If you are thinking of coming along to the special UK Wersi owners weekend, you had better hurry as spaces are selling very quickly and we are now nearly three quarters full! The weekend is set to be a great event with the amazing Brett Wales, Daniel Watt and Claire Greig performing and of course we will have a Wersi Dealer on hand to show you around the instruments. The highlight of the weekend will be our Saturday night falsenkeller german beer evening - lots of great music and drink will be flowing until the early hours of the morning. The hotel will be 100% occupied by wersi enthusiasts and everywhere you turn will be wersi players and instruments.

Tags: wersi, owners, weekend, scala, verona, abacus, uli, nottingham, holiday,

Tyros 3 - yes tyros 3 is in it’s final stages of production with the launch of the instrument to be at Pakefield organ festival. There is much speculation about this instrument and there have already been many leaked photos claiming to be the real thing. At this stage all that we do know is that Tyros 2 will be replaced and Yamaha owners are already placing pre-orders with dealers across the UK.

Tags: Yamaha, tyros, tyros 3, arranger, keyboard,

Wersi have updated the KS1 abacus with a new larger screen. As you can see from the photos, this amazing 10.4" touch screen gives players a much better level of interactivity and for those of you with poor vision, the keyboard is now much easier to see. We have emailed Wersi Germany to enquire about the screen and to see if we can get hold of a kit. We will let you know how easy it is to update the screen as we get more information from Germany.

Well the rumour seems to be true, Tyros 3 is set to be the next keyboard from Yamaha. Tyros, Tyros 2 and now Tyros 3, has someone at Yamaha lost the will to name instruments or has someone cottoned on to the fact that the public seem to like the name Tyros? Either way there is another one on it's way and the spec that is flying around hardly seems like a massive upgrade on the previous model. For a start there is still only 5 octaves - when will Yamaha put out a larger keyboard version for the more advanced players out there. The only striking feature of this new keyboard seems to be drawbar sliders which looking back at instruments such as PSR 8000 with the roller wheels which allowed you the same control, this hardly seems a major cutting edge development.
Motorised display is also rumoured and if this is the case then someone needs a good slap at Yamaha. What is the benefit of an electric tilting screen - have players become so lazy that they cannot adjust the screen manually when the money could have been spent on adding a further octave to the instrument and giving players something they wanted instead of another gimmick.
I hope that the development team at Yamaha have put as much effort in re-writing those over used and predictable styles that have featured in Tyros 1 and 2 - and made Tyros 3 completely fresh and new otherwise it will be just another nifty marketing ploy to get you to part with your hard earned cash for a slightly re-sytled tyros 2.
Whilst I was at the Blackpool festival I listened to a few Yamaha Tyros players and every single one sounded the same. Press into 3, play a melody with a backing, press ending 3 and you are done. Come on Yamaha give real musicians something they can get their teeth into and not another boring arranger keyboard.
The specification on line so far seems to be as follows;
• 61 keys with Toch Response and After Touch
• 128-voice polyphony
• 1312 Voices incl. 23 Mega Voices
• 47 Super Articulation Voices and 5 Super Articulation 2 Voices
• 450 Styles with 4 variations
• 7 Slider for Real-Time Control e.g. for Drawbar-Organs
• Great Graphic-Colour-Display for score, lyrics and text
• Harddisk-Recorder: Play 2 Stereo Tracks / Rec 1 Stereo Track
• Microphone connection and Vocal Harmony
• USB 2.0 Technology: USB-to host and 2 x USB-to device
• LAN-Port for Internet Direct Connection (IDC)
• Video-Out and RGB-Port
• Brand new Tone-Generation
• NEW Live! Concert Grand Piano
• NEW Mega Voices
• NEW Super Articulation and Super Articulation2 Voices
• NEW Sweet!, Cool! and Live! Voices
• NEW Drumkits
• More new styles
• NEW DSP-Blocks for Styles
• Enhanced Harddisc-Recorder
• 9 Slider for Real-Time-Control
• USB 2.0 Technology and LAN-Port

Tags: Tyros, 3, Tyros 3, Yamaha, Keyboard, Arranger, Tyros, Styles,

SightRead Ltd are pleased to announce two new opportunities for UK musicians to get a close look at the unique MusicPad Pro digital sheet music display system and have all their questions answered.
 
Firstly, they will be making their first appearance at the annual Keyboad Cavalcade Blackpool Extravaganza in May. This week-long residential event attracts the largest gathering of home organ and keyboard enthusiasts of any U.K. festival and is organised by Spectre Promotions.
 
