5 through two separate Studio Logic Sl-161 keyboards. A number of people have complained that it is difficult to access the lower manual drawbars for the V5 without a separate drawbar controller. I made a couple of discoveries. Yes, it is impossible to change drawbar settings in realtime for the lower manual, however there is a way to program two separate lowere manual settings. I found that the 7th preset is used as the default lower manual preset. But, if you program the 7th preset with percussion, the lower manual will play the 7th preset without percussion. So, it is possible to have a 7th preset work sperately for both upper and lower manuals. I also discovered that the 6th preset also works in a similar fashion. When you first power up the V5, the lower manual is set to the 6th preset (again without percussion). Once you switch presets, the lower manual will switch to the 7th preset. Whenever you switch presets the lower manual will always change to the default 7th preset but it is possible to switch to the 6th preset for the lower manual by pressing the SPLIT button twice. So in my case I have found that this works well enough. I have two main lower manual settings that I like. I set the default 7th preset to the first 3 drawbars pulled out with 2nd Percussion (again the percussion only works when I am using the preset for the upper manual). I have the 6th preset set to the first and third drawbars pulled out (with percussion). I hope this helps anyone who may be wondering how to access the lower manual presets.

Again, the sound is great. You can sculpt your sound in any way you desire. I think it is quite close to the sound of the real thing. I don't care much for the distortion or the leakage. I ussually use the settings on the PRO-3T to add some grit to the sound. The keyclick is a nice added touch in small quantities.

I have never gigged with the V5. My only worries are with the drawbars hanging out. Also, the V5 tends to get pretty warm when it has been on for sometime. I have not had anytrouble with it so far. I have had it for 6 months now.

I contacted customer support once regarding some questions about presets. They were very helpful and easy to deal with.

I would definitely replace my V5 if something were to happen to it. I have been playing piano/keyboard for 21 years. My only other keyboard is a Rhodes Suitcase 88. When it comes to instruments I tend to be a purist. I am not a fan of MIDI instruments but due to the cost and space required by a real Hammond I decided on the V5. Before deciding on the V5 I spent a lot of time researching it and reading reviews. The latest B3 Clone Shootout was very useful since it also contains sound clips along with a written review. Along with trying the V5 I tried the Hammond Suzuki XK2, and the Roland VK-7 and VK-77 (which in my opinion is too expensive) The V5 was way ahead of the others. I also agree with the previous reviewer that Voce did a good thing by not adding a Leslie simulator. Unless you have a real spinning horn it is impossible to simulate a Leslie. I only wish that
there were a two manual keyboard controller (with no sounds) out there.

There is nothing more intuitive or as enjoyable as grabbing a handful of drawbars and pulling them out while the leslie climbs up to tremelo speed. The Voce V5 is a virtual Hammond tonewheel organ, based off its predecesor the V3, the V5 carries the torch even further. I have never owned a Hammond B3 or another similar console model but I have played several. I have also played a lot of clones looking for that special sound, these range from the Hammond XB2 to an old transistorized Roland VK09. I've done the whole Yamaha DX7 simulation through a leslie bit, and I've tried sampling and patch editing. Nothing can touch this little orange box. The moment I plugged it into my Motion Sound PRO3T it was no harder than using a real Hammond organ. The unit arrived with a set of 7 preset sounds which I really like but wouldn't mind overwriting anyway as they can be easily reinitialized. The 7 preset area is made up of 4 buttons and I applauded Voce for saving money by making you hit two at once to get to presets 5,6,and 7. The buttons themselved are really light to the touch and I worry that I might smash one by accident. They are also labeled with small text but once you get the hang of where you placed the unit you really don't look, you just reach and push. The set of drawbars feel like the real deal on a Hammond but have no support under them, they hang in open air unless you put it on a flat surface. Finding a good place on my Alesis QS6 to mount the velcro that keeps the unit secure was a chore, so choose a keyboard controller with a nice open flat area. My Yamaha DX7 had more open realestate for the mounting velcro. I don't use the manual but I have read through it online before I purchased the unit. I do this with most of the equipment I buy to see what I'm really getting.

Fully polyphony, across 2 manuals and pedals. All I can say, it is about damn time too. The V5 uses 91 realtime virtual tonewheels so it is not sampled. Besides the usual percussion and keyclick the V5 includes the classic Hammond Vibrato Chorus Scanner effect. This is one of the major reasons why I bought this unit. I love the Hammond scanner effect on C-3 and it adds a lot of shimmer to the dry sound. Also included is overdrive and leakage. I don't use the overdrive but I love the leakage. I've never had this on a sim before so its a cool treat that adds to the overall sound. The leakage sound is nice at low levels but abnoxious when turned all the way up. Though it sounds cool though a fast leslie full blast, like one of those creepy 70's TV sound effects. Missing is the usual leslie simulator but good riddin's since I use a Motion PRO3T unit. Most digital simulators are good but nothing compares to sitting next to the real deal and playing a deep chord; feel the earth shake baby! Aside from the missing Leslie sim it is a complete, compact, and authentic Hammond organ package. I want to applaude Voce on not including the leslie sim like on the V3 unit, plus it adds to the realism (maybe) because you had to buy the Leslie cabinet seperatly from the Hammond anyway. It leaves you options open to add you own effects before a leslie. The unit is pretty capable as a MIDI device, and can handle 2 keyboards and a set of pedals. There aren't any other extra special effects on the unit such a verb, but once again I note that this is a pure Hammond simulation not a synth. As a Hammond semi-purist, two thumbs up and toe for keeping the unit as pure as the dry rich Hammond tone as possible.

Fat, Balsy, and Round just like the console model Hammonds I've played before. Not all Hammonds sound alike nor does this unit sound exactly like any of the Hammonds I've played. If all organs sounded alike then the world would be like the 50's and 60's; plastic. I would compare the overall sound to a well maintained unit that might have had its internals tweaked by a Hammond tech at least once. You can adjust key click and leakage to taste if you so desire. The overdrive is okay but I prefer to use the natural distorted tube sound of my Motion Sound PRO3T. I like a little key click and just a little leakage to add a background hash noise effect to the PRO3T rotary speaker which the V5 is fed into. I have to agree with Keyboard Magazine on this one. The Voce V5 deserves every award it has earned! It sounds really authentic and I get nothing but wow's from fellow musicians who have play Hammond's and even comments from my drummer and guitarist. I can only give a 9 since not even a real Hammond could get a 10 in this category. There is no God-like Hammond out there in the world, just a lot of individually unique sounding ones.

