9 Things You Didn't Know About My Organ (#2 Will Amaze You!)

[MathOfInsects]

1. It's an old VK-8, don't judge me, let's get to the good stuff.

 

2. Contrary to popular belief, my organ is subject to the same laws of physics as the rest of the material world.

 

3. My organ has an idiot for an owner.

 

4. Propped on its side, drawbar end down, high-C end up, my organ tends to become less and less stable the closer to vertical it gets, even if its owner thinks it will only be that way for a second.

 

5. My organ makes a very loud sound when falls over face-first onto the concrete floor of a garage. Like, very loud. Cannon-shot loud. Fireworks loud. "You couldn't have set me up to hit the ground any more squarely and with any greater scientific precision from 4.5 feet in the air than I did" loud. I will now attempt to spell the particular sound it makes: "IDIOT!"

 

6. My injured organ sat in the garage for a full day, alone and helpless, because its murderous owner was too chicken to face the scene of the crime.

 

7. Today my organ was tenderly carried upstairs and plugged in to some basic life-support systems. Electricity to help it breathe. Cables to let it speak. Family was notified; I brought OB Dave's drawbar controller to the bedside to meet its great grandfather before the old boy died. It's funny how old smears and squabbles tend to lose their sting when faced with the enormity of death. I waved a coffee cup over the keys in the sign of a cross, Pope-style, not because I found it a fitting metaphor for the blackness that is certain death, but because this all happened in the morning, and some mornings if you stuck my kids and a cup of coffee in the middle of the road and told me I could only save one or the other, I'd save my kids, of course, but I'd have to think about it for a second first, and that's the point, and this was one of those mornings.

 

The saddest thing was that all the organ's buttons and knobs worked fine, making its death from internal blunt trauma all that much more painful: like the embalmed dead, it looked just like itself.

 

Finally, in a last tender gesture of goodbye, I touched one of the keys, like I used to do when the old doorstop was still with us. It reflexively made an organ-like sound! Creepy! Kind of like how dead people's muscles twitch and fill their families with false hope. I touched another key just to calm the poor thing down so it could pass serenely, and that key too made an organ-like sound! Jesus, Scarface, just lay down already. You had a good run, but don't fight it. Go in peace.

 

But somehow every key I pressed made a reflexive, post-death organ-like sound, just like how dead people can walk and talk after they are dead and people think they are....wait a minute, my organ's owner thinks. That doesn't happen. I mean zombies, sure, but we won that war. Dead organs don't make organ-like sounds. That's what dead organs are--organs that don't make sounds. But this dead organ is making LOTS of sounds, and they sound just like they did when it was alive, which I already told you not to judge me for, so let's keep moving on. In fact, every key I press sounds in death just like it did in life. Could it mean....??? Could it be????

 

8. It could be! My dead organ is not dead. All internal and external functions seem intact. It has no memory of the accident, so it doesn't even hate me, which puts it on a very short list of people and devices for whom that is true. It's pretty amazing that it survived. Some people might credit build quality and luck, but not this idiot. I know the truth:

 

9. Waving coffee over dead things brings them back to life.

[DulceLabs.com]

I see they are still working on balancing your meds. http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/jobs/doctor-smiley-emoticon.gif

[AnotherScott]

Coffee? I thought that the substance of choice for a fallen organ was Viagra.

[ElmerJFudd]

Pure art, Mate. You've done the VK-8 poetic justice.

 

Does the family know you've been eyeing the UHL, MAG, and Legend organs?.

 

Does the VK-8 know?

 

You could wake up to find she left you in the night for the recycling center in the sky. Organs can be quite fickle.

[RABid]

LOL.

 

I've had similar incidents. An SL-990 88 controller that I stood on its in for just a moment. When I stood it on its end I heard something inside pop. I immediately put it flat on the ground but it was too late. About 5 keys would not function. The hammer action on them was locked.

 

In another moment of idiocy I thought a metal TV tray would made a decent temporary stand for my Matrix 6. I mean, come on, that is better than an X stand isn't it? Oh, I guess the way the legs of the TV tray folded out, it was a variant of a X stand. Anyway, the slightest nudge caused it to fall over onto it's back. Must have really addled the brain because it was never the same. It would turn on and play, sometimes, for a minute or two. ... I never liked that keyboard anyway.

