About a year ago I found a bontempi chord organ in the attic of the house I bought with my friends! It's just like yours but bigger! It's a fun toy and a fascinating mechanical instrument.. however I didn't have much use for it in my ambient setup since its basically accoustic. So I put it in our bathroom so people who sit on the toilet can play it. It's been there ever since. :) It's so hilarious to see you make a video about it :)
Put a microphone in the bathroom set it up to record 24 7 go back a month later pick out all of the best toilet tracks and mix them adding drum and whatever else release a album called the 🚽 recordings
It almost made cry when I heard this was the instrument of the wife of an older man, just thinking of the moments those two may have shared listening to her playing music it made my heart warm inside
It has taken me many of your videos to articulate this, but I absolutely love how the white, almost sterile*, background you use complements the instruments; Rather than making the items on display look sleek and futuristic, cold and efficient, it highlights how lifelike and almost organic these, let's be honest, pieces of mostly mass-produced assembly line products feel once they have been left to have a life. -Friendliness, I think you might call it. Their subtle browns, off-whites, and earthy reds and blues just feel that much more real when contrasted with the reflection of a ruthlessly efficient LED-light glaring off from a table that looks like it once heard a story about a coffee stain and dismissed it as a rumor. People often assume that aesthetics is a meaningless and superficial pursuit, but how else am I going to feel like I've just fallen in love with an old childhood friend from 20 years ago when all I'm staring at is a plastic box with little floppy brass rectangles and the buzzy pygmy cousin of the necessary evil that keeps me from heat stroke in the summer inside? *the wood grain is visible beneath the paint, an important detail.
I absolutely love all these unique instruments you have! the way you modify these instruments to create a completely different instrument altogether is absolutely spellbinding. If you can get your hands on these, and you don't know of it already, I highly recommend checking out the Optigan, a vintage organ played from specialty records using a series of chord buttons and a small keyboard to improvise over the prebuilt melodies in the records. Also, The Yamaha QR10 music accompaniment player. Somewhat similar to the Omnichord yet without the strum pad. has some cute sounds and I'd love to see what you can do with them. As always, great job, and I look forward to seeing your next project.
when the Optigan first came out my mother was hired by the Montgomery Wards in Jantzen Beach (just before you cross the Columbia River between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA). one of the side benefits was she was given an Optigan to take home. I had a blast with it, mainly playing “Marianne” repeatedly.
I had one of these for my first ever keyboard, you’ve just given me a huge flashback to playing ‘La Cucaracha’ on my B11 at my school recital in the late 70’s! Thank you 😬
I used to have one that was nearly identical when I was 7 or 8, which was over 40 years ago. The only differences were that the on/off switch was bigger/white, and across the top it had a fake wood panel. I wrote my first songs on it, that I can still remember now. The other thing I remember though was that it didn't like you pressing multiple notes at once. The sound went quieter the more keys you pressed, the fan couldn't push the air across all those reeds at the same time. Thank you for that trip down memory lane.
I was having a rough night when I found your channel. Your way of story telling and the calming nature of the sounds you create really cheered me up. Thank you❤
I had one of these as a kid (70s) and used to jam things between the keys and turn it on/off for a slow attack/decay creepy vibe. Haha Thank you for the sample instruments and the work that went into them. Also "friendliness" is a wonderful parameter name. 😊
Aw, happy memories. I had a little Bontempi organ as a kid, more keys than this but no sliders. I dug it out years ago and my wife gave it a second life accompanying her singing Indian classical music like a harmonium. I hope I still have it somewhere…your video has sparked some nostalgia so I’ll try to find it!
I’ve just bought a model on Facebook marketplace the same as yours, more keys, no slider! I’m a first year Uni student, so looking forwards to bugging my flatmates, is it loud? Unrelatedly, I love your RU-vid channel, I am glad your interest spans every sort of organ.
I'm a Pianist and a Accordionist and a Composer, hell yeah! You maed a Great Job man for sample this old Electric Harmonium made by Bontempi named by you Chord Organ. Congrats! Thanks, my Compositions and also Live Music Videos will be ready. Happy Music to All! :)
I had one as a kid, a smaller model. I recently got exactly the same as yours except it's red. It came from a school sale. Very common in the 70'sq, it was used to guide choir singers.
