Initial reactions to the new Roland C-330 Classic Organ
August
28, 2009 - We just unboxed the new Roland C-330 Classic Organ and
thought we would provide our first impressions.
We did not take the time to read the instructions. We just
unboxed it, set it up, powered it on, selected some stops and started playing.
The most overriding reaction was to the sound. It is
incredible. Out of the box the organ sounds great. It is
hard to believe that something at this price point could sound this
good. The first five memory levels (out of twenty internal
memory levels) already have registrations set. They are very
fine. Anyone that is already familiar with recent Rodgers
organs will feel at home navigating the menu system and selecting
voice palette and MIDI sounds. In our set up, we simply placed
the two included satellite speakers on top of the organ facing up.
(Roland provides screws to mount them to the wall.)
 Our concern when ordering the Roland C-330 Classic Organ was the
30 note concave-parallel (non-radiating, non-AGO) pedalboard.
After trying some hymns, Bach, Widor, and the Perpetuum Mobile
pedal piece that Virgil Fox used to perform, we can report that the
pedalboard is fairly easy to adjust to. However, the notes at
the extremes of the pedalboard are a little of a stretch for someone
accustomed to the AGO standard pedalboard. We did not
miss the absent top F# and G on any of the pieces we tried.
The keyboards were comfortable and have a tracker touch.
One thing that is a little different is that
the Great stops (Manual I) are in the center and the Swell stops
(Manual II) are to the right of the stop rail on the Roland C-330
Classic Organ. This took a little getting used to. But
after a few minutes of playing and selecting stops, all was OK.
(January, 2010 update. There is now the option to reverse the
stop order between manuals I and II to more like what we are use to
in the United States.)
Another concern before we got the Roland C-330 Classic Organ
(from just looking at the pictures) was the location of the menu
display and controls. After using the organ, we found the
display easy to see and the controls easy to access and operate.
The internal speakers work well and can produce quite a bit of
volume. In a small church or chapel, the volume would probably be quite
adequate. For the fun of it, we connected a couple of Roland
KC-550 keyboard amplifiers (click here for details
on the KC-550) to the left and right audio output ports of the
Roland C-330 Classic Organ.
These units have 15" woofers in them. They added considerably
to the bass end as well as provided a significant boost to the
overall available volume. Because the KC-550 units are highly
directional, we pointed them toward a wall and away from the
listener. We were looking to add to the bottom end. The
self contained speakers provide more than adequate presence.
After listening to both the Roland C-330 Classic Organ internal
speakers and the C-330 connected to the Roland KC-550's, we tried
the headphones. They did not disappoint. The stereo
dimensioning was quite good. The Roland C-330 Classic Organ
includes the Rodgers/Roland Room Modeling system so the headphone
experience can be quite enjoyable as we have come to expect on all
Rodgers and Roland instruments.
The bottom line: Given that the pricing on this unit is quite a
bit less than the Rodgers entry level Insignia 548 (the
Insignia 548 has the standard Rodgers AGO pedalboard), individuals or institutions with a limited
budget, interested in having a great sounding organ with lots of
sounds with the voice palettes and internal pipe organ MIDI voices,
should consider this instrument.
Click here to access detailed
information on the Roland C-330 Classic Organ
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