Howdy

Well my Dad played in rock and roll bands when I was growing up so I was always around the gear. He had all the classics: B3, D6, Rhodes, Wurli, Micromoog, CP70, etc.

The first keyboard _I_ owned was a DX7 II FD with "E!" ('cos that's the sound you made when you tried to do anything with it..."EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"). I amplified it through a Yamaha guitar amp. Later I sold it and got an SY77 that I run through a Yamaha P2250 power amp to a pair of speakers Dad and I built.

First piano: Baldwin Acrosonic
First keyboard: Fender Rhodes Suitcase 88
First synth: DX7 (original)

(later added the Grey Matter Response E! when it became available.)

First sampler: EMax (12 bit!)

Had a Wurli and the Korg copy of the mini moog, then a Rhodes w/ legs through a Yamaha guitar amp, then a Rhodes suitcase and a DX9. But, when I was in college, we learned "electronic music" on a Moog 9000! It filled an entire room. Patch chord heaven.

Phil

I can't believe you guys had that kinda equipment to start with, DX7, B3, Fender Rhodes. I wish I had one of those when I started.

I had to work my way up from a Yamaha PSR-6 keyboard through a Yamaha PSR-7 keyboard through a Yamaha PSR-200 (I bet no one even knows what these instruments look like...) to a Roland JV-30. I used an Atari ST running Cubase 2.0 for sequencing. I later added a Yamaha CS1x and after I discovered that VST instruments are cheaper I bought an evolution MK361C to go with the other two (and of course upgraded to a PC running VST 5.1 and bought a bunch of plugs, among which NI FM7, NI B4, and EVP73, funny how these classic instruments ended up in my setup anyway).

Regards, Rob

:) Mine was a Moog Satellite.

--Rick

6 years: Elka organ
8 years: Elka strings
9 years: Roland SH-2000
11 years: Allorgan organ
15 years: Ensoniq Mirage
17 years: Sequencial Cirquits Prophet 600
...
...
...

Does anyone remember those air-powered reed organ things that were small and made out of plastic? Yep, I started on one of those when I was about 6. :D

My first "real" synth was an Alesis QS6 first gen, which was an okay synth, I suppose.

Originally posted by Consul:
Does anyone remember those air-powered reed organ things that were small and made out of plastic? ...

:) Yes I do, they were sold at Woolworth, along with the 39.95 electric guitars. I liked the soda fountain, you bust a balloon, and that's the price you pay for a Banana Split. ;)
Now I feel really old!

--Rick

Originally posted by Consul:
Does anyone remember those air-powered reed organ things that were small and made out of plastic? Yep, I started on one of those when I was about 6. :D

Mine was called a "Melodica". You would blow into a plastic tube. Sort of a cross between an accordian and bagpipes!

Actually, the one I had was electrically powered. It was pretty high-tech, man! :D :tu:

Thanks All!!!

This is fun! Now that you remind me I did have one of "those air-powered reed organ things". It was the Emenee Chord Organ. Guess what; I have one in the studio right now that I bought at a garage sale for $3.00. Here's one for the trivia buffs. Bowie used one for the track Sun Machine. I also had one of those Schroeder type toy pianos with the tines.

White Swan - I've got a Melodica as well. Needed something on those extended bus trips while the acoustic guitars were out when I was on the road.

My 20 month old daughter blew me away last week. She has one of those Fischer Price Rockin' keyboards. She also has a "little" one that plays songs using animal sounds. She put that one on the coffee table, pushed the Rockin' keyboard up to the coffee table and played both at the same time! That's Daddy's Little Girl!!!

Peace to all,

Bob

:p:

Check out Keyboard mag's November issue p.13 - the keyboard of the month! Your electronic Melodica ain't nothin'!
But I'm not sure if its midi compatible. :)

Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
Since we are all waxing nostalgic on the old keyboards (Thanks Alecio!), what was the very first keyboard you owned? And, just for fun, how did you amplify it?

