omnichords

Irma plays "Clocks" on OM-300

2012-01-06T12:46:00.000+01:00

Dutch multitalent Ms. Irma Scheer, also responsible for the beautiful website of Gregory Page, sent me this great version of "Clocks" on the Omnichord. Enjoy!

...wishing you a happy New Year!

2011-12-30T20:19:00.000+01:00

Ah...Xmas has passed, the new year is on it's way and still there's no new omnichord.
Good news is I found spare parts somewhere and I promise I will finally start recording my omnichord cd...I promise! And some long awaited omnichord instruction video's. "NO!" I hear someone screaming in the background "they are sooo annoying!!" yes, we'll see:-) For now, to all my followers (yeh, you 10:-) A happy New Year! cheers
Rob

What's so funny?...

2011-12-19T19:50:00.000+01:00

I had to post this one I couldn't stop laughing, great!

nice new song by Rachel Pearl

2011-12-10T10:33:00.003+01:00

Check her out! You can find more on this artist at http://www.rachelpearl.com/

Rachel's ability to bring together classic sounds with current pop iconic music distinguishes her from many other musicians and also points to a growing trend. Respect is exactly what Pearl has earned by staying true to her vision while keeping her ears and mind open to the pulse of pop from Nashville to Los Angeles and beyond.These days Rachel Pearl's new sound has been heavily influenced by artists such as: Oh Land, Robyn, Florence and the Machine Kimbra, Lady Gaga, Imogen Heap

Oscar Schmidt Easy Chord 2

2011-11-16T20:01:00.001+01:00

I'm sorry I missed this one! The Oscar Schmidt Easy Chord 2. That's what happens if you're busy living your life:-) But I picked up the pictures from Matrixsynth (awesome blog, check them out) Although this is not Suzuki, rumour has it this is where the omnichord originates from. Lovely thing, and went for a reasonable price. I would love to hear and see one. Anyone?? mmm...makes me wonder about the Easy Chord 1!

SUZUKI OMNICHORD in Hartley, Plymouth | Keyboards, Pianos, & Organs for Sale | Gumtree.com

2011-10-26T14:54:00.000+02:00

SUZUKI OMNICHORD in Hartley, Plymouth | Keyboards, Pianos, & Organs for Sale | Gumtree.com

Gregory Page ...again!

2011-10-18T14:38:00.000+02:00

Same tune, but different view! great to see it used this way.

Gregory Page on the Omnichord

2011-10-12T23:08:00.002+02:00

British singer-songwriter Gregory Page is also a keen Omnichord player. Find him at www.gregorypage.com. Thanks to Irma for the link!

Sonic couture's sampled Omnichord

2011-10-04T19:46:00.005+02:00

Sonic Couture sampled an OM-84 you can download from their site for 10 pounds...."The Omnichord we have sampled here is a ‘System Two’, and it has a great synth tone, which sounds ‘cheap’ in all the right ways. You can mix two different tones, one straight, and one modulated with a basic LFO. While not sounding much like a plucked string, it does have a pure character all its own, which won it many fans, such as Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, to name but two......" Check it out!
http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/24-the-attic/g28-omnichord/

2 Nice tunes!

2011-09-26T21:47:00.002+02:00

This time I'm posting 2 for the price of one! enjoy

sElf - awesome Omnichord!

2011-08-04T09:50:00.002+02:00

One of my readers send me this link. I had seen it before once, but couldn't find it anymore. Thanks very much for sending it! This guy is awesome, combining drums and an Omnichord. Enjoy!

2011-07-27T10:25:00.002+02:00

Omnichord Through Boss SL-20 Slicer

2011-07-01T10:10:00.004+02:00

Found this today: Roke 3028 playing a Suzuki Omnichord through a couple different pedals and a rack-mounted effects processor for a bit of reverb. The signal is then split from the Boss Slicer pattern processor pedal to two separate amps which creates a stereo ping-pong effect from one amp to the other....... In conclusion, the Omnichord + Boss Slicer = Cool shit!"

"Roads" tries out a new song

2011-06-10T09:06:00.001+02:00

Another Omnichordiac find:-) The band is called "Roads" & they tried out this song, but it sadly didn't make the album. The nice thing about finding these video's is, that I also discover new bands that make great music! Check them out: www.roadsband.com

question!

2011-06-06T18:00:00.000+02:00

this is a question I got from one of our blogreaders, is there anyone who can help?

I'm thinking about modifications to an OM-250M and I wonder if there are others with experience in this.  Two, in particular, immediately come to mind.  Firstly, I would like to externally trigger the tempo (with or without MIDI) so that it can be synced.  Next, I would like to disable the feature that immediately kicks in the drum rhythm when a chord is pressed.  That way the chord would only apply to the strum bar.