[mate stubb]

It was your civic duty to put it out of its misery.

[allan_evett]

For a few moments I thought the OP was Drew Carey going incognito on our forum.

[AnotherScott]

I know the VK8 doesn't get a ton of respect these days, but I still like it. The sound may not be top tier, but the action is, and the sound is still pretty good, with the amp sims.

[ITGITC]

9. Waving coffee over dead things brings them back to life.

 

 

Not going to name names, but I have a friend who did this! (Hi BluesKeys!)

 

Except it wasn't coffee. It was bourbon.

 

He was in the cemetery behind the Baptist church.

 

It was Saturday. A dark and stormy night.

 

And there were sheep. All around. Lots and lots of sheep. I'm not sure why.

 

And the bourbon... it had already been used. Once.

 

And instead of waving, it was arcing... in a colorful stream over the burial plot.

 

He said he didn't hang around long enough to see if anyone came back to life.

 

...said had a date.

 

I may be a little hazy on the generalities.

 

But the details are true.

 

Just sayin'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Doerfler]

I know the VK8 doesn't get a ton of respect these days, but I still like it. The sound may not be top tier, but the action is, and the sound is still pretty good, with the amp sims.

 

I really liked the action of my VK8. Sold it about 7 years ago because the double triggering drove me nuts.

[cedar]

This tale -- which I heartily enjoyed - reminded me of the Showtime series "Penny Dreadful," which in case you don't know involves many fictional characters such as Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and assorted demons, etc.

 

[spoiler alert if you're taping that show and not caught up]

 

So in season two, Dr. Frankenstein brings back to life a woman to be a mate for his monster. The woman has no recollection of her prior life. And in the last episode, she killed someone for no apparent reason.

 

So, just to be safe, you might want to keep your bedroom door locked at night.

[Legatoboy]

You want I should send them over now!

 

[video:youtube]

[ProfD]

Excellent tale mayne.

 

9. Waving coffee over dead things brings them back to life.

 

The city of Detroit could use a strong shot to restore its economy.

[MotiDave]

you realize that now every time you approach your poor VK-8, she's going to spontaneously blurt out loud organ notes ... screaming at the top of her lungs

 

"I'M NOT DEAD - PLEASE DON'T BURY ME!"

 

healing takes time ...

[Mark Schmieder]

I'm not sure that "#2" and "your organ" are anything I wish to experience first-hand. :-)

[Mark Schmieder]

I had the VK-7 for a few years. It was the best game in town for awhile. Really heavy, as I recall. The VK-8 wasn't much of an upgrade, in my view, and the VK-88 was REALLY heavy. So I waited a few years while Hammond finally got their act together again and while pondering the Korg CX-3.

 

To be frank, I don't think the VK-series sounded bad, for some genres. My real beef was the synth keys, as it worked against traditional organ playing (swipes, etc.). I can't remember if they went waterfall mid-stream or with a specific product release. Korg switched the CX-3 to quasi-waterfall mid-stream, but the action was still synth action vs. semi-weighted as I recall.

 

Unfortunately, to me the keybed is all-important for organ playing, and that includes its responsiveness as well as being semi-weighted and waterfall. For this reason, I never revisited Roland's offerings, but they're all better than Hammond's first foray into Virtual B3's. And if you're not put off by the keybed, nothing wrong with using them.

 

In the end, the music is all that counts. A listener is unlikely to be able to identify which Virtual Organ was used, after all the processing. After all, organ is REALLY hard to mix as it's muddy and has a lot of bottom end. The heavy EQ that is required is going to diminish the differences between the different models, by the time the record is out.

[AnotherScott]

I don't think the VK-series sounded bad, for some genres. My real beef was the synth keys, as it worked against traditional organ playing (swipes, etc.). I can't remember if they went waterfall mid-stream or with a specific product release. Korg switched the CX-3 to quasi-waterfall mid-stream, but the action was still synth action vs. semi-weighted as I recall.