My grandparents have a 49 keys version of this organ, I always found its sound atrocious, but seeing how it can be digitally transformed really fascinated me. Wow
Wow, great memory! My sister had one of these, she never really used it, but I wrote a song called Traffic Jam when I was 17 and this came in handy for car horn sounds...hahahaha
I suspect that the "electric organs" were an offshoot from kits to elecrify foot-pumped reed organs which had either dead bellows or lazy owners. The bellows of something like my 1885 parlor organ aren't exactly silent, but they're less noisy than typical fans. Electric reed organs probably used fans because they were cheaper than bellows, took less space, and required less maintenance.
I was watching this like “cool i should get one of those” and then he added the fan sounds back in and i realized it was just a regular chord organ and i already had one
Your Bontempi Chord Organ was the exact same one that I got for Christmas back in 1982 when I was eight years old. This model is the B4 and I had mine until I was in my early twenties.
That's really interesting and I like how simple it really is, especially with the fan being the only electric component. The sound is really nice and works well in your sample and the "with friends" version adds so much character to it. Plus, it just looks and sounds nice with the limited range and the vintage look. You did a good job "hiding" the fan noise by playing the sample, too. The fan doesn't sound too bad on video and might add to the feel of playing it for real. Very cool video as usual!
I recently found a video about Decent Sampler and started installing a lot of your instruments through it, and I had no idea you made videos about them until youtube randomly recommended this! Love how interesting all of these are!
My parents got a Bontempi organ back in the 70s. It was an awesome machine, though I wish I could have mastered it when I was a child. My late maternal grandmother would play it quite a bit. The organ lasted until 2004.
My grandparents had one of these in their basement when I was a kid! I just knew it as the little organ and I loved it so much. I asked my dad about it years after they both died and he just said it was gone, thrown away, and I never really figured out what it was. I kind of assumed it was just a small keyboard from back when electric keyboards were newer. Very awesome to finally know what it was! I’m gonna try and get one ASAP. I can’t hear these without thinking of my grandparent’s basement ❤❤❤
No question sampling this has improved it somewhat! :) I am from your parents' generation and Bontempi were known for "as cheap as you can possibly get". "That's rather Bontempi" could also be used as an insult when your fellow synth player in your band came up with a really awful sound... 😆. As a kid, my parents acquired an old Lorenzo organ usng the same tech - the fan was even louder but it was from the 50s/60s. Plywood body, fake gold trim and it had 4 legs! A period beauty. I wish I still had it. But it sounded horrible. I never could love that sound - but you at least with the sampling have made it a little more expressive and subtle. Happy to be a patreon and no doubt will grab these and take a trip down memory lane. I do love that you find use and beauty (and demonstrate that) in things I wouldn't go near.
I had a Magnus Electric chord organ that my grandparents gave me as a child. Very similar to this and it was super fun. Sadly it was lost when their house burned down.
Nice I also have a Mechanic air chord Organ from Magnus. My Organ was build in 1972 . I really love this beautiful sound from this Organ I also like Bontempi :)
I used to own this exact model years ago, but sadly lost track of it between several moves. One thing I used to like was, that when you hit a chord with lots of notes (especially when at low volume) it took the aging fan a while to produce a tone, which gave a nice crescendo.
Hey David - This took me back. A Bontempi was my first keyboard instrument. It looked more dated than yours but had more chord buttons. I started teaching myself to read music with it then moved on to the piano. A while later I discovered synths... 😄
I don't know how I got to this channel, but it has been one of the best yt recommendations in years, personally I gave up on this music thing a long time ago, but I really enjoy each of your videos and the way you edit them.
Just recently discovered your channel! I love content you create! I always love seeing cool vintage instruments, if I had the space I would love to have a collection like yours!!! Super fun stuff!
I had an Epiphone reed organ back in 2011. I found it on a loading dock about to be thrown out. Kept it for a few years but didn't have the space for it. It sounded like a big accordion and had chord buttons as well as a volume pedal.
We had one of these when i was a kid. It had a white and orange color scheme and was bought in the 70's. And it had some burn marks from cigarettes rested on top of it while being played (not by me obv.).
