Synth Site |  Roland |  VK-09

Roland put together a B3 clone on a 61 keys.

It is all Analog VCO's with no limit on polyphony. There are 2 sets of 6 drawbars.

The 1st set are the B-3 clone sets - Sine wave. the 2nd set are the Synth Bright - Square wave.

you have the option to use both or each of the 12 drawbars.

The "Percussion" section includes: 4 (808 style) buttons:

Soft, 2nd, 3rd and Decay fast.

There is a "Sustain" section with a knob for Short/Long decay and On/Off switch.

The "Chorus Vibrato" section includes:

3 buttons: On/Off, Slow and Fast. there are volume and tuning knobs.

In the back panel Roland put mono output and headphone ( stereo) out

Also, you'll find a "Gate" out and a Pedal Input to control the "Speed".

The VK-09 is a very cool organ with a add on Synth sound. the "Percussion" are pure awsome - you can use all 4 buttons at once and it sounds like the real thing. I put my hands all over the board and all VCO's sounded out...

The B-3 sound is very close and warm and if you connect it to the Korg G-4 or a leslie it will do the trick. I like to get it to sound like in the 60's music and it is veru user friendly.

I did record it many times direct to tape and it sounded perfect in the mix, but I think a nice tube preamp with some distortion will always add some extra flavor. It doesn't have the Digital harsh sound found on PCM based synth but a real analog warm Organ sound. If you find it - buy it.