Weird. I mean, no weirder than a Mellotron. But weird in its own way, which is cool. It has it's own, inimitable, sound. In a head-to-head competition, the Mellotron wins every time.
If physical ones were still being manufactured, I would buy one for sure, but of course it's only a dream! I love Kraftwerk and it would be a dream to have one of the best underrated instruments in music history!
This is my first taste of the Orchestron in action. Trying to ascertain whether it was the model used by Neil Diamond synthesist Alan Lindgren as a string-choir generator during the 1976 Beautiful Noise tour which took Neil to the Greek Theater for the second time. What exactly was the deal with that F key?
They owned one. Back then there was no sampling. The first instruments capable of sampling were devices like the NED Synclavier and later the Fairlight CMI. They bought a Synclavier during the 80s (the one you can see behind the glass door in the middle of their famous studio photo). It was noisy as hell because of the Winchester disc drives so that's why they probably put it in there.
Yeah they used it as a backing instrument. This is just a better built/better looking version of the toy like Mattel Opitigan... yes that Mattel who made Barbies and the like!
Did David Van Koevering get the idea for the orchestron from the optigan? He started with a case company and incorporated the cases into some of his orchestron units. The sound was scratchy and the "joint" in the disc sound was very noticeable. Ray Brubaker bought a bunch of optigons and kept them in a storage unit in the 1980s. I don't know what ever happened to them.
I worked for several of divisions Miner Industries, who also made Estey organs and Magnetone amps. I moved from Optigans into the development lab of the Opsonar division, where I designed the first Orchestron prototypes. There were other engineers there, of course, but they gave me the design gig cause I was obsessed with turning the Optigan into something bigger. We had a terrific keyboard player on staff (Tommy Davis), but for some reason, they had me do the initial demos to Dave Van Koevering (cool guy). Dave was impressed, and bought the rights. But the initial designs or ideas predated Vako. Vako did take the Orchestron into major production later. Dave V and I talked about a future ROM-based instrument, but I never got to work on that. So yes, the originals were based on components from the Optigan, including the original sensors, but I designed the Orchestron circuitry from the ground up, optimized for everything that I could get from the disks. Of course I knew all the original crew very well: Bernie, our machinist, Jim Spaights, electronic engineer, Don Bergstrom chief engineer, all great people. Anyone curious about the history can just ask.
L' orchestron , è un mellotron che funziona a dischi preregistrati ma ha un suono più freddo e denota anche imperfezioni nelle sonorità stesse!!!!!!!!!! Strumento a tastiera che nelle intenzioni di chi lo ha inventato voleva essere un interessante alternativa al Mellotron. Ma onestamente preferisco di più il Mellotron!!!!!!!!!!!
It begs the question of why it never took off in terms of sales, mainly because it didn’t have a limitation with how long you could hold notes. But it could be the lo-fi sound.
There were many factors at play, but reliability, sound quality, etc were big ones. We're working on a dedicated website on the Orchestron that will go into great detail. :)
There were limitations on the resolution of the Dupont polymer used to make the disks, and on the 'collimator' slit that restricted the area that was read by the sensors. I experimented with narrowing the width of the collimator, using a microscope we had in the Opsonar lab. Instead of averaging a wide area, like the Optigan, I could get higher bandwidth, but it also picked up more noise. Tradeoffs due to limitations of the optical technology. At Opsonar, we had a fenced, locked area called "The Cage" where we had lots of historic instruments; Chiltons, Chamberlins, Mellotrons, etc. Even one like a Mellotron, but with a single very wide magnetic band. The Cage was a trip in itself.
Io credo che su Relayer Moraz usò il Mellotron , ma praticamente l ORCHESTRON è un tipo di Mellotron che funziona a dischi preregistrati non a nastri come il Mellotron ,il suono del Mellotron per me però è molto migliore poi c'è il BIROTRON che non è male anche L Eminent non mi dispiace ed anche la SOLINA arp String ensemble !!!! Ma di tutti questi il Mellotron è quello che preferisco !!!!!
AWESOME!!!
Great seeing you here! You're one of my favorite RUclipsrs!
Never heard heard a real Orchestron by itself before. The sound is nothing else than amazing.
That "someone" is us over at optigan.com!
P
Pop
@pierre pouget they are certainly not free lol
I only recently learned about the existence of the Orchestron, and now I know how Kraftwerk made those chorus sounds on their 70’s albums.
Thanks. The Kraftwerk bits were a joy
Interesting instrument, probably very rare nowadays. It was intended to be a more reliable replacement for mellotron
Weird. I mean, no weirder than a Mellotron. But weird in its own way, which is cool. It has it's own, inimitable, sound. In a head-to-head competition, the Mellotron wins every time.
what a strange and fascinating little keyboard.
Wow never knew this. Radioactivity was instantly recognisable
If physical ones were still being manufactured, I would buy one for sure, but of course it's only a dream! I love Kraftwerk and it would be a dream to have one of the best underrated instruments in music history!
Check out the Panoptigon- it plays Optigan and Orchestron discs, either vintage ones or new ones. optigan.com/product/panoptigon/
thanks for this post. I am very happy.
Amazing piece of history. I'm a guitar player in my early 40s but I heard these existed and was fascinated and lo and behold here it is!!! Amazing
This is so amazing THANK YOU
OMG! Great Philip Glass bit!!
It has its own sound which is different to any of the instruments named on the labels. That may be the reason not many were sold.
