Technics FA1 good for classical?

[Guest]

I've been keeping an eye out for a good inexpensive organ for my apartment. I took 2 years of classical organ in college, but I haven't played much at all since then and I'd really like to get back into it. I came across a Technics FA1 organ that is well within my price range, but I am a bit concerned about the 25-note pedalboard. The organ at church has a full AGO spec pedalboard, and I have no idea how that would translate if I practiced on a 25 and performed on a 32. I've searched this and many other sites but have been unable to get a good feel for this.</P>


Also is there is any general feeling for the suitability of an FA1 for classical repertoire, or a recommendation for a similarly cheap instrument?</P>


Your input is greatly appreciated.</P>


- Dan</P>

[OrgansR4Me]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?

I'd recommend purchase of the Technics as it is a hard to find instrument and if you wait while you consider more "church appropriate" organs you'll probably miss out on the Technics. You can always sell off the Technics later. The technics has a very limited classical voicing and won't make you comfortable with the stop changes you'll be using on Sunday, but it is one of the best and most versatile home organs and you'll really enjoy playing. Sure beats not having an organ at home! You may even find yourself hauling the Technics down to the church for special occasions. The sequencer and recording capabilities are amazing. (I'm the owner of a GA3)

[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



I agree with all that OrgansR4Me wrote about the FA1.</p>

Let me add that you can add to the 'church sound' with the FA1 by adding more custom voices. As home organs go, the FA1 is an extremely versatile and good sounding organ. And with prices ranging from $500-$1500 when they do show up on various sales sites, it is a relative bargain.</p>

I own an EA5 (spinet) and couldn't be more pleased with the versatility, customizing capabilities and sound.</p>

</p>

[andyg]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



I agree with what's been said so far. The FA1 is a great instrument. OK, so the pedalboard is the 'wrong shape' and 'doesn't have enough notes'. So what! Lots of classical organs are the same - not every organ is AGO spec.</p>

I had a student who had one of these when they first came on the market. It replaced a very ageing Wyvern. His classical organ tutor had no problems with it and I was able to teach him how to use all the good stuff![:O] In the first lesson, he'd taken a piece by Rutter in 7/8, and created a 7/4 rhythm pattern for it and was devising an orchestrated version.</p>

We took it into his college where we used it as the organ for the Albinoni Adagio - sounded great. I then showed the audience and orchestra that the organ was quite capable of playing the strings' parts as well, much to the amusement of the keyboard and organ scholars.</p>

Yes, there were disks made that could add extra sounds. Technote in the UK made quite a few and they may even still be available.</p>

So go for it and have fun. </p>

Andy
</p>

[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



The registration and other disks are still available at :</p>

stylediskwarehouse.com and Strawberry Music</p>

Pretty extensive list of them available. However, they are a bit overpriced imo. I have bought a few from them (they are the same owner) and have been pleased with what I got.</p>

</p>

[Guest]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



Could you clarify for me what these disks actually do for or to the organ? I'm finding plenty of factory installed sounds such as the group under classical organ. Would the software on these disks add to the total available sounds in this listingand the others, and are they loaded to a memory section that is depicted on the screen or accessed when the 1-16 pistons are used? Would they add a 32' or 64' pedal to the selections or add accompaniment selections that weren't thought of when the instrument was built?</P>


The disk descriptions lead me to believe they are mainly pre-recorded songs to be played back through the organ. I can pop a CD into my regular stereo for that.</P>

[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



There are different kinds of disks available that do different things.</p>

In the descriptions, you should note that they talk about panel memories (pistons) and user memory. Most of the disks use these areas and add tones or rhythms to the organ that are not there now. Some of them are very specific about songs, but most are registrations and memory add-ons that would sound like that song, but are also useful on other songs of the same genre possibly.</p>

As to what exactly each adds, I don't know. I don't think any of them tell you what is added specifically, thus making them a bit of a stab in the dark.</p>

And yes, most are doing things that weren't included in the organ when it was manufactured. All of them are made using the organ's built-in tones. There are a slew of tones that you can use to make your own custom registrations and such that aren't there now. I have the EA5 manual and reference guide, and in it there are over 200 tones that can be fiddled with, there are probably more in the FA1. Adjustments to the tone are pitch, bend and others. In pitch it shows that you can go one octave down or up, which would indicate to me that you could pitch a 16' tone down an octave, which should give a 32' (?). Unfortunately there are only a few tones that show footage, it would take some experimenting.</p>

When you make your 'custom' sound from these tones, you give it a name and put it in a user memory, so yes they are available on the LCD panel.</p>

So basically, what the disks do is add sounds to the user memories for the sound 1, 2, 3 (both upper and lower), and pedals. And they might, and usually do, load the 1-16 pistons or a subset. They also may add acc/rhythms that are not stock in the organ, as well as intro/ending and breaks.</p>

I don't think any of those disks actually have a song recorded on them, only the registrations and backings for you to use, or at least none of them I've gotten have had the actual song on them.</p>

I know that you are more interested in playing classical music vice pops, but the FA1 is a home organ trying to fill all the little niches of music the home player might play. Basically meaning a little of everything in my case.</p>

I don't think you can get a 64' stop, or at least you can't on my EA5, so there are some limits. I will say that the few times I have used the pipe organ settings on mine, I was very pleased with the overall sound. Not exactly like that big pipe organ, but very good. As to other 'classical' registrations, well it might take a bit of fiddling around to get the desired effect, but since you can do all those customizations and save them to disk, you only have to do each one once.</p>

