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To the dump with my Roland Organ


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Sad but true. As I prepare for moving, I've been clearing stuff out, and it ended up in the dump! I tried first to sell it, no interest at any price. I tried giving it away to an organ player friend, she didn't want it. Tried giving it to two different charities, and because the furniture aspect was very slightly marred during moving, it was rejected. At 300 pounds my options became limited after that and to the dump it went.

 

My folks died 13 years ago and left me a Roland AT 70 organ. Built in the 90's it originally sold for over $15,000 (!). Reminds me of 286 computers that could cost several grand and are nothing by todays standards. Same with this organ. The early 90's rompler sounds it uses are substandard compared to boards you can get for $200 today, and of course the auto rythym section defines cheezy. To top it off, there's a number of dealers who specialized in selling these 'beauties' to seniors (sold to my dad for $8k), and of course they sold lessons as well. What a scam.

 

However, for the right person this could have potentially been a great controller. I really liked the two 5 octave manuals, and it had a 1 octave set of pedals as well as a 15" woofer and two 4" speakers on either side, big sound. And with its MIDI in, it might have been a good controller for a module.

 

I

Numa Piano X73 /// Kawai ES920 /// Casio CT-X5000 /// Yamaha EW425

Yamaha Melodica and Alto Recorder

QSC K8.2 // JBL Eon One Compact // Soundcore Motion Boom Plus 

Win10 laptop i7 8GB // iPad Pro 9.7" 32GB

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After my parents died and we sold the house I tried to give away a Boston upright made in the late 1800's. Could not find it a home. Finally just left it with the house. If I was a carpenter I would work on turning old pianos into desks or other furniture.

This post edited for speling.

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Heres a demo of the AT-30. They seem to have the same soundset as the SC-88 and SC-88 Pro models plus some organs from the JV-1080.

I love those cheesy ROMpler and auto accompaniment sounds. They bring back late 90s early 2000s memories. I betcha this is what the artists I listened to used.

Yamaha MX49, Casio SK1/WK-7600, Korg Minilogue, Alesis SR-16, Casio CT-X3000, FL Studio, many VSTs, percussion, woodwinds, strings, and sound effects.
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My Aunt has been trying to give me her Wurlitzer organ for 10 years. One, I have no room for it and two, I have no use for it. It pisses her off because she doesn't want it to go to the dump but that is probably where it will end up once she passes away.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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Think of how piano/organ dealers feel these days... I don't think it's just your particular circumstances in a general sense...

Good piano prices have come down lately, I know because I've started looking for a Baby Grand past few years of so for retirement to replace my Yamaha YUX upright!

 CP-50, YC 73,  FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122

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Reminds me of the Wurlitzer spinet organ I learned on in the mid 70's! Back then there were "Piano and Organ" stores. Now there are only "Piano" stores. I really don't understand why, because for anyone who wants to take the time to learn, I think a spinet organ is still a great instrument to play.

 

Heck, you're a "one-man band" if you have a drum machine built-in. My Wurlitzer had five (count 'em, FIVE) built-in rhythms (Waltz, March, Latin, Rock, and Swing), and I could play any Broadway tune from my fakebooks using those 5 patterns. My mom was in 7th heaven when I would practice! I never became Rick Wakeman but I've had a lot of fun over the years, and I never need a bass player or drummer to have fun with music.........

 

Fast-forward to today, and I play a Hammond XK3 with XLK3 lower manual and 13-note pedalboard. My drums come from an outboard unit, but the principle is still the same. That old Wurlitzer started me on a lifetime of musical enjoyment. I don't think the cheesy keyboards that replaced the spinet organ in the home have brought folks anywhere near as much pleasure.

 

Lou

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When I was working with a Hammond Organ tech in NJ we used to get calls all the time about repairing or helping to get rid of those "home organs" First we'd explain we mostly only work on Hammonds, second the cost to repair it would be prohibitive, if we could still get parts, and third there just is no market anymore because of the rapid development of portable keyboards. They would ask "so what do I do with it?" Not to be a smartass but we'd tell them to put it on the curb with sign thats says FREE.

I could sympatize whth them because they may have spent a lot of money for those instruments and its hard to feel you've lost all your investment.

So raise your hand if you had grandparents who put the new no cabinet TV on top of the old French Provincal Cabinet one because they just couldn't throw it out !! OK that's just about everyone LOL

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Man, that's hard when that happens. I've found that with the old organs with outdated soundsets, they actually aren't that bad if you avoid the auto-accompaniment section, and play them like an actual organ. Just a thought for anyone who's considering getting rid of/housing an older organ.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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Heres a demo of the AT-30. They seem to have the same soundset as the SC-88 and SC-88 Pro models plus some organs from the JV-1080.

I love those cheesy ROMpler and auto accompaniment sounds. They bring back late 90s early 2000s memories. I betcha this is what the artists I listened to used.

 

 

Sounds like my JV-1000. Not a fan of those auto-accompaniments, but the base organ I actually don't mind. I wouldn't pay much for one, but I do like it. I find that as long as you don't think of the older instruments as replicating acoustic ones, they actually aren't that bad.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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Heres a demo of the AT-30. They seem to have the same soundset as the SC-88 and SC-88 Pro models plus some organs from the JV-1080.

I love those cheesy ROMpler and auto accompaniment sounds. They bring back late 90s early 2000s memories. I betcha this is what the artists I listened to used.

 

 

Sounds like my JV-1000. Not a fan of those auto-accompaniments, but the base organ I actually don't mind. I wouldn't pay much for one, but I do like it. I find that as long as you don't think of the older instruments as replicating acoustic ones, they actually aren't that bad.

And like I said, the 2 manual keybed was very decent, plus the 1 octave of floor pedal, the big volume pedal built-in, even a sustain pedal, and then there's the 12" woofer and four 5" speakers, it really cranked. I would think you'd have to spend $1,500-2,000 for a controller of similar quality, and it wouldn't have the speakers. However it also wouldn't weigh 300 pounds!

Numa Piano X73 /// Kawai ES920 /// Casio CT-X5000 /// Yamaha EW425

Yamaha Melodica and Alto Recorder

QSC K8.2 // JBL Eon One Compact // Soundcore Motion Boom Plus 

Win10 laptop i7 8GB // iPad Pro 9.7" 32GB

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It's a shame. They're nice pieces of furniture and tend to have high-quality keybeds and tactile feel to the controls, but ugh, the sounds. Even today's high-end home console organs like Lowrey, which parent company Kawai announced is being phased out are casino-like user interfaces wrapped around either Windows Embedded or Linux boxes, with licensed sound sets and auto-accompaniment features that even a mid-level Yamaha PSR portable smokes. I may be looking through rose-colored glasses due to nostalgia (home console organs of the '70s were my entry point into electronic keyboards as a kid) but I think that when manufacturers had only analog resources to work with, these instruments might have been more interesting. The higher end of Yamaha's Electone line borrowed synth-like features from beasts like the GX-1, including that mini-keys solo manual on which you could add vibrato by rocking your finger back and forth. Of course, Lowrey's auto-accompaniment and other novelty features were so notorious that Gotye immortalized them in the not-entirely-ironic song "State of the Art." Some of the old Wersi stuff (CX-1, Helios, etc.) was pretty trippy as well and is still sought after for its Italo-disco vibe. But when I see a modern console from companies like Bohm or Wersi, priced at five figures, I let out a heavy sigh at what's going on under the hood.

Stephen Fortner

Principal, Fortner Media

Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine

Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine

 

Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse

 

 

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