Good News and Bad News followed by Good News

[johnb2713]

My path to Scalaism has been a rocky path for sure. I found a used Scala that ticked most boxes at Allens Music having negotiated with the very nice manage Trevor Flunder I mulled it over for a weekend, called him on the Monday to buy it finding it had already been sold. Grrrrrrrrrr. Trevor did say, they had another one coming in as a part ex and it was pretty much the same spec so I could have that instead for delivery before Christmas, knockout, I paid the deposit. Time dragged on a little, there were delivery issues with the customers new organ, net result I couldn't join the Wersi Owners Club just yet.

In January, Trevor called me with the bad news the customer part exchanging the Scala had been taken ill over Christmas and was in hospital which meant there was a further delay, the good news however was the original Scala was back in their possession, the new owner upgrading already and I could have that the following week.

Wednesday the following week arrived as did my beloved Wersi Scala delivered by the very talented musician Trevor himself. It was installed and oh my, it was great, Trevor rattle a few tunes out, superb machine. I played it on Wednesday evening and was staggered at the sounds, not easy to navigate around but it was all in there. Thursday morning came, switched on and nothing, just a message on the screen saying no signal, My Scala was dead.

A call to Trevor resulted in an engineer visit a week later but he confirmed it was terminal and it needed to go back to the workshop for investigation. I contacted Trevor to discuss the way forward he was of course mortified that this had happened, but I didn't want to delay for weeks getting another organ. Trevor agreed a refund and then we could explore other possibilities, I had a look at their used stock and very nearly bought a used Ringway organ that they had. In my heart though I still wanted a Wersi Scala.
As luck would have it a Wersi came up for sale not too far away from me at a price that I couldn't believe, it wasn't a Scala but a much newer OAX500. I rented a van and now have in my possession a Wersi OAX500 and I absolutely love it. Programming in the main is easy and intuitive, the sounds are stunning and it's constantly evolving with Wersi free updates.

A lengthy, rocky road but worth it in the end.

John (B)

[Hugh-AR]

John,

What a fascinating story! At least you got a Wersi in the end. Glad you didn't get the Ringway. I think you would have been disappointed.

Now ...

I am presuming that unlike the Yamaha AR100 you used to have (which recorded to floppy discs), the Wersi will record to WAV or MP3 for you to put on a Memory Stick? If so, I'm looking forward to hearing what your new organ sounds like!

Hugh

[johnb2713]

John,

What a fascinating story! At least you got a Wersi in the end. Glad you didn't get the Ringway. I think you would have been disappointed.

Now ...

I am presuming that unlike the Yamaha AR100 you used to have (which recorded to floppy discs), the Wersi will record to WAV or MP3 for you to put on a Memory Stick? If so, I'm looking forward to hearing what your new organ sounds like!

Hugh

Yep, MP3, WAV and others as well as directly onto a CD!

I may send you something when I've had a lot more practice, I'm having tuition from the brilliant organist Brett Wales later in the month, he's coming to spend a day with me. Hopefully after that I will play some right notes LOL. I'm absolutely bowled over with Bretts playing, he's absolutely superb and picks some very oddball material to do his magic on.

[Hugh-AR]

John,

Yep, MP3, WAV and others as well as directly onto a CD!

Hate to tell you, but that last option is a no brainer. Can't even give my CDs to anyone these days. No one has a CD player any more. You can't even buy a laptop with a DVD/CD player in it. Even cars no longer have CD players .. just USB Ports for Memory Sticks. A friend of mine has the CD player in the boot of his car. This was done by the manufacturer to make sure the driver didn't fiddle with the CD Player while he/she was driving. Mind you, he can set up two or three CDs to play one after the other so he doesn't have to stop on the side of a Motorway and open the boot of his car to change the CD.

Hugh

[Hammonder]

It,s called "progress" Hugh---it creeps up on you with a knife in it,s hand and strikes when you least expect it----just as we,re sat back enjoying our music making, these things are breeding away somewhere in the back-ground, ready to attack---as you rightly say, even cars are not immune---my 2016 Ford Focus, which to me was "state of the art" at the time, has a CD player and hidden USB ports (one in the glove compartment and one under the arm-rest in the centre console)---i have at least 40 LPs on mine----all my keyboards (Technics KN5000/6000/7000 and Yamaha Ar80 have floppy disks installed----try buying new floppy disks today----no new computer i know of has a floppy disk drive today----or can even have one fitted---i have to use a usb floppy drive (from a car boot sale 50p) to transfer files now----windows 10 is,nt really geared up for it---heaven knows what win11 has in store for us---we,re now living proof data dinasuars existed 10/15 years ago----Don,t get rid of that old Win XP computer----keep it safe somewhere---it might be your salvation in days to come---the first wersi organs used XP-----Bless the good old floppy---it was good while it lasted----now i,m informed that some of the early cd,s are suffering deterioration, so your data on them is potentially insecure---*Progress!!!!!"