Secondly, in June SightRead they are taking a stand at the prestigious London International Show and hope to be able to show the new MusicPad Maestro for the first time in the UK. This promises to be a hugely successful show and is being widely promoted throughout the UK music industry. They can be found in the Unplugged section near the education hall and we look forward to meeting potential customers and dealers alike. 
Musicpad is still the most popular digital music archive and reading system on the market

We have just come across Byron Jones's Wersi Scala for sale on Ebay. Selling due to upgrade of new organ, it currently stands at £4,100 with the reserve not yet met. Have a look at the ebay listing by clicking HERE

It's big, its brown and its beautiful, it's the new Orla GT9000 DLX. Over the next few weeks we take a look at the new Orla range of organs including the amazingly compact GT compact. If you are looking for an organ with lots of features, then the Orla range is well worth a look. Visit www.orladirect.co.uk for more details.
Watch this space for more news...

Tags: orla, direct,

Dear Visitors to Jazzhooves, my website has had a complete overhaul, so please feel free to visit and read my news. Also, my show production partnership That's Entertainment Productions is thrilled to have secured a summer season at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne, every Tuesday and Wednesday for 24 weeks from 13th May to 15th October, with "The Return of The Minstrels in Those Variety Days".  The show features three of the original stars from the wonderful George Mitchell Black and White Minstrel Show, with original glittering tailcoats and toppers, their special guest star, Supersonic Syd Little, magic and mystery with The Illusionistics, The Minstrel Maids, The Hippodrome Dancers and a live band, which includes myself or my deputy and Chris Stanbury at the helm of a Yamaha EL700.  It is a very happy, lively and colourful show.  Tickets are on sale now on 01323 412 000.
Visit www.michaelwooldridge.co.uk for more information

Tags: Michael wooldridge,website,update,organist

The ever expanding website known as organportal.com has had a major facelift and looks fantastic. Richard Postma, website owner has taken the site and re-designed the look and feel of the website. Any visitor will immediately notice how easy it is to navigate and all of their multimedia content is in easy to find folders.
Visit organportal today and say hello. www.organportal.com

Tags: organportal,update,news,website,richard,postma

During the last few weeks there have been rumours flying around about the website called Organfax. To ensure that facts are put forward we have contacted the organfax office and spoken to them and from that conversation we are pleased to be able to confirm the following truth about organfax.

Organfax is certainly not closing down, time and other commitments mean that a few things have been put on hold.
Organfax is not under any bid from any internet company and in fact the whole story is beyond belief in the first place.
The owner of the website simply has other pressing commitments, as most of us at some time in our lives do and things will resume at some point soon.

The internet can be a very vicious place when it comes to rumours - one thing leads to another and before you know it what can be an innocent break can turn into the end of the world. We always suggest speaking direct to the persons involved and take what you read on the internet with a big pinch of salt.

We have had a number of recent requests for the contact telephone number for Wersi in Germany. The website has their freecall numbers but they do not operate from the UK. Anyone wanting to contact Wersi direct from the UK should call 00 49 6747 1230
This number will put you directly through to their main reception.

Tags: organfax, stuart hutton, website

Star Electone Player Alex Payler has just taken delivery of YAMAHA’s top of the range flagship Electone Organ, the ELX-1m. Only one of two outside of Japan, this incredible instrument is believed by many to be the finest
Instrument YAMAHA has ever made. Boasting a breathtaking specification even larger than that of the EL-900m it is complete with two 61 Note Manuals and 25 note Radiating Polyphonic Pedalboard, all housed in a futuristic white Cabinet designed for the Stage.

Revolutionary ‘Horizon’ Touch Keyboards, Virtual Acoustic Synthesis, the best in YAMAHA’s AWM/FM sound shaping technology, XG and GM Compatibility and Micro-tuning for each individual voice are just a few features of the ELX-1m’s remarkable specification. Alex comments: “It’s an absolute thrill to have been chosen to have this very rare and special instruments. You simply feel on top of the world when you sit ‘aboard’ it and play”. Had this Electone been released outside of Japan, it could have cost anything from £30,000 upwards, following in the footsteps of the original ELX-1 released back in the 1990’s.

