What would your keyboard rig be if

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… you still owned every keyboard you’d ever owned? As touched on in the “Show Your Rig” thread. I think we might have done this in another thread but it would be fun to see it here. This will probably be skewed to the old timers among us.

To the best of my memory, I would have:

MiniMoog Model D
MemoryMoog (no MIDI)
Moog Sonic Six
Moog Prodigy
Sequential Circuits Prophet 10
Sequential Circuits Prophet 600
Sequential Circuits Pro-One
Hammond M3
Hammond CV
Hammond XMC 2
Leslie 147 (x2)
Roland JX3P
Roland D-50 (x2)
Roland Vintage Keys module
Roland S-550 sampler
Korg EX-8000
Korg ES-8000 rack
Korg 01/W
Alesis Quadrasynth
Seil Electric Piano
Ensoniq Mirage DSK
Yamaha CS1-x
Nord Electro II rack
Nord Lead III
Casio CZ-101

annnnnnndd a Yamaha DX-7 but technically I don’t own that. :smiley: Not counting dedicated controllers like M-Audio stuff and drum machines/other random hardware. I wish I could see that all in one room! It would be like Geoff Downes!

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The only thing I would have that I do not currently still have in my possession is my Farfisa Mini Compact organ from the sixties that I “grew up” musically with in High School and well beyond, using it for many years. It finally died of capacitor old age, from what I’ve been told. I donated it to my High School band about 30 years after I’d bought it.

Still miss that sound - none of the emulators I’ve used really capture it fully! (Yes, no accounting for taste here on my end…)

Terry

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So what all is still in your possession? I’m becoming a Farfisa fan lately. As a Hammond guy I was pretty down on the combo organ for years but when I realized that Rick Wright was getting those gorgeous ethereal sounds from one (and effects) I started getting into them more. There’s quite a bit on our last album.

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I used to pipe the Farfisa through the filters of the EMS VCS3 “Putney” we had at the college I attended for an incredible sound! I think I used to put it through the ring modulator as well. Such fun stuff! Used that VCS3 for two years there, every day!

Ok, you want my current list - it is nothing as extensive as yours.

Korg Wavestation keyboard
Kawai K5000s keyboard
Korg Poly 800 keyboard

And the other old stuff:
Korg Wavestation SR rack
Ensoniq ESQm rack
Yamaha TX81Z racks (two of those, slightly detuned from each other)
Peavey PC1600x slider box (love that thing!)
Kawai Q80 and Q80EX hardware sequencers (Yes, have both)
Korg S3 Drum Machine/Sequencer
E-Mu Procussion+ Piano Module (came with the used Wavestation bought in '94)

And a bunch of controllers that are all new.
Akai MPK249 and MPK225
Native Instruments S-88 and S-49 Mk2
Alesis QX49
Native Instruments Maschine Jam

And the “wish I still had it” Farfisa Mini Compact would have my list complete!

Everything still works, and I have horded about six boxes of Double-Sided 80 meg diskettes to use with the Q80’s as well! (Oh, and some of the Double-Density 144 meg ones for the Kawai K5000s, too!)

I tend to use what I have a long time and push it all pretty hard to deliver what I want. :smile:

Terry

EDIT: Forgot to add my Magnus Chord Organ, as seen in the post below, though I don’t think I’d turn it on very often even if I still did have it!!!

EDIT 2: Completely forgot the old “with drum machine built in” units I had from Yamaha back in the day.
A Yamaha PS-2 “Portasound” that used to be my metronome when I played flute as a busker in front of the NYC Museum of Modern Art (the only street musician ever allowed there by the museum and city cops alike…)

Also a Yamaha PSS-170 that was exceedingly junky sounding.

Also a Yamaha PSR-400 that was my first MIDI keyboard.

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My list would be 40 years worth of gear next year… :open_mouth: Wow, I bet the TX81 stack sounds cool.

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I would like to contribute, but my memory doesn’t go back that far. Too much gear…too many years. Apparently I was only allowed 2G of ram max…older model.

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I just thought of one keyboard I don’t still own and it is the one I learned to play on…
An old Audiosonic single manual organ. Very basic. Would probably be worth something on eBay today though lol!!

