Anybody here remember RMI?

[Al Coda]

5 hours ago, Anderton said:

Any keyboard that created a new sound, weighed less than its competitors, used innovative technology, and didn't break down was welcome

 

QFT !

Nonetheless, I didn´t buy.

I loved my 1971 mk I Fender Rhodes and the "stomp box" gear and amplification available for it.

At that time, I was done w/ transistors because of using a VOX transitor combo organ for too long.

I agree there was some RMI innovation, but that wasn´t what I urgently needed.

When I got my hands on one of the early synthesizers,- A Davoli  "Davolisint" (yeah,- that´s the correct typing),- I was shocked and extremely disappointed because I expected wonders.

Same w/ RMI.

Military standard or not,- it was all based on transitor organ like electronics and that coninued ´til KORG PS-3xxx and MOOG Polymoog synths.

 

☺️

 

A.C.

[NewImprov]

To me, this is the greatest use of the RMI ever recorded. Chick Corea makes it sound great.

https://youtu.be/3vC25vxQAJ4

(Miles, Madmoiselle Mabry from Filles de Kilimanjaro)

[Radagast]

I guess Chick Corea didn’t hate RMI.  Rumor has it he was somewhat creative.  Maybe he was no Keith Jarrett (correct spelling), but…

[Radagast]

About a year or two before the DX-7 came out, RMI had a digital keyboard called the DK-20.  It could produce sounds with harmonic changes by cycling through waveforms on 4 chips.  I believe that was several years before PPG, and other wavetable synths.  But Keith Jarrett probably wouldn’t have liked it.

[NewImprov]

14 hours ago, Radagast said:

I guess Chick Corea didn’t hate RMI.  Rumor has it he was somewhat creative.  Maybe he was no Keith Jarrett (correct spelling), but…

You clearly never heard Jarrett’s long out-of-print 4lp set, The Rocky Mount Concerts, played entirely on the RMI Electra-Piano…

[Radagast]

7 hours ago, NewImprov said:

You clearly never heard Jarrett’s long out-of-print 4lp set, The Rocky Mount Concerts, played entirely on the RMI Electra-Piano…

I was being sarcastic about an earlier comment that said Jarrett was forced to play an RMI keyboard while working with Miles Davis and he hated it.

[marino]

On 7/16/2022 at 6:33 PM, Polychrest said:

I eulogized the unlamented beast here:  https://forums.musicplayer.com/topic/182248-ot-about-your-avatar-or-user-name/?do=findComment&comment=2896890 

 

 

I enjoyed reading everybody's recollections and opinions about RMI, but for me the most interesting side of this thread was reviving this prehistoric discussion - from what, 2002?! No year was indicated.

I enjoyed the trip to the past, remembering the people from that era (some of them are still on KC, of course), and I was amused to see that some posts, including mine,  have "likes" on them - which of course means that a few of the present members have bothered to post them now. Great.  

And of course, yes, the Rocksichord, Electra-Piano and their direct relatives had a kind of blah sound... but otoh, some people made good music from little Casio calculators...

More seriously, the Keyboard Computer and the Harmonic Synthesizers were interesting concepts, way ahead of their time. And the Allen organs paved the way for wavetables and digital sampling.

 

 

[therealniksongs]

I do!  My first pro keyboard was an RMI Model 300B Electra Piano purchased new in January of 1972.  (I still have it.)  This rugged and versatile instrument (it never broke and never went out of tune) served me well as a gigging keyboardist throughout the 70s.  I also had an RMI 140 solid state amp with a cabinet that featured two 15" JBL D-130s along with two piezo electric tweeters.  This amp was ideal for reproducing the full range of tones the instrument was capable of--it was very bright.  I happened to live only about 60 miles from parent company Allen Organ in Macungie, PA and Tom Emerick (National Service Manager for RMI) did a custom mod on my RMI amp that allowed me to use the tone control section as a sort of pre-amp and send the signal into my Leslie 760.  So I had the clear bright RMI cabinet and the Leslie, too, which came in especially handy when using the 300 in "Organ Mode."   

The Electra Piano generated its sounds totally electronically--there was a separate oscillator for every note.  It was really a sort of hybrid between an organ and a piano in that it featured an envelope with a bright fast attack and a reasonable approximation of the sustain and decay characteristics of a piano.  This decay could be defeated by selecting the "Organ Mode" tab which allowed the notes to sustain in full until released.  Its greatest drawback in attempting to substitute for a piano was that it had no touch sensitivity--this fact more than anything else betrayed its organ technology roots.  (There was however a very rare model called the 68D produced near the end of its production run that offered touch sensitivity.)  The Electra Piano was used extensively by Rick Wakeman of Yes ("Long Distance Runaround, selections from "The Six Wives of Henry VIII") and Tony Banks of Genesis ("The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,' "Robbery Assault and Battery" among many) and is the distinctive keyboard sound heard in the song "Right Place" by Dr. John as well as "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" by the Spinners.  

