It is a wonderful time for keyboardists.

[RABid]

I am sure many here remember lugging around Hammonds (yes, I know, some still do it), hoping your MiniMoog would still be in tune when you start your solo, and changing patches on your synthesizer meant turning a bunch of knobs while listening to the synth at a low volume.

 

Then the DX-7 hit. Suddenly everyone could afford a programmable synthesizer. Tuning problems became a thing of the past, the band no longer had to wait for the keyboardists to get ready for the next song, and rigs shrank to one or maybe two keyboards that covered all sounds. But wait, in an effort to compete with Yamaha everyone dropped the analog keyboards with the panel of knobs and went with DCOs and membrane switches. In the 80s technology brought us a dark age in keyboards. At least, if you were a keyboardists that wanted control over your sounds and thought most DCOs sounded too thin.

 

Ahhh, the 90s. Vintage gear was hot. Players were willing to put up with vintage, finicky gear that would not stay in tune just to get full sound and expanded control. Manufacturers responded with virtual analog and an increase in knobs and sliders on the keyboards. Various companies put out true modular systems there were affordable, and control over a sound once again became a standard feature.

 

2000+. I dont know any time that has been so good to keyboardists. Nord, Waldorf, Novation, Alesis, etc. They all gave us knobs and sliders in abundance. Now a standard setup consists of a workstation to handle all the basics, and extra keyboards to fit your style and needs. Things are better sounding and more affordable than ever. And if you cannot afford vintage gear but you have a good computer, B4, Pro52, PPG Wave 2.V, Giga, Reaktor, the list goes on.

 

During the 80s I totally lost interest in synthesizers that manufacturers were producing in mass. Im just glad those days are past.

 

Robert

[Harp Heaven]

Being a reasonably young fellow, I don`t have any memory of the "good old days", when people carried 100kg hammonds around, broke their backs, feet, arms and fingers. My father told me about it, though, and I was fascinated by how much pain he had to go through just to get the sounds he needed.

 

When I got my first syntheziser, a Korg Trinity, I complained about the weight of the thing. When I hear the stories of you old vets, I just feel spoiled.

[coyote]

I'd like to think I'm still reasonably young (not yet 40) - and I just acquired my 100kg Hammond two years ago!

 

Believe it or not, it's still worthwhile to lug that thing around. Perhaps when I'm no longer young at heart I'll splurge on a clone. But not yet.

 

 

Originally posted by Harp Heaven:

Being a reasonably young fellow, I don`t have any memory of the "good old days", when people carried 100kg hammonds around, broke their backs, feet, arms and fingers. My father told me about it, though, and I was fascinated by how much pain he had to go through just to get the sounds he needed.

 

When I got my first syntheziser, a Korg Trinity, I complained about the weight of the thing. When I hear the stories of you old vets, I just feel spoiled.

[Harp Heaven]

I can perfectly see what you mean. If I had been more retro, the hammond would be my wet dream! I`m more of a syntheziser guy, so it isn`t that attractive to me, and my trusty Trinity will do the job for me if I ever need that B3.

 

But: 100kg IS A LOT!!!!!!!

[Slowly]

Originally posted by Harp Heaven:

Being a reasonably young fellow, I don`t have any memory of the "good old days", when people carried 100kg hammonds around, broke their backs, feet, arms and fingers. My father told me about it, though, and I was fascinated by how much pain he had to go through just to get the sounds he needed.

 

When I got my first syntheziser, a Korg Trinity, I complained about the weight of the thing. When I hear the stories of you old vets, I just feel spoiled.

 

I don`t know where you got your info, but a Hammond B3 weights 183 kg. ugh! Casey

 

 

Sorry, make that 163 kg, still ugh!!!!

 

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: kcbass ]

[Harp Heaven]

My father had an A model, don`t remember which. I believe that one weighs less than the B3, am I right? Anyways, his weighed about 100 kgs.

 

And I thought THAT was a lot...Tonewheels kill backs.

[Rod S]

I agree... I have no fond memories of playing with a crappy poly 800 since that's all I could get my hands on. I managed to upgrade to a korg ds8 around 1987, which complemented pretty well the dw8000 my buddy had and I used to play with also.

 

On the other hand, I'm not really an old timer (I'm 29). I got started when FM hit the streets and DCO's were popular.

 

I spent the good part of the day today showing my gear to my brother, and it was fun seeing his jaw drop. I remember doing recordings with a crappy 4track recorder in the mid 80's.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

I thought the 80's had some great keyboards, and some very unique under-appreciated drum machines.

 

Oberheim Matrix 12, Prophet T8, Memorymoog, Rhodes electric pianos and Chroma, Yamaha CP80, Buchla modular, Roland Jupiter 8, Linn drum.

[RABid]

Originally posted by SteveRB:

I thought the 80's had some great keyboards, and some very unique under-appreciated drum machines.

 

Oberheim Matrix 12, Prophet T8, Memorymoog, Rhodes electric pianos and Chroma, Yamaha CP80, Buchla modular, Roland Jupiter 8, Linn drum.

 

Maybe what I should have said is they became extinct in the 80s. I had a few of these including the Rhodes Chroma, MemoryMoog and a great Sequential Drum machine. If I remember correctly my Rhodes Chroma cost $3600 and the MemoryMoog was just a bit cheaper. My DX-7 was $1700. Yamaha probably sold more DX-7s than Moog and Oberheim combined. To compensate they shifted to cheaper keyboards with one value knob or slider and digital oscillators. The Matrix 12 gave way to the Matrix 6 with a DCO (I have one in my basement. Pile of crap sound wise.) People were buying Junos rather than Jupiters. Yep, the 80s started out great. Almost every vintage synthesizer you would want was made in the early 80s, then the bottom fell out.

 

[ 12-31-2001: Message edited by: Rabid ]