VR Rivals

VR vs Hammond SK vs Nord Electro vs ….

or: the eternal question: which one is ‘better’?
Most replies will be ‘Nord’ as this has become a kind of ‘red sect’ …
From a neutral point of view all stage-organs (or ‘clonewheels’) have their strong points and weak points.

The following list is an overview of single-manual combo stage organs

It does not include pure Hammond clones like Hammond XK, Viscount, etc. nor ‘Workstations with ‘tonewheel’ (e.g. Roland RD2000, Casio XW-P1…)

Roland VR700 and VR760
see ‘special’ below
Vox Continental (61/73)
From a price and ‘feature’ point the Vox (61 or 73) is probably the closest contender to VR09/730 (Vox 73 is equal in price to VR730 and even 1.5kg lighter). Vox stylish draw-touchsliders have, like on VR, double-function for envelope/filter (+ LFO and even customs). In Clonewheel heaven, sound quality is ‘cathegory 2’ like VR, generally the Vox ‘tonewheel’ (which is in fact a Korg CX3 emulation) is less ‘cheasy’ and more rock orientated. Acoustic Pianos are excellent and EPs have a lot of vintage realism (also due to the integrated tube preamp) – both outclass VR in any aspect. Note that Vox firmware 2.0 improved many deficits (layer AND split, 64 ‘szenes’). Quality of its ca. 150 bread&butter sounds is excellent. One big disadvantage in handling is that patches and scenes have no names which means number-guessing, several flaws (e.g. no octave shift, no expresson pedal part assign) will remain (no further firmware update to expect)
Dexibell Combo J7
Why does Dexibell receive more attention from the v-combo webseite than the other ‘rivals’? Well, Dexibell is a young company founded in 2014 by the licensed Roland staff when Roland Europe R&D and production centre in Italy was closed down. Which means that Dexibell keys are quality instruments built by Roland people and assembled in a former Roland production plant.
The J7 stage organ can be considered as a ‘superior quality VR730’ – positioned somewhere between Nord Electro and Nord Stage.
The J7 shares the same Sound-System (“Vivo OS”) as the Dexibell Digital Pianos which probably gives it the best acoustic pianos of all actual combo organs.
The J7 has some unique features like the motorized drawbars which follow selected organ presets an manual-toggle, the ‘permanent Leslie rotational noise’, the ‘organ morphing’ etc.
- 73 key Fatar TP/8o Waterfall keybed (like VR730), split + layer mode
- weight 10kg, metal housing, wooden side panels
- decent tonewheel organ (not on the level of Hammond/Nord/Crumar – but in many aspects very comparable to Yamaha YC). Excellent Vox, Farfisa, Pipe
- excellent acoustic and electric pianos
- 100 bread&butter sounds + ca 100 more sounds from Dexibell website
- loadable sounds in SF2-‘sound font’ format (unlimited number of free and pro SF2 sounds on the web)
- 3 layers/split
- motorised drawbars and ‘foot switch smooth transition’ (“morph”) between organ presets
- permanent Leslie mechanical background noise (belts, bearings, wind…)
- 3 jacks for pedals (e.g. expression, piano damper, rotary switch)
- midi via usb, audio via usb, mp3/wav player, audio (wav) recorder, audio-in via Bluetooth
- EQ, organ parameters, Leslie parameters, piano resonance+damper noise, filter + envelope (AHDSR), fully customisable MFX, freaky ‘sound modulators’ like ‘blow-noise’ for sax/flute/etc, noise of trumpet valves, etc
- J7 profits from the regular upgrades of the ‘all products’ VIVO operating system (e.g. big improvement of Leslie sim, piano sound, constant bugfixing, improvments, new features
Yamaha YC
Very well built, waterfall action by Yamaha (‘cheapo’ pastic-hinged keys but it feels good), decent APs (not on the level of Yamaha Digitals though). At initial release, Organ/Leslie sound was not the best (sterile sound with ‘helicopter’ Leslie). The 2022 firmware (1.2) upgrade promoted the organ into the ‘premier organ clone league’.
Yamaha CK
Concept VERY close to VR09/730: a ‘all-in-one’ that does not have the best sounds but can do them all. When VR09/730 is more organ-focused, CK is more piano-centric: CK-organ is ‘only’ sample based (no modelling as on YC): while it generally does not sound too bad, higher harmonics are very ‘sine-wave/cheasy’ and allover it lacks the many customisations of VR09/730 organ. CK Piano is comparable to YC: it’s by far not the best and not comparable with a digital, but with some mods it sounds decent.
Key action on the 61/73 version is the well known FSB action (Yamaha PSR) but with firmer key touch (be aware that, like on YC, the keys are ‘plastic-hinged’ – and will probably get noisy after a short time (like all ‘plastic hinge actions’)
Hammond SK-1
It’s the ‘tonewheel-queen’ of the Combos: no one has more possibilities to customise the organ sound (up to individually tuning EACH virtual tonewheel) and the ‘more real drawbars’ make an enormous difference in ‘organ feel’. It falls behind with ‘additional’ sounds (althought new sounds can be loaded from Hammond) and split/layering. Keybed is a Fatar TP/8O waterfall (same as VR730, both feel very similar) with nice ‘vintage beige coloured keys’. Dedicated organ output for original Leslie connector. All controls are solid, case is metal and and the 2nd-lightest after VR09 (7 kg)
Hammond SK-Pro
It’s even more the ‘tonewheel-queen’, replacing the VASE organ engine of SK1/2/X with the new MTW engine of Hammond XK5. Virtual ‘key multi contact simulation’, individually tuning of EACH virtual tonewheel and tons of Leslie-parameters. 4 Zones. 4 ‘principal’ sound categories where 2 can be composed of up to 4 layers (possible to create 8-layer sounds). Monophonic VA synth with real time controls + polyphonic PCM synth. Acoustic pianos improved since SK-1/2 but not at the level of Dexibell or Nord. Keybed is a Fatar TP/8O waterfall. Dedicated organ outputs for original Leslie connector AND TRS-plug
Nord Electro
In 2016 Nord shocked the world by introducing (limited) key split to 5D (hahaha). Now, with 6D it’s still not possible to split two synth or piano (AP-EP) sounds… Nord Electro uses the Fatar TP/8O keybed but in a strange specification with wobbly keys. Tonewheel sound is powerful (very good for rock bands but less suited for sublime Jazz), acoustic pianos are very good, electric pianos a bit synthetic and pale. Hundreds of other sounds can be loaded from Nords sound libraries, e.g. new (improved) acoustic pianos. R/L-Line-out can be split into organ-out (for routing to Leslie sims like Ventilator or real Leslie) and (mono) ‘sound-out’ for all other sounds. Electro still is very limited in splitting and layering
Nord Stage Compact
The ‘Waterfall-version’ of Nord Stage has all the gizmos ‘missing’ on the Electro like mod-wheels and stereo-out for non-organ sounds (when rerouting the organ). It integrates a full featured synthesizer with real-time controls and 4 zones split/layering. On the con side: very expensive… and suprisingly limited for layering !
Crumar Mojo 61
Maybe Mojo is a close second behind SK/SK-Pro with regard to the most authentic and beautiful Hammond sound of all combos – if it can be called a combo with only 5 additional AP/EP sounds

