Farfisa Find.

[tea for two]

I've never liked J M J's music, nice enough bloke though.
In the context of what else was around at the time, my attention was drawn elsewhere.

As with lots of things if you are not attuned to it you won't like it nor get it.

From first thyme I heard JmJ's Oxygene Equinoxe as a teen there was something transported me elsewhere.
JmJ said much later when he did Oxygene Equinoxe it was as if he wasn't doing it, as if someThing was making it through him some divine inspiration.

Since then I've heard music from various styles various parts of the World.
Including those music described as mystical spritual, including native chants songs.
Oxygene Equinoxe still is able to transport me elsewhere still has that inner something I can't describe.

::

In terms of Analogue Synthesis the way JmJ interveaves sounds only Isao Tomita been able to do this of those I have heard.

[Arpangel]

I've never liked J M J's music, nice enough bloke though.
In the context of what else was around at the time, my attention was drawn elsewhere.

As with lots of things if you are not attuned to it you won't like it nor get it.

From first thyme I heard JmJ's Oxygene Equinoxe as a teen there was something transported me elsewhere.
JmJ said much later when he did Oxygene Equinoxe it was as if he wasn't doing it, as if someThing was making it through him some divine inspiration.

Since then I've heard music from various styles various parts of the World.
Including those music described as mystical spritual, including native chants songs.
Oxygene Equinoxe still is able to transport me elsewhere still has that inner something I can't describe.

::

In terms of Analogue Synthesis the way JmJ interveaves sounds only Isao Tomita been able to do this of those I have heard.

Fair enough, but my attention was elsewhere, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno, dominated my life.

[tea for two]

Farfisa SynthAccordion.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPMDk2j0M ... BmYXJmaXNh
I dig this.

[Arpangel]

Farfisa SynthAccordion.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPMDk2j0M ... BmYXJmaXNh
I dig this.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "wind synthesiser"



That’s when they made good stuff.

I'm getting mine today, ooer, I'm trying not to wet myself.
What's worrying me is where I'm going to put it?

[adrian_k]

I sometimes think I miss out on things in life worrying about practicalities like that.

[Arpangel]

I sometimes think I miss out on things in life worrying about practicalities like that.

Terrible isn’t it.
But I am trying not to look like a keyboard player.

[Folderol]

I sometimes think I miss out on things in life worrying about practicalities like that.

Terrible isn’t it.
But I am trying not to look like a keyboard player.

Oi!
What wrong with looking like a keyboard player?
{mutter}{mutter}{mutter}

[Arpangel]

I sometimes think I miss out on things in life worrying about practicalities like that.

Terrible isn’t it.
But I am trying not to look like a keyboard player.

Oi!
What wrong with looking like a keyboard player?
{mutter}{mutter}{mutter}

Being a keyboard player takes up too much space, and people keep asking "why do you need so many keyboards" then I start to doubt myself, and have an existential crises.

[adrian_k]

Guitarists obviously don’t have this problem. I mean, I don’t know anyone with more than one guitar. {edit} or amplifier. Or pedal board.

[Hugh Robjohns]

[BigRedX]

Guitarists obviously don’t have this problem. I mean, I don’t know anyone with more than one guitar. {edit} or amplifier. Or pedal board.

I sold all my guitar and bass amplification and effects apart form one guitar amp that is semi-permanent loan to a band member, and replaced the lot of them with a Helix Floor and a powered cab (which I only use for some rehearsals and the occasional gig when the foldback quality is unknown).

I also whittled my guitar and bass collection down from about 50 instruments to two 5-string basses, three Bass VIs and four guitars, and 3 of those which don't get used, will get sold as soon as get my act together and list them.

[adrian_k]

Yes I actually went through a similar exercise. I now have two acoustics (one for gigging/sessions, one for ‘best’), one electric, one classical and one bass. One amp which I never use. I now need to sort out the three pedal boards and 4 laptops stuffed under my desk.

On the other hand I have a midi controller, a 61 key Roland keyboard, and a little Roland synth thing. But I’m thinking of getting an 88 key hammer action board. That I have no space for.

[BigRedX]

On the other hand I have a midi controller, a 61 key Roland keyboard, and a little Roland synth thing. But I’m thinking of getting an 88 key hammer action board. That I have no space for.

I also got rid of most of my high tech gear, including a very well-equipped home studio in its own sound-proofed and acoustically treated room. My studio these days consists of Logic running on the Mac I also use to do my Graphic Design day job, two additional plug-ins that make composing and recording a bit easier, but neither are essential, and a 37 key controller keyboard. I use my Helix as an audio interface. Everything else is either done at our synth player's home or at commercial studios.

[MarkOne]

I used to have a fairly busy keyboard collection (Nothing like the redoubtable Elf's peerless collection), but I had a whole room to play with and 8 or 9 synths/keyboards on various stands. Now we live in a 2 bedroom apartment my wife and I share an office/hobby room/studio in the spare room.

