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#459518 - 10/12/18 06:35 AM OT: Lowrey Closing
abacus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 5401
Loc: English Riviera, UK
The last home entertainment organ manufacture in the USA is about to disappear https://www.organforum.com/forums/showthread.php?58227-Lowrey-closing which means the USA will be totally reliant on manufactures outside of the USA for arrangers and entertainment organs, this probably means that suggestions by USA customers for certain features will be totally ignored. (Apart from the Roland BK series the USA has very little (If any) say on what goes into current arrangers anyway)

Bill
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English Riviera:
Live entertainment, Real Ale, Great Scenery, Great Beaches, why would anyone want to live anywhere else (I�m definitely staying put).

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#459522 - 10/12/18 07:30 AM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: abacus]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
And then there were none....sad frown

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#459536 - 10/12/18 10:09 AM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: abacus]
DonM Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/25/99
Posts: 16735
Loc: Benton, LA, USA
Lowery didn't keep up with the changing times. I played several Lowery organs for years.
They ignored smaller and lighter and kept trying to sell $10,000 and above organs, that were as much a piece of furniture as musical instruments. They sound fantastic but the market disappeared and they didn't roll with it.
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#459538 - 10/12/18 10:23 AM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: abacus]
Bachus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/02/06
Posts: 7143
Originally Posted By abacus
The last home entertainment organ manufacture in the USA is about to disappear https://www.organforum.com/forums/showthread.php?58227-Lowrey-closing which means the USA will be totally reliant on manufactures outside of the USA for arrangers and entertainment organs, this probably means that suggestions by USA customers for certain features will be totally ignored. (Apart from the Roland BK series the USA has very little (If any) say on what goes into current arrangers anyway)

Bill


Not surprised..
Lowrey sounded and looked still like the 70’s home organs
They lagged Wersi, Böhm and Bemore (and Roland AT organs) by half a century..

In every buisenss comtinous innovation combined with high quallity is the key to success.
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Yamaha Genos, Roland Jupiter 80, Ipad pro.

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#459549 - 10/12/18 12:26 PM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: abacus]
TedS Offline
Member

Registered: 04/28/06
Posts: 841
Loc: North Texas, USA
A little OT, but Bill I didn't think customers in the US (or anywhere) had input into Roland's development. The BK-9 was extremely rare here in the US and its development was pretty much abandoned with some pernicious bugs still present in the O.S. It seems like every time Roland moves onto a new series, they fire the old development team and reinvent the wheel. This introduces new bugs, and sometimes desireable features go missing. Very frustrating.

As for Lowrey, they did make a few keyboards in the 1980s I think (teeny Genie, Micro Genie, etc.) I hope someone licenses the intellectual property rights to their intelligent chord system. It was useful and pretty good--nearly as good as Roland's IMO.

As Don said, I'm not interested in a $20,000 piece of furniture. But arrangers are 85% software and 15% thoughtful ergonomics. If the Lowrey software and some of the control interface (like the touch strip) live on, all is not lost!


Edited by TedS (10/12/18 12:27 PM)

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#459568 - 10/12/18 04:30 PM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: TedS]
abacus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 5401
Loc: English Riviera, UK
Originally Posted By TedS
A little OT, but Bill I didn't think customers in the US (or anywhere) had input into Roland's development. The BK-9 was extremely rare here in the US and its development was pretty much abandoned with some pernicious bugs still present in the O.S. It seems like every time Roland moves onto a new series, they fire the old development team and reinvent the wheel. This introduces new bugs, and sometimes desireable features go missing. Very frustrating.

As for Lowrey, they did make a few keyboards in the 1980s I think (teeny Genie, Micro Genie, etc.) I hope someone licenses the intellectual property rights to their intelligent chord system. It was useful and pretty good--nearly as good as Roland's IMO.

As Don said, I'm not interested in a $20,000 piece of furniture. But arrangers are 85% software and 15% thoughtful ergonomics. If the Lowrey software and some of the control interface (like the touch strip) live on, all is not lost!


Roland did listen, hence the reason the G70 V2 came out to fix most of the complaints with the original G70. (When the G70 first came out it was a bit of a joke but when they bought out the G70 V2 (Which was a firmware update) it became one of the best arrangers of its time)
The BK9 was discontinued shortly after it was launched (Roland had lost interest in arrangers) so was scarce everywhere.
It’s sad to see Roland arrangers go, as they made some cracking ones, but that’s just life. (At least you still have the BK5 & BK7m as well as a couple of lesser boards)

Bill
_________________________
English Riviera:
Live entertainment, Real Ale, Great Scenery, Great Beaches, why would anyone want to live anywhere else (I�m definitely staying put).

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#459680 - 10/14/18 04:58 PM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: abacus]
Scott Langholff Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/09/02
Posts: 3163
Loc: Pensacola, Florida, USA
No longer a rumor.


Attachments
lowrey close.jpg



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#459681 - 10/14/18 05:05 PM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: Scott Langholff]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
What was their last produced model?

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#459684 - 10/14/18 09:38 PM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: Dnj]
Bachus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/02/06
Posts: 7143
Originally Posted By Dnj
What was their last produced model?


The same model as last year with 2 extra buttons and a new whistle sound

I am actually surprised lowrey was owned by Kawai.
_________________________
Yamaha Genos, Roland Jupiter 80, Ipad pro.

http://keyszone.boards.net

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#459692 - 10/15/18 01:46 AM Re: OT: Lowrey Closing [Re: Dnj]
abacus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 5401
Loc: English Riviera, UK
Originally Posted By Dnj
What was their last produced model?


The Aria Pro (If you need to ask the price you can’t afford it)

_________________________
English Riviera:
Live entertainment, Real Ale, Great Scenery, Great Beaches, why would anyone want to live anywhere else (I�m definitely staying put).

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