From shojo@pln.com Mon Jan 23 17:11:03 1995 Date: Mon, 23 Jan 95 13:46:57 From: Robert Schmeltzer To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: The Optigan Explained I'm surprised to see people talking about the Optigan. I have two and would never part with them. As far as I know, Mattel had nothing to do with the Optigan. The Optigan Corp. was first in Compton, CA and then moved to Pennsylvania. So what is it? First, from the Optigan owner's manual: "The Optigan Music Maker. The most revolutionary musical instrument ever. Because it's EVERY musical instrument. And every combination. You've never heard anything like it because there's never been anything like it. And you have all the talent you need in your little finger to play the OPTIGAN. The "soul" of the OPTIGAN is the Music Program Disc. Organs try to mimic or imitate different musical sounds. But with the OPTIGAN you actually play the real sounds of pianos, banjos, guitars, marimbas, drums and dozens more. The sounds are on the Programs. You choose the sounds you want -to play the songs you want- on our piano-style keyboard and left-hand accompaniment panel. And you choose from Classic guitar to old time Banjo Sing-Along to Nashville Country to Rock and Roll. It all depends on the Program and there's a Program for every musical taste." This is what the Optigan Corporation thought of their organ in 1970. So what is it really? It is an ugly plastic (Optigan calls it "Temperite") organ. The way it makes sounds is by putting in these clear plastic records about the size of a regular LP. The plastic discs have the waveforms on them and are read by a light bar reader inside the organ. Each "piano-style" key, chord button and effect switch has one waveform on the disc. Mostly, the right hand plays pretty unspectacular organ sounds; a few disks have marimba, but it's pretty weak. The best part of the Optigan is the chord button/special effect section. When you press A minor on a regular organ, you hear an A minor chord. On the Optigan, you hear a whole band; so Nashville Country is drums, bass, rhythm guitar all vamping 4 bars in A minor; Polynesian Village has bongos, vibes and howling monkeys, Hear and Now sounds like the Partridge Family minus the singing. So, basically the Optigan is like a Mellotron aimed at the Grandma market. It sounds very high tech and I suppose it was for 1970, but somehow the resulting sound can not really adequately be described; "cheesy", "hilarious" and "sounds like a 78 record" are comments I've heard. For an idea of what the Optigan sounds like, listen to "Beautiful World" on "Devo's EZ Listening Disc"; the banjos, bass and washboard percussion are all the Optigan playing the wonderful "Banjo Sing-Along" disc. Tom Waits used an Optigan on "Frank's Wild Years", but he didn't use the accompaniments, just the cheesy organ tones. The only other artist that I know of that's released an album with the Optigan is Steve Fisk on his "448 Deathless Days". He really does all the fun things you can do with an Optigan on that album. Put a disc in upside down and you have the whole accompaniment section playing backwards, but still in tune. As Mark Mothersbaugh said "The banjo disc makes these great sucking noises when put in upside down." You can put in two discs at once and have the Bluegrass mandolins playing with the Gospel Rock rhythm section; not very musical but great if you like Stockhausen. Probably the main reason the Optigan never made it real big is that it is mechanical and not very stable. Speeding up the tempo also raises all the tunings. Even if you don't touch the tempo control the tuning does drift quite a bit. The Optigan always stays in tune with itself, but good luck playing with anyone else. I got my first Optigan from a woman who said she had to get rid of it because it was her daughter's, her daughter recently died and seeing the Optigan reminded her of her daughter. Then she said her daughter used to play the Optigan in a country band that would perform at churches and senior functions. Anyone who has ever played an Optigan should be crying with laughter at this thought. Optigan Miscellany: %the Optigan color scheme is ugly brown with ugly tan; the "piano-style" keys have brown sharp keys. If you see an organ with brown keys at a thrift store or garage sale, investigate. %There were apparently four models; I have two. The difference between them is one has two 7" speakers, the other has reverb and two 15" speakers. I have no idea what the other two models might have. %Optigan also put out its own music books arranged especially for the Optigan, even telling you what discs to use for each song. This is handy because the chord buttons are: Major, Minor and Diminished (instead of something useful like Maj.7th.). %From what I can tell, Optigans were made from 1970-1973. %Some Optigans have a matching bench. %The light bulb inside the Optigan (needed for the light bar reader) is easily found at most stores. %Mechanically, they are very simple, so if you see one that doesn't work, you could probably fix it (the one I just got didn't work, I fixed it with some WD-40). At the same time, looking inside an Optigan, one gets the feeling it is a prototype rigged together on short notice. So, it doesn't take brain power to fix, just a hell of a lot of fiddling and swearing. %Price: you can probably get one cheap. I've heard of people paying $200 for them, but those people must be desperate or filthy rich. $10-$50 is more reasonable, look at thrift stores, garage sales, the music store in your town that nobody ever goes to and Grandma's attic or basement. I'm always happy to talk about Optigans with people. I've been actively looking for them for about 11 years and have seen 5, 2 of which I own. So, obviously I don't talk about them much. If you ever get one and need tips on fixing it, I'll be glad to offer advice. I've taken apart a couple and gotten them working or at least working better. They are a bitch to take apart though. Go out and look for Optigans first thing tomorrow. Once you play one, you will want it even if you can't play a musical instrument. OPTIGAN DISCS I HAVE: Banjo Sing-Along Big Band Beat Bluegrass Banjo * Bossa Nova Style * Cha Cha Cha! * Dixieland Strut * Folk & Other Moods-Guitar * Gay 90's Waltz (6/8 time) Gospel Rock Guitar Boogie Guitar in 3/4 Time Hear and Now * Latin Fever Nashville Country Polynesian Village Pop Piano Plus Guitar * Rock and Rhythm The Blues-Sweet and Low Waltz Time (3/4 Time) * * = I have two of this disc; willing to trade for those on my want list below. OPTIGAN DISCS I'D LIKE TO HAVE: Big Organ and Drums Big Top Marching Band Classic Guitar Easy Does It With Vibes Majestic Pipe Organ Movin'! Organ Sing-Along Rollin' Easy Romantic Strings (in 3/4 Time) Singing Rhythm (any others not mentioned in either list) I know this is a long post, but I'm sure this will be a short thread, so it all evens out in the end, eh? :) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\Robert Schmeltzer\\\\\\\\\"I listen to a solo and I think of a duet"\\\\\\\ \\\\\shojo@pln.com\\\\\\\\\\\\\Fabio, from his CD, "After Dark"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////