Alex still plans to complete most of his concert touring using the EL-900m but will be performing on the ELX-1m for a number of select performances throughout the year until finally performing on the ELX-1m permanantly. For more information, check out his website…www.alexpayler.com

The only time that a keyboard player features on a main stream TV show on ITV and what do we get? Sadly someone called Michael Machell playing a "remixed" version of Star Wars very badly.

Saturday night ITV show "Britain's got talent" is a show to find the next big talent to appear in front of British royalty. Many first class performers appeared on stage, including an incredible electric string quartet. Following them was a keyboard player who did for the keyboard world what Hitler did for Germany. The whole performance was a complete nightmare. It was clear that they had chosen him as a thing of ridicule and not because of his talent.
Judge Simon Cowell told the audience "If I became Prime Minister I would ban those things" - referring to a Yamaha portable home keyboard. This is not the sort of publicity that keyboard or organ players want, and why oh why is it always talentless individuals who seem to make it into the news. I am sure that Yamaha UK did not appreciate this sort of publicity after spending years of hard work developing fantastic arranger keyboards. Cowell is well known for his outspoken and self opinionated views, but in this case we have to agree with him.
Where are the UK's top organists and keyboard players?
Watch the keyboard player by clicking HERE tell us what you think in our forum

*Photo Simon Cowell

Sounds like a bold claim, but it has to be said. Pakefield is the best organ holiday in the UK and sees artists from all around the world in one location for one fantastic organ music packed holiday. From April 21-28th you can see all of the major manufacturers, top artists and best of all, take in the best that the broadlands has to offer.
Top names appearing in April include:

• Claudia Hirschfeld
• Tony Stace
• Bernd Wurzenrainer
• Robert Wolfe
• Brett Wales
• Dirkjan Ranzijn

For more details contact sceptre promotions on 01780 782093 speak to Grant Neil!
email them direct via grant@sceptre-promotions.freeserve.co.uk

Dear viewers of Jazzhooves.com we have received some very distrubing feedback during the last few weeks.
We recently visited North Staffs Organ and Keyboard Club based in Staffordshire, England and were entertained to a fantastic show featuring Brett wales and his Wersi Scala. During the 30 minute interval, I spoke to a vast number of the audience and received some terrible feedback.
It appears that many of you are under the impression that Wersi organs are difficult to play and are beyond the reach of most home players - this is RUBBISH!

As a Wersi organ owner, I was shocked to hear this feedback as Wersi organs are now easier to play, use and understand than ever.
Everything is in English - no German labelled buttons, the on screen display is the simplest to understand and in terms of playability, the organ is by far the most simple to sit down to and play. We want to put our money where our mouth is and our next podcast will feature the Wersi Abacus keyboard and the additional Duo Deluxe package which makes the keyboard a small home organ.
In the early days of Wersi OAS organs, there were a few teething problems, but since the launch of their latest software, the organ is as reliable as a Volkswagen on a winters morning. We are compiling this special show now and if you would like to add any feedback about Wersi then please get in touch. We promise to include all emails and reply to them all. If you have a question, get in touch!

Remember, we are only featuring the new OAS instruments - not the older CD models.

Well here we are again - yes - we have changed our format again, but this is for a good reason.
During the last few weeks we have received feedback from PC owners who are running older versions of Internet Explorer who have been having problems viewing our site. As we want our site to be available to as many people as possible, we have changed and tested our new format on PCs as well as Macs.
We hope now that everyone can see Jazzhooves at it's best.
If you do have problems, please let us know.

Admin - Jazzhooves.com

We are sad to report that the UK launch demonstrations of the new Wersi Apollo by Brett Wales are cancelled. If you have made arrangements to attend one of these shows, please check with the venue. There is only one demonstration model at the moment and it sadly did not make it to the UK in time. Please contact the venue for more details as Brett has kindly offered to give a informal tour of the SCALA instead.
When will Apollo arrive - nobody is sure, but we will let you know as soon as we find out. If you have pre-ordered one of these instruments, please get in touch, we would like to hear from you.

