Jiggery Pokery & Forgotten Keys
Sounds like the name of some forgotten Prog Rock band, doesn’t it!
However, these are the names of two sample library developers that have come to my attention through my contact with Hollow Sun.
Jiggery Pokery is Matt Black, a guy with at least a couple of decades experience in the industry and who has most recently been converting some of the Hollow Sun libraries to the Reason ReFill format. Matt also sells his own work over at his Jiggery Pokery website. These libraries include a Farfisa, Vox Continental and B3 Tonewheel organs, each available separately or as one combined ReFill. There are also some lovely freebies to be had to whet your appetite, including demo versions of the above organs, plus the Laser Harp patch from an Elka Synthex, A Moog Taurus Bass and an Eminent 310U V2 as well as some FX Combinators and a wealth of Combinator skins.
Next up is Forgotten Keys, who, as their name suggests, specialise in “Quality downloadable low cost sound samples of old, interesting or hard-to-find electronic musical instruments.”
Here you will find .wav & Kontakt based sample libraries of an Elka Rhapsody 490, a Univox SR-95 / Keio Mini Pops MP-7 Drum Machine, Roland TR-77, Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1 Drum Machine and a couple of Yamaha FE-70 Electone Organ sets. Each of these packs are literally only a few quid each and well made too. They also have some freebies, including a small version of the MRK-1 and some impulse response samples of a Watkins Copicat for use in a convolution reverb such as SIR1 or Freeverb.
So, being a big fan of the little developers, I thoroughly recommend you go visit these guys, sample their wares (no pun intended) and support them as much as you can 
Elka X-605 – For Sale
Well, as you may have seen earlier this year, I acquired an Elka X-605 Combo Organ. After much deliberation, I have decided to sell it on. I have two main reasons for this. Firstly, It is a rather large and hefty beast whose functions and sounds I already have in bucket loads in other, more convenient instruments, such as my Alesis Fusion and Akai samplers. Whilst some might argue on the side of authenticity, I would counter that with the fact that the Elka isn’t quite a Hammond or other such organ classic and therefore is much easier to replicate digitally.
Secondly, I need the funds as I plan to purchase a new camera, something I have been trying to do for some time.
As this is surplus to requirements I am putting it on eBay UK and hoping she goes for a reasonable price. If you are interested, this item is in Suffolk, UK. I will not be offering shipping of any kind due to the immense weight of it. It will be collection only. The starting price will be £99.99. The only “problem” with it is that it does not have the legs nor the swell pedal. It does, however, come with the service schematics. Other than that, it is in perfect working order.
Interested parties should contact me via the eBay auction or via email.
See this post for more pictures.
Here is a video demonstrating it’s perfect working order.
First outing with the Elka X-605
Right, well, I just got her upstairs (anyone got a spare spine knockin’ about ?!) and the first thing I noticed was that the paltry keyboard stand I had is in no way suitable for the task, so it remains floor bound for now.
She powered up and once connected to an amp, she sounded very good, in so much as there were no discernable crackles present on any of the settings. The drawbars all moved freely and worked, as did all the other switches and settings. The only thing wrong with this beast is the the missing parts (legs & swell pedal) and some very minor cosmetic things, such as a few scuffs in the Tolex, tarnished latches and a missing washer where the music stand sits. Not bad at all for a 30 year old bit of gear.
But, after playing with the sounds and tinkering, I began to wonder how this might add to my collection over and above being another nice item. I already have an extensive studio that sports some fine, modern hardware (Akai S6000/Z8, Alesis Fusion, Korg Prophecy, Yamaha CS1x, and much more) and I know that in the Fusion alone, it has many organ patches that would probably cover the range of the Elka and then some. I know that you can not normally “beat the real thing” but I am beginning to think this may be of little value to me in the long term.
One option I have considered is keeping it for my kids to use. Both have exhibited early signs of interest in music and playing keyboards (they are aged 4 & 2) and this could fill a gap very cheaply, but then so could any other keyboard, be it an organ or a synth. The benefit being that a more modern, MIDI capable synth would be lighter, safer and much more flexible then the Elka.
I am very tempted to keep her, tart her up a bit and merely add it to the collection, maybe even take some samples from it. But, as I’m sure we all know, we have partners who simply see large units like this as just “another piece of clutter”.
I’m not going to make any rash decisions yet. I will see how I feel. It is a nice organ, and once mounted on proper legs and with the swell pedal replaced, could indeed be more attractive.
Time will tell, but for now, I’d like to see if anyone has some legs and a swell pedal. Answers on a postcard, please 
)
The newest addition to Failed Muso Studios
May I present…..
An Elka X-605 !
As also used by Gareth Jones….
Many thanks to my friend in Utah, Rod, for hooking me up with the previous owner via his Combo Organ Nation Forum. I only picked her up today and she is currently sat in the garage until I have some time and space to set her up and give her a test. I also have the bass pedal unit but sadly no volume pedal. The last owner found that a simple resistor inserted into two of the pin slots was sufficient enough to drop the volume to an agreeable level but if anyone knows of one going begging, I’d love to know
More pics when I get it set up and cleaned
Oh, and I also picked up a double SCSI Drive enclosure with 2x 18GB units in for my Akai S6000 which has been languishing without an HD since the internal one decided to not like the interface board !
So, I’m quite happy right now
Some lovely pictures….just because….
All shots from the EBoard Museum
Take a long look at these pictures and the synths contained within. Am I alone in thinking that these are beautiful objects ? Show me a Triton or Motif or whatever hardware synths are left nowadays (except the Alesis Fusion maybe) and they all look the same. These synths of old were all unique not only in sound but in looks too. If anybody wonders why people like me get moist around the gusset for old synths, here are some prime examples….
Emulator I
Prophet 10
Roland SH-101 Blue
Yamaha DX1
Sequential Circuits Prophet VS and Prophet 5
Elka Synthex
Yamaha CS-80