The Voce V5 comes in a solid stell orange box but I still cringe at the idea of bending one of the drawbars but accident if I swipe at the unit really quick. This problem is quickly solved by mounting the unit on a flat sturdy surface as to have something under the drawbars when their fully extended. Seems rugged and built like a tank but don't drop it or stomp on it. Treat it like the little god it is buy it a case if you gig or travel with it. It does make me wonder how solid Voce's Spin II module is since it is made of the same orange steel case. Anyway it is a great studio and gig piece, just treat it with respect.

I've never had to call Voce but I hear they are nice to talk and very informative as to custom modifications to as most small specialized equipment companies are, such as Motion Sound. Never had to call them so I can't really comment.

Overall this unit does deserve a 10 but nothing is perfect, not even the real organ. I wish Voce still made the drawbar controller for the V3 so I could use it as a second set for the lower manual setting. Sounds like a dream through a real rotary speaker.

I have never owned a Hammond B-3, but have tried to emulate the sound for over 30 years with good Leslies and portable keyboards. The Voce V5 is the only one I have ever played that actually does the job. Be careful when mounting the unit to the keyboard. Pull all the drawbars out and make sure they don't extend over any part of the keys. Since I have one keyboard devoted to Hammond B-3 sounds, I chose the Fatar Sl-161 for the organ touch. I found using a Quick Lock 641 2 tier stand, and probably most 2 tier stands, you can use a stiff instrument cable from the audio out on the back to help support the unit. I was able to use 1 velcro strip under the front of the V5, and use the audio out cable as a second support by using black gaffer tape, securing the cable to the left brace for the second tier. This let me move the V5 back on the keyboard so the drawbars don't get in the way.
The presets are very good, but are easily changed. I don't see how the V5 could be easier to use.

The V5 offers all the features of the B-3, plus controll over distortion, key click, and leakage. The V5 does not have a leslie simulator or reverb. I use an Alesis Nano-Verb just to add a little reverb. Since I already own a Leslie, the V5 was a good buy.

The Voce V5 sounds better than some B-3's I played. From Gospel to Clasic Rock, the V-5 sounds awsome. But, it can only sound as good as the Leslie or Leslie Simulator you use. If you can, use a real Leslie with tubes. I bought a rebuilt Leslie 145 with a super stock amp and original reconed speakers in a flight case from Keyboard Specialties in Fl. This Leslie Screams with the V5. The V5 and the 145 Leslie let me get the Hammond sound you hear or gold records. It's full from top to bottom, fat, and can go from church organ clean to "Deep Purple" dirty. Don't forget to check out how the mod wheel on the controller changes or layers the sound. It lives, it breathes, it screams! I played a Roland VK-7 in a music store about a week after I purchased my V5. The COSM Leslie simulator was very weak, and the organ sound didn't impress me.

I have had no problems with the V5 since I bought it new about 2 months ago. I have used it over 100 hrs.

I have never had to use Voce Customer Support so I don't know. I understand they are a small company and I had to search the net to find a V5 in stock.

Overall, the V5 sound as good or better than a Hammond B-3, In fact it sounds like a B-3 that a teck has modified for a major recording studio or tour. I would replace it tomorrow if it were lost or stolen.

The Voce V5 Tonewheel Organ module does one job simulates the sound and features of a Vintage Tonewheel (Hammond) Organ. It's simple to use. Plug and play. Controls are the same as those found on the original. real time controls for Volume, Distorsion, Key Click and Leakage; buttons for percussion and Vibrato and Chorus as well as 9 Drawbars and 7 Preset Buttons. The module has very simular controls as a vintage organ. What could be easier. Additional features are well documented in the manual.

The module has all the features that make it a great module. As others have stated, no effects other than those listed above. Does not include reverb or Leslie effects. I would not recommend it without some kind of Leslie effect. It has 7 presets that are user assignable. Not near as many as some of the compition but it seems most of my sounds can be modeled in the seven presets. One feature that is not a standard organ implementation is the modulation wheel on my XK-2 can be used to increase or decreas all the drawbar setting. It's as if all the drawbars are pulled in and out at the same time. It's not a fine level of control.. but if you want to quickly add or subtract a bit from the sound it's very quick. The Manual is available on the Voce website. It describes all the features. http://www.voceinc.com/ It also supports three consecutive MIDI chanenls. These can control two organ manuals and bass pedals. It also supports a split keyboard. The Manual is available on the Voce website. It describes all the features. http://www.voceinc.com/
Also see Keyboard Magazine "B-3 Shootout" and read the opinions of seasoned B-3 Players. http://www.keyboardmag.com/ Go to Archives and then Features for the article. It also seems that is has a nice hot signal and is very quiet. One thing I am curious about is why is it Orange? Sure can't loose it in a dimly lit club or studio.

The sound is very real alive and full from the lowest to the highest note. It has a nice hard edge that produces a great sound when played through a Leslie or Leslie simulator. I have tried it in a Leslie (Model 770 9 - Pin) and also a Motion Sound Pro-3. To add some warmth I a "Blue Tube" between the V5 and the Leslie. It sounds very nice. For a controller I am using a Hammond XK-2 which has very nice organ like key action. For my ear, the V5, seems especially strong in the middle of the note range with most or all of the drawbars pulled out. The voicing of the drawbars is very complete. I also like the percussion and key click. The leakage seems to obvious to me when it is set higher than 1/3rd. I also with the chorus was a bit stronger. It seems to get lost when the Leslie is set to Tremulo (fast speed). the same seems true with key click. These two features I like better on the XK-2. The overdive also seems strong but I suspect that's a result of the "Blue Tube" I am using.

This seems to be weel built in an all metal case with metal drawbars. I carry a backup keyboard to gigs. I feel more comfortable with a backup.

Have only had it a few days. No comment at this point.

If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again. As far as value, it's not cheep but it sounds great. I have only been playing since December of 1999 so I am very new. In my mind the three contenders are the Hammond XK-2, Roland VK-7 and the Voce V5. Each has strengths and weaknesses. But much of this is taste and brand name image. Others have covered this topic very well. One thing I can say Voce is not relying on a well defined brand name... As others have indicated.. this module.. has a great sound... it's very fat .. thick.. and strong... Add a keyboard and Leslie and you will have a sound that will work well in many settings Night Club - Concert Hall -Gospel Church. Every so often a great product come along from a company no one ever heard of. Voce you have taken on the big boys.. and in my opinion.. finished in first place ! If you have a MIDI keyboard it saves having to buy the key bed again.

The best B-3 emulator out there! I play it through a Trek-II preamp into a 145 Leslie. Warm, ballsy, and has a life of its own like the real thing. The only complaint is that while Chorus III is great, Chorus I & II were somewhat very weak and un-noticable. Otherwise, an excellent choice all around.

No problems thus far...

would definitely buy again...

Manual is great.

Full Polyphony. Even for pedals.