VR09/730 vs VR700 vs VR760

The predecessors of VR09/730, VR760 and VR700, are very valuable combo organs: if weight and size is not important they can be interesting alternatives. Both keyboards are only available 2nd hand but considering the ‘like a tank’ build quality they won’t let the player down for the next 20 years.

Note that there are Editor (Windows/Mac) for VR09/730 and VR700 that ‘unlock’ tons of hidden features (and in case of VR700 replaces the unusable user-interface)

VR700 ‘pros’ compared to VR09/730:
‘military grade build quality’, very sturdy plastic chassis (feels like metal)
best Waterfall ‘dual-purpose’ action ever built: incredible control for BOTH ORGAN AND PIANO
real ‘fullsize’ drawbars
better organ sound (more overtones, powerfull bass, decent ‘tube like’ overdrive), more parameters
the actual organ setting is not ‘resetted’ (as on VR09/730) when switching back-forth between organ, piano, synth etc
much better Grand (less shrill, ‘realistic’ dynmaic range, controllable, long delay, sympathetic+damper resonance)
more ‘natural/vintage’ sounding Electric Pianos
8 Favorite buttons (vs. 4 registration buttons on VR09/730)
fully customisable COSM MFX (requires CTRLR Editor for VR700)
fully customisable ‘sympathetic resonance’: resonance fine tune, lid position, multiband EQ (requires CTRLR Editor for VR700)

VR700 ‘cons’ compared to VR09/730:
heavy (16kilogram) and large
chique but horrible to use ‘user interface’ (when not used with CTRLR Editor)
‘favorites’ cannot be assigned ‘names’ (they are only ‘numbered’) and it’s terrible to ‘find’ a certain favorites
Organ Vibrato/Chorus is really bad
less zones/layering compared to VR09/730 + ‘hidden Features’
less sounds compared to VR09/730 + ‘hidden Features’
many sounds/patches are ‘outdated’ (think positiv: it’s ‘oldschool’ charme)
no filter/envelope setting (ADR envelope/filter can only be set ‘live’ with CTRLR Editor)
no MFX controls when used without CTRLR Editor

Differences VR700 – VR760:
both share the same engenious key action
both organs are ‘VK8’ and sound similiar
VR760 cannot split organ manual and has less organ/rotary parameters
VR760 acoustic pianos are bad (dull sound, short decay, no sympathetic resonance)
VR760 has a magnifique user panel with ‘full controls’ including EQ, envelope/filter, basic MFX settings
VR700 has an unusable user panel but a software EDITOR (that also accesses hidden features)
VR760 MFX can be customized ‘on board / VR700 has more MFX but requires CTRLR EDITOR to access them
VR760 has less layer/split capabilities. VR700 spliting/layering gets even more flexible with CTRLR EDITOR
VR760 has very few onboard sounds (only 27 vs. 300 in VR700) but accepts Roland SRX cards (rare & expensive)