We are pleased to announce that the BBC organist entertains website has added a link to Jazzhooves.com. Nigel Ogden, the presenter of the longest running and best theatre organ show on radio has added our website to his choice of links. Nigel and his music has entertained millions over the years and his show is a real highlight for any theatre organ enthusiasts.
Visit the organist entertains HERE or visit their links section HERE

Incredible organist and entertainer Chris Powell has updated his website. The new modern look site gives visitors useful information about Chris's concerts, recordings and software. We hope to catch up with Chris soon and will report back to you. Chris runs the Burntwood organ society and together with his wife Marie, they both ensure a great nights entertainment. Visit Chris's website by going to www.chrispowell.org

Jazzhooves.com is a website dedicated to the hobby of playing electronic organ or keyboards. We support all major manufacturers including Yamaha, Roland, Wersi, Korg, Orla, Bohm, Thomas, Technics and many others.
We now support and feature software add-ons including VST voices and sound packages. Many of todays modern keyboards use such software and we aim to bring you news about new voices, synth packs and many others. The focus of our website is to bring players together and our regular podcasts we aim to bring you music from both professional players and home enthusiasts. If you would like to get involved with Jazzhooves or have something you think we might like to include, please get in touch.

We would like to wish all of our visitors to Jazzhooves.com a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you to everyone who takes time to send emails to us. We sincerely appreciate your support. Remember, Jazzhoves has been around now for 4 years and this year it will celebrate it's fifth birthday and we plan to do something very special to mark our 5th year.
We would like to wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and New Year.

During the next few weeks we will be featuring a review of a very special new organ. This new instrument sounds and looks so fantastic that we will be also including a new audio podcast review from the moment we turn the instrument on - and we will give you our honest opinion of this organ. The manufacturer has kindly offered to loan us an instrument for review purposes and we intend on taking you right into the depths of this fabulous new instrument both with images and audio.
Please keep checking our site and we are sure that you will enjoy our audio review of this new organ.

It's not very often we sit waiting for a keyboard to be lauched, but the new Ketron Audya has got everyone at Jazzhooves.com excitied. From the video and audio we have seen of this instrument, the new Audya takes portable keyboards to a new level with voices so realistic you really cannot spot the difference from the real thing. BCK are the UK main dealers for this instrument and we hope to have a report about this new keyboard as soon as it becomes available. Watch this space!

Thanks to Richard Postma from organportal.com we have a number of photographs from the Okey live festival. On show were the new large screen version Wersi Scala and apollo. We also have a photograph of George Fleury playing the new Roland AT900 organ. With all of these new instruments it is a sure sign that the organ market is on the UP!. Let's hope that this is the catalyst for keyboard owners to abandon their single finger playing and move back to the king of instruments - the organ!!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHTOS

PAKEFIELD SEPTEMBER SPECTACULAR 2007

We are pleased to report that this Septembers Keyboard Cavalcade festival was once again fully booked with a capacity audience at the UK’s largest organ festival.Hundreds of organ & keyboard enthusiasts from all over Europe converged on Pakefield in Suffolk to immerse themselves in a special week of musical magic & cosy full board accommodation! Pontins premier centre set right on the cliff tops next to the sea became a musical village for the week as the large site was taken over in its entirety, with only Cavalcadians allowed on centre. A spectacular weeks entertainment from some of the worlds very best organ/keyboard artists unfolded, with four top artists in concert every night, including exotic international names & the very best of British.

(A taster of the star-cast :Tony Fenelon, Yuri Tachibana, Don Lewis, Jurgen Tichy, Mark Whale, Dirkjan Ranzijn, plus the very best of British players like John Mann, Brian Sharp, Jean Martyn, Tim Flint, Howard Beaumont, Alastair Kiernan ,Chris Powell, Nicholas Martin,Janet Dowsett, David Thomas, Keyklix, Peter Hayward, Sarah Foley, James Sargeant, Peter Shaw, Chris Jones, Brett Wales, Tony Stace, Andrew Nix, SteveLowdel, Michael Wooldridge, Mike Hall, Daniel Watt & others!)
The all day programme simply “overflowed” with content, starting at around 9.30am through to well after midnight hobby-holiday goers enjoyed a host of teach-ins, seminars, instrument help centres, afternoon informal concerts, tea & evening dancing, late night & evening jam sessions & even a packed dealers diary, in addition to the evening concerts! All the major keyboard & organ manufacturers were represented, with over fourteen different exhibition area’s & no less than four world premiers, plus several UK firsts, including new products from Ketron, Orla, Roland, Wersi & Yamaha all being unveiled at the show! Holiday-makers also enjoyed some special “festival only” offers from the dealers Keyboard Cavalcade festivals have been established for nearly 22 successful years & it is great to still see so many mature music lovers getting together to enjoy the best of all things organ & keyboard. Their infectious enthusiasm & like-minded attitude helps create a fabulously friendly atmosphere & the super sunny weather enjoyed by all was the icing on the cake!
All three Keyboard Cavalcade festival dates have been confirmed for 2008
Pakefield Spring Spectacular 21-28th April 2008.
Blackpool Extravaganza 9-16th May 2008.
Pakefield Sizzling September Spectacular 8-15th Sept 2008.
For further details on the worlds largest organ festivals or Organ & Keyboard Cavalcade magazine contact Sceptre Promotions on 01780-782093.
email: grant@sceptre-promotions.freeserve.co.uk
website: www.keyboard-cavalcade.co.uk

The new AT900 has been launched, read more about this fantastic new organ by clicking HERE

Our blog has been updated today, please feel free to have a read.