I'm sorry to say this but Roland,Hammond,Korg,and Oberheim;Give up!! Throw in the towel! You can't beat it!!This is the real THING!

I agree with the last reviewer take care of it!!!

Beautiful. I just wish they were not a small company.

I have two of them already plus the Micro B. I've done plenty of gospel concerts and this thing even puts the XB3 to shame. The organist of that church sold his XB3 got the new Roland pedal PK25 and bought the Voce V5.He's now one of top sought organist in Chicago. He always keep in touch with me.Constantly thanking me for "converting him"!!!!!!!

It works like a tiny little Hammond. :)

See all the other reviews.

I just want to throw in my 2? here: I first saw this thing at NAMM a couple of years ago. At first glance, I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. It was connected to a Spin II pedal. I doubted it would sound as good as it looked, because I had just come from the Oberheim booth where I played that terrible OB3. I walked up, put on my headphones started to play & I could not believe what I was hearing. I walked over to the guy attending the booth (who I now believe WAS Dave Amels, he was kind of odd & idiosyncratic, but hyper-intelligent) & asked him if I could buy the units right there, right then. He said he couldn't sell the units at the show, but they would be available soon. I said "I think it looks so cool..." He said "We are thinking of making it some other color..." I said "Promise me WHATEVER YOU DO, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP IT ORANGE!"

As everyone on here has stated, this module is the BEST sounding B3 simulator out there. It makes all the others sound like a joke. When combined w/ actual rotation, like the Motion Sound stuff, it is so close to being real I bet you could fool almost anyone. I don't understand why it has taken so long for it to be taken up, or why there could not have been more efficient distribution & marketing from the outset but it seems now to be finally getting some recognition & praise & momentum that it deserves.

Just take care of it... How damaged could it get? It's not like you are going to drop it down a flight of stairs like a B3.

Everyone I've ever talked to at DR & Voce has been super friendly & helpful, but the lack of marketing & distribution (most stores don't even know Voce exists) is disturbing.

Well, it's not a B3. On the other hand, I don't think I could give an actual B3 a perfect 10 either. Nothing that weighs 800 lbs. deserves a 10

Thought I would enter my two cents regarding the double drawbar thing, since I just got it going today. I am using a Korg T3 for the top manual and a Fatar Studiologic SL-880 for the bottom. I run these and my other modules all to a Digital Music MX-8 MIDI patchbay. The MIDI out from the SL-880 (on channel 2) goes to a JLCooper Fadermaster, which is a MIDI controller box with 8 sliders. Each one is completely assignable, so I have them all assigned to control one drawbar for the second manual. Unfortunately, there are 9 drawbars, so I just leave off the 1' drawbar (it's not used much anyway). Then from the Fadermaster, MIDI out to the MX-8. Also, the T3 MIDI out (ch. 1) goes to the MX-8. The MX-8 will merge two signals, so these two are merged and sent to the V5. This gives me complete control over both manuals. Never much of a pedal player, except in college at the pipe organ, so I doubt I'll be trying that. When I want to go back to regular operation, I just switch the SL880 back to midi ch 1, and call up another preset. Switching the Fadermaster to another preset also gives me volume control, or whatever else I want. But it makes a handy set of presets. By the way, the multitimbral and Midi out switches appear to be reverse of what they are marked. I talked to the company, and they have been having their own debate themselves as to whether they should switch them! So if you can get your hands on something else for the second set of drawbars, and some way to merge the input to the V5, it works flawlessly. Really nice to have the option of a full B3 set up. Can't say it enough, nothing touches this product for B3 simulation. If they had better distribution, or a top name endorser, they'd go through the roof with sales. It's the best deal on a keyboard or keyboard peripheral I've seen in years. What are you waiting for? Go get one! If you can't find one (a lot of stores don't even know what they are; Guitar Center in Orange County, CA, had never even heard of it), call Voce (DR Strings is the parent company) at 201-599-0100. Happy B3-ing.

Fairly straight forward. If you are familiar with Hammonds at all you will have no trouble. Everything is right there and easy to get to.....I don't run a multi-keyboard organ setup so I use a lot of splits to comp or play bass with my left hand and then solo and comp with my right. Figured out nearly every function in ten minutes.....but then again I haven't tried to interface more than the most basic midi functions. It seems that they really built this module to be a performers box which it does beautifully. It comes with a couple of velcro strips with which you can velcro it to the top of your keyboard.....most boards I have owned this wouldn't work so well.....so I ended up building a Hammond-like cabinet for my controller with a handy dandy niche built on the top left for the module. Works fine.

Full polyphony for two 61 key manuals and a pedal board just like the real thing. Has the usual hammond drawbar set, chorus/vibrato settings, percussion settings, and then some real time pots on top to control volume, keyclick, overdrive, and leakage. Allows you to dial in from a squeaky clean, very digital sound to a messy, dirty beast. You can sync this thing up to all kinds of midi stuff according to the manual--but like I said earlier, my focus is on the live performance aspects and I use the bars/knobs on the box, not on my controller. Everything you need is right there. As far as a performance module I will give this a 10--can't rate the other midi abilites because I don't use them. If you do want to rig up a second keyboard to perform as the other manual then you have to figure out a way to manipulate the drawbars for it.....hopefully you have some handy dandy sliders/knobs to help you out here........

