Today: yet another installment in our ongoing series on Keyboard of the 1970s.  Click here for part one.  As per usual, if you are still using these things today, drop us a line and let us know!  Except for the Rhodes.  There’s nothing new to say about those fkkn things.  So keep yr Rhodes to yrself thanks.

Above: the Univox Compac Piano.  We had one of these things for a minute in high school.  I think it was $100.  Really terrible sound.  Click here for previous coverage of this atrocity.  

Above: the two worst ads Fender ever ran for the Rhodes.  ’77 and ’72.

Above: The Novaline Piano circa ’77. Never seen one.  Anyone? 

Above: The KORG Maxi-Korg circa ’77.  Looks pretty cool.  Any of these still working?

Above: Hohner made many keyboards besides the famous Clavinet.  For instance,,,

…The Contessa of 1972.  Farfisa-type organ with accordion chord-buttons in the left hand.  Yikes.

Next time you see one of those shitty old Baldwin living-room-organs at the goodwill, take a 2nd look: it might have the SynthaSound option boards.  Wacky sounds ensue. 

Above: The ELKA #8609 String Choir.  My K2500 has a bunch of ELKA patches and I kinda like em.  Anyone use the 8609?  How does it compare to other string synths of the era?

Today on PS dot com: some oddball keyboards from 1980-1982.  Check out the incredible heterogeneity of the offerings here: analog monosynths,  analog polysynths, electric organs, electro-acoustic pianos, analog “electronic pianos,” and super-high-end digital workstations.  In just one year, Yamaha would release the world’s first affordable digital synth, the DX7, and this would soon lead to the overwhelming popularity of the dreaded “Rompler” (Korg M1 anyone?): keyboards which were difficult for the player to easily program.  The result was two decades of generic, predictable synthesizer sounds appearing in much pop and rock music.  Luckily, we now have affordable, easy-to-use analog synths again (most notably from KORG); and those shitty old romplers?  Personally, I run mine (a Kawai K-1) through a whole string of guitar pedals, chop+slice,  and sometimes that’s just the sound the track needs…

Below: Synclavier II, one of the two ‘popular’ early digital super-synths, introduces control software (1981) to allow easier programming; Rhodes Mark III EK-10, one of the last of the original mechanical Rhodes pianos (1980); Oberheim polyphonic sequencer for CV/Gate synths (1981); Moog THE SOURCE analog monosynth with digital patch memory (1981); The Kustom 88 ‘electronic piano’ (1981); Hohner Pianet T Electric ‘Piano’ (more like an electric glockenspiel IMHO) (1981); The Fairlight CMI digital workstation, the other early digital monster (1982); EKO bass pedal board (1981); The Crumar Toccata electric organ (1981) and DP-50 electronic piano (1982).

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We had a SOURCE when I was a kid (around 1993, JR?) and it was impossible to get it to play in tune; I briefly had a Pianet T and WOW do I regret selling it: i’ve had just about every model of Pianet and I can say with total confidence that the T is the one to get.  Smaller, less hassle, passive electronics…  I really wouldn’t advise fkkn around with the earlier models.  Besides those two, I’ve never used any of these. Anyone using ’em these days?  Shit, anyone using an M-1 these days?  Send us some modern tracks with fresh use of the M-1?  There’s a zillion of those things out there, someone’s gotta bring em back…

Above: Roland’s Saturn, a hopped up organ similar to the RS-09.  Read the advert text for Roland’s suggestion that the Saturn’s sound corresponds to the aesthetic values of New Wave (i.e., trad rock + the new ‘punk’ sounds = New Wave, demanding a combo organ with… something extra….).

Octave-Plateau’s CAT and KITTEN synthesizers. But what’s that lil’ box in the center?

Why it’s the CAT STICK, a four-source modulation generator.  Pretty good, pretty neat…

Above: the Hohner Duo, a large mechanical nightmare that comprises a complete Clavinet and a complete Pianet in One-Handy-Keyboard.  We have a fully-restored Duo at Gold Coast Recorders and it makes the occasional appearance on tracks. Coolest unexpected feature: keyboard split!

