The first significant instrument produced by RMI was the Rock-Si-Chord, which emulated a harpsichord. The best-selling and most widely used instrument was the RMI Electra-piano, that was played by numerous artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Steve Winwood, Genesis' Tony Banks, and Yes' Rick Wakeman. Later, the company became a pioneer of digital synthesizers, including the Keyboard Computer and RMI Harmonic Synthesizer; both were used by Jean Michel Jarre. The company struggled to compete with digital synthesizers in the early 1980s, which led to its closure. A number of sample libraries featuring RMI instruments are available for modern digital keyboards.
Early models
The Rock-Si-Chord preceded RMI's best-known Electra-piano.
The origins of RMI date to 1959, when Allen started using transistors in their organs instead of vacuum tubes. A separate division was set up to see if this technology could be used for portable musical instruments.[1] A patent was filed in 1963 on the group's electronic keyboard design.[2] Most models were designed at the company headquarters in Pennsylvania and manufactured in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, which led to the sub-division's name, Rocky Mount Instruments.[1] Production started off in part of a former tobacco warehouse, before moving to a 60,000-square-foot (5,600m2) factory employing 100 staff.[3]
The first models produced were combo organs in early 1967. The Explorer cost $845 and was a four-octave instrument that had a dedicated oscillator for each key, and was fitted with a "flying hammer" mechanism that repeatedly made or broke the oscillator's electrical connection, giving a strumming sound like a banjo or mandolin. The Lark was a three-octave organ which shared an oscillator between every two notes.[lower-alpha 1][4][5] Other instruments included the "Band Organ" (a three-octave electrical imitation of a calliope), manufactured from 1968 to 1969.[6]
The first electric piano model was the "Model 100 Rock-Si-Chord" in 1967.[6] Retailing for $695, it contained two sounds (string and lute) but was later updated as the "Model 100A" which contained additional sounds (harpsichord, cembalo, lute, and two guitars). The "Model 200 Rock-Si-Chord" cost $995 and added an additional 4' voice, which required an additional set of tone generator boards for each key.[7] Allen's Tom Emerick later said the Rock-Si-Chord was manufactured first because harpsichord voices were easier to design and manufacture than piano ones.[3] The Rock-Si-Chord was discontinued in 1968.[6]
RMI had no experience in the rock and pop market, as Allen had been used to selling instruments to churches and theatres. They produced advertisements featuring a mascot, "Gopher Baroque" and described the instrument in typical slang of the era, such as "I mean, you start swinging this axe and plastic things like crumble."[8]
The RMI 368X with a black textured plastic case is the best-known Electra-piano
RMI began producing the 300 Series Electra-piano in 1967. As with earlier instruments, the Electra-piano featured an oscillator for each key. It uses an LC oscillator to generate the sound, as it produced a stable frequency that was not prone to drift.[8] The signal is then run through a series of filters in order to produce an envelope resembling that of a piano.[9] The Electra-piano also had an "organ mode" that allowed each note to sustain indefinitely instead of decay like a piano, and an "accenter" that added a percussion effect to the start of each note being played.[6]
The original 300A (1967) and B (1969) models had 61 keys (G to C). The 368 was introduced in 1972 and added seven additional notes at the top end.[10] It was the best-selling Electra-piano.[11] The 368X (1974) was a 368 housed in a molded plastic case instead of the previously used tolex-covered plywood.[10][12] The 68D was a touch sensitive version of the 368X; it was made to order and few were produced.[10]
The Model 400 was a console version of the 300, which was intended for the home and club market and included a self-contained speaker system. The 400A (1970) used the same internals as the 300B, adding a 50 watt amplifier. The 468 (1972) was based on the 368.[10]
The 600 series combined the sounds of the Electra-piano and the Rock-Si-Chord. The first model was the 600A (1968). It included 8' and 4' tabs, which required two oscillators for every key and a separate bank of filters for each footage. The 600B (1970) featured an improved voicing circuitry and a pedal board with two volume and two sustain pedals. The 668 and 668X were the equivalents to the 368 and 368X respectively. The 668X weighed 100 pounds (45kg) and cost $2,095. It was the last analog Electra-piano remaining in production in the early 1980s.[11]
The Electra-piano had a standard audio jack output, so it could be connected to any guitar or keyboard amplifier. However, RMI designed amps specifically for the instrument. The 140 came with a single 15-inch (380mm)JBLwoofer, while the 140A featured a pair of them, and both had a set of dual high-frequency drivers. An optional accessory was available that was particularly good at producing high frequencies, that sat on top of the amp and was nicknamed the "Hi-Scream Cone".[11]
In total, around 10,000 RMI Electra-pianos were sold. However, unlike the Rhodes and Wurlitzer, RMI pianos have been reported as hard to find by collectors.[12]Samples of RMI instruments are available for digital keyboards such as the Nord Stage. The Roland JV-series sound modules include a "Keyboards of the '60s and '70s" library, which includes a series of RMI samples programmed by Nick Magnus.[6][13]
Other products
In 1974, RMI produced the "Keyboard Computer". It was derived from the digital Allen Computer Organ, with fewer voices, and was marketed as the world's first portable digital musical instrument. It cost $4,495 and supported transposition, pitch bend, and upgradeable voices via a series of punch cards. It was possible for the end user to store their own patches on punch cards. Though marketed as a synthesizer, the Keyboard Computer was based more on organ technology and did not have the full set of synthesizer functions.[14] The Keyboard Computer II was introduced in 1977. It cost $4,750 and featured an improved user interface, an increased range of voices, and allowed users to store more patches.[15]
In 1975, RMI produced its only true synthesizer, the $2,995 RMI Harmonic Synthesizer. It is one of the first digital synthesizers to be commercially produced, pre-dating the better-known Yamaha DX7 by almost a decade.[16][6] It featured 48 keys and two digital harmonic generators, each supporting sixteen different sets, and was equipped with a voltage-controlled filter and octave shifter. Other features included pitch bend, portamento, and controls for amplitude and frequency modulation.[16] Though it was technically advanced, it did not sell well and was discontinued in 1976.[16] Around 150 to 250 units were produced and only four were ever sold in Europe.[17][18]
The DK-20 (Digital Keyboard) was released in 1979 as a replacement for the analog Electra-pianos. It featured 68 keys and was housed in a similar cabinet to earlier instruments. Effects included adjustable decay, a phaser, and various filters. This model was produced until 1982.[16]
By the early 1980s, RMI was in decline owing to the high price of its instruments and competition from polyphonic synthesizers like the Prophet 5 and Oberheim OB-X. The company ceased production in 1982.[16]
Lord transplanted the internals of an RMI into a Hammond organ and allowed it to be triggered from the Hammond's manuals.[3] Banks later said he used the RMI as it was the best possible onstage alternative to a piano at the time, but disliked the lack of touch sensitivity and fewer notes than a grand piano. Owing to a lack of polyphonic synthesizers, he ran the RMI through effects pedals in order to create new sounds. The RMI was used for live renditions of songs that had a piano on the studio version, such as "Firth of Fifth" and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". He eventually replaced the RMI with a Yamaha CP-70.[6]
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier to drive a speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with the Leslie speaker.