As others here have stated, it is simply the best. And trust me, I have tried them all. Don't buy the Roland VK7, Hammond XK-2 or the Oberheim OB3 squared. If you are considering a Roland VK77, STOP! Go find a real B3/Leslie122(jazzer)/147(rocker) for less then the 6k you were going to spend and hire some roadies to haul it before your reality check bounces again.
First off, you have to understand that your hammond sound is really only as good as the leslie or leslie effect you are running. I would say that the most important part of getting the B3's sound is to find the best leslie simulator that you can. Most of the keyboards and modules that I have tried have their own leslie simulators as part of the controls. I am glad that Voce did not because most of the time, the leslie sim sucks. Bad. Probably the best attempt at it is the Roland VK7(with their COSM(COmposite Sound Model) technology), and really you have to run it in stereo to have it sound even close. Personally I thought the Hammond-Suzuki XK-2 sucked all around, especially in the leslie sim. But how can anyone really digitally recreate the sound of a spinning horn bouncing sound all around the room? Same thing with the leslie tube distortion....you just can't fake the tube sound with a microchip. I am running my Voce through a Motion Sound KBR-3D, which is the SHIT(my review for this is elsewhere...even my $100 Casio on one of the organ patches sounds like a million bucks through this amp.) This combination sounds as good as any hammond I have ever heard live or recorded, and a whole hell of a lot louder(the kbr-3d runs all tube 240 tri-amped watts) while being every bit as organic. It even has XLR outputs for the internal mikes on the horn(think about that, all of you who have tried to mike a leslie in the studio or on the gig) As others here have stated, you have to run the Voce through a tube somewhere in your rig for tonal fatness and believability; In the quest for recreation of the B3 sound the glassy and digital won't cut it. Most people I have talked to and heard run the Voce through a Hughes and Kettener Rotosphere(which is all tube and sounds pretty good, at least in stereo) and sometimes a Blue Tube from Tubeworks which sounds a little bit better. The V5 output is very clean and quiet(unlike the old v3) so at least when you run it through two tubes in series it doesn't get too noisy. That combo is a lot more portable than my 70 pound Motion Sound but again, stompboxes are not real spinning horns, and(from what I have listened to) you have to run your sim in stereo to get even close.....so now we have a couple of good sized keyboard amps to mess with.....anyhow, the point is run through Leslie/Motion Sound if you can, if not find the H-K rotosphere and get a Blue Tube if you can afford it. Make sure your keyboard amps have a hella low end sound--the mids and bass make and break the Hammond sound. I would suggest the Roland KC500, Fender KXR 200, the Trace-Elliot 300 watt behemoth or save your pennies for a pair of Barbetta Sona 41's if you have to rock the free world......
As far as the basic tone of the V5 it is very warm and big compared to everything else I have tried. I did like the VK7 a lot but this thing is better, especially with the right Leslie sim. I played a Hammond-Suzuki through a Leslie 147 and it was weak!....the tone is a sample unlike the Voce and Roland which use 91 virtual digital oscillators like the real mccoy. The only thing going for it is the waterfall keys which are pretty nice. Great. The Oberheim OB3 squared actually isn't bad tonally, it also uses virtual oscillators...but the keyboard action sucks and the leslie sim on it is horrible. Save your money!...go buy the V5 and then get a Fatar sl 161 controller(great organ touch for under $300) or maybe a Roland A70. The Voce/Fatar combo is less than $1000 bucks....with a H-K Rotosphere you are at $1300 with a sound that will blow any other

I'll take it on the road with me for awhile and see how she does.....sturdy metal box, of course the drawbars hang out in space so be careful. Too soon to say.

Haven't had to deal with them, but any voce owner I have talked to says they are great.

It is the best. Play a V5 or a B3 and forget the rest. Nothing else really comes close.

Nice to see this turning into the kind of fan club that the V5 deserves. I sympathize with the commenter who bemoaned the proliferation of little boxes and wall-warts that using the V-5 entails. I also agree with him that its far and away worth the trouble.

Getting two sets of drawbars into the act is an interesting problem so I thought I'd share a couple of little discoveries. The first, which I'll admit involved sheer luck, was finding a set of drawbars that Voce made to go with the V3 (which is a rack unit sans drawbars). Found it used in a store, snatched it right up. Sure enough, that little puppy works just fine to control the lower manual drawbar settings in the V5. You may or may not need a midi merge box. I can run it through the midi "in" on my controller keyboard and it seems to work just fine. The bad news: now aside from your controller keyboard, you've got two little boxes and two wallwarts to deal with, and you've got to figure out where to put them all that makes some ergonomic sense. One suggestion: put it all in a two-space rack box, set the box on one of those quick lock tilted stands right next to you, and go to it.

The other discovery is that the drawbars on the Roland VK-7 send midi data on assignable numbers, so you can use the VK-7 to control either manual on the Voce. It gets better: the VK-7 is set up so that by pressing a button you switch the drawbars between upper and lower manual on the VK-7's internal sounds. I didn't expect that this would work for controlling the V5, but it does! Very cool. In other respects, the VK-7 is not such a great controller for the Voce. The expression pedal cannot be used to control the volume of the V5 because its different than the midi number for "volume." There is no pitch bend wheel to morph between the settings 1 and 2 on the V5, etc. The other bad news is that, the last time I checked, the VK-7 retailed for about $1750, and who's going to pay that for a controller! I already owned a VK-7, purchased long before I heard the V5. Once I heard the V5, there was no going back to the VK-7 sound, but the two make for a good controller/module combination. And having the VK-7 as a controller means that it also serves as a worthy back up to the V5, a contingency I have already used once on a gig when I stupidly forgot the wall wart for the V5 at home (Oy!)

All that said, Voce really should come up with a tailored solution to this problem. I gotta believe it would make good business sense for them to produce a simple little drawbar controller, or just bring the V3 drawbars back into production.

After some experimentation and thought, this is the set up I'm using with the V5: As I mentioned, the VK-7 is a controller. The V5 sits atop the VK-7, with the aid of velcro. The drawbars on the VK-7 are actually dedicated to controlling the lower manual sounds of the V5. The V5's own drawbars control the upper manual. Likewise, the VK-7 keybed is dedicated to playing the lower manual notes. I set a 61-note fatar controller on top of the VK-7 and play that to control the upper manual sounds. This allows me to get the two sets of keys very close to each other. I'm not a pedal-player, so I don't worry about that. I don't need a merge box for this set up to work.

As far as processing the V5 sound, the V5 runs into a Tubeworks Blue Tube, and then into a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere. I tried alot of things (definitely testing the patience and good will of my music retailer) before settling on this. The Rotosphere has its own tube, and the distortion effect is pretty good. But the Blue Tube is better for this purpose. The combination is fabulous. I get most of the desired distortion from the Blue Tube, and just a little added warming effect from the Rotosphere. I like to control the slow-fast on the Rotosphere with an external footswitch set on "momentary" mode, so that it speeds up when you press it and slows down when you take your foot away. This is the easiest way I've found to stay in the intermediate zone where the rotary speed is constantly changing. With 2 tubes in serious, you of course get a fair bit of noise. If you want a clean-sounding B-3 patch, then you'd probably think it insane to go to all this trouble anyway. If you're used to playing a real B-3 through a real Leslie, then a bit of tube noise is the last thing that's going to bother you.

This set up of course requires a fair bit of effort to set up and break down -- nothing really heavy, just lots of little things to plug in, dial in, and remember. I find that its worth it because I'm so happy with my B-3 sound, I could just play that all night and not bother with rhodes, synths, and whatnot. As far as setting up goes, you can find short cuts. Putting stuff in a rack, pre-wired, is a great way to avoid dealing with stuff when you're getting ready to play. The brief period right before you play should, ideally, be spent getting in the mood (whatever that means for you), not plugging in 47 wall warts, audio lines, and midi cables.

Another set up I'll use is to run the V5 through my leslie 122 using a Trek II preamp. Using a real leslie of course has its own problems. I simply won't do it when it entails being miked-up. But in a situation, such as a small club, where all you're hearing is the sound from the leslie being thrown around the room, it can't be beat. The V5 through a real leslie sounds so good, I just can't think of a good reason to use a real B-3 instead. Well, there is something about the physical experience of sitting in front of a real Hammond. Its inspiring. That has to be acknowledged. But when it comes down to it, I'd rather make my imagination work a little harder and not have to perform the miracle of moving my B. I haven't used this set up in the studio yet, but I surely will the next time its called for.

