Why has the Popularity of Organs has died here in the US and yet Keyboards and electric pianos with all the bells and whistles have become popular, are they not the same. Other than the amount of keys, they do the same job, they just look different.

John C.

I suspect Bruno that the dreaded word "fashion" has a lot to do with it. Home organs became fashionable in the 70's and 80's and like all such things in this modern world they have their time and then fade into the past.

Of course there are more serious factors like size and weight in the equation. I also think that the small army of manufacturers who flooded the market with rubbishy organs that quickly disapointed the purchasers had a lot to do with it.

Regards,
Trevor

its because of the comparative size and weight most likely.

I think these are all factors. In addition, I think when technology took a quantum leap in the early eighties, the keyboard overtook the organ by sheer versatility.

I remember playing my B3 in restuarants in the seventies and I got a rhythm ace to go with it. Man, people ate that up. Now,that would be so outdated you wouldn't make a dime.

People have come to expect so much more these days, as you very well know,John.

However, the voicing of an organ is very unique, and there are many die hards that favor that sound.

My fondest memories are of this simpler time, but since we live in the 21st century, we have to keep up or fall by the wayside.

Bernie

What I find amusing is that a lot of people selling modern digital keyboards including 88 note digital piano's on ebay particularly are still calling these modern instruments 'organs' in error, it seems the 'organ' is still with us, but now, generally if it has black and white keys and you plug it in then it must be an organ even though it may sound like a piano?

Those of us who try to entertain the Great British Public have wrestled with this problem for years. In the public perception
'Organ' means one of two things..(well, three really but I won't go down that path!)
Church or Theatre. Various people have tried different names to describe what they play but nothing has yet made any impact on the public at large. "Digital Orchestras" are meaningless or misleading.. In my own advertising I alternate between Organ and Keyboard to try and attract a wider clientele but I don't think it has made any real difference.
Surely someone must be able to think
up a name to describe what we do which would interest the unconverted.. AND please don't suggest One Man Band.. Over here that
means a man in a funny costume with cymbals and drums attached to every extremity, a guitar strung round his neck and a mouthorgan and cazoo in his mouth.

Regards,
Trevor

From the entertainer's viewpiont:
Organs are big, very expensive and as a rule can't be updated. They can't be easily moved.
I was never so happy as the day I graduated from organs to arrangers, even though at that time arrangers were primitive and I needed outboard gear also. I used an external drum machine, DX7 for lead sounds and piano module for piano.
Still, no organ, leslie, dolly, bench, pedalboard, etc. to lug around.
I recently heard a guy played the latest and greatest Lowrey organ. I believe he said it cost around $20,000. It weighed a ton and it sounded like a skating rink. I'm sure he wasn't getting the most out of it, BUT, who cares--it was too big, too costly and too restrictive.
DonM

Bernie...still play 40 plus 2 hour jobs a year on a B-3 with a drummer...$350.00 a pop. The "B" stays at this Country Club, and I'll admit to using a digital grand on the left hand, but in the right situation, it STILL works!

Russ

I used to sell organs back in the early 80's, and the big push was "learn to play with one finger". Sold a ton to people who had the best intentions to learn to play but most came to the realization that the could never make it sound anywhere close to the way I did back at the store. I think everyone knows someone who has an organ just sitting in a room and hasn't even been turned on for years. That, and the fact that they soon crossed $20,000 and even up to $80,000. I donated my organ 15 years ago and bought a Yamaha psr 500. It would do tons more than my Baldwin would do. However
a year ago I found a perfect condition Lowrey MX-1 organ and couldn't resist getting back to my roots, so, I bought it and been having a blast. But here it is a year later and I'm bored with it so, welcome Roland G-70. I can't see myself getting bored with this baby.

hi
i use to have a wersi spetra and i loved the sounds and way it played, i have a technics kn6000 and a wersi pegasus now and love both of them and they dont take up half the space my organ use too, but if i had more room i'd love another wersi organ, i like the new lowery too and have played an old mx2 and loved the sounds. its so diffrent playing an organ to a keyboard.
bill