Hope this helps.</p>

</p>

[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



Here is a link to get you the User Guide for the F100 which is almost exactly the same as the FA1</p>

http://www.panasonic.co.uk:80/html/en_GB/Support/219854/index.html;jsessionid=0a6d28ef30d82c88ec8cee524760 878eaa242fb35f3a.e34NaN4Rb3aPbO0Lbx0Na3qQahaNe6fzn A5Pp7ftolbGmkTy</p>

On that page, select Downloads, then in the dialog put in sxf100 and hit 'search'. It will give you the user manual. That should give you lots to read about the F100 and from everything I read, the F100 and the FA1 are identical except for cabinetry.</p>

</p>

[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



Arghh!! Here's a tinyurl link to the same spot :</p>

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; ">http://tinyurl.com/cqu99h</span></p>

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "></span></p>

[Guest]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?

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<TD class="" id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Thank you for the info. Yes, I do enjoy the classical organ sound but I'm not talented enough to play without assistance. I read music, after a fashion, but use a bunch of fake books to finger the melody while I hunt for the chords. Too many, many years without a musical instrument and just a few lessons on a variety of instruments before age 15. (63 now). My hands are stiff from years of construction and without a music reference I can do nothing. I play "Name that Tune" with my mother-in-law. She can get it in 3 to 5 notes even if I don't recognize what I'm playing. I'm still having fun. I want more bells and whistles.&lt;G&gt;</TD></TR>
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[lparsons21]

Re: Technics FA1 good for classical?



I hear you about the hands. I'm 65 and my hands are talking to me and they are saying 'ouch!'!!! :)</p>

You sound like me. I took lessons when I was in high school and then nothing after that. No instrument at all until the late 70's and then working so much, and gone on deployments with the Navy so much, that I didn't get to play them much.</p>

Right now I'm trying to wean myself from all the autos. A home course I found that is helping is 'The Older Beginner Organ Course' by James Bastien. Here's a write up I did on another forum about it and one other book I'm using :</p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; ">Over this past winter I've been working on my playing skills. Not enough to be totally happy with my progress, but certainly better than I was when I started.

Over the last few years I haven't had any lessons, and had almost totally shifted to EZPlay music because it was, well easy. And with all the automatics in today's modern organ, it was easy to fall into that trap.

Unfortunately, that meant that what I played doesn't really sound even relatively close to what a more accomplished, note-reading organist does. I want to change that a bit.

I chose two paths to try to get there :

Path 1: The Older Beginner Organ Course. This is a 2-part course, with sub-books to emphasize different things.

The first part really works on note reading skills, you even us a Note Speller notebook to write note names and positions, as well as other music notation.

The first part is 4 books :
A. The Older Beginner Organ Course Level 1
B. Note Speller
C. Musicianship for the Older Beginner Organist Level 1
D. Pedal Skills Level 1

There is no EZPlay notation anywhere in any of the books and nearly all music is in 2-staff style with complete notation, and it has the chord symbols also.

In the "A" book, all songs are clearly labelled with Title, suggested registrations and other music notation.

In the Musicianship book, some songs are labelled, but many are not. Each chapter is broken down into subsections. Theory, Technic and Sight Reading. Almost every page has something to read and something to do on the organ.

In the Pedal Skills book, it is total immersion into playing the pedals. It starts off simple and gets progressively more complex.

The 2nd part is the same book titles, except the Note Speller isn't included. This just builds on the things learned in the first part.

The progression through the lessons is smooth and quick enough to hold your attention. Emphasis is on practice and using what has already been learned to aid in learning the new stuff. There are also practice scales in many spots so you can work on your fingering excercises and skills.

There are 3 music books that are supplements to the Level 1. Christmas songs, Hymns and Classics.

If you are ready to make the leap away from the automatics and EZPlay and don't have a teacher available to you locally, this is a set of books worth considering. I got mine at the local music store and as I remember, it wasn't expensive at all.

Published by KJOS West and authored by James Bastien.

The other book I bought was How to Play from a Fake Book by Blake Neely.

This is a very nice, fast manual for learning to play from fake books. You need to be able to read treble clef, and it helps to read bass clef too. He talks about chord building in slightly different ways that make sense and it is all geared towards fake book music.

This is worth considering if you want to move away from EZPlay with its limited key signature music, to more complex popular music. Think of it as a way to start the move from all autos, EZPlay, to full reading and playing of properly written music.
</span>

</p>

[Phr333k]

Here is a link to get you the User Guide for the F100 which is almost exactly the same as the FA1</p>

http://www.panasonic.co.uk:80/html/en_GB/Support/219854/index.html;jsessionid=0a6d28ef30d82c88ec8cee524760 878eaa242fb35f3a.e34NaN4Rb3aPbO0Lbx0Na3qQahaNe6fzn A5Pp7ftolbGmkTy</p>

On that page, select Downloads, then in the dialog put in sxf100 and hit 'search'. It will give you the user manual. That should give you lots to read about the F100 and from everything I read, the F100 and the FA1 are identical except for cabinetry.</p>

</p>

This page seems to be not available now.

[mac]

I would agree with all that has been said. I owned an FA-1 for a time and found it a fine organ to play. I too play classical pieces and never had a problem adapting to a 25 note pedalboard from a 32.
I only changed to upgrade to a Atelier AT90R, having heard Hector Oliveira demo one. That also is an organ to consider for classical music. It does have some really good church organ sounds.
Mac