VR vs Roland Fantom 06

Fantom 06(07) ‘baby Fantom’ is considered by many as an alternative to VR09/730. We briefly discuss details:

different concepts: Fantom is not a ‘combo organ’ but a ‘workstation’:
- it offers what modern complex workstations offer:
  multizones, thousands of sounds, Cosm-MFX, arpeggiator, sequencer, sampler, VA synth etc etc
- menu diving’: the ergonomics of touch screen is excellent – but it’s not comparable to the ‘easy going’ direct access of VR
- ZEN engine for running quality sound components (e.g. ‘cult keys’ like JD800) from Roland zenology website (on buy)
Fantom ‘Virtual Tonewheel Organ’ (VTW):
- soundwise like VR09/730 SuperNatural organ (aka SN organ in Jupiter 80):
  despite having more overtones it still sounds ‘churchy’ (different to VK-8 based VRs)
- ‘organ options’ correspond to previous VR700
  4 organ types (vintage 1/2, clean, solid), 1 ‘Rotary’ type, 2 ‘Rotary’ types as (Cosm)-MFX, etc.
  VK8 features not provided in VR09/730 (e.g. percussion recharge time)
- organ has only ONE manual (VTW ‘as a part’): no possibilty for upper/lower manual organ or organ bass
- faders can be used as drawbars – but only eight (no 1″ ‘drawfader’ – remind that with percussion one does not need 1″)
- organ ‘note retrigger bug’ of VRs has been fixed (would be an even bigger plus if Fantom had upp/low organ manual)
- massively improved ‘leakage’ (authentic ‘bright swirl’ instead of VRs ‘deep transformer fuzz’)
- improved overdrive (3 types: tube, VK-OD, guitar amp) – despite being smoother than VR09/730 it remains ‘harsh’
- its synth action is fine but has no ‘organ high trigger point’ nor does exist a ‘Waterfall’-version (like VR730)

Stage organs: feature comparison

The following comparison tries to be as much as ‘objectiv’ as possible, e.g. considering
– ‘B3 authenticity’ for organ sound
– sample quality and ‘piano effects’ (like string resonance) for acoustic pianos
– authentic sound and ‘bite’ for electric pianos
– ‘natural/realistic’ vs. ‘artificial/digital’ sound character, etc.

Note: the ‘ranking’ is ordered from left to right and within a ‘box’ from top (‘better’) to down (‘worse’). VR09 stands also for VR730

feature	excellent	good/decent	mediocre	bad
Organ	Hammond SK-Pro Yamaha YC [4] Hammond SK	Mojo Nord Electro/Stage Vox Roland VR700 [1] Roland VR760 [1] Roland VR09 [1] Dexibell J7	Yamaha CK	–
Acoustic Pianos	Dexibell J7 Vox Nord Electro/Stage	Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Roland VR700	Hammond SK-Pro Hammond SK	Mojo Roland VR09 Roland VR760
Electric Pianos	Vox Hammond SK-Pro Hammond SK Mojo Yamaha YC Dexibell J7	Nord Electro/Stage Roland VR09 [3] Roland VR700 Roland VR760	–	–
Bread & Butter Sounds (number, quality)	Nord Stage Dexibell J7 Roland VR09 [3] Nord Electro	Hammond SK-Pro Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Vox Hammond SK	Roland VR700 Roland VR760	Mojo
Synth Sounds (variety, quality, editing)	Nord Stage Hammond SK-Pro Roland VR09 Dexibell J7	Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Nord Electro Vox Roland VR760 Roland VR700 [5]	Hammond SK	Mojo
Organ-Controls (drawbar quality Leslie, Perc, VC switches)	Dexibell J7 Mojo Roland VR760 Roland VR700	Hammond SK-Pro Hammond SK Yamaha YC Nord Stage 3C,4 Nord Electro 4-6	Roland VR09 Yamaha CK	Vox Nord Electro 1-3 Nord Stage 1-3
Sound-Controls (Mod/Pitch, envelope, filter, MFX … keys w/o pitch/mod are at max in ‘mediocre’)	Nord Stage Hammond SK-Pro	Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Vox Roland VR760 Roland VR09	Dexibell J7 Nord Electro	Roland VR700 Hammond SK Mojo
Split/Layer	Roland VR09 [2] Hammond SK-Pro Nord Stage	Dexibell J7 Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Vox Roland VR700	Hammond SK Nord Electro 5/6	Roland VR760 [6] Mojo Nord Electro 1-4
Dedicated organ line-out	Hammond SK-Pro Hammond SK	Nord Stage	Nord Electro	Vox Mojo Yamaha YC Yamaha CK Dexibell J7 Roland VR ‘all’

[1] under aspect of NOT rating organ note retrigger bug (the bug exists in all VRs but allmost all people don’t hear it)
[2] under aspect of VR09/730 ‘hidden features’ for zones and layers (requires CTRLR Editor to access)
[3] under aspect of VR09/730 ‘hidden sounds’ (requires CTRLR Editor to access)
[4] under aspect of renewed organ/Leslie sound from radical YC firmware upgrade 1.2 (2022)
[5] under aspect of VR700 ‘hidden MFX’ (requires CTRLR Editor to access)
[6] VR760 has only one organ manual