[sdiy] Unidentified component

[ghetto synth]

It's an interesting, if not almost useless, book. I also just picked
up a copy because I've had my library's copy checked out for the last
two years and I really should take it back and stop renewing it.

There's a lot of discussion of how different organ manufacturers deal
with various sound issues and effects including some nice discussion
of percussion circuits. The book includes a lot of partial schematics
but not really any "projects."  It's very reminiscent of tab CB
radio/TV books from the 70s but slightly higher quality.

I would say that its true value is something like $5 unless you like
to fix or dismantle old organs.

About 400 pages in 19 chapters.

1) Some Elements of Music
2) What an Organ is
3) Tone Generators
4) Keying and Coloring
5) Tone Coloring
6) Special Effects and Equipment
7) Sound Production and Reverberation
8) Tuning and Servicing
9) Baldwin Organs
10) Schober Organs
11) Thomas Organs
12) Lowrey Organs
13) Gulbransen ORgans
14) Wurlitzer Organs
15) Seeburg Organs
16) Hammond Organs
17) Rodgers Organs
18) Allen Organs
19) Conn Organs
Appendix: A.G.O. Specification
Index

A lot of the circuitry detail is in the manufacturer's chapters, for
example, from the Gulbransen Organs chapter:

"One of the weird and interesting features of the Gulbransen box of
tricks is the Electro-Mute, which is now on all Rialto models. It is a
Solo stop with a tuba sound, and when a knee lever which hangs down
from the board supporting the lower manual ismoved back and forth by
the organist's knee, it makes a wah-wah sound like a jazz trumpet when
the trumpeter moves the brass derby back and forth over the bell. Fig.
13-13 is the Electro-Mute circuit...."

The simple two transistor circuit is presented and the text goes on to
describe the circuit in detail.

The book is great bathroom reading for synth geeks but probably not
particularly useful for building synthesizers.

Hope this helps, YMMV.

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 2:17 PM, Matthew Smith <matt at smiffytech.com> wrote:
> Quoth Tim Stinchcombe at 05/10/11 04:30...
>>
>> In an old book I have:
>>
>> Electronic Musical Instruments, Richard Dorf, 1968 Radiofile
>
> Anyone interested in laying their hands on a copy, there's a few listed on
> Abebooks:
>
> http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=dorf&sts=t&tn=electronic+musical+instruments&x=0&y=0
>
> Sorry, I just picked up the cheapest one that was there!
>
> Cheers
>
> M
>
> --
> Matthew Smith
>
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