rocky mount instruments
allen organ lists musical instruments and electronic assemblies in those sites and a previously held site in rocky mount, n. c. , for its rocky mount instruments subsidiary .
milwaukee instruments, inc. , 2950 business park drive, rocky mount, nc 27804, usa
rocky mount instruments by lambert m. surhone, mariam t. tennoe, susan f. henssonow
a manufacturer of electronic instruments in the late' 60s and' 70s. rmi stood for
rocky mount instruments
after its location in rocky mount, north carolina usa. it was owned by the venerable allen organ company and was originally opened as an r & d office .
birds eye view of rocky mount, north carolina. ,. [ no date recorded on shelflist card ] photograph. urltoken
this page shows 1 to 4 of the 4 rocky mount businesses who supply musical instruments listed on the customer managed business website. contact and interact: the column on the right shows contact details including phone numbers and web addresses along with additional information which is available for each company, making it even easier to find musical instruments in rocky mount, north carolina .
to start, rmi stands for rocky mount instruments, inc. , which was a wholly owned subsidiary of the allen organ company. the manufacturing operations were located in rocky mount, north carolina; design and sales were handled at the allentown organ company, located in macungie, pennsylvania. although the majority of production was done at the carolina facility, there were instruments produced at the macungie plant .
in 1966, or thereabouts, rocky mount instruments was established as a division of the allen organ company, a massive concern that was later to become a pioneer in the use of digital sound generation in electric organs. however, whereas the allen organ co. resided in pennsylvania, its subsidiary occupied a rented warehouse in rocky mount, north carolina .
pfizer' s rocky mount facility manufactures injectable hospital products. the facility also provides contract manufacturing services such as aseptic filling, lyophilization and terminal sterilization .
birds eye view of rocky mount, north carolina. ,. [ no date recorded on shelflist card ] [ photograph ] retrieved from the library of congress, urltoken
birds eye view of rocky mount, north carolina. [ no date recorded on shelflist card ] photograph. retrieved from the library of congress, < urltoken > .
rocky mount instruments inc... now there' s a name. i don' t know what it suggests to you, but i picture a mountaineering equipment shop, or maybe the purveyor of some sort of arcane and unsavoury surgical implem
known for its musical instruments, allen organ also produces contract electronic assemblies and data communications equipment .
floyd cramer and chet atkins. two legends at their instruments, two giants in the music industry .
there are more business categories for you to explore in the cmb shopping section for aberdeen and ahoskie. in the rocky mount area of the site you can find free information about companies dealing with activewear, clothing stores, coffee shops, computer games and farm equipment .
with help from... the quality and detail of the rocky mount instruments (rmi) room is due to the extreme kindness of tom emerick at allen organ company. mr. emerick was national service manager at rmi for its entire history, and still works at allen organ company. in researching and writing this content, he has been very generous with his time and resources. thank you, tom .
ents. what this name most definitely does not suggest to me is music, more specifically the music of my misspent youth. yet, without rocky mount instruments inc. , there would be no lamb lies down on broadway, no yessongs, no spectral mornings, and no quintessentially odd british bands such as gentle giant, gryphon and greenslade. well... probably there would, but they would have been very different animals .
allen organ, which employs about 525 people, is a leading manufacturer of electronic keyboard musical instruments, primarily digital electronic church organs and accessories .
download these easy - to - understand, fact - filled informational sheets to learn more about some common measurements and the instruments used to take them .
the keyboard instruments created by american manufacturer rmi may be deeply obscure now, but without them,' 70s progressive rock could have a very different sonic signature .
