Dear fellow members,
The Technics Forum on the Synth Zone has been dominated by discussions about KN series keyboards. The infrequency of discussions on digital ensemble (the SX-PR series) and organs (the GN, FN, EA, GA and FA series) is quite discouraging, if not also reflecting the lack of diversity. I would also like to invite people to talk about a variety of issues other than those that largely pertain to how to use certain features of their musical instruments that they own or play.
Is there anyone out there who still own and play any of the sumptuous Technics organs?
Compared to organs, the limitations of any KN keyboard are only too apparent given that there is only a single keyboard with only three parts: RIGHT1, RIGHT2 and LEFT. (I do know that each part can be a layered composite sound.) The poor thing has to share three parts on a short five octave keyboard! I try to get around this by connecting a full 88-key SX-P50 via MIDI port(s) to a KN keyboard so that I have room for both hands to manoeuvre after the applying left/right split.
On the organs, there are two keyboards, each with four parts: ORGAN, SOUND1, SOUND2 and SOUND3. Adding the pedal keyboard, there are a total of nine parts!
On listening to recordings or live playing, the differences speaks for themselves! The texture, harmonic and countrapuntal features of organ music are superior, while the keyboard music is often just confined to featuring a main melody over an accompaniment texture. The digital ensemble music lies somewhere between the organ-keyboard spectrum.
An advanced organ player can even manage to play on both keyboards with one hand, and he or she can do the same with the other hand. Add both feet, and you get six different lines of music going at once. And you can have all of that on an organ even before adding the performance pads, automatic accompaniments and the sequencer parts.
Of course, you can also play an organ as if it is a KN keyboard by turning on the auto accompaniment and one-touch play.
I believe that what ultimately killed the popularity and sustainability of the organ line and its market is not the enormous size and lack of portability but the enormous price tag. I'll leave you to picture and ponder on the effects of Greed, Absurdity, Over-Pricing and Marketing Tactics that backfired. There probably have been other reasons as well. Perhaps some of you can enlighten us.
One of my cousins wrote on the 3rd of January 2005:
Yes, there's a global spiral downfall in sales of musical instruments worldwide. The traditional strong hold for Yamaha and Technics organs in Asia has been replaced with new tides such as learning computer skills. Yamaha Music in Malaysia for example have also converted their schools into play schools with child care service and have also evolved in tertiary music education in order to cope with such changes in market behaviour. Studying music has become merely a hobby now. Children are also pre-occupied with heavy school work loads and extra tuitions to cope with the new syllabus rather than to spend time on music. What a pity!
Kind Regards,
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KHAI-WEI
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