I've already addressed this (I authored the 12/14/99 submission below). As I and the other commenters have said, its the basic sound quality of the Voce that sets it apart and brings it far closer to the real thing.

Good to see this turning into the fan club the V5 deserves. I think the developing theme is: if you just dabble in B-3 sounds here and there, there are probably dozens of good patches on many different keyboards that would suit you just fine. But if you're going to put the B-3 out front and center, and you can't have the real thing, then you should have the V5. In terms of basic sound quality, the distance between it and everything else is immense.

This drawbar module is easy to use. There are easily grasped tall knobs for volume, distortion, key click, and leakage. The preset, percussion, and vibrato/chorus buttons are easily reached and activated. The drawbars themselves have a nice feel. The design is suitable for live use.

There are bizarre omissions in the area of features, which are only tolerable because the basic sound of the unit is excellent. The most significant omission is the absence of an internal midi merger. As a consequence, to drive two manuals and pedals (i.e., 3 controllers) as in a Hammond B3, you need to buy an midi-merge box.



The other omission is the absence of a second set of drawbars in their product line. According to my interpretation of the manual, it seems they put the capability of two independent drawbar units in the V5, which is fabulous. But they offer no simple solution to controlling the second manual's set of drawbars, an omission which verges on the sadistic, in my opinion. If I am correct in my understanding of the V5, this is a truly bizarre omission on the part of the designer. The least they could do is sell an inexpensive set of drawbars that would allow you to access this hidden feature of the V5. Simply put, to use the V5 to drive a B3-type setup with two manuals and pedals, you have to hunt down and then buy a suitable midi slider box. And this is after you have to buy a midi merge box in the first place. Once you have your midi merge box, you can run a second 61-note manual from a V5 and even adjust its drawbar settings. This is a wonderful feature, no doubt. However, to adjust the drawbar settings for the second manual, you have to get midi sliders with the capability of being assigned to midi controller numbers 21-29. Most keyboard controllers don't have nine sliders. After looking into it, I discovered that such a specialized slider unit is rather expensive (e.g., the Peavey 1600X), almost as much as buying another organ module (e.g., the Voce Micro-B).



It has no onboard Leslie or reverb. I find this acceptable because I use my own external units for the Leslie and reverb. However, I had to pay nearly $300 for the Leslie simulator (a Hughes and Kettner rotosphere) in addition to the cost of the V5 module. Then I had to pay another chunk of money for a midi merge box. I have yet to decide what I'm going to do about the midi drawbars needed for the second manual. A brute force solution is to simply buy another V5. Another is to muddle along with my four slider keyboard controller, using it as a half-set of drawbars. Or I might just cough up the cash for the fancy midi slider or drawbar unit. Regardless, you end up with a V5 and FOUR other little boxes: a reverb, a leslie simulator, a midi-slider box, and a midi-merge box. For the amount the V5 costs, they could have included at least the midi-merge box, and the option of buying a matching set of drawbars from them that would access controller nos. 21-29.



A very nice feature is that the modulation wheel on a synth will cause the drawbar setting of manual 1 to morph into that of manual 2. This is a very useful real-time control that I constantly rely upon in live settings.



The V5 has full polyphony for two 61-note manuals and 25 bass pedals. This is like a B3, and is perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned. However, some of you may care about this: it will not produce tones outside of the 61-note range, so 76- and 88-key controllers do not mate with the V5 from top to bottom of their ranges, unless you do some fancy zone setting in the V5's multitimbral mode (wherein one part of the keyboard is manual 2, another is manual 1).

In my opinion, the V5 sound is excellent, and I give it a solid "10."



For what I wanted, its sound was better than the Roland VK7 and Hammond XK2--though I suggest everyone make up their own mind on this point, since each of these units has something good to offer. I like the core of an organ tone to be solid and fat, and I like very dissonant harmonies to sound clearly. The V5 delivers on these points; on these points it far outdoes the parade of keyboards I have used as pseudo-organs in the past. Complex pedal-point harmony (wherein triads or seventh-chords are superimposed over a foreign bass) sound with superb clarity. The V5 is not harsh anywhere, but warm everywhere. If you want to get a full drawbar, spine-chilling screaming power-chord, like Lee Michaels does, you've got it. If you want to get funkier than Shirley Scott on Sunday, you've got it. If you want an "I am a megalomaniac alpha-male" Keith Emerson sizzle-chord, you've got it. If you want those weird ice-rink-meets-Thelonious-Monk settings of the early Jimmy Smith, you've got it.



With a V5, you do not need to fight a Vale Tudo death-match with your EQ unit to conceal unmusical ugliness in the overtones near the top or bottom of the range. The sound is musically inspiring.



In rapid passages and glissandi, the notes melt from one to the other as on a B3. You do not get that robotic individuation of pitches that many synths and sampler pseudo-organs inflict.



What I love about the V5 is that the slightest shift in a drawbar produces a very real change in the sound. As on a B3, each drawbar is numbered from 1 to 8. And each number actually means a different sound possibility.



The following is not a negative, but should be pointed out. The V5 is a B3 simulator. It does not produce other kinds of sounds. But as a B3 simulator, its basic drawbar sound is very, very, very good.



In my opinion, the key click and percussion are very good. I don't worry about leakage much, so find a "leakage expert" to get an opinion about that feature. I don't use the V5 distortion, but, rather, get distortion from special preamps and the Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere. But I am abnormally fussy about overdrive tone, so I will refrain from giving an opinion about the V5 distortion--even though I found that it does not suit my taste. Many people will probably find the V5 distortion to be perfectly good.



Finally, the V5 gives a nice hot signal to a preamp, so you will not have any problems. It is not at all noisy. (The noise in my sound comes from my Leslie simulator and other tube components in the signal path.)

After decades of horror stories with wall warts, I have post-traumatic wall-wart stress disorder. The V5 uses a nonstandard wall-wart. If I say more about this I will curl up into the fetal position and start vibrating.



The drawbars hang out into empty space, begging to be bent. I guess this is a tradeoff since the unit is marvelously compact. The inclusion of velcro straps suggests that one perch it on a keyboard. Since I need it to work reliably, I have housed it inside a rack on a shelf where the drawbars cannot be damaged and where the wall wart is permanently attached, its cord secured. I situate the rack where I can readily strike the buttons or slide the drawbars. This works well. I wouldn't recommend that you perch it on a keyboard--with midi, audio, and wall-wart cables having to be attached and detached before and after every performance--unless you have a backup and extra setup time.