1 print: hand - colored lithograph; sheet 47 x 54. 8 cm. | print shows a group portrait of six members of the mendelssohn quintette club of boston with their instruments; shown are, ...
if you' ve never heard of the instruments described so far, i' m not surprised; we have been travelling far beyond the land of enthusiasts, deep into the realms of the obsessive collector. but now we' re going to turn to a series of instruments that were, for a short while, to make rmi a mainstream manufacturer in the rock and pop worlds. these were collectively known as the rmi electra - piano and harpsichord .
by 1972, there were three rmis based on the 300b. they were all good instruments, but they were replaced in 1972 by what was to become the greatest rmi of them all: the 368 electra - piano and harpsichord .
vann mccoy grew up in mount airy, north carolina, and like the fictional town it inspired, some folks who lived there were happy learning what they needed to know to make a living. but from a young age, mccoy was on a search for something different .
need to mount your high - end turntable on a wall? check out the kanso audio furniture “tana” wall - mounted turntable shelf ($ 5, 425). natural walnut wood with a semi - gloss lacquer. beautiful, practical, and apparently extraordinary at stopping resonance in its tracks .
the fed had reduced its benchmark interest rate to near zero, blinder says. it could decide to say that' s all we can do and
give up and hope for the best ,
or start inventing new instruments, he says .
alan blinder: ben bernanke and company then were literally at a crossroads. so what do we do, give up and say that' s all we' ve done and let' s hope for the best, or start inventing new instruments ?
milwaukee instruments, inc. is comprised of manufacturing, sales, and distribution facilities throughout the world. our precision, diagnostic equipment is used in laboratories, food and beverage operations, agriculture, industry, and by hobbyists in a wide variety of applications .
supporting equipment included an aesthetic romulus eclipse cd player ($ 14, 000) and jellabas model 2 ac filtering ($ 2, 000). the timber and natural textures of the saxophone were incredible as were that of most midrange / bass instruments .
last week, the business renewables center (brc), a membership program at rocky mountain institute, hosted its annual member event for corporate buyers of renewable energy. at the event, brc released a new report titled corporate renewable energy procurement: 2017 state of the market, north america. —april 18, 2018 .
fed officials chose the second alternative and came up with something called quantitative easing. it entailed buying huge amounts, ultimately $ 1. 7 trillion, of mortgage - backed securities, the very financial instruments that helped trigger the crisis. that helped stabilize the market for those securities and revive the housing market .
we manufacture affordable, easy - to - use meters, testers, monitors and controllers for measuring ph, ec, tds, orp, lux, do and all types of photometers and mini - titrators. milwaukee instruments offers equipment built to the highest international standards; fast, knowledgeable customer service; and an excellent warranty program – all at competitive prices .
the rock - si - chord models were introduced in 1967. the two basic models were the model 100 and model 200. the main difference was that the model 100 had a single set of individual ton generators (one tone generator for each of its 49 notes) tuned at an eight foot pitch, while the model 200 had two sets of individual tone generators, one tuned at an 8 - foot pitch and one tuned at a 4 - foot pitch. all the models were designed as percussive instruments, which means that the tone will decay after the key is depressed. there is no organ stop on these instruments. all models were painted blue. all models were designed to be used with an external amplification system .
ydstie: the fed chair and his colleagues didn' t give up. instead they employed an unusual central bank tool called quantitative easing. they began by buying up mortgage - backed securities, the very financial instruments that triggered the financial crisis. the aim was to revive the housing sector. also, the fed started buying massive amounts of u. s. government bonds to help reduce long - term interest rates and support growth .
if i was given an hour' s notice that my studio was going to burn down or flood, i would have to decide which keyboards to save. and high on my list, supplanting many more obviously desirable instruments, you would find my electrapiano. it' s not a question of value - - it only cost me £150, and i doubt i could sell it for much more. it' s not a question of usefulness - - most of my musical life now revolves around trinities, xp80s, and other modern workhorses. it' s not a question of provenance - - although, prior to its stint in the fixx, my 368 was owned by richard harvey of gryphon, featuring on their latter albums, including the superb raindance. it' s not even a question of emotional attachment - - i have many instruments that i' m more fond of .
indeed, if you' re really desperate for a 368 fix, you need look no further than the' keyboards of the' 60s and' 70s' expansion board for roland' s jv - series instruments. this contains a superb rendition (or two) of the electra - piano, programmed by none other than sound on sound contributor nick magnus. as keyboard player for steve hackett, nick was responsible for no small number of classic late -' 70s prog tracks drenched in electra - piano, so he was the ideal man to recreate the character of the original .
the second family was the' electronic pianos', instruments that had no physical sound generation system, and whose key contacts did no more than initiate the action of circuitry to generate the sound. most of these were ghastly. do you remember crumar roadrunners, roadracers and roadys? how about the galanti and gem instapianos, or the sound city jo' annas? did i say ghastly? the truth is that they were worse than ghastly, with dull, lifeless sounds lacking feel or dynamics. indeed, most lacked even the most rudimentary touch sensitivity, so they went' plunk' no matter how you played them .
