The Hammond Regent with its 50‐odd multicolored tone buttons is a resplendent example of what the new technology has made possible. The second way was through vacuum tube or transistor oscillators hooked up to amplifiers, Desired tones were achieved through the use of filters, which screen sound waves to create variations. The first way was through serrated tone wheels, which noun in an electromagnetic field and induced a current of a desired frequency that was altered by raising or lowering the serrations on the wheel. Amplifiers increase the volume of these tones.īefore integrated circuitry was introduced, most electronic organs generated sound in one of two ways. Other silicon chips divide these 12 frequencies into successive halves to produce all the lower tones of the organ. A silicon chip divides this master frequency into the 12 tones of the upper octave of the keyboard. These solid‐state organs usually produce sound through a master oscillator that generates a wave of 2 million cycles. Miniature circuitry means that an organ cabinet can now house far more electronic combinations than before, thus allowing the many intricate circuits needed to produce automatic chording, automatic rhythm, automatic accompaniment, more tone voices and more musical effects. Through such circuitry, up to 2,000 transistors can be placed on a silicon chip one‐eighth of an inch square. Large‐scale integrated circuitry was developed in a Government‐funded crash research project to help land a man on the moon. Layton gives jazz and modern music concerts, he prefers the electronic organ because it offers faster keyboard action than the pipe organ. “City people live in threeand four‐room apartments and can't possibly take a pipe organ into their homes, so they select the next best thing.” “Certainly the sound of an electronic organ is not as good as that of a pipe organ,” he said, “but sometimes it comes awfully close.” He added: Now they feel that organs have a place in the home.”Įddie Layton, the organist who accompanies the Knicks and Rangers at Madison Square Garden, has just bought a 26‐foot boat, in which he is installing a small electronic organ. The organ is ideal because of its versatility.”Īnother organ salesman commented: “Not long ago, people thought that organs belonged in churches and funeral parlors, period. Concerned parents want to see their children off the streets, and nothing can beat an organ to help restore family Besides, most parents want their kids to learn an instrument. “People are getting tired of watching the boob tube every night. Shapley, manager of the Hammond Organ Studios in midtown Manhattan, said: To explain the mounting popularity of organs, Michael S. After Hammond, the largest lroducers are Wurlitzer, Kimball and Norlin Music, Inc., which makes Lowrey organs. Wurlitzer sold about $37million worth of organs last year. The organ is an ideal home family ‐recreational hobby, and besides it uses only es much energy as a 40‐watt bulb.” Gifford, manager of marketing research for the Wurlitzer Company, said: “The energy crisis meant that more people were staying at home and were thus becoming more family‐oriented. The Sounder sells for $395, about $200 less than Hammond's previous cheapest organ. Last year Hammond introduced the Sounder, an easyto‐play model with many automatic features made feasible only through the wide use of integrated circuitry.
based in Deerfield, Ill., sold approximately $82‐million worth of organs in its fiscal year ended March 31, 1974, up from $64‐million the year before. Volkober, president of the Hammond Corporation, the nation's largest manufacturer of electronic organs, said, “Increasingly easy‐toplay features, lower prices, broadened distribution bases and more leisure time are probably the best reasons to explain the industry's explosive growth.” Why have electronic organs grown so popular? John A. In each of the 10 years before integrated circuitry was introduced on a large scale, organ sales hovered near 140,000 units. Piano sales in 1973 came to 247,700 units and $239‐million. The 1973 sales of electronic organs represented almbst one‐quarter of the music industry's total sales of $1.5‐billion. This slower growth was attributed to manufacturers’ difficulties in obtaining electronic components.ĭollar volume continued its strong climb last year, reaching $359‐million, a 14 per cent advance over 1972's $314‐million. Unit sales in 1973 hit 202,000, a rise of 9 per cent.
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