RMI was many years ahead of its time--parent company Allen in partnership with aerospace company Rockwell International basically created digital sample playback synthesis--licensing the technology to all the others who further developed it.  The RMI Keyboard Computer (1974) was really the first portable professional digital sample playback instrument.  They had the hybrid digital/analog Harmonic Synthesizer on the market almost a decade before the Yamaha DX-7 and the fully digital DK-20 was introduced in 1979--four years before the DX.  (I have one of these as well, having just acquired it after years of looking for one--they are quite rare.) 

 

Allen decided that it was an organ company and chose to concentrate on its core business.  Despite having the lead in technology, they decided not to pursue further developments in synthesis and pro keyboards and pulled the plug on RMI in 1982.  It is hard to say they made the wrong decision--they are very successful in their chosen field and remain the world's largest producer of church organs.  But as a RMI owner and sort of "friend of the family" who was witness to the exciting developments they were making in the 1970s as they happened, thanks to Tom Emerick and Marketing Director Clark Ferguson who often allowed me in to see what new things they were cooking up whenever I would visit them in Macungie, back in the 70s,  I have lamented "what might have been" for the last 40 years.

[Radagast]

33 minutes ago, therealniksongs said:

I do!  My first pro keyboard was an RMI Model 300B Electra Piano purchased new in January of 1972.  (I still have it.)  This rugged and versatile instrument (it never broke and never went out of tune) served me well as a gigging keyboardist throughout the 70s.  I also had an RMI 140 solid state amp with a cabinet that featured two 15" JBL D-130s along with two piezo electric tweeters.  This amp was ideal for reproducing the full range of tones the instrument was capable of--it was very bright.  I happened to live only about 60 miles from parent company Allen Organ in Macungie, PA and Tom Emerick (National Service Manager for RMI) did a custom mod on my RMI amp that allowed me to use the tone control section as a sort of pre-amp and send the signal into my Leslie 760.  So I had the clear bright RMI cabinet and the Leslie, too, which came in especially handy when using the 300 in "Organ Mode."   

The Electra Piano generated its sounds totally electronically--there was a separate oscillator for every note.  It was really a sort of hybrid between an organ and a piano in that it featured an envelope with a bright fast attack and a reasonable approximation of the sustain and decay characteristics of a piano.  This decay could be defeated by selecting the "Organ Mode" tab which allowed the notes to sustain in full until released.  Its greatest drawback in attempting to substitute for a piano was that it had no touch sensitivity--this fact more than anything else betrayed its organ technology roots.  (There was however a very rare model called the 68D produced near the end of its production run that offered touch sensitivity.)  The Electra Piano was used extensively by Rick Wakeman of Yes ("Long Distance Runaround, selections from "The Six Wives of Henry VIII") and Tony Banks of Genesis ("The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,' "Robbery Assault and Battery" among many) and is the distinctive keyboard sound heard in the song "Right Place" by Dr. John as well as "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" by the Spinners.  

RMI was many years ahead of its time--parent company Allen in partnership with aerospace company Rockwell International basically created digital sample playback synthesis--licensing the technology to all the others who further developed it.  The RMI Keyboard Computer (1974) was really the first portable professional digital sample playback instrument.  They had the hybrid digital/analog Harmonic Synthesizer on the market almost a decade before the Yamaha DX-7 and the fully digital DK-20 was introduced in 1979--four years before the DX.  (I have one of these as well, having just acquired it after years of looking for one--they are quite rare.) 

 

Allen decided that it was an organ company and chose to concentrate on its core business.  Despite having the lead in technology, they decided not to pursue further developments in synthesis and pro keyboards and pulled the plug on RMI in 1982.  It is hard to say they made the wrong decision--they are very successful in their chosen field and remain the world's largest producer of church organs.  But as a RMI owner and sort of "friend of the family" who was witness to the exciting developments they were making in the 1970s as they happened, thanks to Tom Emerick and Marketing Director Clark Ferguson who often allowed me in to see what new things they were cooking up whenever I would visit them in Macungie, back in the 70s,  I have lamented "what might have been" for the last 40 years.

Do you have any recordings of the DK-20?  I was very curious about that for a long time.   I think there were alternate chip sets made by somebody.  I seem to remember one of them had Rhodes piano sounds dynamically changing through 4 waveforms.  And someone else was going to try an acoustic piano chipset.

[Joe Muscara]

There's this famous picture of Fess (Professor Longhair) with his.

 

 

It now resides in the New Orleans Jazz Museum where I saw it the last time I was in town.

 

 

[Skymusique]

My first was a RMI 300B in the early 70s, followed by a Rhodes MK1  and Yamaha CP30. Then MIDI happened and everything changed. The RMI was in my dorm room freshman year - many fun jams and thankfully a very rugged instrument. 😄

 

Sky

 

[Delaware Dave]

.

[SteveCoscia]

The RMI was used by a plethora of bands.  From hard rock, Mountain, to the progressive music of Genesis, RMI delivered a boatload of versatility back in the day.