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manufacturers ase asi ata akai ampron aries arp atlantex boss buchla casio con brio crb elettronica crumar davoli dewtron dmr digisound digital keyboards bruce duncan electro - harmonix edp eml ems elektor elka e - mu ensoniq fairlight firstman gds gray laboratories erik g hammond jen kawai kineticsound korg kurzweil linn electronics mcleyvier moog mpc electronics multivox mxr ned oberheim octave optigan paia pollard pms polyfusion polyvox ppg realistic rca rhodes rmi roland sequential circuits serge solton steiner - parker stramp synclavier synergy synton technos teisco thomas organ t. o. n. t. o. triadex univox whitehall wms wurlitzer yamaha
as i sit down and attempt to put into words the history of a company and its products, my memory drifts back to a simpler, but exciting period of time in the design and development of commercial electronic musical portable keyboards. i have always considered myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved in the design, sales, and service of the rmi products throughout its history .
this history is being compiled for the sole purpose of passing information on to future generations, and any other use is denied. the dates of the different products are as close as i remember, or as i can verify through brochures or discussing with individuals whose memory is clearer than mine .
at this time, i wish to acknowledge the fact that although there were many people involved in the rmi project, the credit must go to mr. jerome markowitz (now deceased), who was the founder and owner of the allen organ company. without his vision, inventiveness, and leadership, the project would never have been .
the rmi company goal was to provide a high quality product geared to the professional, at a cost affordable to many weekend musicians. in my opinion, the tonal quality and reliability of the rmi product line far surpassed any other product line in its day. the list of professional customers speaks for itself .
the company opened manufacturing operations in 1966 in a rented warehouse, with a new 66, 000 sq. ft. plant dedicated in 1967. although the manufacturing of products under the rmi name ceased in the mid - 1980s, the company continued in operation producing organs and organ assemblies for allen until 1999 when the facility was sold .
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the rmi harmonic synthesizer offers very unique and characteristic sounds thanks to a special sound generation: additive synthesis .
harmonic synthesizer looks like a combo - organ, two sets of 16 harmonics sliders show that this synth is particular .
each harmonic generators is monophonic, however they are routed on an independant audio ouput. this allows to make strange stereo effect .
we have here several preset waveforms available such as
clarinet
,
pulse
,
sync
,
flute
,
horn
,
reed
. they can be selected or mixed with the harmonic generator .
as said before each generator has independant audio chanel. first generator can play a
sequence
while a solo line is played with the second generator (listen to the sound demo
boogie bass
where two sequences are played at once) .
harmonic doesn' t have a real sequencer, it is an arpegiator. when you press a chord, a sequence is created .
placing the harmonic synthesizer in the random mode causes the notes to be played in random order .
dynamic effects are created by voltage - controlled filters with low - pass, band - pass, and high - pass mixable outputs. [ the envelope generator for the vcf is very strange on the harmonic synthesizer. it has a knob to select
sweep up
, sweep down
and another knob for time. ]
in 1974 rmi introduced it' s first, and only synthesizer. although it was housed in the familiar rmi case, it was a totally different design than any previous instrument. to my knowledge, it was the first digital designed synthesizer available on the consumer market. the instrument was probably years ahead in design, and not understood, except by the professional musician .
the instrument was monophonic, with two independent digital harmonic generators. each generator' s waveform could be modified independently, effectively like having two synthesizers by depressing one key. the unit had am and fm control, and voltage controlled filters. its own expression pedal controlled each audio output .
the instrument listed for $ 2995, and was manufactured through 1976 .
- - - tom emerick, allen organ company
[ let us know if you have any further additions to this list. ]
the original model 100 contained two individual voices, the string and the lute. these voices could be played together or individually. the instrument was built into a plywood case similar to the lark model. it came with a single expression shoe to adjust the volume. the retail cost was $ 4695. the model 100a had harpsi, cembalo, lute, guitar a, and guitar b voices, which could be played together or individually. the unit was housed into the familiar rmi style case. the retain cost of the model 100a was $ 795. this model was discontinued in october of 1968 .
