favorite vintage electric piano/organ?

[moldegg]

Couldn't find a post like this when I searched the forum...

I'm covering the Twin Peaks music for a festival I'm playing next month & I've been searching for a nice inexpensive vintage electric piano/organ to buy for the show. My friend has a Farfisa Combo Compact in red in great condition that she never uses and she's not sure if she's ready to sell it for $200/250. It's color would be so fitting but I really want to make sure I get something with a great warm sound and portability that doesn't feel cheap. Some demos I've been watching got me interested in the Casio CT-401, the old ARPs, Crumars, Roland RS-09 etc. But it got me wondering -

What is your favorite inexpensive electric or electronic piano/organ and why?

Oh and by inexpensive lets say I mean $500 or less.

any one else a sucker for cello presets?

[Alex E]

I like the Casio CT-101. I was at someone's house years ago and stumbled across one set up in the basement. It looked like it had sat there untouched since 1981. Sounded pretty cool for what it was and had a little bit of fun playing it.

[GuyaGuy]

I had a GEM (Sprinter I think) that worked well for that because it was a combo organ combined with an electronic piano. Not the best piano sound but worked in a pinch. Now I use the EMU Vintage Keys for combo organ sounds.

[skizzle]

bought a ct-401 at value village(like goodwill) a few years back, meh. just got a lowrey cotillion that is just fantastic!!!!

[V301H]

Congrats on the Lowrey Cotillion. Looks like the word is out on these:

[megamanx]

Coencidently, I just bought a wurlitzer omni 6500, don't know much about it other that it was made in Germany and that it is meant to be portable.

[Z]

Electric or electronic pianos?

I got my Yamaha CP-80 electric grand piano for $400 with Crate BX-100 amp (which I sold for $100) back in the summer of 2008.

I'm not really a fan of organs or electronic pianos.

[V301H]

A good, small, low-priced Combo Organ is the Yamaha YC-10. All the YC models are great. The true classic Combo Organ sound is either the Vox Continental or Farfisa Compact. The Vox Super Continental, Farfisa Deluxe Compact, Duo Compact, and Mini-Compact also have the classic sound. Elka Panther organs are cool, too.

The Casio WK-3800 and 3000 series in general is capable of the best Combo Organ simulation I've heard in anything except the Nords which cost ten times as much. The Casio has adjustable harmonics so you can dial in really close to the sound you want.

[rhino]

Old guy rambles:
If you can bother to program it, my go-to keyboard is still the Alesis QS series. Not quite THAT vintage (16-18 years), but overall a good bet to simulate most any sound. (Factory presets are pretty much s**t: Silly combos dripping with reverb, and space noises.)

[walkathon]

See if you can find an Elka like the one Mothersbaugh's rocking here ...


The Matador R is a bit of a gem (instant High Llamas) if you can find one:


Otherwise, as far as organs go, scour craigslist/Goodwills locally for a few days and let serendipity take over, just like when agent cooper threw rocks at those bottles:

[synthparts]

If you want to duplicate the TP sounds you will need a Roland MKS-70/JX-10 for the strings and an E-mu Proformance/1+ (piano module with some dark piano sounds and has the bass gtr sound from the main theme)...

[moldegg]

Hey thanks for all your input it's helped me out significantly. I'm really digging those Yamaha YC series (especially the 45D wow!) and the Farfisa Combos. The Elka Panther is quite nice too. Ooh and the Matador. ahhh there are too many to choose from!
There are a few on the bay right now that grab my attention but first I wanted to ask what your opinions were on some others. Have you had any experience with these -

Crumar Roady
Hillwood
Hohner Pianet T
Roland EP-30 or any other EPs
ARP 4-Voice or 16-Voice

Again, thanks for the replies. This is a new world to me and any comments are greatly appreciated!

[moldegg]

If you want to duplicate the TP sounds you will need a Roland MKS-70/JX-10 for the strings and an E-mu Proformance/1+ (piano module with some dark piano sounds and has the bass gtr sound from the main theme)...

Is that what Badalamenti used or is that how you'd do it?

[synthparts]

That's what he used. If you listen to those synths you'll instantly recognize them.

[Micke]

Actually, Kinny Landrum (who played the synths/keys on the TP soundtrack) used a D550 string sound and a MKS-70
of his own devising to do the string patches. He used a SCI T8 as his master keyboard, and sometimes used it for string
patches, but not much. Just to set the record straight....