I am buying something as a backup.

The manual is online, which proved useful when I was comparing features before buying. I have no basis for an opinion about customer support so my rating is "no opinion."

If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again. I have been a professional keyboard player for thirty years. I own a basement full of items.



What do I love about it? I love its basic sound. I wish they had included the midi merge function in the V5 itself, and also had a matching set of optional drawbars you could buy for dual manual performance. I also wish the V5 had a volume knob for the lower half of the split, so that one can tweak the bass volume "on-the-fly," that is, in real time. But if you buy yourself a rackful of little expensive boxes, you can supplement the V5 module and get all the missing features (including reverb and Leslie simulation) taken care of. And then you can be happy--that is, if you don't go twitching insane from all the little boxes and wall warts surrounding you like goblins from a nightmare.



BOTTOM LINE: The sound of the V5 is so good that I forgive all of the designer's sins of omission.



Why did i choose the V5? I chose the V5 because I wanted the best possible organ sound without having to lug a B3. I believe I made the right choice.



If you have questions about the V5, ask the Voce support group on the Onelist Communities site.

As everyone has said, a very simple piece of gear to operate. I didn't even bother looking at the manual the first time I used it - and that was at a jingle session! If you understand MIDI, keyboards, and B3s, you're all set. If not, very slight learning curve at the most.

The main feature - drawbars! How did I live without them? The MIDI capabilities are all you'd need for a B3 module. As you're aware by now, no Leslie effect. Doesn't matter - most onboard rotary speaker simulators sound fine for live work but stink in the studio. Look for the one that serves you best. The comments of others about using tubes are all correct. It is a must. I think the pots for key click, leakage, etc. are very usable and the funky preset set-up is odd and fun.

Other than the guy who liked the V3 best, I agree with everyone here. This thing sounds as close to a B3 as you can currently get. As I stated above, you can get away with murder in most live contexts with fake B3 sounds; i.e. samples from workstations or synths, using just the onboard leslie effect. Depending on how prominent a role the organ sounds play in your situation, there are lots of options that fill the role nicely. In the studio, on the other hand, is a whole different can of worms. My main frustration at sessions has been delivering a really good B3 sound at studios that didn't have a B3/122 combo available. To make matters worse, I use one of the best B3/122's I've ever heard at my church 2 or 3 times a week, and on sessions at our church's studio, so I've grown very accustomed to what that sound should really be. When I've had to come up with a good B3 sound in a studio without a B3, even though 9 out of 10 times the producer, artist, and/or engineer will never complain, I've always felt embarassed by what I was contributing. I've used all different kinds of samples, modules, and combinations to try and get 'the sound'. Never happened. I bought the Hammond X-whatever and took it back, being severely disappointed in how wimpy it sounded. I rented a Roland VK-whatever and took it to a session and thought the same thing - wimpy and fake sounding. Horrendous on-board leslie. I finally got a Digitech RPM-1 Leslie simulator and tried running my Trinity B3 sounds through it. Probably the best combo yet, as the Trinity organs are about as realistic as the current samples get. I will admit I haven't tried or used any sample library B3's, but any sample is going to be static. I finally got the V5, and it is really something. I took it straight to a session after picking it up, ran it through the Digitech RPM-1, which incorporates a tube in the signal path for some real overdrive and warmth. Then through my Tubeworks Stereo DI which gives a bit more warmth via it's tube, and then to the ADATS. The sound is as rich and warm as the real deal, but not quite as detailed. It's highly expressive, highly playable, highly inspirational, and really does the job right. The articulation of notes within a held chord is very chunky, earthy, and very real. The palm smears smoosh up just right (hope my technical jargon isn't going over your heads! ;-) ). The high C, held while ramping up the Leslie, is probably the most fake sounding of all B3 cliches on the wanna-bees. The V5's high C is thick and very convincing, although not quite as moving as the real thing. I personally like a tiny bit of the leakage. Maybe it isn't exactly like a real B's leakage, but in the mix, it adds a very realistic dimension to the sound and to me, the end product is what counts, not some under-the-microscope, anal inspection of every nuance. I've played lots of B3's in studios, concert halls, and churches, and this is the closest thing going right now. I give it a 9 only because a real B3 is the only thing deserving a 10.

Seems pretty sturdy. Made of all metal (no plastic - yea!!), although it's very light because it's so small. I think for gigs, samples could serve as back-ups. The drawbars are a wee bit flimsy, but they are the same quality as the B3 drawbars. I won't give it a number for this category since I haven't owned it long enough to judge accurately.

Called the company looking for a local distributor, and they were helpful and friendly. What more do you need?

No need to go on and on. A better replacement for the beast you won't find. It's orange, which Keyboard magazine thought was dumb. Most of us who started buying gear in the 70s remember all the funky colors on stomp boxes and different things, and so the orange for us is fun. B3 playing should be and sound fun, so it's a good fit. I do love the sound it creates and feel inspired to play interesting parts with it. As I said earlier, the Hammond, Roland, and other wanna-bees just aren't as gritty and don't have the personality this does. I really didn't want another keyboard anyway, and this makes life and business much better. I'm down to gigging with a Fatar SL880, Kurzweil MicroPiano, the V5, and either a Korg X5DR or Roland JV1010 through a Roland KC300 amp. From the days of hauling B3s, Rhodes's, Yamaha CP70s, and big heavy synths and accesories, this type of set up is heaven sent. Total weight of my live rig is under 70 lbs., set up is minutes, and the sounds are superb. If B3 is what you need, especially something very real for digital recording in particular, get this and a good Leslie simulator. The Digitech RPM1 is out of production, but the Pro Motion pieces are excellent, and the Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere has a tube and is supposed to be great. Spin II from Voce seems to be a good product also, though I haven't heard it. My bandmates, studio clients, and myself are all very satisfied.

OK, this is my third submission on this unit. I promise it will be the last if only because no one should be hogging this much space on this site. But not long after buying my V5, I finally had the opportunity to hear and play the V3, and so I thought the comparison was worth commenting on, especially since the first reviewer below had some pretty strong opinions about it. Control-wise can do alot more with the V3. It has an LCD, menus, very extensive midi controls (e.g., you can set it to trigger leslie slow/fast through aftertouch, an interesting possibility that has nothing in common with how most of us are accustomed to playing the organ). And with the V3 midi drawbar unit, you do have real time control over at least manual. But here's another important thing to consider. The V3 is noisy. Read the V3 reviews on this site, they agree. There's a surprising amount of high end hiss. It can be dealt with somewhat by EQ'ing the treble way down, but its still very noticeable and doesn't really add to the realism. The V5, by comparision, is incredibly quiet. I'm not sure where in the V3's circuitry this originates. Maybe its the leslie simulation (though I heard the hiss even with the "rotary speaker" button switched off), in which case you could bypass it with another simulator. Anyway, the V5 has an incredibly clean sound. It also sounds more full and bassy than the V3. The V3 seems to have more built-in grunge and randomness (I think that's what meant by the shorthand adjective "balls") and that might suit your taste, though that can be added to the V5 with the right effects. I have to say I was very attracted to the sound of the V3 for that very reason, despite its noisiness. If you want extensive midi controls, a very good onboard leslie simulation, and a somewhat grungier, ballsier sound, I think the V3 is the way to go (you'll have to find it used, of course). But be prepared for some hiss.