- - - tom emerick, allen organ company
[ let us know if you know who should be on this list. ]
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i called el - ramey service in need for a last minute tuning and i was introduced to an extremely friendly and knowledgeable tuner / pianist named butch. he came out to my mom' s house… read more
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their best known product was their line of electric pianos, which unlike competing products from rhodes, wurlitzer, and hohner, were fully electronic. the pianos were fully polyphonic, with a voice circuit for each key consisting of a fixed - frequency oscillator, an envelope generator and a vca. fixed filter circuits provided a small set of timbres including piano, harpsichord, and guitar / lute sounds, which could be selected in any combination .
the intriguing feature of the pianos was the
organ mode
, in which the envelope release time was changed to a very long value. progressive rock keyboardists in the' 70s found that this was ideal for running through distortion and phaser effects to produce very un - pianolike sounds. the model 368 was a favorite of tony banks who had his modified with built - in effects .
rmi manufactured several digital synthesizers that were ahead of their time. the keyboard computer i and ii models were basically additive synthesis machines that contained selections of harmonic mixes that could be selected via front panel switches, or additional ones could be fed in via a built - in punched card reader; pre - programmed cards were available from dealers. the harmonic synthesizer contained two additive waveform generators that were each capable of 16 harmonics, and the mix was completely controllable via banks of sliders on the panel. unfortunately, the machines were so different from contemporary products that performers couldn' t figure out what to do with them, and rmi' s marketing was minimal, so few were sold. jean - michel jarre used a kc i extensively on his early albums .
rmi ceased operations in 1982 as its piano and combo organ products were supplanted by the more advanced polyphonic synths that appeared in the late' 70s. the parent company, allen organ, is still in business and has been a pioneer in incorporating digital circuitry into large church and theater organs, based in part on work done by rmi .
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in fact, the first models produced were combo organs, including the four - octave
explorer
( using a dedicated oscillator for each key), the
lark
, the
band organ
( a three - octave electrical imitation of a calliope) and the
calliope
and
calliope b
around 1968 or early 1969. the first electric piano model was the
model 100 rock - si - chord
in 1967. retailing for $ 4695, it contained only 2 sounds (string and lute) but was later updated as the
model 100a
which contained 5 sounds (harpsichord, cembalo, lute, guitar a, and guitar b). the
model 200 rock - si - chord
produced in 1968 was similar the first
model 100
, but featured an accenter option that shortened the decay of the sound. the
model 200a
however featured twice as many sounds as the
model 100a
.
combo organ - details... the definition of a combo organ is an electronic portable organ, usually transistorized (although some early designs used tubes while from the late 1960s onwards many models incorporated... combo organs were best known for their bright, reedy, (or, as some describe it, a
cheesy
) sound their portability surprising versatility and relatively low price tag... a typical combo organ has one keyboard, covering four or five octaves, though a few models had two keyboards of three or four octaves ...
rmi electra piano - combo organs... in fact, the first models produced were combo organs, including the four - octave
explorer
( using a dedicated oscillator for each key), the
lark
, the
band organ
( a three - octave ...
of the infinite mind. they cannot cover the dimensions of what is in truth. they break, chop, and impoverish it .
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if you' re old enough, cast your mind back to the early' 70s. (if you' re not, feel free to have a laugh while i do so. i don' t care. you see, when it comes to vintage synthesizers, i was there the first time round. )
at that time there were two types of instrument called' electric pianos', neither of which sounded remotely like pianos. the first group should more properly be called electro - mechanical pianos because, like electric guitars, they combined a physical sound generation system with some form of electrical pickup. this group included the various models of fender rhodes, the wurlitzer ep200, and the hohner electrapiano. there were also oddities such as the hohner pianets and the clavinets, the latter more closely related to harpsichords than to pianos .
