My worst organ! & the Ringo Rythm Machine

Published on Oct 21, 2013 organfairy·393 videos

"This can only be described as my worst organ.

But nonetheless there is funny story behind it: I bought it at a charity sale for 10dkr (approximatly 2US$) in 1997 and transported it home on my bicycle - some 15km. There were all kind of defects inside: The previous owner had unsuccesfully tried to build in a speaker output with a short circuit as the result. That had fried the amplifier and the amplifier had overloaded the power supply so it didn't work either. Most of the trimmers on the tone generator was cracked or broken off, and there was a broken trace in the circuit board of the rhythm unit.
But a couple of days later it all worked.

The song is called "Der er noget galt i Danmark" (Something is wrong in Denmark) and was a big hit for Danish singer John Mogensen in the early 1970's. The rhythm and melody is played on the Ringo. The other notes are from the Elgam Grand Gala."

This is the first Ringo post.

ELGAM CAROUSEL Vintage Groovebox 1976 | HD DEMO

Published on Jul 30, 2013 AnalogAudio1·115 videos

"(c) 2013 by AnalogAudio1

The CAROUSEL is an interesting analog preset rhythmbox with accompaniment made by Elgam, Italy. It has rhythm (like the Elgam Rhythm Match series), bass, chord and 3 arpeggiators! Rare, obscure and very interesting! :-)

I played the Elgam Carousel along with a Roland DEP-5 for dely effects."

"Another day in Paradise" - on Elgam Grand Gala

Published on Dec 10, 2012 by organfairy

"Elgam Grand Gala is a typical 1970's European home organ in the lower-middle price region. The sound is not perfect but still useable to some extend. One problem with Elgam organs is that their tabs tends to break off. I got this organ for free in 2000 because it was going to be scrapped anyway. Out of the 24 tabs on the instrument only 2 were working properly - which gives a good impression on how terrible they were constructed. I don't know if there is a word called "plastic fatigue" but that pretty much describes the problem: There are two point on the tab that is rocked back and forth every time it is used and after a while little cracks starts forming. Finally the tab breaks and depending on which of the two points that has broken the tab will fall out or refuse to be turned off.

I rebuild the organ from a spinet to a combo and replaced all the original tabs with illuminated push-buttons. I was not able to save the rhythm section of the organ. It had been subjected to water damage - every IC pin had rusted away and the veneer on the cabinet had "bubbled" up.

The music is played on this organ except for the rhythm that comes from the little Elgam Match 7C. It was recorded on my 8 track Fostex tape recorder. So this is more or less how the old Phil Collins classic would have sounded if I played it in the late 1970's - except off course that it wasn't written back then..."

Elgam Match 15C - Vintage Analog Drum Machine & Hard Case

via this auction

"Vintage Analog drum machine.

Elgam Match 15 C

contructed with metal and with wooden ends it looks more like a crane operating panel rather than a drum machine! I think this is from 1970's.

It has:

15 x drum style buttons
1 x- add maracas button (adds extra maracca noise to each drum beat
1 x on button
1 x down beat light
1 x tempo slider
1 x volume slider
1 x power on/off button

It is mains powered and on the back it has:

1 x removable fuse
1 x large jack out
1 x large jack - ext. stop

All button do what they are supposed to and it is in full working order. Some scrapes to the decal (in line with the age of the machine).

Comes in a free hard case - it's not an original item but is an adapted hard flight style case from the same time period. They go nicely together.

The analog drum sound is as you would expect - very retro and bleepy (if there is such a word) - the tempo slows things right down and you can get some unintential sounds out of this piece of kit. I have used it running through distortion pedals to get some interesting riff style sounds. As with most analog pieces the options are endless.

no midi or anything else to make life easy...... this is the real thing

It weighs 5.5kg"

"Slingrevals" - recorded on Fostex model 80

YouTube Published on Sep 10, 2012 by organfairy

"Before I went digital I recorded most of my music on this unit: The Fostex model 80 with matching model 450 mixer. Recently I have used this machine again and I thought it could be a nice opportunity to show it in close-up.

The melody is called "Slingrevals" - literally "Wobbly Waltz" but it is also an expression that suggests that you go from one mistake to the other. It was written by Bent Fabricius Bjerre - or Bent Fabric as he is known abroad - and since I use the old analog equipment and play the song on an old Elgam organ from 1977 this is a good indication on how I would have sounded if I was playing 35 years ago."

