Collected on this page you’ll find a variety of documents and pictures related to the Optigan. This stuff is mostly for the hardcore fan who just ain’t satisfied until they get the WHOLE story. I’ll be adding more items to this page as I get around to them (believe me- there’s LOTS of stuff to add!) so let me know which kinds of things you’d like to see more of here and I’ll try to accomodate.
Probably not. The earliest design concept for the Optigan was a small organ containing something like an Edison Cylinder. When the keys were pressed, they would push down needles onto the audio tracks. This proved to be completely unstable, though, so the focus shifted to optical means. It’s doubtful that any of these prototypes still [...]
Yes and no. All of the original 8 and 16 track masters are gone, but fortunately Mike held on to the 1/4″ stereo mix-down masters. These are probably the most useful tapes to have anyway. I am the current legal owner of these tapes, and have copyrighted the material contained on them. All 40-odd hours [...]
A photo essay documenting the creation of Optigan discs.
View some of the original Optigan patents.
Take a look at these…
An index of the contents of the Optigan master reels.
A design change issue from Mike LeDoux.
Mike LeDoux’s thoughts on optical disc mastering.
A telephone memo, for comic relief.
A flowchart illustrating the timeline of Optigan disc manufacturing.