I think they all fill different purposes....I started out the same way as you Gene with using Optigan discs in a Orchestron and then finally after looking for almost four years I got a hold of a Optigan 35011 in Germany...Oddly enough my band got a gig close enough in Wurzburg so I could pick it up in person which was great....
I use the loops as middle eight outro/intro stuff.....Tempo and pitch are the same so it can be a bit tricky unless you work with a computer...My favorite discs are the ones with really scratchy picking acoustic guitars....Lately I have been using the Organ lead sounds quite a lot.
Apparently a lot of the Organs on Elvis Costellos Brutal Youth are supposed to be Optigan.
The Orchestron is a lot more versatile as you can play it much like a really fast Mellotron. I have been using the vocal choirs and actually the Hammond B-3 disc a fair bit on stuff.
The main thing is that Both the Orchestron and Optigan are really characteristic instruments almost more so than the Mellotron (....I´m ducking already....). They are instant moodsetters. And also just be flipping the discs upside down you have them playing backwards which is even more spooky....
Get one......but get one cheap...It´s bound to break down and for general purposes it´s pretty limited and an acquired taste but if you are into that kind of thing...It´s a lot easier to find one in the U.S than in Europe as only 200 were sold officially in Europe in Holland in 1974.
// Mattias
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Stopp" <gene@...>
To: <Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 10:41 PM
Subject: RE: [Mellotronists] optigan recommendation?
> The Orchestron on loan to me has a bunch of Optigan disks along with the
> Orchestron disks. The Optigan disks don't map to the Orchestron keys in the
> right sequence, but at least you can get a flavor of what an Optigan sounds
> like.
>
> There are rhythm tracks and melody tracks. The s/n ratio is awful. I suppose
> it depends on the condition of the disks. Very much like a phonograph,
> except lower fidelity (much lower). Pops and clicks all over the place.
> Think of a cartoon, where somebody goes up to a Victrola and puts the needle
> down. You could use an Optigan for the cartoon's soundtrack. It's like a
> caricature.
>
> The rhythms themselves fall into the "cheesy lounge music of the early
> sixties" category. We were such nerds back then. Now that it's 40 years
> later it's cool again. I kind of like it too.
>
> - Gene
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Peters [mailto:mpeters@...]
> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 1:10 AM
> To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Mellotronists] optigan recommendation?
>
>
> "Optigan - the poor man's mellotron" - there's one currently on Ebay and I'm
> wondering if it's worth it. What do you think? They say that an Optigan is
> basically a toy and sounds crappy. Does it? The only thing I ever really
> heard played on an Optigan was Steve Hackett's piece 'Sentimental
> Institution'. I kind of liked that sound and it didn't sound very crappy.
>
>
>
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