Review of the Ringway RS 1000e
Posted: 03 Mar 2019 13:42
Ringway RS 1000e - my review after seven months use
My opinion is obviously biased by other makes and experiences I have had and you can’t help but compare the differences.
First I found the instrument difficult to get to know with so many changes in the way it operates, but once you understand it I found it far easier to navigate for example to the voice alteration sections than most other organs. However setting split points and the M O C are accessed a different way entirely which does tend to confuse.
8 voice banks...... Upper 1 & 2, Lower 1 & 2 , Lead 1 & 2 and Pedals 1 & 2 ,the upper and lower all have the same voices in them, the lead banks concentrate more on solo voices but do have an ALL button so you can see and use the full range if you need to. The lead voice panels also have a “To Lower” button.
Voices.... 442 in all and to give just one example ( the largest ) pressing the organ button brings up 11 pages ( 8 voices per page ) of organ sounds, mostly the other group buttons average 4 or 5 pages of choice each In all cases the screen shows what voice is already selected in each bank. There are factory pre sets comprising 4 special quick access buttons each containing A B C D columns of 20 registrations each including rhythms, there are also two further factory 2 & 3 optional extra pre sets available to treble the choices, so there is a wide variety of ready made press and play options at your finger tips, you can also alter any part of the pre set to your choice
But, yes there has to be at least a couple of buts............On start up the organ defaults automatically to the factory re set, so unless you have saved something prior to switching off you have lost it.
So now the niggly bits
This is mostly the voices, there are no Global Settings that you find in other instruments which once set remained set until you change them, the Ringway is designed so that the voices will all re set to the factory default each time which may suit many, but the sensitivity and after touch are set to max, also brilliance, to name just a few I have to change, the upper and lower keyboards have split points already set so if playing when you go past 3C or thereabouts there will be no sound or a lead voice has replaced the original on that part of the keyboard. The factory default cannot be altered so you have to save your favourites beforehand. I must admit the split point is a very useful tool and probably loved by professionals but the home player does not always need this for everything they play.
To modify a voice if you hold down the group button whichever voice you had selected in that group will appear with a set of slider operated subjects which you can adjust, several pages available are changed by the page up or down buttons. For split point you hold down any lead voice button until the page changes and navigate with the up and down buttons. But for the M O C feature you hold down the Rhythm button and control it in much the same way, and as I said earlier these difference in access can be confusing.
On saving whatever voice you make changes to in any bank ( say organ ) it will only change that one voice , none of the others alter, so the only way and the long term best solution is to save complete 16 piston registrations with your favourite sounds and save either in the Ringway ( To Instrument ) or onto a U S B stick. The only other way is to change each and every 442 voices to the individual settings you require and then save them to a USB, I am assuming that once one bank was modified the others may change themselves and I have not checked this out but a mammoth task and I am sure there must be another way.
Saving is quite easy, two options ....saving “ To Instrument” or to U S B, saving to instrument is quicker because you don’t have to find where you put it and don’t have to wait for the USB to be read by the organ, however if it is anything of factory issue such as the built in registrations even though you modify them when starting up again they will all have reverted back to the factory default, your own registrations however are safe. But don’t despair because if you save the modified factory registration to the U S B instead they won’t be altered by re starting (you have to be a bit crafty), but basically use the in built saving to instrument feature for most saved work and copy to the U S B for back up and keep the factory registration on both .
Rhythms, I was rather disappointed in these, for a most up to date design of organ I am surprised at the mainly hum drum content and not an impressive range either, even the auto accompaniment is not sparkling, frequently the difference between accompaniment A and B is insignificant., my many years old Technics KN 7000 keyboard has better and 4 options !.
But I feel that I am still in the early stages and have not really scratched the surface and so it’s by no means a thumbs down verdict, as the improvements in other aspects and the voice quality are outstanding .
My opinion is obviously biased by other makes and experiences I have had and you can’t help but compare the differences.
First I found the instrument difficult to get to know with so many changes in the way it operates, but once you understand it I found it far easier to navigate for example to the voice alteration sections than most other organs. However setting split points and the M O C are accessed a different way entirely which does tend to confuse.
8 voice banks...... Upper 1 & 2, Lower 1 & 2 , Lead 1 & 2 and Pedals 1 & 2 ,the upper and lower all have the same voices in them, the lead banks concentrate more on solo voices but do have an ALL button so you can see and use the full range if you need to. The lead voice panels also have a “To Lower” button.
Voices.... 442 in all and to give just one example ( the largest ) pressing the organ button brings up 11 pages ( 8 voices per page ) of organ sounds, mostly the other group buttons average 4 or 5 pages of choice each In all cases the screen shows what voice is already selected in each bank. There are factory pre sets comprising 4 special quick access buttons each containing A B C D columns of 20 registrations each including rhythms, there are also two further factory 2 & 3 optional extra pre sets available to treble the choices, so there is a wide variety of ready made press and play options at your finger tips, you can also alter any part of the pre set to your choice
But, yes there has to be at least a couple of buts............On start up the organ defaults automatically to the factory re set, so unless you have saved something prior to switching off you have lost it.
So now the niggly bits
This is mostly the voices, there are no Global Settings that you find in other instruments which once set remained set until you change them, the Ringway is designed so that the voices will all re set to the factory default each time which may suit many, but the sensitivity and after touch are set to max, also brilliance, to name just a few I have to change, the upper and lower keyboards have split points already set so if playing when you go past 3C or thereabouts there will be no sound or a lead voice has replaced the original on that part of the keyboard. The factory default cannot be altered so you have to save your favourites beforehand. I must admit the split point is a very useful tool and probably loved by professionals but the home player does not always need this for everything they play.
To modify a voice if you hold down the group button whichever voice you had selected in that group will appear with a set of slider operated subjects which you can adjust, several pages available are changed by the page up or down buttons. For split point you hold down any lead voice button until the page changes and navigate with the up and down buttons. But for the M O C feature you hold down the Rhythm button and control it in much the same way, and as I said earlier these difference in access can be confusing.
On saving whatever voice you make changes to in any bank ( say organ ) it will only change that one voice , none of the others alter, so the only way and the long term best solution is to save complete 16 piston registrations with your favourite sounds and save either in the Ringway ( To Instrument ) or onto a U S B stick. The only other way is to change each and every 442 voices to the individual settings you require and then save them to a USB, I am assuming that once one bank was modified the others may change themselves and I have not checked this out but a mammoth task and I am sure there must be another way.
Saving is quite easy, two options ....saving “ To Instrument” or to U S B, saving to instrument is quicker because you don’t have to find where you put it and don’t have to wait for the USB to be read by the organ, however if it is anything of factory issue such as the built in registrations even though you modify them when starting up again they will all have reverted back to the factory default, your own registrations however are safe. But don’t despair because if you save the modified factory registration to the U S B instead they won’t be altered by re starting (you have to be a bit crafty), but basically use the in built saving to instrument feature for most saved work and copy to the U S B for back up and keep the factory registration on both .
Rhythms, I was rather disappointed in these, for a most up to date design of organ I am surprised at the mainly hum drum content and not an impressive range either, even the auto accompaniment is not sparkling, frequently the difference between accompaniment A and B is insignificant., my many years old Technics KN 7000 keyboard has better and 4 options !.
But I feel that I am still in the early stages and have not really scratched the surface and so it’s by no means a thumbs down verdict, as the improvements in other aspects and the voice quality are outstanding .