Relaxing demo on Yamaha PSS-290

YouTube via organfairy
"This melody is made entirely on the Yamaha Portasound PSS-290 and is more or less a demonstration of some of the sound this little keyboard can do. The PSS-290 works with a simple FM synthesizer which puts a limit on the authenticity of the acoustic voices. But there are some great sci-fi sounds that can be used for melodies like this one."

the Contour Generator

Published on Jan 7, 2013 organfairy·357 videos

"The contour generator is a special kind of envelope generator that doesn't have the now classical Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release settings. Instead it has Attack-On-Decay-Off and can work as both envelope generator and LFO.
They were found on EMS synthesizers but most other synthesizer makers preferred the Moog ADSR system.
Here I try to recreate this special design using relatively modern components.

The music is something I put together using Elka EP-8 and Technics SX-C600 organs."

"Be my boogie woogie baby" - on ELKA X-1000

YouTube via organfairy
" I recall this melody from my tween years. The Danish guitar player Jørgen Ingmann made a cover version that was occasionally played on Danish radio (from where I taped it).
Later I heard it as a part of a Klaus Wunderlich medley.
But a couple of years ago I heard the original version by "Mr Walkie Talkie" on a German christmas TV special where a lot of music from the old "Musikladen" shows were played and I decided that it could be fun to make my own version of it on the Elka organ with a little help from the build-in sequencer."

"Komödische Labor Trilogie - Teil 2" - on Kawai FS-680

Published on Dec 17, 2012 by organfairy

"This is just a silly melody I recorded earlier this year. There is not much to say about it other that I am using the Kawai FS-680 keyboard."

The unstoppable Wersimatic

Published on Sep 18, 2017 organfairy

"Normally 'unstoppable' is a positive word. But when it is used in the same sentence as "drum machine" it tends to be annoying.
My Wersimatic II was literally unstoppable so I had to do something about it. It turned out to be a defective logic gate. Quite and easy fix but still something I had to do.

The music is 'Knuden' which was a minor hit for the Danish band Shu-bi-dua back in 1978. Apart from the Wersimatic II I play it on my Wersi Prisma DX-5."

"Jungle Gardenia" - on Elka X-1000

video upload by organfairy

"One of the lesser known instrumentals by Mike Oldfield. It was the B-side of his 'Crime of Passion' single from 1984 but I don't think it was on any albums except as a bonus track on later releases.

Here I play it on my Elka X-1000 organ."

"Fashion Pack" - and a synth expedition

Published on Aug 19, 2013 organfairy·389 videos

"In the beginning of July I saw this synthesizer in the second hand pages for the equivalent of 65US$. The seller lived in the other end of the country but I decided that if it was still for sale when my summer holiday began then I would go and buy it.

Three weeks later it was still for sale and I went on the long trip up north. So this time the video is a sort of very short road movie. The synth is broken but I expect to be able to get it playing again. It could be an interesting winter project.

The music is something I made back in my tape-days. "Fashion Pack" was a hit for German singer Amanda Lear and here I play it on Yamaha HE-8 and Technics SX-C600 organs, Roland JX-8P synthesizer, and Roland CR-1000 drum machine. It was recorded on my Fostex model 80 8-channel tape recorder."

Homemade synthesizer song #3

Published on Apr 11, 2016 organfairy

"Again I am using my telephone exchange step sequencer to control my XOR based drum synthesizer. But this time the bass is made a little different: Instead of just running forwards in the bass line, the analog sequencer goes forwards and backwards. In other words instead of 1234567812345678 it goes 1234567887654321.
The melody and the solo is played on the analogue system with the switched capacitor filter as VCF. I use the same envelope, cut-off, and resonance settings for the melody and the solo but switches between high-pass and low-pass."

Tying the loose ends on the Wersimatic II...

Published on Mar 23, 2015 organfairy

"... both literally and in the figurative sense.

I bought this Wersimatic II drum machine/auto accompaniment unit together with some other Wersi stuff 5 years ago. But for various reasons I have not made something usefull out of it - untill now.

The most important reason was that I didn't know how I should use it: A separate box with the unit and an external keyboard - like the Wersimatic WM-24, or build it into an organ with an inferior drum unit, or maybe disconnect the auto accompaniment part and use the drum machine part on its own, or maybe something completely different.

I finally decided that the best idea after all was to make a self contained instrument out of - one that had it's own build-in keyboard, power supply, control panel, and off course the Wersimatic electronics itself. This video shows the assembly process.

The music is made using the Wersimatic for the rhythm, arpeggios, and the bass. The first melody is something I just botched together adding chords and melody from my Wersi Prisma and Korg Poly 800 synthesizer. The other melody is 'Susan Himmelblå' by the Danish singer Kim Larsen. There I use only the Prisma organ in addition to the Wersimatic."

VAI 35 : Wersimatic II / Farfisa Syntorchestra

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Another take with the Wersimatic II, the younger sister / brother of the Wersimatic 24 auto accompaniment machine. The sounds and controls are across the board identical as far as we can tell.

It was never made as a standalone unit but part of a large, double manual organ called Wersi Helios in the mid 70s.

This particular one has been transplanted from an organ into a smaller box with a twelve buttons acting as chord control instead of the bottom keys of the organ.

Special thanks to Organfairy for the rare schematics : dude you f-ing rock

The Wersimatic II has sections on board:
Bass
Drum machine
Various chord sounds

Melody played on the Farfisa Syntorchestra String machine and Mono synth."