This is just an update to my recent review in which I said I was having trouble using the multi-timbral mode. I've got that figured out now (yeah, reviewers really should have their complete s__t together before speaking out). The problem was in the vagaries of my controller, not in the V5. The V5 allows you 7 presets, plus a "manual" mode (reflecting whatever the bars and knobs current position). The manual mode can be reached by pressing any preset button twice. In multi-timbral mode, you're sending 2 midi channels of data to thet V5 (or 3, if you want to get a pedal board into the act) simultaneously. Each channel can send a program change message that picks one of the presets or the manual mode. I think they can even be the same preset for both manuals. Once these are selected, you can then change any aspect of the sound corresponding to one of the channels, as if you were modifying one of the manuals on a dual manual organ). The preset triggered by the other manual cannot be modified, you have to change presets to do that. Volume messages affect both manuals to the same degree. Some might find this system a bit limiting, but I think it will be adequate for most of my playing situations. I don't tend to mess around a whole lot with the lower manual. The ability to switch between 2 or 3 settings is all I need. I can forsee using the V5 mostly by setting up my controller to consistently leave the upper manual on the "manual" mode, so its always playing just what it looks like according to current drawbar position, while switching between different presets for the lower manual. Using it that way, 7 presets seems like more than enough. But that's just how my playing habits tend to go. According to the manual, the V5 allows you to adjust the drawbars of both manuals at once, but you have to get a controller that will send messages corresponding to those hidden drawbars. There are keyboard controllers out there with 8 sliders and that I think would be your best bet to make this happen but I certainly haven't tried it yet. Now that I understand the multitimbral mode better, I can appreciate that it is simple but elegant, and will probably satisfy most B-3 players. Again, as I tried to explain in my longer review, this unit is conceptually unlike the Roland or Hammond simulators, which I think try to give you the whole B-3/Leslie package all at once such that it sounds like you're listening to the whole deal from somewhere inside a club or on a recording. What you get from the V5 is essentially the same thing you get from the line out of a B-3 before the Leslie. That's not exactly true. If you've ever heard the raw sound from a B-3, its not very pleasant. The V5 sound is quite a bit softer and easy on the ears. But its the same in that you still have to work with that sound source, adding in the leslie and tube distortion components. For that purpose, I think it stands head and shoulders above Roland and Hammond. What the world needs now is a dual-manual controller with the unbeatable action of the Hammond XK-2 (which, verily, is "the shit"). This controller should weigh under 40 pounds and cost in the neighborhood of $1000 or less. If such a thing existed, you could use it to operate the V5, run it through a MotionSound product for leslie/distortion. I am convinced that such a combination could replace the real B-3 for all but the most die hard players (who, in the grand scheme of things, will still be needed so that Hammond repairmen and chiroprators can send their kids to a decent college). Unfortunately, I would guess that no one will undertake to design such a controller because the market niche is too small to justify design and production costs. Que lastima!

Couldn't be much easier, in concept at least. Match up the midi channels with the number on a little rotary nob in back, and you'll be playing, at least on one manual. In multi-timbral mode, you can theoretically get an upper manual, lower manual, and pedals going all at once using three consecutive midi channels. I've been having some problems getting this going on my (relatively new) unit, and I'm beginning to wonder whether its a defect, because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and this isn't exactly rocket science so unless there's some variable I'm not accounting for (?!), something's wrong. But on the occasions when its working in multi-timbral mode, it works well. As noted by another review, polyphony is full. Setting up presets and splits is not completely intuitive, and the manual leaves a bit too much to the imagination, but it can be figured out with just a little experimenting. I'd give it a higher rating except for the problems with multi-timbrality (again, that might must be my unit). Also, because of the way dual-manual setups work, you can't easily change the settings on the second manual. At least, I haven't figured out how to do that. This is something that the Roland VK-7 and Hammond XK-2 allow to happen fairly easily. Not a big disadvantage, in my view, since I typically leave the second manual on the same setting anyway for use with "comping" chords, but some players might find this a significant disadvantage.

Its a B-3 simulator, period. No onboard leslie effect, which might be viewed as a disadvantage, but it does allow the unit to be a small as it is. This is important for a drawbar organ, because you're going to want to perch it somewhere within easy grasp of your left hand. Velcro it down. With its bright orange color, its going to be hard to forget while you're onstage. Also, there are some good leslie simulators out there, including Voce's own "Spin II," and its nice to be able to choose the one you like best and not have to pay for one you might not. There are knobs for volume, overdrive, key click, and leakage. As explained below, I'm not crazy about the quality of these effects, but giving them dedicated knobs is the right idea. Its about as versatile as a B-3 simulator should be.

