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.

Hi John,

I think you may have partly answered your own question "Other than the amount of keys, they do the same job, they just look different.
Other factors may be :
1. If you are a gigging musician, organs are much heavier and bulkier to tote around the country - my back bears witness to this - when I had my own group, we used a Hammond T102 and it was a brute to move around.
2. To produce the same facilities as a 'portable' keyboard, an Organ would probably cost quite a bit more.

------------------
Willum

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is Music.
Aldous Huxley

an interesting question - when I was asked to make technics song disks for organised music lessons it was apparent to me that organs with pedals were seen as very uncool and naff by youngsters [even if they could reach the pedals! ]. As auto bass progressed and pop groups would not be seen dead with an organ as time went by it was no surprise to me that with no younger players the sector would die out leaving only a handful of affectionadoes. The popularity of keyboards is slowly fading if you look at total global trends over the years (compared to electric guitars for instance), and this must have a reason in the lack of music lessons/schools and examples in popular bands to stimulate interest in the young.

The U.S. dealers had a lot to do with sales dwindling. Inflating the price of instruments so they could offer full purchase price of trade ins.

Organs $15,000 to $65,000
Keyboards $2,500 to $5,000

With added amps/spkrs the keyboard performs as well if not better.

Fran in SC

We have discussed this subject many times at our Keyboard Club and I can tell you the organ players among our members would totally disagree with you. To them the keyboard is a 'toy' and is not to be confused in any way with an organ.

I have listened to their reasons and arguments and as a non organ player, I have to say I agree with them, the organ is a totally different instrument. When played properly all have their unique sound and are a pleasure to listen to.

However, although the piano is my first love, the keyboard will always interest me, particularly my KN7 as it seems to me every time I sit down to play it, I discover something new. Also I am very interested in technology and of course there is much to amuse me on the KN. If I were younger, I would train to be an IT expert, it is a fascinating world.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to take advantage of learning from all my friends on this site and at this point, I would like to thank you all for your willingness to share your knowledge.

Audrey

hi
i have a kn6000 and a wersi pegasus and use to have a wersi spectra. the bid diffreb=nce i found was how easy the spectra was to set up before playing, you could have 3 voices on the top manual and the bottom manual split and two voices on each and use the volume sliders to control them, its a better instrument to play if not using the backing rhythm. i love the sounds on my kn6000 and it works well with the pegasus too.
i do not think its fair to compair the keyboard to the organ as there so diffrent.
bill