Om-27 for sale in Holland

2011-06-03T12:56:00.001+02:00

A brown OM-27 (the first omnichord) now for sale at Marktplaats.(sold!)
here it is!

Nothing sings praise the lord, than the Omnichord!

2011-05-28T19:34:00.001+02:00

For some reason I waited a good while to post this. But in a weird way, I sort of like it, so here they are!
OK, there's a Suzuki Qchord somewhere, I'm not gonna tell you where, you have to experience this video:-) If you look at the boy (he's talented!), I hope he'll at least become a new David Eugene Edwards someday:-)

"Down Home" Gospel Music Clips from Roland Zimmerman Family on Vimeo.

Tronichord for sale

2011-05-22T22:11:00.005+02:00

Tronichord for sale
Hi everyone, there's a couple of nice omni's on ebay now. It seems some of the prices aren't going through the roof for a change. And...the Tronichord appeal is fading I guess:-) someone offers this one for under 600 dollars.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Suzuki-Tronichord-Great-condition-Working-RARE-/270742571143?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item3f0983c887

Parts needed!

For my omni-friends I'm still looking for Omnichord parts! this time a OM-36 shell, it doesn't have to work! and a Battery compartment cover for the OM-100/200/300 series.

omnichord for sale: cheap!

2011-05-03T13:37:00.003+02:00

found one in the USA, for 50 dollars! gogogo guys! (sold)
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/msg/2359363190.html

What's for sale? Qchord, 2 omni's, portachord, Suzuki SMW-1000

2011-04-26T08:12:00.005+02:00

USA
Portachord on Ebay!
Suzuki Portachord

Someone selling 2 Omni's
OM-27 + 0M-84 on craigslist

The Netherlands
Qchord for sale
almost new in box.

Suzuki SMW-1000

This actually doesn't belong here but....these are extremely rare! the Suzuki SMW-1000 is a midi-melodion built in 1989.
also for sale at Marktplaats.
Suzuki Midi Melodeon

Her first attempt at playing the omnichord

2011-04-22T09:06:00.003+02:00

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Ms I. bought an Omnichord recently, she's a happy girl now:-) shows how quickly you can learn to play.

Om-27 and OM-84 chip information

2011-04-10T10:25:00.002+02:00

I found more info on OM-27 & OM-84 chips at: http://www.vintagechip.altervista.org/
I know nothing about electronics myself, but maybe it's interesting reading material for benders & technicians:-)

VST Omnichord for sale: proceeds to Japan

2011-03-29T23:54:00.000+02:00

Great idea!
the guys at sonic couture sampled an OM-84. You can buy the VST, all the proceeds go to the Red Cross Japanese Tsunami appeal. http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/g28-omnichord/

Grizzly Bear live with Omnichord

2011-03-26T10:13:00.003+01:00

Great band! and there's an omnichord here:-)

Oh Land on Omnichords

2011-03-21T09:15:00.005+01:00

Rainbow by Oh Land from Big Ugly Yellow Couch on Vimeo.

Oh Land (Nanna Øland Fabricius) is a singer from Denmark. Here she does one of her "cinematic electropop" songs with 2 omnichords! http://www.myspace.com/ohlandmusic

OM-84 for sale at Marktplaats

2011-03-20T17:47:00.001+01:00

Anyone in Holland looking for a classic? sorry - sold!
Now at Marktplaats there's an OM-84 for sale. Follow this link: OM-84 system 2

a moment for Japan.

2011-03-14T12:09:00.000+01:00

Writing a blog about Suzuki Omnichords brings the disaster in Japan close to home. During the last couple of days I slowly realized the scale of this disaster. It's bigger than anything ever happened in Japan.
I met with Mr Yu Beniya of Suzuki and his collegues a couple of years ago and wanted to know how they were. Through Howard Johnson of Suzuki Europe Ltd. I received this message from Yu.

Message to all who have asked about the situation:

Our Suzuki staffs, My family here in Hamamatsu, Japan are fine and thinking about afflicted peoples.....in Miyagi Pref. Fukishima Pref....and Tokyo.......It is a teribble situation....
The eathquake occured in the north of Japan,
and our office (in the middle) shaked not so seriously.
Now we are just so shocked by the tragic situation on the news,
and can do nothing, just seeing how it will affect the nuclear alert.....

I have to say ' Stand up to a crisis together by joining hands '.

Lets hope and pray for the best.

Rob

new: manuals and schematics!