"Hvorfor er lykken så lunefuld" - with Spacesound speaker

YouTube Published on Jul 16, 2012 by organfairy

"This is an old piece of Danish film music from the 1930's. The sheet music I have says that it is composed by Karen Jönsson and the lyrics (which I don't sing) is credited to Carl Viggo Meincke.

For the first time I have used this wacky contraption on a recording. It is a SpaceSound rotating speaker unit taken from an old Elgam organ. I made it during my years of unemployment in the late 1990's. The organ is a heavily modified Elgam Grand Gala - actually the same organ that the speaker comes from - and it is recorded on my Fostex model 80 multitrack tape recorder. The rhythm comes from an Elgam Ringo table organ.

This is an example of how it could have sounded if I had been playing in the 1970's. One thing you often hear is people who are claiming that the instruments were so much better in that period of time. But they tend to forget that 35 years ago all electronic instruments were very expensive so I consider this a realistic example of home organ music from that era - even though I made the recording in 2012."

testing an Elgam sapphire deluxe keyboard

YouTube Uploaded by mondostuff on May 16, 2011

"In them old cotton fields back home" - with El

YouTube via organfairy. Elgam rhythm box / drum machine.

Homemade synthesizers 6

YouTube via organfairy. see all six vids here.
"In this - the 6th and final - video featuring my homemade instruments I make excessive use of a wah-pedal I made out of the volume pedal from a scrapped Elgam organ. With this, an LFO, and a VCA I can make an allmost rhytm-guitar-like sound."

Elgam Carusel – Analog Drums, Bass, Chord und Arp Synth

via this auction

Googlish:
"A very unusual and rare combination of drum machine and polyphonic analog synthesizer.

* 15 drum sequences with separate HiHat Maracas
* Chord Synth sounds with tree diffrent
* Chord Memory and Free Cord-Function
* 3 Arp sequences per Drumpattern (parallel activation)
* 2 Potier to shift the rhythms Arp
* Arp volume fader and Decay
* Automatic bass between "Walking" and 'Alternating' switchable.
* 5V trigger input to synchronize with other sequencers or drum machine
* Padal switch to the chord harmonies between 'Min, Dim and Sev'"

ELGAM 3049 Analog Organ Keyboard

via this auction

making the exception on this one for the inside shot.
"rare vintage Elgam Model 3049 Keyboard Made in Italy.

Layout includes "Flute,Clarinet,Oboe,Reed,Spinet and Cathedral" settings..you may use them individually or all together. The 'cathedral' setting goes default through the reverb and is added to all other settings, you may use it also stand alone with no other settings on.
Effects are "Vibrato,Staccato(like a backwards vibrato kinda),Repeat and Reverb". They are all controlled with a speed pot and then reverb is controlled by a pot as well into the final mix. The unit has a reverb cage inside. There's an input for instrument use and it works well as the unit has an actual amplifier along with two oval speakers for onboard use inside. Also has main output.
The bass's grey keys are affected by the settings and effects but also have there own "Manual Bass" section with bass level pot and two on/off switches for "soft" and "sharp"(this later section does not affect the white/black notes section."

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ELGAM CAROUSEL drumbox groovebox

YouTube via AnalogAudio1

"this video shows the Elgam Carousel funny unknown drumbox in action! It can produce extremely funny grooves with 3 arpeggiators! :-)"

OMD Live in Paris 1979 / Intro Statues Bunker Soldiers

YouTube via PlastikOD. Anyone know what synths they used back then? I spotted a KORG MS20.

Update via Micke in the comments:
"The material on their eponymous debut album was recorded around that time, ie from mid-to-late 1979.

On that album they used the following setup:
Korg micro-preset
Selmer pianotron (type of electro-mechanic keyboard sounding not unlike vibes or a xylophone)
Elgam Symphony combo-organ (2-manual) and Vox Continental.
Korg MS-20
Roland CR-78 drum-machine
and a left-handed bass-guitar."

The Elgam Snoopy

Elgam Snoopy - Organ Electric Piano via this auction
"Apparently appearing on an Ennio Morricone record, there's very little information about this on the net. Its got three sounds (Piano, Harpsicord and Spinet) which can be mixed together via the faders on the left of the keyboard along with the master volume. It looks really cool, a nice silvery blue and is in working condition. There's a little bit of paint damage which someone has tried to "conceal" with a sharpie marker and there's a couple of dinks / abrasions on the legs but nothing too bad. It has a keyboard cover which fits over the keys and then the legs can be folded onto the under side to make it more portable." via Rich 1