[rodgersorganusers] Re: Analog
- From: Ralph Cullen <rcullen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:11:04 +1300
I probably need to further clarify my thoughts.
The main advantage I see (hear) with a Rodgers Digital Instrument is what
was NOT present with any analog organ. This is the nuances of pipe attack,
steady (not so steady) tone, and release of the pipe pallet. As well as
that, the stereo imaging that places each "pipe" in it's own space is quite
vital to the ensemble and certainly unique to Rodgers.
What I AM realizing is that there is (was) a certain "sound" that was
analog organs, and these were split into two camps. 1) The "Free phase"
genre which included Conn, Allen and Rodgers, and 2) the "Locked divider"
sound which included almost everyone else like Baldwin and others. The Free
phase approach gave better ensemble, but the locked divider generator
approach generally provided the need to supply greater filtering to the
sounds and therefore (Starting with square waves and stair step signals,
provided more harmonics to work with. Consequently, a locked divider organ
sounded really sterile (have only one pitch source) but gave greater
variety in available tone colour. The locked divider approach never gave a
"big" organ sound, as the more stops you turned on, the more the tone of
the organ reverted back to the "mother tone" of the divider outputs. The
organs didn't get "bigger" they just got louder. The free phase approach
gave greater ensemble, but because of the unavailability of multiple pitch
formant filtering, tended to force unit keying, hence all the sounds, (for
instance the flutes) sounded the same.
So: Enter "tone modifiers" to liven up the sound. One BIGGEE was of course
the ubiquitous "Leslie" which started out life if I recall as "The Pipe
sound of the electric organ" This rotating drum produced a sound of it's
own, and it was not so much the organ that had a distinctive sound, but the
jolly rotating polystyrene.
Here is another example of a sound that started out to be something else,
but gained a credibility of it's own: The horrible sound of a Fender Rhodes
piano. It was "supposed" to emulate a piano, but made such a poor job of
it, it either had to die a natural death, or be received in the "music"
world as an instrument in it's own right. Now you can get digital pianos
with "Electric Piano" sounds! Not at all like a Steinway or Baldwin, but
certainly a popular sound. Same goes for the "tone wheel Hammond" and same
goes for the dear old analog Rodgers / Leslie trem.
The attempt to sound more like a pipe organ was, with due respect to the A
company, a huge flop, when they switched to "computer" generation. Not
because the idea was bad, but because the technology had not come of age
and they actually gave up the ensemble of the free phase generators, for
the unbelievably sterile tone generation of the early digital process.
Rodgers delay in coming into the digital world actually has worked their
extreme advantage in my opinion, and the whole concept and implementation
of PDI is just wonderful. It is not just the tone that is the issue, but
the space provided by stereo sampling and delivery.
So I repeat: Analog organs have a very acceptable sound If You Like That
Sound, which I did in the seventies, but now feel is blah.. Unless it's a
Theatre organ of course, and maybe that's where the discussion should
really be at: Is it Tibias verses Principals maybe???
Cheers to all
Ralph
New Zealand Rodgers Freak
P.S. I have a tired and in need of some repair Conn 651 (Where DOES One get
a good organ serviceman!!!) Theatre organ at home, but have just moved to a
church with a Rodgers T797 with doubled speakers, and it is heaven... (I
left one with a 725 circa 1979 analog - they wouldn't upgrade)
At 09:21 AM 11/19/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>I am headed out the door for an 8 hour drive, so this discussion will be
>interrupted a bit since I read 1and approve each message...
>
>Anyhow, this is not meant to be controversial but I am going to say it.
>
>Some people prefer analog organs because they sound electronic.
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