Above: the Moog Liberation and Performance Music System’s SYNTAR, early Keytar instruments.  Nice Spyro Gyra appearance.

Doing some PD dot com housecleaning today and I came across all of these lil’ orphan-ads for random bits of circa ’80 guitar technology.  Happy Friday.

Joe Perry promotes Bill Lawrence pickups circa 1981.  This would have been during the JOE PERRY PROJECT era.  I have never heard passive pickups with more output than Bills.

Not so much an electric-guitar ad but rather an anti-electric guitar ad.  Guild Dreadnought circa 1980.

Hohner electric guitars circa 1979.  I am guessing that these are Asian-made instruments but I can’t say for sure… that Epiphone-Wilshire-esque thing on the left is pretty intriguing…

Ovation Deacon…

…and Viper circa 1979.

Gibson RD, ES, and Les Paul ‘Artist’ lineup of 1979.  These instruments had active electronics, including an on-board compressor.

Been looking through some mid-70s issues of “Contemporary Keyboard” (h.f. “CK”) magazine.  CK later became simply “Keyboard,” which is still in publication; it’s part of the GUITAR PLAYER family of publications.  NEways…   1976/7 was an interesting time in the development of keyboard instruments.  Affordable polyphonic (IE., you can play more than one note at a time) synthesizers were still a few years away, and realistic-sounding electronic pianos were still about a decade away.  So what you had was a very mixed bag of Electronic Pianos and ‘String Synthesizers,’ which are both basically hyped-up electric organs; some still-useful electro-acoustic instruments; and a pretty wide range of pretty experimental synthesizers, many from small manufacturers that didn’t stay around very long.  In about 6 years this would all be blown away by advanced Japanese synths with built-in programming, patch memory, and all with polyphony;  the Roland/Korg/Yamaha DX7 era; and this too would fall at the hands of the dreaded Korg M1, which ushered in the Rompler era.  Anyone out there using an M1 lately?

The ARP pro-soloist, typical of the ‘preset’ synths of the era; preset synths offered interfaces optimized for live-performance rather than endless tweaking in the studio.

The Hohner Clavinet, HIP II, and Stringvox.  The Clavinet has attained classic status, and many are still in use; not so sure about the HIP II and Stringvox.

A couple of Moogs from different ends of the spectrum.  The Minitmoog was a ‘preset’ synth; the Polymoog was not a true synth; it was closer to an organ in terms of its basic operating principle.

Oberheim Expander

A few Paia synth-kit offerings of the mid 70s: the Surf Synthesizer, The Gnome, and the classic 4700.  See this link for previous PAIA coverage on PS dot com.

An advert for the Polyfusion System A.  See this link for previous coverage of the Polyfusion line.

The RMI Electra Piano.  When we were growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, ‘electric pianos’ like these were about fifty bucks or less; no one wanted them, and that has not changed.  They sound pretty awful but they’re still heavy and cumbersome!

The RMI KC-II Keyboard Computer.  From what I gather, this device is essentially a RAMpler; not too different in basic principle from the epic Synclavier in that the user could input waveforms which would then be manipulated.  This thing apparently cost $4700 which means that… yeah… there ain’t too many out there.

Roland MP-700 electronic piano

Sequential Circuits Model 700 programmer.  I assume that this thing has a bunch of jackpoints that you would connect to various I/O points on yr modular synth…  anyone use one of these?

The Steiner-Parker Synthacon.  A rare Minimoog-esque unit.  Apparently used on IN THE LIGHT.

The Strider Systems DCS1.   I can’t find any info on this piece.  Anyone?

Synare PS synth drums

Yamaha CP-30, yet another electronic piano

The Yamaha YC-45, the flagship model of their YC series.  The YCs are unapologetic “Combo Organs,” which explains why they are still in use while the string synths and electronic pianos rest mainly in landfills.  These are great-sounding, versatile organs; they also weigh a metric tonne so be forewarned.

Want more?  Check out this site; this man has dedicated his entire blog to territory that I only dare visit.

Tomorrow: some interesting keyboard amps and FX from the era.

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