Big-ass organ, big-ass sound

The Electone D-80 is a monster home organ with a tonne of useful instruments and features crammed into a giant piece of furniture. The most notable of which is probably the fully analogue, semi-programable, mono-synth that makes up the third keyboard. As far as I can tell this synth is a simplified version of the SY-1 or CS-10. Regardless, it's great fun to play and excellent for quirky, 70's-style lead lines. It has one of the strangest features of all my synths, the keybed actually wiggles back and forth allowing you to add vibrato and bends in much the same way as one might by wiggling the strings of a violin.

Other important modules plonked into the case: Analogue rhythm machine, arpeggiator, auto-accompaniment chord and bass lines, build-in bass pedals, traditional drawbar-style organ stops, poly-synth presets, and a limited but useful filter. It also has a built-in rotary Leslie-type speaker and a variety of chorus and tremolo options.

Those in the know have told me that this organ shares some internal components with the CS-50 and CS-80 and with a few pots added here and there, it can become a fully programmable poly synth.

The D-80 is a hell of a lot of fun to sit down and just play. It has a huge range of sounds and rhythms and is at the very top end of what one expects from a $10,000 organ/synthesizer (mine still has the original sales receipt in the bench).

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Slightly above the "average" Electone

Perhaps the littlest brother of the D-family of spinet+solo synth keyboard organs, but still not without a number of features that push it some way past the standard "home organ" fare. Okay, it looks like a regular Electone - the coloured tabs, the gray/white drum machine buttons, the balance and sustain paddles, etc, etc. However, the built in rotating speaker combined with the many flute stops on the lower and upper manual make for a passable (if slightly clean) Hammond impersonation. The upper and synth manual have some useable solo sounds, and the synth manual in particular has numerous modulation possibilities, not the least of which is the famous Yamaha side-to-side wiggle for vibrato/wah-wah. There is also an arpeggiator for the lower manual - an interesting and another useful feature not found on that many Electones. Some great YouTube demos can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcv85r9mDY

From Gear Setup