VK8 was waterfall, that was one of the changes made compared to the VK7 (which I've never played). CX3 (digital era) changed from an action with a small, curved lip (which didn't bother me) to a true waterfall (Fatar, I believe)... and I actually think the earlier version felt a bit better.

[Bif_]

You want I should send them over now!

 

[video:youtube]

 

So that's what it looks like when Beavis and Butt-Head play the organ.

[David Emm]

 

>>>> 9. Waving coffee over dead things brings them back to life.

 

That generally works for me, but I did not know it extended its powers to electronics. I wonder what it could do for a transmission? Hilarious story and one that could pretty much only have full meaning HERE. I'm not all that surprised, though. I dropped a Juno-1 down a flight of stairs and it shook it off beautifully. Roland gear as I've known it has always been rugged. A friend/idiot spilled a beer on a Boss DSD-2 sampler/delay pedal, so I rinsed it off and took a blow dryer to it for a while. It sailed on for 3 more years and helped me get a Korg DW-8000 in a trade. I always retain a small fear of Gear Death, but overall, the tools have held up far better than my meager algebra skills. Praise your VK. Its your best friend now and you must keep it.

 

[ksoper]

And that's why I toured with Roland boards. They take a beating and keep on bleating.

[Spider76]

OMG, that was great!

I seriously choked laughing (and the colleagues in the office were looking at me funny, dunno why )

 

you made my day, thank you Math!!!

 

 

On a serious note, it's amazing how gear can take some wild abuse and keep working as nothing happened - or conversely, it can fail at random moments with no apparent reason after having always been treated carefully.

I'm starting to think that "build quality" is basically a myth, and it's all a matter of luck... and maybe a bit of karma!

[Michael Wright]

Go practice, ffs.

[Outkaster]

It was your civic duty to put it out of its misery.

 

Exactly

[I-missRichardTee]

>>>> 9. Waving coffee over dead things brings them back to life.

 

That generally works for me, but I did not know it extended its powers to electronics. I wonder what it could do for a transmission? Hilarious story and one that could pretty much only have full meaning HERE. I'm not all that surprised, though. I dropped a Juno-1 down a flight of stairs and it shook it off beautifully. Roland gear as I've known it has always been rugged. A friend/idiot spilled a beer on a Boss DSD-2 sampler/delay pedal, so I rinsed it off and took a blow dryer to it for a while. It sailed on for 3 more years and helped me get a Korg DW-8000 in a trade. I always retain a small fear of Gear Death, but overall, the tools have held up far better than my meager algebra skills. Praise your VK. Its your best friend now and you must keep it.

 

Ditto for Roland toughness ( at least back 20 years ago, and maybe now ?)

My story is the Arranger keyboard - G 800 the chassis is metal and some plastic. made in Italy.

I did worse in terms of dropping it. It is heavy, and 76 keys, so it is tall when standing on end. But i stood mine on end, on a dolly, and THEN dropped it to concrete. It survived unscathed, but wait there is more. Man, those Eye Talians can make solid stuff, Leaning Towers too.

I owned a 3000 lb car, a Dodge Colt. Guess what this genius did?

I drove my car OVER the end of the Keyboard. It was in a super soft zero protection bag. And it survived unscathed!!

[MathOfInsects]

Thanks for the great responses and the laughs. Warning heeded: I will lock the bedroom door at night. I do that anyway so that no one can come harvest my organs. Now the opposite is true too.

 

FWIW, while I didn't entirely mind the prospect of being forced to replace it, VK-8 to Vent sounds ballsy on stage through SS3, and soulful out front through FOH. I EQ'd down the highs and I tweaked other stuff. I particularly like the action. Yes, the double-triggering is teh suck.

 

[Jazzmammal]

Great read MOI. I have a VK8 too but never use it since I got my SK1. I don't mind the double triggering, makes me sound like Joey... I keep telling myself I need to sell some stuff but never do. Offers maybe?

 

Bob

[dougb415]

One very drunk night back in the mid 70s, my trusty old Farfisa VIP-255 was being put back in truck... and it fell to the cement driveway. Plugged it in a couple days later, no problems. Whew!