organ

Optigan.com has announced plans for a new Optigan disc, based on the work of minimalist composer Philip Glass:

“Minimalism” is sort of a generic working title. It’s very specifically and shamelessly Philip Glass Ensemble (circa late 70s / early 80s) style chord patterns. But I don’t want to call it “Philip Glass” for potential legal reasons.

Maybe I’ll call it something a little more clever like “MNMLSM” or “Half Full” or “Fill Up Glass” ok stop me before it’s too late… if anyone has any title suggestions, send ‘em my way!

This disc is intended to be more versatile than simply for churning out fake Glass riffs. Set at a slower speed, it can be used in a more ambient way, and I’ve specifically worked out the voicings and special effects tabs to allow for good sounding extended chords when you press more than one button (ie, Cmaj + Emin = Cmaj7). Also, the rhythms are varied enough that you can get some cool polyrhythmic effects, etc. At this point, the keyboard sound is going to be a solo female voice, singing vowels from the various solfege syllables.

The Optigan is a vintage sample playback keyboard that uses optical discs to generate sound.

PrecisionSound has released D-85, a new sample library for EXS24 HALion Kontakt & SoundFont.

The Yamaha Electone D-85 is the source of sounds in the fourth volume of the Vintage Keyboard Collection.

Description:

The D-85 was released in 1980 and designed as an home organ a grandmas organ, for the “loaded” grandmas though, cause the price tag was around $10000. The D-85 is completely analog and uses a technique called PASS (Pulse Analog Synthesis System) developed for the legendary Electone GX-1. The sound of the D-85 is rich warm big and very much analog synth and not typical organ. Read more…

This is a demo of the Dr. Böhm Hobbyton – a DIY Stylophone. Read more…

In this effectology video, Bill Rupert demonstrates the sound of an electric guitar processed to imitate a Hammond B-3 Organ. Read more…

This may be the coolest DIY MIDI controller yet.

Markus Berger built this life-size MIDI organ controller for Native Instruments B4 virtual instrument:

The goal of this project was to build a MIDI Organ Controller to play and control the Native Instruments B4 (II) virtual organ software. Just like the software this project attempts to replicate the ‘real thing’—the classic Hammond B3—as much as possible. All of the software’s functionality known from the original instrument can be controlled from this controller. There is no need to take a look at the computer display or to control the software with the mouse or computer keyboard at any time.