[sdiy] 60s organ sound

[David Cornutt]

On Dec 9, 2004, at 4:36 PM, Gorka Garcia wrote:

> How could I recreate, using a monophonic analog synth, the sound of 
> those classic combo organs from the 60s (Vox continental, 
> Farfisas...)? What I mean is, what sort of waveforms did they use in 
> the oscillators?

As far as I know, they were basically sine-wave oscillators, although
I doubt that the sines were all that pure.  Back in the '80s, I used to
try to synthesize that Gibson organ sound that Ray Manzarek used
with the Doors so I could play the solo on "Light My Fire".  It was
surprisingly difficult to get a decent rendition with my Juno-106;
everything I did came out with too much high-frequency content
and was piercingly harsh.  When I tried to roll back the filter, I lost
the mid-frequency content I needed and it became too bassy.

Combo organs are basically simple additive synths.  Maybe a
three- or four-oscillator approach would work, although I'm not
sure how to keep it from too much resembling a Hammond.