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the interval of an octave. Pressing a key on the keyboard makes the instrument produce sounds—either by mechanically striking a string or tine, plucking a string (harpsichord), causing air to flow through a pipe organ, striking a bell (carillon), or activating an electronic circuit. Since the most commonly encountered keyboard instrument is the piano, the keyboard layout is often referred to as the piano keyboard or simply piano keys.
The piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, through engagement of an action whose hammers strike strings. Most pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, representing each note of the chromatic scale as they repeat throughout the keyboard's span of seven and a quarter octaves. There are 52 white keys, known as “naturals”, and 36 black keys, known as “sharps”. The naturals repeat a pattern of whole steps and half steps unique to any given starting note. These patterns define a diatonic scale. The 36 sharps repeat a pattern of whole steps and minor thirds, which defines a pentatonic scale.
The Rhodes piano is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, the hammers strike thin metal tines, which vibrate next to an electromagnetic pickup. The signal is then sent through a cable to an external keyboard amplifier and speaker.
An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into electrical signals by pickups. The pickups are connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to reinforce the sound sufficiently for the performer and audience to hear. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone. The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier. A few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company, and the Wurlitzer Company.
An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument based on keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and digital audio workstations. In technical terms, an electronic keyboard is a rompler-based synthesizer with a low-wattage power amplifier and small loudspeakers.
The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and responding to a keystroke by striking a given point on a tensioned string, and was designed to resemble the Renaissance-era clavichord.
Farfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a series of other keyboard instruments. They were used by a number of popular musicians including Sam the Sham, Country Joe and the Fish, Pink Floyd, Sly Stone, Blondie, and the B-52s.
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed into several types of instruments:
The Hohner Pianet is a type of electro-mechanical piano built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany and designed by Ernst Zacharias. The Pianet was a variant of his earlier reed-based Hohner electric piano, the Cembalet, which, like the Pianet, was intended for home use. Hohner offered both keyboards in their range until 1968. The Pianet production consisted of two distinctly different mechanism groups with characteristically different sound. The first group, lasting from introduction to 1977, had ground stainless steel reeds, a pick-up using variable capacitance, and leather-faced activation pads. The second group from 1977 until the end of production used rolled spring-steel reeds, electro-magnetic pick-ups, and moulded silicone rubber activation pads.
Guitar Organ or GuitOrgan is a type of electric guitar with electronic organ components added, developed by Jennings Musical Industry as Vox Guitar Organ at latest in 1965. Similar instrument, GuitOrgan was developed by Murrell Electronics, circa 1967. On this type of instruments, each guitar fret is separated into six segments, creating independent contact switches for each string. The organ notes are keyed when a string touches a specific segment. An expression pedal is used to fade the organ sound in and out, while the guitar can be played at the same time.
The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to the Rhodes piano, though the sound is different.
An electronic piano is a keyboard instrument designed to simulate the timbre of a piano using analog circuitry.
Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic or paraphonic.
The Fender Contempo Organ is a combo organ made by Fender during the late 1960s. It was designed to compete with similar instruments such as the Vox Continental and Farfisa Compact, and had additional stops, features and controllers not found on the other models. However, it was only in production for a few years as it struggled to compete with the more popular Hammond organ and Rhodes piano.
The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supports drawbars in a similar manner to the Hammond, and has distinctive reverse-coloured keys. The sound is generated by a series of oscillators, using a frequency divider to span multiple octaves.
The Gibson G-101 is a transistorised combo organ, manufactured in the late 1960s by the Lowrey Organ Company for Gibson.
The Doric Transistorized Organ is a model of combo organ produced in Italy in the 1960s.
The history of home keyboards lies in mechanical musical instrument keyboards, electrified keyboards and 1960s and 1970s synthesizer technologies.
The Yamaha CP-70 is an electric piano manufactured by Yamaha Corporation between 1976 and 1985. The instrument was based on earlier electric piano technology, but took advantage of improved pickups along with the company's longstanding experience in manufacturing acoustic pianos.
References
Notes
↑ The sharing of oscillators made it impossible to play the respective two notes (eg: C and C♯) at the same time.
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