| "E's House Of Keys" |
| Here is where you will discover what previously only those who had seen my living quarters had known about. My habit of collecting vintage Keyboards. Yes, I am a keyboard nerd. Ever since I was little, I have been in love with the sounds of some of these instruments, (Hammond, Rhodes, etc.) and ever since then I have been collecting them to use as tools to add tons of personality and expression to my music. And I would be lying to you if I was to deny the sheer asthetic crazyness of cramming my house full of tacky old plastic organs and primitve electric pianoes. Yes...I've just now begun to admit to myself that I do get off on that too. Because of the lack of space in my life, my collection is pretty stripped down to the bare essentials right now. If it dosen't sound good or get used a lot, I can't really have it taking up space. It's about function right now, and lack of money explains the absence of exotic pieces and analog/digital synths in the house of keys at this time. |
| THE E'S HOUSE OF KEYS INSTRUMENT INVENTORY: |
| Organs: Lowery Genie 44 (for those somewhat "Farfisa-like" tones...oh yeah and because it was cheap and is 100% working) Hammond Drawbar Module XMC-1 Why? Because it's so portable, (Lemmie go out to the car and get my Hammond!) does sound decent (I don't care what you say, it does...unless you're listening too hard), and probabbly won't break and require lots of repairs (at least not for a while). Note: Due to living space limitations, I have drastically had to cut back on the number of organs I can possess. I have owned quite a few funky old church organs in various states of "broken-ness" over the years. I have a very special affiintiy for organs of all types, and in the future I would really like to start some kind of "museum" for these statley old workhorses of the spirit. An entire room of nothing but veneer, plastic tabswitches, and brown grillecloth that could come alive with the sounds of transistors, tonewheels, bass pedals, and built in Leslies for all to hear. Everybody knows about the B3, the Vox Continental, and the Farfisa, but, what about the Conns, the Loweys, and the Kimballs? Believe it or not, I have seen quite a few of these that are very affordable, do sound decent and could be very usable in a rock context. Just be sure that you really like the sound of it however, cause once you've bought it, it's yours! Unlike a Hammond, Vox or Farfisa, these guys have almost no reasale value. |
| Electric Pianoes: Fender Rhodes 73mk I Stage Piano Comments: Yes, it's not very exotic, and I know that the suitcase models are a little more flexible sound-wise, but, hey, it's in great shape and, unlike a suitcase, I can almost move it by myself! Wurlizer EP200 A little older and rarer than the ubiquitous 200A, it is of Museum quality, it's in tune, sounds great, and I got a great deal on it! |
| "Casioes" Casio is my generic term for those little plastic keyboards with drum machines in them from the 1980's onward. Back in the day (the early 90's for me), these really were the way to go. Cheap, Portable, flexible (if you push the limits of a good Casio it will surprise you with what it can do), and disposable...if ya break it, that means it's time to go yardsale-ing! Although the really old ones are starting to fetch higher prices, they really do have a unique and usable sound...some of them sound damn good if you plug em into a good amp, and you can still scrap up decent later models for pretty cheap. A well chosen "Stash-io" of about 5 good sounding casioes is worth it's weight in gold to the home recordist who shuns computer generated music and likes to get down and dusty with the fill-in button and arpeggiator! My personal Stash-io includes: Casiotone MT-45: My first keyboard and one of the original models, I got this one as a hand-me-down from my Grandfather ca. 1988 when he decided to go all the way and get a wurlitzer organ for his living room. It's definitley a kiddie keyboard and yes, it does have an overall "Nintendo-ey" sound but I have been really suprised at how much use I've gotten out of it over the years. Very cool clarinet and pipe organ sound; good bass (with add n' subtract harmonics), and a drum machine that probabbly gave some kids seisures when pushed to max-tempo on "16-beat" ca. 1986. You will hear this little gem of an instrument all over my Sounds Of Studio E! series of recordings. Casio Rap-man RP-1: The effects of Hip-Hop culture manifest themselves in a plastic keyboard for kids ca. 1990. Cool features include: An overall sound that is very reminscent of something like MC Hammer or Sir Mix a Lot's "Baby Got Back"; a plastic disk you can "scratch" on like a turn table (this was the main selling point, ie. gimmick, but it really dosen't sound anything like a record and a needle); percussion/orchestra "hit buttons" (in case you wanna rock your own beat or fuck up the beat coming out the drum machine); a small cheap microphone with a "voice effector"...this is the shit! If you want computer voices but don't want to fork over some serious jing on a vocoder, a talk box, or a ring modulator, then, the rapman is for you my friend! Dosen't sound nearly as good as the above, but it ain't half bad! Also has some cool sound effects on the keyboard like "alarm" and "car" decent cheap vibraphone sound too, if I remember correctly. Major drawback: you can't build chord progressions with the drum machine and keyboard, the rhythm tracks have their own pre-programmed harmonic structure...and they suck. The lack of this feature just may be the strongest strength of the other casioes, it's a great way to come up with spontaneous sounding progressions and song structures, and is what I belive makes the casio a unique instrument. "Mini Casio" This tiny, tiny keybord, (so tiny it's too small to play) did originally come with some kind of weird UPC scanner and a book of barcodes that would trigger pre-programmed music, but, it was given to me by Litmus Lowery with that little feature lost long ago. I really like it asthetically, but haven't gotten much use out of it. Has anyone out there used the "barcodes" to make some kind of music? Let me know if you have! |
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| "Pumping & Wheezing At The House Of Keys" |