rhodes – Preservation Sound

Above: What the holy F is this thing?

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?

Above: The Yamaha CS70m (1982)

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…