Ha I used to have on of these, my grandmother gave it to me when I was a kid.. haven't thought of it until seeing this, but who knows where that organ is🥲
I think you're the first one to make a video of this kind without losing me or making me nervous at some point. I think you are my spirit animal or something ! I'm halfway through, we'll see haha. I subscribe.
Again, such a wonderful journey. I actually downloaded this las week as I was taken back to my own Chord Organ beginnings with a small brown Magnus chord organ that I played in church when I was around five years old 👼 I love that we can not only relive these beautiful memories of music times past but carry things further into our musical futures. Stay Joyful my friend!
My family had (and still has) a Magnus chord organ with I think 12 chord keys. I remember being thrilled when a trip to my local music store got me the Magnus book of various national anthems. What a geek I was!
2:51 sounds like a happy car horn :) Imagine if different cars had different chords for horns, then traffic would sound like a musical at 5:15. The music in the end sounds soo goood!
I remember something like this being used by teachers that didn't really play music but had to lead students in chorus singing. The autoharp was similar.
My mom had one similar that was made of wood and stood on 4 legs and it had plunger "buttons" instead of actual keyboard buttons. It is what I first learned to play on. Loved that old beast. I think its fan was quieter though.
Thank you for unlocking a memory. I had a chord organ as a kid, and man I loved that thing. Probably more than my mom did, because one day she got rid of it.
Well this is essentially an electric version of the pump organ. I am fortunately the owner of a reed organ from the 1800s and I can confirm this sounds like a reed organ but not quite as awesome
By the way, you could have easily added a real output to this by using a piezo disk pickup. That's a common modification used in melodicas for the same purpose of adding effects.
Man... i just bought one today for 7$, and i was thinking to myself making a vst out of it... but looks like i dont have to look further... here he is! Nice video man, keep up the good work
I was NOT expecting to watch this video and see you showing off a melodica I got from my mother - which she got when she was still young! Exactly the same green instrument :D
Thank you so much for the idea! I have one as well, but I never thought of sampling it. Was thinking of using my Orba 2 to sample, we'll see how it goes 😅. It's funny, it wasn't love at first sight but recently I've started to see the charm of it and now you made a video about it haha
I love chord organs! was (still am i suppose) a big neutral milk hotel fan as a teen so these always got snapped at thrift stores. love that due to age and wear each one ends up with its own unique voice, usually slightly out of tune. works especially well with the saturation from a 4 track and direct in guitar with the gain full on. great vid!!
I think there's still room to build and development purely mechanical instruments like this. The same argument for obsolescence could be used for purely analogue synths from decades past with current daws, but people still mess around with them building their own modules, synths, etc. I'm a toolmaker that also builds and repairs clockwork items like watches, clocks, mechanical cameras, and probably my favorite, music boxes and other clockwork music devices. I've toyed around with a lot of different designs for a compact yet easily reprogrammable music box ranging from purely mechanically, electromechanically, and even my own 8-bit system I put together from off the shelf parts running a custom tracker. That's just the stored notes, I've also made boxes with a lot more types of sound generation than the standard comb. I've restored antique self-playing pianos in the past so a similar scaled down version of hammered/plucked strings was an idea, miniaturizing organs that use metal reeds and pipes complete with a small bellows, bells, xylophone/marimba, etc. It's true that you're limited, but in a way that's part of the fun. I have great digital cameras, but I also still shoot with purely mechanical/manual rangefinders, tlrs, etc. Then I develop and enlarge the negatives to make prints in the darkroom I built here in my workshop on top of scanning them in. It's kind of pointless when I could have just taken the shot with my GFX 50R to begin with; but the experience itself of going out, loading film, framing a shot, taking the shot, developing the film, then enlarging a print is worth as much as (or more than) the final image itself. With the price of film these days it is making less and less sense, that's why old CCD compact cameras have shot up in popularity/price lately.
I have one of these a Lorenzo, given to me by a friend, it comes in a case with screw on legs, it's great. I think it has a noisier fan than this one, but I like that, it alters the sound and when it combines with certain notes it sounds almost electronic.