"But love me" - on ELKA X-30

YouTube via organfairy
"The ELKA X-30 has the wonderfull capability to act like a pseudo-three-manual organ (the lower manual can split in two sections each with their own voicing). Here I use it to play an old middle-of-the-road/country song - originally recorded by Janie Fricke - that I recall from my early teenage years.
The organ is also controlling the Roland JX-8P synthesizer (not visible in the picture)."

"Crazy" - on Yamaha SY-1

organfairy
Published on Aug 7, 2017

"'Crazy' was a big hit for Gnarls Barkley back in 2006. Here I play it on Yamaha SY-1 synthesizer and Elka EP-8 organ. The rhythm comes from a Rhythm Ace FR-8L."

"Equinoxe III" - on Elka organs

Published on Jan 5, 2014 organfairy·404 videos

"The Preludio 22L shares some of it's technoloy with the more famous X-705. And since Jean Michel Jarre used the X-705 for some time in the late 1970's I thought it could be fun to play one of his compositions while I had this old thing fired up. The only part of Equinoxe III that I couldn't play on the Preludio was the string parts because it doesn't have a phase modulator. For the string parts I therefore used the EP-8 instead."

"Why are we here" - on Yamaha HE-8

YouTube via organfairy | July 28, 2010

"This was a video I made allmost a year ago (notice the hair) but for some reason I haven't uploaded it untill now.

The hill in this video is situated close to were I used to live. It is a nice place if I want a little time for myself or when the world is just too much for my slightly bugged brain (the correct word is "aspergers syndrome" but a brain-bug sounds more familiar to technical minded people).

The music was something I put together in 2006 and is played on the Yamaha HE-8 organ, Viscount RBX-850 organ, Roland CR-1000 drum machine and JX-8P synthesizer. The small Casio CZ-101 was used for the solo."

"You think you're a man" - on some Casio keyboards

YouTube Uploaded by organfairy on Jul 13, 2011
Divine.
"I hope you don't mind that the picture is back on the old quality level again. The reason is that I haven't made more videos lately with the new camera but I still have some unfinished or unpublished videos on my harddrive that is shot with the old - now dead - camera. So untill I have finished those it will be a mixture of clear and slightly blurry pictures.

I have been known to occasionally play Casio toy keyboards. This time I am playing some entry level keyboards with "Normal" keys. But still in the relatively cheap range. The song I play is "You think you're a man" which was a hit for drag queen and singer Devine in the mid 1980's"

And of course the one and only original Divine:

divine - you think you're a man

YouTube Uploaded by mikef22 on Nov 7, 2008

"Live on Australian TV, in a flamboyant performance"

DIVINE - YOU THINK YOU'RE A MAN (Extended Video Edit)

Uploaded by bsedits on Sep 5, 2008

"In the 1980s, Divine ( born Harris Glenn Milstead, 1945-1988 ) released several dance music records which were club hits in the USA, Europe and Australia.
This Pete Waterman produced song "You Think You're A Man" was Divine's most successful U.K. hit, reaching #16. The song was also a Top 10 hit in Australia, reaching #8.
Here you can find my re-edited 12" version of the funny video, with all the lyrics of that amazing club classic. Hope you'll enjoy it !!!"

Some Belgian pop on the Casio toy pile.

YouTube via organfairy — May 04, 2010 — "It has been a while since my last mangling of a pop song on my pile of Casio toy keyboards. But now I have done it again.

This time the victim is "It could happen to you" by Belgian trio Telex. The keyboards I use are: PT-80, PT-88, SA-1, SA-3, MT-240, ML-1, SA-20, and SA-35. The are all made by Casio.

Most of the sound is untreated. The only exceptions are that I have added a little reverberation to the PT-80 that plays the melody, and I have boosted the bass on the SA-20 that plays the bass line."

"Milkway Promenade" - on small Yamaha keyboards

Published on Jun 17, 2013 organfairy·380 videos

"Four years ago somebody suggested that I should do 'Milkway Promenade' by Milkways.

Well, better late than never!

Anyways - not milkways - I play it on a small collection of small Yamaha keyboards. Most of them works with FM synthesis except the PSS-12 that uses Advanced Wave Memory."

"Hier ist das leben" - on Yamaha and ELKA organs

YouTube via organfairy. Roland JX-8P
"Somehow this piece of German disco music just asks for a yellow one-piece suit and a silver cap! Add two organs, a synth, and some chimes and the picture is complete...."

"Så synger vi en sang" - on Elka X-1000

YouTube Uploaded by organfairy on Jan 17, 2012

"This song might have a German or English title. But I know it only in Danish where it was a less-than-noticed single from the Danish duo Jan & Keld in the late 1970's.
Jan & Kjeld did have their fame. But that was back in the late 1950's where they were succesfull as two banjo playing kids.

I have heard the song many times because it was in the beginning of one of the tapes my mother had recorded from the radio and which where later handed down to me. So it reminds me of the late 1970's.

Therefore I have put together this littlle nostalgic montage and I promise to get back on the usual track next week!"

Sequencer relocation

YouTube Uploaded by organfairy on Mar 29, 2011

"I have had some comments saying that my DIY projects are always very organized and tidy. This video will prove that this is not always the case :-)

I have recently made a new sequencer for my first synthesizer. But the old one is still to good just to throw out. But since I am pretty displeased with the appearance of the construction I will now take it apart and rebuild it in a smaller box.

The music is made in 1998 using the old sequencer - which is now in a new box but the electronics is more or less the same. The other instruments are Rhythm Ace drum machine, Yamaha PSS-12, Yamaha VSS-30, Casio SA-1, Casio SA-3 (with BOSS OC-2 octaver pedal), Bontempi KS-3400, Kawai MS-20 toy keyboards, Roland SH-2000 synthesizer, and Dynacord Echocord Mini echo machine."