Uncle Bobs first: The Farfisa Fast III with a Gibson Thor bass amp.

Oh boy am I dating myself!

Peace to all! ;) A mono synth that needed an hour to warm up the VCA's. Then you adjusted it all night. Oh, but the drugs made it lots of fun back then. I turned on Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake and Palmer, pluged it into a Raven Sears guitar amp with a Vox Tape Echo and went into wonderland. Later I moved to a Fender Rodes piano and an Arp Quatra and even an Arp Avatar for my guitar. Ya... More notes to play with. :c:

:) It is tricky to play (single note at a time) instruments like the early VCO's. But it can be done, I have a fugue I did with one, I would like to post it so you can hear what can be done.

This single note method was used to create the early music in computer games. They had three (single note at a time) oscillators. You had to compose, and program in (BASIC), a special way, I have examples of that too!

:D

--Rick

Chris, I envy you. What a way to get started.

Through high school I added a Wurlitzer EP-200, then traded in the Farfisa and got a fire engine red Acetone Organ. Then my first synth, the MicroMoog. I used an Acoustic 140 Bass amp for the Wurly and the Micro, and a Bandmaster head with a Vibratone cabinet (a sideways "Leslie", anybody remember that one?) for the Acetone.

After high school I graduated to the ubiquitous '70's keyboards: B-3, Rhodes 73 Stage, MiniMoog, Clavinet, RMI Piano, Arp Odyssey and, God help me, a Mellotron.

Peace,

Uncle Bob

:p:

Mellotron is still around in a form:

http://www.mellotron.com/

The web site design is somewhat confusing, so you might miss that they are even making new ones:

http://www.mellotron.com/mkvi.htm

Cool stuff, I thought. :tu:

EDIT: Here are some more images of the new ones being made: http://www.mellotron.com/mellotron_mk_vi_images.htm

Hi guys, geez I even forgot how to spell Rhodes and VCO lol. It's been awhile hehe.

Check out this images I dug up.
and see this article [[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]etude[/]="http://recording.or…"]etude[/] .

Lots has changed but the vibe remains the same. We dig deep into our minds to harness the sounds. In the early days mono analog sure was fat though. I remember how much I loved heavy reverb and a sine wave. Broke a few drivers lol.

D'OH!

I just realized something... My first "real" keyboard was NOT an Alesis QS6, but rather, it was a Kawai K4 a friend of mine sold me some years before. Stupid me. :d:

I still have a K4r (rack version) of the same synth. It had some real capability if you weren't trying for realistic sounds.

Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
Uncle Bobs first: The Farfisa Fast III with a Gibson Thor bass amp.

Mine was Farfisa, circa 1962, can't remember the model. Sears Silvertone amp, though.

And... the Farfisa is STILL a joy to haul around, compared to a Hammond.

OK I'm about to give away my age here: Mine was a cheesy 2 octave Yamaha porta-something when I was 11 years old. The person to guess my age from that gets........

My second one was a 5 octave Casio, once again a porta-tone-something or other. Age 14

After that it was a Roland Juno 6, which was stolen from a gig,

A Yamaha SY22, which was stolen from the trunk of my car,

A Roland JV-1000, which I still have,

An Ensoniq ASR-X (which I sold) (not really a keyboard, but...)

An Akai AX80, which I dropped and destroyed and,

A Yamaha MOTIF 7, which was stolen from yet another gig.

Disturbing huh?

mitz

Me?
A paraguay cheap unit Yamaha PSR. However, I used to add an SGE reverb/chorus/eq or digitech delay peday and it sounded cool. I remember it had an electronic drum loop a la Afrika Bambata/Kraftwerk.
From there, I went to a W30/JW50/JV880/Xp80/D4/Dm5.
Nice leap
lol

Okay, I'm officially joining with the other old farts on this forum :D

My first electronic keyboard was a Farfisa Combo Compact - a red one! I used to play it through my Haynes Bassking amp!!

Wooooiee!!