Though I play other keyboards, I consider the B-3 to be my main instrument, so I approach the subject fairly seriously. I've spend alot of time comparing the leading B-3 simulators, Voce, VK-7, and XK-2, and I have a B-3 and leslie 122 at home. Just from the standpoint of sound quality, picking a winner among the V5, VK-7, and XK-2 is difficult, because they all have strengths and one can't help but wish you could combine the best of all three. And then there is the subjective aspect. Anyone who has played a few real B-3's knows that they are remarkably individual creatures. Even if they don't start out that way, by the time a few decades have gone by and their innards have been messed around with, their individual personalities have blossomed. You can find fat and smooth to gritty and harsh and all in between. The Roland, Hammond, and Voce simulators likewise have their own personalities and you might prefer one over the others just like you might pick a favorite B-3 out of any given bunch. The VK-7 can produce a nice rounded tone, and to my ear actually comes out sounding like some recorded B-3's, rather than an organ that's "in the house." The Roland allows you to adjust among different amp and cabinet simulations, and leakage is very realistic throughout its variable range. I don't find it to be the most authentic -- for one thing, its too consistent and digital, the gritty randomness of a real B-3 is not accounted for -- but it is nonetheless a pleasing and even inspiring sound. The Hammond probably does the best job of replicating the nuances of a B-3, but I find it to be rather thin-sounding -- disappointing in an otherwise exceptional piece of equipment. I love that full, rounded tone of some B-3's. The XK-2 sounds remarkably like a real B-3, but not one that I would want to own. It is in this basic tonal quality where the V5 shines and, in my opinion, finishes first. The basic drawbar tone is rich, full, and warm, much more so than the XK-2, and it has a great deal more presence than the VK-7. On this crucial aspect, the V5 puts the power and grace of the B-3 at your fingertips much more effectively than the others. And its analog character (I don't know for sure if its analog, but it sounds it), means that it is also authentic in its inconsistency. I cannot, however, give it an enthusiastice review for overdrive, key click, or leakage. Key click is actually OK. There seems to be a significant amount of click inherent in the basic sound, regardless of whether the effect is turned up. That's fine with me, because I can't imagine a "good" B-3 not having it. But I also find that no more than this basic amount is necessary, so there may as well not be a pot for it. You can crank it to a somewhat exaggerated level, if you like. I find the overdrive not satisfactory. However, I feel the same about the VK-7 and the XK-2. With all these keyboards, but moreso with the V5, overdrive doesn't seem to integrate with the basic tone so much as overlay it. In my opinion, the only really useful distortion is what you get from running these keyboards through a real tube circuit and driving it until it starts to break up. I do this with the V5 and the resulting sound is fabulous. Just like with a real B-3, the raw sound is not one you necessarily would want to listen to -- its the combination of the organ tone, with all its imperfections, and the leslie tube circuitry that works magic, making the combination far greater than the sum of its parts. Similar magic can occur with the V5 and a 12AX7 tube, moreso, I believe, than any other simulator I've heard. Leakage is a different matter. The pure tone from the V5 sounds more like a stack of sine waves than a sample, and leakage, like overdrive, sounds like an additional layer added on top. With the VK-7 and the XK-2, leakage sounds much more integrated into the basic tone. With the V5, leakage is, at best, an annoying little buzz. It c

Too soon to tell. I think its made in Italy, and I'm not confident that servicing it will be all that easy. I'm going to be very careful with this thing.

Haven't dealt with the company.

I'd buy it again. I'm thinking of buying another just for back up, or perhaps to use in a dual manual mode (vibrato would be out of sync, of course, but both could run through the same leslie simulator). The value of a B-3 simulator can't be summarized in its features. You either feel inspired when you're hands slide across the keys, or you don't. The V5 is an inspiring instrument. I'm using the Voce Spin II module for leslie simulation and running it through a Blue Tube pedal before sending it to the keyboard amp. Or else I run it directly into my Motion Sound Pro-3T. In either configuration, it sounds like a B-3 should. The Spin II gives you a fairly radical leslie simulation. The swirling sound you hear when its not playing is not so unlike the wooshing of the horn/bass rotor of a real leslie as picked up by a mic. The unmodified sound of the V5 and the Spin II is a little too harsh and distinct. Through the Blue Tube, its much sweeter. The Pro-3T is even sweeter, though a bit more hassle to deal with in some situations. A good leslie or leslie simulation tends to lessen the differences between these B-3 simulators, but I think the Voce gives you the most to work with. Its not as commonly stocked as Roland and Hammond, which is too bad, because anyone thinking of buying a B-3 simulator should at least give it a listen.

This module is fantastic. My church organ C3 broke down and this module fit the spot ( along with my Pro3t leslie simulator). I don't use the presets being that everything is spontaneous in a church setting.
Just make sure the midi channels correspond with each other. Turn it on and play.

Its the same polyphony as the V3 module . I use a Fatar SL161 controller and the Fatar pedal board. Since it has a three way multitimbral setup the pedals and the keyboard works fine with the module. I don't use the overdrive (use the pro3t's) but it sounds good to me.

It sounds like my church's C3. I've done major gospel concerts with this setup. Everybody asking me where is the B3. VERY REALISTIC!!!

My livelihood depends on it. I've even bought a second one to have if this one should break. I've always been careful when it comes to transporting instruments. I made a base for it so the drawbars are somewhat protected. During a concert, there was some sort of an electrical surge but all I did was reinitialize it and it came back to normal.

The people at DR STRINGS are wonderful. Dave Amels made a wonderful piece of equipment. Say goodby to the Hammond C3!!!!!

I definitely would buy another one if it was lost or stolen. I've been playing organ since I was a little kid. My father couldn't afford the B3
I had to play Crumars and Farfisas and still wasn't satisfied. Now the real thing is gone but that sound still lives in that little box. I've tried the new Hammonds (xb2,xk2,), gave away my xm-1,tried out the vk7.Too expensive!!!!!!!! Thank God for the V5!!!!!

In general, just twist the knobs or pull the drawbars. Couldn't get much easier. Presets are like a car stereo. The only difficult is in setting a split, you MUST use a preset for one of the manuals. The manual is equivalently simple. MIDI through & Merge through are supported. It would be nice if the factory presets had a little description in the manual.

Polyphony is as many keys as you can hit in the standard B-3 range. The special effects, which were considered defects on the orginial Hammond (except by those crazy musicians) are Overdrive, Key Click and Leakage. The Leakage is ridiculous above about 1/3 of the knobs range. The key click is great, and the overdrive really gives it some wonderful distortion. MIDI In, Omni mode (takes anything it can get) and Multitimbral mode are supported, (three channels-upper & lower manual, and pedal). MIDI in/out for all control settings is supported. No expansion or sequencer, but these are n/a anyway in a B-3 simulator.

Didn't have a V3 to compare too, but I didn't like the fact that some people have complained about noise on some drawbar settings on the V3. I'm quite happy with the B-3 sound. Anything a B-3 sounds good with the V5 will do. The only bad effect as I mentioned above is the leakage being somewhat ridiculously high. Gotta love that Jimmy Smith sound.

Haven't had a chance to road test it yet :-), but it's got a nice metal case. The drawbars however stick out of the case and could probably be damaged with one nasty fall. I'm going to make a nice protective tray for them.

So far I've had to contact them on registering the warranty. Turn around time on questions has been about a day.

I'd buy another if it were lost or stolen. The main reason I bought it is that I want that B-3 sound and it weighs 2 lbs. A real B-3 is about 400 lbs. and a beast to maintain.

I had a chance to try this module side-by-side with a V3. It is by far inferior to the V3. Given that a second-hand V3 w/drawbars can be had for the same price as the V5 (w/o the leslie simulator which is built in to the V3), this is a no-brainer. Get the V3. If you have the money, you may want to look at the Roland VK-7 as well, which is comparable sound-wise with the V3 (unfortuantely, I wasn't able to do a side-by-side comparison to make a clearer determination). You'll pay about $900 more for the VK7, but you get a keyboard and the ability to do dual-manual plus pedal rather easily which I'm not sure either Voce handles.
-dh