clearly, if you were an aspiring musician, or even a fabulously wealthy one playing to packed stadia, there were only a couple of choices for your electric piano. you bought either a fender rhodes or a wurlitzer ep200. both of these incorporated real key mechanisms, real vibrating wotsits, real dynamics and real feel. simple .
so why did genesis, yes, deep purple, elton john, rick wakeman, and a host of other bands and keyboard players, choose an electronic piano with no touch sensitivity that went' plunk' no matter how you played it? to find out, we need to travel back to an era when england could beat germany at football. no, not last month... i' m talking about 1966 .
within a year, rmi relocated to larger premises, abandoning their warehouse in favour of a real manufacturing plant. the' band organ' was the first instrument to emerge from the new premises. manufactured between 1966 and 1968, this was a three - octave electrical imitation of a calliope, and was sold in both kit and assembled versions .
next came the lark. this was a horrible little organ painted black and orange, with tiger stripes on the side. oh yes, and it used just six oscillators - - rather than 12 - - to span the octave. again, i' ve never played one, so it' s possible that the records of its existence are a practical joke played on us by a nutter who wanted to see how seriously we would take such a ludicrous idea. if it' s true, the lark operated on the principle that, if you were playing a' c', you would never want to play a' c #' simultaneously, so only one oscillator was needed for each pair of notes. this architecture may have worked in the 16th century, when you could be excommunicated if you played' c' and' f #' simultaneously (honestly !), but i think that it had outlived its usefulness by the summer of love .
it was around this time that rmi introduced the first of its more famous keyboards: the rock - si - chord, or' rocksichord' electric harpsichord. there were two primary versions of this, one with a single set of 8' oscillators (the' 100' series), the other with 8' and 4' oscillators (the' 200' series) .
the original model 100 offered just two voices, string and lute, which you could select individually or as a pair. the more expensive 100a had five: harpsi, cembalo, lute, guitar a, and guitar b. moving up the range, the more powerful and slightly larger model 200 offered the same two voices as the 100, but added an accenter, which increased the decay rate of the 4' oscillators, thus making the sound more percussive. then there were the 200a and the 200b .
these were altogether more powerful beasts, offering more voices: lute 8', lute 4', elect. guitar a 8', elect. guitar a 4', elect. guitar b 8', elect. guitar b 4', cembalo 8', cembalo 4', harpsi 8', harpsi 4', and tamboura 4', plus the accenter. given that you could combine voices and mix the 8' and 4' ranks using individual volume pedals, these provided a huge range of percussive instrument sounds .
the rmi calliopes were developed around 1968 or early 1969. the first was a four - octave electronic keyboard with a built - in amplifier and speakers - - but the second was far more interesting. this too was electronic, but used no fewer than 19 speakers directed through metal pipes tuned to the appropriate pitches to offer
the authentic feel of a real calliope .
i wonder how it really sounded ?
there are differing accounts of the first appearance of the electra - piano. most date its introduction to 1967, although i have seen reports suggesting that it was the replacement for the rocksichord 200b, which rmi discontinued in late 1968 .
the characteristics of each voice were defined by different filter and envelope settings. also, in addition to the voices themselves, there were two extra effects: the' accenter' and' organ mode'. this accenter was a strange affair which, when selected, produced a dull transient that sounded like nothing so much as a bongo at the beginni
ng of each note. there was a high bong on and above middle c, and a lower bong below it. but perhaps the most interesting innovation found on the 300a was its organ mode. this, instead of emulating the articulation characteristics of an electric organ (instant attack, constant sustain, and instant release) offered what was, at the time, a unique mode of articulation. pressing a note caused the selected voices to speak immediately. then, unlike conventional organs, the sound entered a long decay curve. if the key was released, the note was also released, unless you depressed the sustain pedal, in which case the electra - piano entered its piano - style release .
the 300a was soon replaced by the 300b, which further refined what was rapidly becoming the classic rmi sound. physically almost indistinguishable from its predecessor (the vinyl covering changed from two - tone to black all over) it was actually a huge improvement. firstly, rmi had extended the decay of the organ mode, and this was later to become the defining characteristic of the electra - pianos. secondly, they had improved the filters and envelope generators that defined the piano voice .