The long awaited Wersi Apollo has been launched and first impressions of this instrument are highly favourable. The spinet style organ has a fantastic specification. This instrument is one of the first smaller organs to be introduced after a long "dry" spell with very little choice in the organ market. Wersi are the only company still developing new and exciting instruments for the organ market. This instrument is a guaranteed success and the team at Wersi have created yet another beautiful instrument.

• 10.4" TFT Touch Screen - Easy to use
• Open Art System Light
• 5 Octave Upper Manual - with 9 Drawbars and layer for 2 sounds
• 5 Octave Lower Manual - with 7 Drawbars and layer for 2 sounds or split - 6 1/2 Octave Lower Manual available at extra cost.
• 17 Note Pedal Board
• Touch Response and After Touch
• Open Art Arranger
• DVD/CD-RW Combination drive assembly
• 160 GB Hard Drive
• 2 USB Ports on the front
• Integrated Speakers
• Walnut or Mahogany Veneer Finish (Pearly White available at extra cost)
• Two sound packages are available - Church and Theatre.

Each month we archive our news features. If you would like to read our news files, click on the month you would like to see on the bottome left of this screen.

Technics no longer manufacture keyboards or organs and they presence in the market has been seriously missed. During the time that they produced keyboards, they always offered a great support package with seminars, demos and other helpful events for owners of these great instruments
Well, if you still own a Technics instrument you can be part of something great - with a new Technics Convention taking place in the UK. Run by Roger Mepstead, you can enjoy 2 days of fun and sharing technical advice with other fellow owners. The Convention takes place in Cambridge in the UK on the 3rd and 4th November 2007 in the Holiday Inn, and is being organised in response from the English for a UK version of the similar event which has been run for 4 years in America both in Florida and on the west coast.
It is an ideal opportunity for Technics keyboard owners to get together, compare notes, and listen to and learn from one another over a couple of relaxing days. If you are interested in attending this fantastic 2 day event, then email Roger via RMepstead@btinternet.com

For those of you who visit www.keyboardchat.com, you may have read about a warning about CD labels and the "jamming" that can occur when they come off. One of our team members by day works for a label manufacturers and offers this advice to anyone buying "home made" CD's.

" If you buy a CD with what appears to be a very matt, paper like feel to the surface, the chances are that a label has been used to brand the disc. These labels are ok in most home top loading CD players and most standard hifi situations. Because the adhesive on the label dries out with heat, if you put your CD into a slot loading CD drive, then this is where the problems occur. The mechanism can jam when loading and un-loading the disc and because most slot loading players are restricted for space internally, the heat inside will cause the label adhesive to dry out and simply come off. This is not too much of a problem for top loading machines, but disasterous for other players.If at any point you are unsure, we would suggest simply placing your thumb nail under the edge of the CD and trying to lift it. If there is any sign of lifting DONT PLAY IT. With modern materials substrates such as Polypropelene and Acetate this should not be a problem, but sadly paper labels are NOT recommended. So, if you want to listen to your favourite organ music and you have bought a new CD, we would recommend that you firstly check to see if it is a paper label, and if so, make a copy for your own use onto a standard CD without a label. This is your safest option and ensures trouble free listening."

So there you have it, if you buy CD's at your local organ club or on line, make sure the labels are solid. Just

Yes, it's changed again. The look of our website has changed as does our focus on what we do. From the first of September our website will purely focus on producing top quality podcasts as we link with a large UK company to bring you even more features. We cannot reveal the name of our sponsor at this stage, but assure all viewers of our site that it will enable us to bring you the best quality broadcasts and news. Jazzhooves.com currently has 90,000 visitors per month from the four corners of the globe and we have one thing in common with every visitor, the love of organ and keyboard music. If you have a story about your hobby or instrument, please feel free to email us direct.