It was something like this…

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Well, if you want us to go back THAT far, David, there is my Magnus Chord Organ that I started keyboard playing on when I was 15… (even tried sticking a mic inside it so I could play in a band - which led to the purchase of the Farfisa Mini Compact with my paper route money! That is, you really cannot get away with sticking a mic inside one of these at any volume and not get feedback and a ton of blower noise.) :roll_eyes:

I don’t miss that one so much… and I never played that song in the video on it, either, though it is a perfect fit.

So, updated my list… :stuck_out_tongue:

Terry

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O.k., here’s one from my side:

This toy was not working electromagnetic but electropneumatic :wink:

It was the very early time when I built a monophonic diy synth (formant). This was not that bad but no chance to do chords - so I added the bontempi.

For amplification I placed a small mike from a tape deck inside: besides horrible noise from the ventilator driving the „sound engine“ lots of distortion: all in all an instrument with „character“.:sweat_smile::sweat_smile::sweat_smile:

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The first organ song i played in a school concert as a young boy (1968) was “MA BELLE AMIE” on the same or near the same model Magnus Organ. Memories …

Thanks all for the posts

Dave

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I never had a Magnus but my friend next door did. It was not a sound we enjoyed :smiley:

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I never had one at the house but the school had one. We didn’t love the sound either but it was what we had … lol

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Ok…I went into my stash and pulled these two filthy jewels out of storage. I fired them up, and they still work, even though I haven’t used them for decades and they are covered in dust. I was desperate for a second keyboard at the time. I remember the MT-65 cost me around $500 at the time. I thought it was expensive for what I felt was a toy.

Old Keys
Old Keys3264×1836 1.7 MB

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looks like a country boy owned it and found it in the shed … lol … kinda like where I live

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LMAO !!

Actually, one was in the barn, and the other was in the outhouse ( all the magazines were used, so we had to entertain ourselves whilst having a long sit).

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We still have the old WPA concrete base used for many an outhouse that populated these hills where I live. he he kinda like a shrine :grin: … sorry about the post detour there

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Oh crap, forgot I had a CZ-101! I loved that thing! Have to add it to the list…

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I’d forgotten about the old “toy” keyboards as well! Updated my post accordingly. :wink:

(Actually, the Yamaha PSR400 was my first MIDI keyboard I got with my Mac Plus and MOTU Performer, and it felt pretty decent as a keybed…)

Terry

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OK, here goes, starting in 1982…

  • CASIO VLTone (swapped for a phaser)
  • CASIO MT40 (??? Probably junked)
  • Yamaha CS15 (sold once I could get the sounds out of AN modelling)
  • CASIO MT65 (given to nephew)
  • CAISIO ??? (Can’t remember the model - sold when I was skint)

===

Long gap away from music when I realised I would never afford a DX7 whilst also funding cars, girls and beer… And a frustrating realisation that a CS15 and a few cheesy CASIO mini keys where not really going to give Rick Wakeman a run for his money! :slight_smile:

===

  • 1998 Yamaha DXII (finally! Sold when I could its sounds on my FS1r via a patch converter in my fs.factory librarian)
  • 1999 Yamaha EX5 (what a beast, now just sold)
  • 2005 Yamaha Motif Rack ES (created a prog rock band and the EX5 on it’s own was not enough)
  • 2005 Novation Remote61
  • 2006 Nord G2 Engine
  • 2006 Yamaha FS1r
  • 2006 Yamaha AN1x
  • 2007 PLG150-AN module for Motif Rack ES
  • 2007 Yamaha SY77 (now sold due to having an SY99 and TG77)
  • 2008 PLG150-VL module for Motif Rack ES
  • 2012 Yamaha SY99
  • 2012 Yamaha TG77
  • 2013 Yamaha WX5 (not a synth but grabbed whilst available on eBay for a good price. One day…)
  • 2014 Korg Kronos X 61
  • 2015 Second EX5 as backup for main one (currently up for sale)
  • 2017 Yamaha Montage 7
  • 2017 Yamaha EX5R (so I can retire the EX5 keyboards)

I actually have most of that still. You can see I mostly only sold things when I could get the sound via other means

  • CS-15 when I had AN modelling in the EX5 (and AN1x and PLG150-AN)
  • DX7II when I could get the sounds in the FS1r
  • SY77 when I got the TG77 and SY99 pair (they sound quite different due to Wave ROM differences, but mainly due to the SY99 having better effects)
  • EX5 keyboards when I (finally!) found the EX5R.
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I remember the DX7-II had a weird feeling keybed- did they have poly-aftertouch??