of course, by modern standards, the voices only just fell into their named categories. the piano was subdued, and sounded more like steel drums. likewise, the lute sounded nothing like a lute, though it was warm and mellow, and an excellent voice in its own right. perhaps the voice that bore the closest relationship to its name was the harpsichord, which was appropriately bright and jangly. however, given that you could select any of the voices simultaneously, a large number of subtle variations were available .
i asked tony why he stopped using the rmi .
the yamaha cp70 totally superseded the rmi' s piano modes. for the first time i could take a grand piano on stage and get the sound i wanted. for a while i still used the rmi organ mode, but the launch of the polymoog synthesizer made even that redundant .
at the time, tony concluded the interview with the statement
i' ve still got the 368 in a cupboard somewhere, so its day may yet come again .
however, i understand that genesis have recently sold the majority of their old equipment, so it' s now unlikely that that day will ever come. shame .
the 368 utilised the same sound - generation circuitry as the 300b, but offered 68 notes, extending the bass end of the keyboard by more than half an octave. it also featured a bass boost control, which proved to be extremely useful for thickening and thinning voices during performance. there was a volume fader on the panel, too, something that had been missing from previous models. these may sound like subtle improvements, but for some reason they made the 368 one of the most playable, articulate keyboards ever built .
don' t take my word for it: the roll of honour for the 300 and 368 is a veritable' who' s who?' of the upper echelons of the 1970s rock and pop business. i' ve already mentioned some of the bands and keyboard players who used
them, and to these you can add the edgar winter band, steve hackett, man, blood sweat & tears, ray manzarek, and even sly & the family stone. but simply to list some of the more famous users tells you nothing about how important the rmis were - - particularly for those players involved in progressive rock .
between 1972 and 1974, prog - rock was the dominant musical form for serious rock musicians. whether the venue was a tiny student - union hall or a heaving rock festival attended by 30, 000 mud - soaked hippies, prog was the hip - hop, trip - hop, dance and trance of its day, all rolled into one. and up there, on stage, you were almost as likely to find an electra - piano as you were to find a hammond, a mellotron, or even a minimoog. as a result, a remarkable amount of the 1970s art - rock and pop scene depended to some extent upon rmi .
after my epiphany at the genesis gig, it took me many years to find an rmi for sale. i can' t even remember how i found out that rupert greenall, keyboard player with the fixx, was selling his. nevertheless, i clearly recall driving to north london in a rusting pile of junk to buy it from him for £150 - - a small fortune for me in those days .
i was very fortunate to find my rmi in 1982. in 2001 it would be almost a miracle if you found one for sale in the uk. the 368 is one of those keyboards that, once possessed, is rarely released. fortunately, electra - piano samples can be extremely convincing. all the voices loop well in both piano and organ modes and, because there are no onboard effects, you can play the pure samples through appropriate effects to give a sound almost indistinguishable from the real thing .
fortunately, greenall had just bought a ppg which, in 1982, was a truly wondrous thing. consequently, he had told all his old keyboards to pack their bags and go. his loss, my gain .
having driven the rmi back to the old coach house that i shared with the rest of the band, i set it up in our rehearsal room, only to find that it was tuned inconsistently, and about half a semitone flat. fortunately, tuning the oscillators was not difficult - - simply a matter of adjusting 68 trimmers on the main board !
it didn' t occur to me at the time, but i later realised that the hour spent with a screwdriver would also have allowed me to create many alternative tuning temperaments. since all other electronic keyboards from the late' 60s and early' 70s used the octave - dividing technology most commonly found in electric organs, this almost certainly made the rock - si - chords and electrapianos the first freely tunable, polyphonic, electronic keyboards .
the next model in the electrapiano dynasty was the 468, another domestic model, this time based on the 368. then, in 1974, rmi replaced the 368 with the 368x. ostensibly the same instrument, you can recognise this by its hard plastic case. but if the change to the 368x was nothing to get excited about, its excruciatingly rare sibling, the 368d, was. this unit was also referred to as the 68d (i have no idea which name is accurate), and i suspect that the' d' referred to' dynamics'. this is because the 368d was the only velocity - sensitive model in the series. if you have one, i want it !