I've whittled my keys down to an 88 note weighted Arturia, and a 61 note Novation controller. these form the basis of my live rig, and they both are used with VIs in Logic. As well as those the only actual synths I've got now are my Moog Sub37 and Roland Gaia Mk1. (Oh yes and I have the Alesis Vortex on a wall holder, which comes out as part of the live rig sometimes)

Just doing a bit of a reorganisation and a QuikLok 4 tier stand is winging its way here to organise them on to my left.

[Arpangel]

It works!
It’s totally beyond, needs the usual dowse in switch cleaner but it’s all fine.
My god, it’s heavy! CS80 territory a two man job, sounds amazing.

[Martin Walker]

It works!
It’s totally beyond, needs the usual dowse in switch cleaner but it’s all fine.

What a wonderful Freudian slip Tony!

Douse is I suspect the verb you intended (to pour a liquid over)

Dowse is generally used by diviners with a forked stick when they search for underground water (much more exciting and appropriate in the case of your new Farfisa )

[Arpangel]

It works!
It’s totally beyond, needs the usual dowse in switch cleaner but it’s all fine.

What a wonderful Freudian slip Tony!

Douse is I suspect the verb you intended (to pour a liquid over)

Dowse is generally used by diviners with a forked stick when they search for underground water (much more exciting and appropriate in the case of your new Farfisa )

Douse is a word I tend not to use much.
I still cant beleive i got this for £65, it has to be the bargain of the century.
I've got to figure out how to take it apart this morning, the drawbars are a bit crackly, just need a clean.
My friend found it in an antiques barn in the depths of France.

[Arpangel]

OK, I'm a bit perplexed, and it's my first time using a Farfisa, there seems to be no output volume knob, but there is a volume pedal connected via a 3 pin DIN plug, this doesn’t seem to be working, just tested it.
It sounds great through the internal speakers, if a bit noisy, hum.
It also has an "ext-amplifier" output, that doesn’t seem to be working either.
The only control over volume I have is the position of the drawbars.
It has a headphone out, I’m using that for recording, and its clean, not much noise, although I’m not sure if it's a stereo output, as it will only work if the jack plug is pulled half way out.
Any info appreciated, there’s very little about the standard Matador on the net.

[Folderol]

OK, I'm a bit perplexed, and it's my first time using a Farfisa, there seems to be no output volume knob, but there is a volume pedal connected via a 3 pin DIN plug, this doesn’t seem to be working, just tested it.
It sounds great through the internal speakers, if a bit noisy, hum.
It also has an "ext-amplifier" output, that doesn’t seem to be working either.
The only control over volume I have is the position of the drawbars.
It has a headphone out, I’m using that for recording, and its clean, not much noise, although I’m not sure if it's a stereo output, as it will only work if the jack plug is pulled half way out.
Any info appreciated, there’s very little about the standard Matador on the net.

Do you want to sort this out yourself, or would you like some help?
You're not a million miles away so I could drop in at some point.

P.S.
In another life I had considerable experience of working on kit with few, wrong model or no drawings, and plenty of undocumented modifications.

[Hugh Robjohns]

OK, I'm a bit perplexed, and it's my first time using a Farfisa, there seems to be no output volume knob, but there is a volume pedal connected via a 3 pin DIN plug, this doesn’t seem to be working, just tested it.

I dread to ask, but how have you tested it?

It's likely to be a voltage control arrangement rather than straight audio.

Typically, organs of that age used an LDR either as a shunt audio attenuator, or to vary a VCA control voltage. The LDR and light will be inside the expression pedal, with the power to a light bulb controlled by a pot on the pedal. If not plugged in the organ will be at full volume.

So I'd expect a DC voltage on one of the DIN socket pins, ground on another (probably pin 2), and attenuation access to the audio signal or the control voltage on the third.

It also has an "ext-amplifier" output, that doesn’t seem to be working either.

Have you trawled the interweb for user and service manuals? They will undoubtedly answer your questions and help identify any faults.

I found a service manual for the Matador-M quickly, which is probably quite similar.

https://archive.org/details/sm_Farfisa_ ... 7/mode/1up

That document suggests the ext output also comes from the headphone output, so maybe the socket is broken... or try a TS Instrument cable.

It has a headphone out, I’m using that for recording, and its clean, not much noise, although I’m not sure if it's a stereo output...

Unlikely on a mono organ.. but it is probably wired with the same signal on tip and ring, or just on the tip.

... it will only work if the jack plug is pulled half way out.

If the same signal on tip and ring it will cancel out if you plug it to a balanced line input using a TRS-TRS cable! Or, if its just on the tip, try using a standard TS instrument cable.

[Arpangel]

OK, I'm a bit perplexed, and it's my first time using a Farfisa, there seems to be no output volume knob, but there is a volume pedal connected via a 3 pin DIN plug, this doesn’t seem to be working, just tested it.

I dread to ask, but how have you tested it?

It's likely to be a voltage control arrangement rather than straight audio.

Typically, organs of that age used an LDR either as a shunt audio attenuator, or to vary a VCA control voltage. The LDR and light will be inside the expression pedal, with the power to a light bulb controlled by a pot on the pedal. If not plugged in the organ will be at full volume.