No tape jams, but a pisser still if the discs got stuck :)
Very cool. Is this the same instrument used for the intro of Trans Europe Express as well as the melody line?
yes, the quivering string sound in TEE is the Orchestron "Violin" disc.
im sad you didn't played "schaufensterpuppen" (Showroom dummies) by kraftwerk :(.
Or even "Ohm Sweet Ohm" with both the Cello and Flutes....
This is my first taste of the Orchestron in action. Trying to ascertain whether it was the model used by Neil Diamond synthesist Alan Lindgren as a string-choir generator during the 1976 Beautiful Noise tour which took Neil to the Greek Theater for the second time.
What exactly was the deal with that F key?
Love
Optigan/Panoptigon is so underrated!
Great to see it in action! Sad that we don't see the disc getting loaded due to well-tanned, hirsute arm blocking camera. ;o)
Does anyone know if the audio from those disks are available online?
So, did Kraftwerk really sample this or just use it as a backing instrument in their songs?
They owned one. Back then there was no sampling. The first instruments capable of sampling were devices like the NED Synclavier and later the Fairlight CMI. They bought a Synclavier during the 80s (the one you can see behind the glass door in the middle of their famous studio photo). It was noisy as hell because of the Winchester disc drives so that's why they probably put it in there.
Yeah they used it as a backing instrument. This is just a better built/better looking version of the toy like Mattel Opitigan... yes that Mattel who made Barbies and the like!
Did David Van Koevering get the idea for the orchestron from the optigan? He started with a case company and incorporated the cases into some of his orchestron units. The sound was scratchy and the "joint" in the disc sound was very noticeable. Ray Brubaker bought a bunch of optigons and kept them in a storage unit in the 1980s. I don't know what ever happened to them.
Yes, the first Orchestrons were simply converted Optigans. The one you see in this video is a Model B, which was more or less a converted Talentmaker.
I worked for several of divisions Miner Industries, who also made Estey organs and Magnetone amps. I moved from Optigans into the development lab of the Opsonar division, where I designed the first Orchestron prototypes. There were other engineers there, of course, but they gave me the design gig cause I was obsessed with turning the Optigan into something bigger. We had a terrific keyboard player on staff (Tommy Davis), but for some reason, they had me do the initial demos to Dave Van Koevering (cool guy). Dave was impressed, and bought the rights. But the initial designs or ideas predated Vako. Vako did take the Orchestron into major production later. Dave V and I talked about a future ROM-based instrument, but I never got to work on that.
So yes, the originals were based on components from the Optigan, including the original sensors, but I designed the Orchestron circuitry from the ground up, optimized for everything that I could get from the disks. Of course I knew all the original crew very well: Bernie, our machinist, Jim Spaights, electronic engineer, Don Bergstrom chief engineer, all great people. Anyone curious about the history can just ask.
L' orchestron , è un mellotron che funziona a dischi preregistrati ma ha un suono più freddo e denota anche imperfezioni nelle sonorità stesse!!!!!!!!!! Strumento a tastiera che nelle intenzioni di chi lo ha inventato voleva essere un interessante alternativa al Mellotron. Ma onestamente preferisco di più il Mellotron!!!!!!!!!!!
awesome shirt
awesome :)
And no I’m not JJ from The Art Of Noise.
I always tride to reduplicate that choir sound at the beginning I have 16 synths and never got close on any of them lol
Is it compatible to the optigan discs?
Without the attack, it sounds more like a horn or flute register on an old analog organ
is the radio in the background coming from interference from its signal or just background noise?
in this case, it's interference.
Where i can buy one of this? 😅
You got some nimble fingers boy
einstein on the beach at 2:16!
And again at 5:22
123 1234 123 123 1234 123 123!
I was in this prematurely air-conditioned supermarket, and there were all these aisles.
That faulty F-key though. Imma edit that footage out, yo.
hello stevie
It begs the question of why it never took off in terms of sales, mainly because it didn’t have a limitation with how long you could hold notes. But it could be the lo-fi sound.
@chief tp That is a possibility, but some people like lo-fi sounding equipment.
There were many factors at play, but reliability, sound quality, etc were big ones. We're working on a dedicated website on the Orchestron that will go into great detail. :)
There were limitations on the resolution of the Dupont polymer used to make the disks, and on the 'collimator' slit that restricted the area that was read by the sensors. I experimented with narrowing the width of the collimator, using a microscope we had in the Opsonar lab. Instead of averaging a wide area, like the Optigan, I could get higher bandwidth, but it also picked up more noise. Tradeoffs due to limitations of the optical technology.
At Opsonar, we had a fenced, locked area called "The Cage" where we had lots of historic instruments; Chiltons, Chamberlins, Mellotrons, etc. Even one like a Mellotron, but with a single very wide magnetic band. The Cage was a trip in itself.
I'm almost certain daniel Johnston used this, just judging by sound??
Cool! What is the problem with that F with the sax?
flaky key contact. this is an old video- this particular orchestron is in much better playing condition these days
I think that Patrick Moraz used it in Relayer album.
I think he used it in the 1976 tour, not on Relayer
Is this for sale?
No, but you can get the new version here! optigan.com/product/panoptigon/
Please ioptigan android
Kraftwerk use it
Io credo che su Relayer Moraz usò il Mellotron , ma praticamente l ORCHESTRON è un tipo di Mellotron che funziona a dischi preregistrati non a nastri come il Mellotron ,il suono del Mellotron per me però è molto migliore poi c'è il BIROTRON che non è male anche L Eminent non mi dispiace ed anche la SOLINA arp String ensemble !!!! Ma di tutti questi il Mellotron è quello che preferisco !!!!!
Number nine
Number nine (5 years later edition)