2011-02-25T16:24:00.001+01:00

If you want to repair your Omnichord, you'll need service manuals, owners manuals, schematics etc.
We collected a couple of them and they are free downloadable from this site. We'll keep looking and post them as soon as we found them.
Still looking for : OM-36 + OM-300 manuals & schematics, OM-100/150/200/250M schematics, Tronichord schematics. Also scans of flyers etc are welcome!

"Nothing sings praise the lord...

2011-02-22T13:49:00.001+01:00

like the omnichord!" a Canadian friend of mine once said. And it seems he's right, judging by this songbook I spotted on Ebay. Needless to say, I had to share this with you:-)

I like this:-)

2011-02-21T19:35:00.001+01:00

I also use the Stylophone and a Casio, so I really like what this guy did.
Some people use very expensive synths and get...nowhere!

You only need good ideas, creativity & inspiration:-)

Omnichord News

2011-01-16T13:42:00.003+01:00

Omnichord News

Casey Desmond's Tronichord
Singer and omnichord player Casey Desmond recently updated her website. I think she didn't own a Tronichord the last time, but now she does:-) Some great pictures there. She recently recorded a new album, do check it out! http://caseydesmond.com/

Kim Wayman cd now available on Bandcamp!
4 songs of the New York based singer/ songwriter and make-up artist Kim Wayman can be purchased from the Bandcamp site. Check out this live performance on youtube and listen to her songs, she's an amazing artist.

http://kimwayman.bandcamp.com/album/kim-wayman

Harp App for Iphone
-the omnichord mobility check-
First there was a Polychord app, now someone came up with the Harp app. http://harpapp.com
Sounds OK, but nothing beats the real thing:-)

Suzuki Omnichord page on Facebook

2010-10-12T20:26:00.005+02:00

I came across a Suzuki Omnichord fanpage on FaceBook. Just joined and I hope you all do too:-) Also posted there this video featuring the Qchord. Great song, great band!

Omnichord stand

2010-09-11T20:26:00.001+02:00

Hi Omni lovers, I've seen a lot of "Live" pictures of the omnichord. Some people use basic music stands, others little tables etc. I wanted something that looked good:-) Here's my gadget. Thanks to a local drum parts supplier I came up with this. I'm interested in your ideas, models and reactions! Also if you want one, they're made to order!

First Hurrymania gig!

2010-09-10T18:22:00.000+02:00

In my band Hurrymania we use 2 omnichords (of course:-) Our violinist Sooi uses the OM-200, I use the Qchord. I haven't persuaded my drummer & bassplayer yet, but it won't take long! I designed a special stand, made up out of drum parts: It's half a cymbal stand married to a snarestand. If you look closely, you can see it in this photo. Works great! close up pics wil follow soon.

Steven deBruyn playing the Qchord

2010-04-16T11:27:00.002+02:00

Belgian harmonica master Steven deBruyn also plays Omnichord. He sent me this link of the song "Kerosene" Live on stage with the Rhytmn Junks. Thanks Steven!

my collection

2010-04-09T12:23:00.004+02:00

I finally took the time to take some pictures. There's still a couple models I need to find to complete my collection: the OM-36 and the OM-100...

This is my first, the OM-27 I bought at a carboot sale in my village in 1985. Payed 5 guilders ( 2,50 euro's) for it and it came with the original silver bag.

The OM-250m I bought new in the beginning of the nineties. My violinist uses it in our band these days.

I found this OM-300 3 years later, again a bargain! This one I used a lot to record strings on my demo's. It has limited midi capabilities, no way of re-assigning channels, but who cares:-)

I just found out I actually own 2 OM-84's (System 2) and there's another on the way! The Om-36 is quite similar, without some of the extra features. I think this one is my favourite: the "sonic string" mode + the low-fi drumsound makes it a lot of fun to play.

The Qchord The first time I saw it, I really wanted to have one! It took some time and in the process I mysteriously became the importer for the Benelux for a couple of years:-) The Qchord has certain nice features (whammy bar & a couple of good sounds) but isn't a real step forward from the OM-300. Also it has a lot of buttons with digital double-functions. This can be very annoying: when you switch off the power, your settings are gone.

My pride and joy! the Tronichord (PC-27) also known as Portachord. I recently bought it after searching the net for 10 years. It was the pre-model Suzuki made before they introduced the Omnichord. Very limited capabilities: Just chordbuttons, a strumplate ,volume, one sound...It's a simple but amazing supermusictoy:-)

looking for OM-100/200/300 dead or alive

2010-04-07T13:58:00.000+02:00

I've started a search for broken omnichords, parts etc A friend of mine has got a lot of motherboards, parts and broken or half-dead omni's he wants to repair. So we're setting up a Omni-hospital I guess:-)

Tronichord pics..