now it' s time for a short quiz. what was the world' s first commercial digital synthesizer? the dx7? wrong by almost a decade. how about the synclavier, or the original fairlight cmi? still years away from the truth - - which is that this particular honour goes to rmi ...
not impressed? then consider this. in 1974 (ie. the same year), yamaha released the world' s first programmable analogue polysynth. called the gx1, this instrument had a keyboard console that alone weighed more than 300kg, each of its manuals offered eight - note polyphony, and it cost approximately £40, 000. now let' s return to the keyboard computer, a 12 - note polyphonic digital polysynth with splits, layering, real - time parameter control, and rudimentary memories. you should be impressed .
the second and final model of keyboard computer was the kcii. many commentators have reported that this arrived in 1977, but sources within the allen organ company state that the year was in fact 1975. the kcii was very similar to the kci, but resided inside the plastic case of the contemporary 368x electrapiano. in many ways, the kcii was an improvement over the kci, and it had a much better range of preset sounds. however, it sported a garish arrangement of oversized white, green, red and black rocker switches which rather compromised its looks .
strangely, rmi didn' t seem to know what to do with the kcii. the advertising of the day told you that it was not a piano, not an organ, and not a synthesizer, but failed to tell you what it actually was! given that, two
years before the arrival of affordable five - and eight - voice analogue polysynths, it was a 12 - voice digital polysynth, this demonstrated amazing incompetence .
with bright, sparkling presets dubbed piano, bell, clav, guitar and harpsichord, the kcii' s electrapiano and rock - si - chord heritage was clear. nevertheless, it was not limited to percussive sounds, and there were excellent strings, horn and flute presets, plus a handful of superb organs. alternatively, if you wanted to head off into uncharted sonic waters, you could load a selection of the factory voices provided on punch cards, layering these on top of the built - in presets. oh yes, and you could control envelopes, pitch, chorus and vibrato, all in real time, using the huge pedalboard that sat beneath the instrument itself .
seven years before the arrival of the ppg, and eight years before the first dx7, the kcii was generating the digital sounds that would define the 1980s. consequently, it was much loved by the handful of keyboard luminaries who
just as the 200 - series rock - si - chords were double - voiced versions of the basic 100 - series, the electra - pianos had big brothers with dual 8' and 4' oscillator banks. these had individual voicing circuits, and even offered individual outputs - - with independent volume controls - - for the two banks .
the first of these was the 600a electra - piano and rock - si - chord, a five - octave instrument with piano, harpsi, lute, electric guitar a and b, and block voices, each in 8' and 4' variations. additional controls included the organ mode (independent for each footage) plus the accenter, and a detune for the 4' rank .
in 1971, the 600a was replaced by the 600b, offering individual sustain pedals for the two footages, and improved voicing. next came the 668, with the 368' s additional keys and bass boost. in 1974, the 668x appeared, sporting the 368x' s new plastic case .
knew what to do with it. the most famous of these was jean - michel jarre, but the kcii i knew best was the one played by robert john godfrey of the enid, who used it to replace the cathedral organ sounds previously generated by a logan string melody 2. unfortunately, rmi' s poor marketing ensured that the world knew little of the keyboard computers, and the few people who encountered them seemed not to know what to do with them. it was therefore inevitable that they would be commercial failures, and so they proved to be.
rocky mount instruments or rmi was a subsidiary of the allen organ company , established in about 1966 . it was based in rocky mount , north carolina . it is most famous for the rmi electra piano , a keyboard instrument that created piano and harpsichord-like sounds without the use of strings , tines , or reeds , instead using transistors , much like the combo organs of the day . 
rocky mount instruments or rmi was a subsidiary of the allen organ company, established in about 1966. it was based in rocky mount, north carolina. it is most famous for the rmi electra piano, a keyboard instrument that created piano and harpsichord-like sounds without the use of strings, tines, or reeds, instead using transistors, much like the combo organs of the day.
rocky mount instruments or rmi was a subsidiary of the allen organ company, established in about 1966. it was based in rocky mount, north carolina. it is most famous for the rmi electra piano, a keyboard instrument that created piano and harpsichord-like sounds without the use of strings, tines, or reeds, instead using transistors, much like the combo organs of the day.