Mattel
marketed the Optigan as something of an adult toy- the
sound quality was simply not good enough for professional
use. They sold mostly through stores like Sears and JC
Penny and were relatively inexpensive- about $200 to $400
depending on which model you chose. They came with a "Starter
Set" of four discs, and extra discs were marketed
like record albums. Official Optigan music books were
also available to help you make the most out of the minimal
talent you probably had if you had bought an Optigan in
the first place. One of these books even has a spiffy
arrangement of "Spanish Flea" ("for advanced
players only") that includes all of the lyrics!
At any rate, my involvement with
the instrument began in February of '95 while I was visiting
my friend Jay Lesser
in San Francisco. I make it a habit whenever I run across
an organ in a thrift store to at least have a glance at
it. The one at the main Salvation Army store in Oakland
was pretty ugly- plain brown with not very many buttons
on it. But then I noticed the little "Optigan"
insignia above the keyboard. I had always imagined the
Optigan to be a small, portable keyboard more like a Casiotone-
after all, it was made by a toy company. My first impression
was that maybe this was just one specific model aimed
at people who preffered an ugly console-type thing sitting
in their living room. I turned it on and instantly fell
in love with the scratchy organ sound that came out. The
chord buttons played repetitive little riffs with a piano
and bass, and the drum buttons played grungy loops tailor-made
for your next hip-hop record. The tempo control seemed
pretty ludicrous to me, because speeding up the tempo
also caused the pitch to go up- after all, it was just
a recording being sped up, just like playing a record
on the wrong RPM setting! At this point, I didn't realize
that you could change the disc- I didn't see any slot
to put them in. I just assumed that this was a version
of the Optigan that had only one disc permanently installed.
I didn't mind that, though- I loved what I heard! The
price was $75, which I would have paid immediately, but
I didn't think that it would fit in my car for the return
trip to San Diego.
(I had come with two friends and all of our bags and stuff.)
So I decided to sleep on it.
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