So I'd expect a DC voltage on one of the DIN socket pins, ground on another (probably pin 2), and attenuation access to the audio signal or the control voltage on the third.

It also has an "ext-amplifier" output, that doesn’t seem to be working either.

Have you trawled the interweb for user and service manuals? They will undoubtedly answer your questions and help identify any faults.

I found a service manual for the Matador-M quickly, which is probably quite similar.

https://archive.org/details/sm_Farfisa_ ... 7/mode/1up

That document suggests the ext output also comes from the headphone output, so maybe the socket is broken... or try a TS Instrument cable.

It has a headphone out, I’m using that for recording, and its clean, not much noise, although I’m not sure if it's a stereo output...

Unlikely on a mono organ.. but it is probably wired with the same signal on tip and ring, or just on the tip.

... it will only work if the jack plug is pulled half way out.

If the same signal on tip and ring it will cancel out if you plug it to a balanced line input using a TRS-TRS cable! Or, if its just on the tip, try using a standard TS instrument cable.

Thanks Hugh, I plugged a pair of phones into the headphone jack, only comes out of the left earpiece. I’ve tried a TS lead in the external socket with no joy.
I did have a look inside but I’m not going to poke around there’s nothing there that’s understandable by me, thanks for that link though

Do you want to sort this out yourself, or would you like some help?
You're not a million miles away so I could drop in at some point.

P.S.
In another life I had considerable experience of working on kit with few, wrong model or no drawings, and plenty of undocumented modifications.

Many thanks any help appreciated, just let me know, anytime is fine.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I plugged a pair of phones into the headphone jack, only comes out of the left earpiece.

Gosh! The days of genuinely mono (as opposed dual-mono) headphone sockets!

I’ve tried a TS lead in the external socket with no joy.

Hmmm. I've had a quick look at a few farfisa service manuals, and the ext amp outlets seem either to come from the main preamp, or the headphone/internal speaker amp — all of which is working in your organ.

My guess would be a dried up electrolytic dc-blocking output capacitor, a broken socket, or a broken wire. It should be an easy fault to track down and fix given a scope and some basic electronics experience.

I'm sure Will can get it sorted. Something of that age — and I mean the organ, not Will — almost certainly needs the power supply capacitors replaced (to fix the hum), and possibly a lot more too...

I couldn't find a straight Matador schematic, but there are several sources for -M and -R models. I dont know how similar they are to yours, but often the same core circuitry was shared and added to, in those days, rather than each model being radically different.

[Arpangel]

I plugged a pair of phones into the headphone jack, only comes out of the left earpiece.

Gosh! The days of genuinely mono (as opposed dual-mono) headphone sockets!

I’ve tried a TS lead in the external socket with no joy.

Hmmm. I've had a quick look at a few farfisa service manuals, and the ext amp outlets seem either to come from the main preamp, or the headphone/internal speaker amp — all of which is working in your organ.

My guess would be a dried up electrolytic dc-blocking output capacitor, a broken socket, or a broken wire. It should be an easy fault to track down and fix given a scope and some basic electronics experience.

I'm sure Will can get it sorted. Something of that age — and I mean the organ, not Will — almost certainly needs the power supply capacitors replaced (to fix the hum), and possibly a lot more too...

I couldn't find a straight Matador schematic, but there are several sources for -M and -R models. I dont know how similar they are to yours, but often the same core circuitry was shared and added to, in those days, rather than each model being radically different.

Thanks a lot Hugh, info more than appreciated.
I'm not in a good state to do this myself, even if I did understand it, I'm out of my head on pain killers for my legs and hip, until my operation comes up.
I just haven’t got the focus or concentration.
If Will is able to give it a go fine, I'll reimburse him no problems.
Strange stuff going on, some drawbars only sound on certain notes, and the bottom E has suddenly stopped working, but, its still playable, and the sound is still amazing, usable, through a gate on my DAW!

[Arpangel]

This chap seems to know what he's talking about, not the same organ, but some useful info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0CuSGtiNfk

The saga continues, as it stands, it’s just about playable, I've got it going through a gate, which gets rid of the noise.
I'm using the headphone out, which is mono, also it has the benefit of cutting off the noisy amp and speaker when a lead is inserted, the amp by the way is a valve one, by all accounts.
It's exhibiting a few strange issues, the top two octaves aren’t as loud as the bottom two, which is annoying, and certain notes don’t sound according to what drawbars are out, also the bottom E has just packed up which is annoying.
I'm looking forward to Will coming on Wednesday, hopeful we can have a go at this, with the assistance of my partner who will undoubtably be supplying biscuits and various other culinary delights beyond my control in terms of quantity.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'm sure it's fixable — there's nothing esoteric in there — but it is likely to take a lot of time and effort. The faults you describe could be any combination of dirty key contacts, dirty drawbar switches, dried up capacitors, tired transistors, etc, etc it doesn't look like a complicated organ to work on, but potentially very time consuming.