[sdiy] Analog polyphony question

[Glen]

At 12:30 PM 8/14/01 , Dr Strangelove wrote:

>Does anyone know if any organs were ever made that had an LC oscillator per 
>key?

Old Allen organs had separate oscillators for each pitch produced on the
organ. I'm not sure if they were LC or RC style.

Some of the old Conn organs also had separate oscillators for each pitch. I
know for a fact that these were LC, and they employed tunable inductors.

Early Rodgers organs used separate LC oscillators for each pitch. Later,
they moved toward RC oscillators to save some money. At first they only
used RC oscillators on the bass notes, to replace the larger and more
expensive tunable inductors used in that section. Later, they made some
organs that were totally RC for all the pitches. They kept the individual
oscillator system until perhaps the mid-80's. Everyone else had long
abandoned that style of organ, but they persisted because of the warmth
that individual analog circuitry provides. Eventually, they made the switch
to totally digital organs, using sampling technology. However, it's worth
mentioning that modern Rodgers organs can still be fitted with authentic
wind-blown pipes, arguably the ultimate "analog organ" oscillator. Such
organs are typically hybrids using sampling for some of the voices, and
real pipes for other voices, but they can also be pipe organs if desired.
(However, that can be very expensive.)

Later,
Glen