2010-02-23T12:52:00.000+01:00

As promised, here they are! I found out it also has a modelnumber : the PC-27.
Nice detail: the box still has the original pricetag: 195,00 dutch guilders (about 95,00 euro's)
It was purchased from a toystore called Dieterman. While looking for this company I stumbled on a dutchman who is a wizard in selling on Ebay with the same name (Donald Dieterman) He's specialized in toys...I wonder if he's related:-)

Omni-Pics on the net

2010-02-21T15:32:00.001+01:00

In my search for more Omnichord-addicts, I stumble across more & more articles on the omnichord. Nice! When I started importing the Qchord years ago, I took pictures of my omnichords to show them on my website...
Now everybody's using the shots I took for their blogs, articles etc...
it's really weird to see the Om-300 I still use in my band on wikipedia and all the other sites!

Tronichord arrived...

2010-01-16T20:14:00.000+01:00

This morning the mailman brought me a parcel. Nervous as a kid at X-mas I opened it and there she was...(yes, somewhere along the line a simple piece of electronic music toy had turned into a "she":-)
Anyway, to my surprise it was in absolute mint condition, with original box, manual & a piece of sheetmusic including "Hark now hear the angels sing" ah....it's really X-mas, only 3 weeks late!
I will definitely post some pics & scan the manual, it's hilarious:-)...

Tronichord!!!

2010-01-14T10:23:00.001+01:00

I'm a happy guy!... after searching for 10 years, I finally found a Tronichord. It's the first omnichord ever designed and quite rare. Next blog I will post the pictures of my collection. I can't wait for it to arrive!

found some more on the internet

2009-10-13T13:04:00.001+02:00

The illusive portachord...mmm, I saw it once on ebay and it went for a ridiculous price to someone in Japan.

2008-05-23T11:16:00.001+02:00

Omnichords in popular music

Several famous musicians have used omnichords in their music, among them:

Cyndi Lauper uses an Omnichord to assist with writing songs, and is in some recordings.
a-ha, uses the Omnichord in their live performances of the song Holyground from the album Analogue (album) ( 2005 )
Arcade Fire, "Ocean of Noise", from the album Neon Bible
Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, "You Are What You Love"
John Mayer Room for Squares
DEVO's Oh, No! It's Devo album
Daniel Lanois
SELF on the albums Breakfast with Girls & Gizmodgery
Jarvis Cocker
The Folk Implosion, "One Part Lullabye"
Pagan Wanderer Lu
Robbie Williams
David Bowie on Heathen
Elvis Costello
The Dixie Chicks
John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud) on Halos and Lassos
Brian Eno
Bob Dylan
Ringo Starr
The Mae Shi "Body 2" from Terrorbird and "Remarkably Dirty Animals" and "Nickel Arcade" from Do Not Ignore The Potential
Metalmags
Björk
Sarah Blasko "Amazing Things" from What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have
The Bens
The Gomorrah Lapse
My Morning Jacket
Ween
Au Revoir Simone
The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs
Ariel Pink "She's My Girl" from House Arrest/Lover Boy (Haunted Graffiti 5-6)
Silvertongue(NO)
Trio, "Tooralooralooraloo - Is It Old & Is It New"
Espers
Dntel
de novo dahl
jason spacestation
That band from Holland a band from Rotterdam that uses several Omnichords, www.myspace.com/thatbandfromholland

In 2000, the band The High Fidelity released The Omnichord Album; an album of songs featuring omnichords (as well as the occasional QChord).
In 2005, London Elektricity released Power Ballads on the Hospital Records label, an album which involves omnichords. The cover art shows the artist, Tony Colman, holding a black and white Omnichord.
In 2006, Half-handed Cloud released Halos and Lassos, in which nearly all the tracks use an Omnichord.
(source: Answers.com)

Part 1:Tronichord

2008-03-24T13:30:00.000+01:00

It all started somewhere in the '70's with a toy instrument called the Tronichord. I stumbled upon it through a friend of mine who ownes one: Canadian Singer-songwriter Wilfred Kozub. Untill this day I've just found 1 at: www.Miniorgan.com where they mention this smallest omnichord ever built and even have shots of the original packaging! great site...I asked the CEO's at Suzuki Japan for some more background information, but they couldn't tell me, or didn't want to tell me, anything more about it:-)
Mr. Abe Thomas, the first American importer & currently running www.Qchord.net states he still has one somewhere...but where? I met him a couple of years ago at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt. I guess we can blame him for introducing omnichords to America. He still is a true believer. You can see where the click came from ( 2 baldly go etc...?)