[Shamanzarek]

The Mandrake Memorial Rock-Si-Chordl is still for sale on eBay. A piece of rock history for only $2999.99. It is located in Pennsylvania.not far from Macungie.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354546125123?_skw=rmi&itmmeta=01J7KEHFHMYNC1KNZ9ANQYD92J&hash=item528c988943:g:VBEAAOSwesdj1Eub&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnmRrOVc78nEZd0I5unTO1a1FmwB8rTkS3HQtFOQGeN15EePKytNaBQ8BwkiWDborji7qr45qeAZl%2FFzMa%2FYdibnvmLEX3SOchS%2B9MT24UXZxzzoidOoDLHKoOcr8ZsQxX7cvpmx8ZkCBcQkhnQufXHB2Ns67N121mWWKXShBhWnTewn8ipW0gPemfzPN%2FKPcq%2Fmby6prmHNWTpVuxiQ2cFPPaTmu8aYygnM1aG94CnPQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_D4xe68ZA&edge=0

[BluesB3]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:59 AM, Joe Muscara said:

There's this famous picture of Fess (Professor Longhair) with his.

 

 

It now resides in the New Orleans Jazz Museum where I saw it the last time I was in town.

 

 

In these days when we can have multi-page threads on the intricacies of various piano actions, I find it interesting that both Fess and Eddie Bo played an RMI.  I guess that proves that it's the carpenter, not the hammer that gets the job done.

[Konnector]

If you want a taste of that RMI nostalgia without the back pain, this one's free for those with Kontakt 5 or newer.

RMI Rocksichord : Free Sample Library for Kontakt, Ableton Live & Logic EXS24 | Soniccouture

[Radagast]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:33 AM, Tom Williams said:

I remember an RMI instrument that was compatible with the Allen organ punch cards, which were used to add ranks (or stops at least) to their big organs.  Probably the first specific keyboard I actually jonesd for, as I had had some classical organ lessons.

There were two different models.  The KC-1 had mostly theater organ stops.  There were three divisions of stops, corresponding to two manuals and a pedalboard.  The KC-2 had the same three divisions but with waveforms designed more for a rock instrument.  It had bells, strings and a single waveform that sounded like a pipe organ ensemble, and other sounds. It had 12 note polyphony and a chorus function that reduced the polyphony to 6 notes.  Both models read the punch hole computer cards that Allen made for the organ line.  But they came up with cards designed for the KC models as well.

[synthdogg]

On 7/16/2022 at 9:07 AM, Steve Nathan said:

I'm sure I've told this story here at least once. 😆

I was 18 in 1969 and went to Toronto to see Blind Faith.  Winwood played an RMI, which I had never seen or heard before, and I was blown away.  I thought it sounded INCREDIBLE!  I went back to Buffalo and ordered one the very next day.  It wasn't until I got it and hooked it up that I realized just how much the Acid I'd bought on the street outside of the stadium had "influenced" my perception! 🤣

 

I'm sure Winwood's playing had something to do with it too. 😀

Damn, what a great story!

[Sundown]

My primary remembrance of RMI would be through Rick Wakeman. He used an RMI electric piano on the Close to the Edge tour and his Six Wives of Henry the Eighth projects. It had a pretty distinct sound for a compact package, for the early 1970’s.

 

Todd

[Shamanzarek]

The 1971 New York Rock Ensemble album Roll Over features the great musician/film composer/producer Michael Kamen playing a lot of RMI throughout. Lenny Kravitz covered the song "Fields of Joy" in 1991. Martin Fulterman aka Mark Snow of X-Files fame is also a member of the band.

 

[MikeT156]

I do. I bought the RMI Piano you have pictured. It was a great instrument for the time. The only thing I didn't like about it was it was an organ action. Otherwise, it sounded great and was dependable.

 

Mike T

[Dave Weiser]

Back when I worked for Kurzweil, I worked extensively with RMI samples and sounds. 

 

A friend and I sampled the actual instrument in 2001, recorded it direct to a DAT machine. (I think we had a nice preamp, but don't remember for sure.) Next, I sampled the note hits directly from the DAT into a K2600, which I used to trim the samples. Then I passed the samples off to other members of the team who processed, noise-reduced and looped (where applicable) the samples with Kurzweil's proprietary tools. I think we got samples of piano and harpsi settings, with both piano and organ mode.

 

A few years later I got to make a bunch of RMI presets for the PC3. We tried to cover all the big songs - Traffic's Emtpy pages, Right Place Wrong Time, Lamb Lies Down, In the Cage (with a cool phaser effect), Trick of the Tail and of course Rick Wakeman's sound from Six Wives (which I affectionately named Wakeman on Ice, after his King Arthur Ice-capades concert). I believe the soundware team decided to make the presets velocity sensitive, with a few exceptions, for the sake of playability.

 

The samples themselves were very handy for use in creating analog synth presets.

 

Many of the PC3 RMI presets live on in the current Kurz boards like PC4 and K2700. While it was fun to work on the presets, playing the actual instrument was NOT fun. Without touch sensitivity, it was very unforgiving - every little touch, every little error came blaring out at full volume!