Pointless Noodling on the ELKA x705 SPACE ORGAN

A fantastic sounding, entirely analogue dual manual organ from the late 70's. Featuring a very good (for the time) Hammond clone, 2 Elka Rhapsody 610 string machines, an Elka Soloist 505 monophonic synthesizer, a punch brass preset synth, a retro style beatbox and nice sounding spring reverb. A huge beast of a synth which requires 2 people to lift but great fun to play!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Elka
• X705
• string
• machine
• vintage
• retro
• analog
• analogue
• moog
• jean-jacques
• perrey
• jjpdvd
• mee3d

[Desmaad]

Do you do soundtrack work?

[mee3d]

@Desmaad i used to, some years ago... i have had a few of tracks featured... most notable was the HBO coverage of the 1989 Tour de France but since then my video work takes up my time.

[myrmur]

Absolutely great!

Did you use any external effect?

[mee3d]

No... the unit has a nice spring reverb, so that was the only effect on. The audio clips because my video camera isn't great and I was probably playing quite loud! This unit had a couple of quirks so sometimes sections worked as they should and other times they didn't, depending on how hot the unit was - always a surprise to play!

[Triursaighead]

Can anyone tell me what actually is the difference between Elka X-605, X-705 and X-707? Just more presets?

[mee3d]

The Elka x707 is just the 705 but in a wooden stand-up 'home organ' style cabinet (with amp and speaker built in). The 605 looks just like the 705 so I'm not sure what's different... too me it looks identical so therefor the same amount of presets?

[Laura041974]

@Nord72 I can't get one of those, there wouldn't be room. I have one synth on the coffee table in the lounge. There's a Farfisa organ in a community hall in my village but I've never played it. I found a site for the Hammond Hire Company which might be able to give you advice about repairs. You make it sound so nice I couldn't have guessed there were things wrong with it.

[Laura041974]

@Nord72 Thank you for writing to me about it. I once asked about speakers for my synth and the salesman suggested I get another synth! I told him my SX240 is fairly rare and sounds gorgeous and the only one I'd like more is a Synthex. He said he has a Synthex and doesn't play it!! I asked if he would sell it and he said not for less than £5,000! Your Elka organ cost far less which you appreciate and play with such skill and imagination, this expensive Synthex is useless unless someone plays it!

[Nord72]

And I forgot to tell that the outputs (3x jack) can ve routed to a mixer (01v here) and needs to pan it to the center, rotary fx sounds really great with it, the phaser is not so deep, a real small stone phaser is a must have beside this beast ;)

[Nord72]

@Laura041974 : I've got it for 100 Euros, but it needs some serious repairments, the rythm and auto-comp section had been removed (why?!) the lower string section stucked on a few sounds and the brass preset synth is very silent and noisy...but the rest of the unit sounds great! solo synth is amazing with the filter section, I think this part and the rest of the drawbar section is well worth the money for it.

I have the service manual and a lots of pictures from the panels/inner sections...

[thommy491]

Was spielst denn du da alles zusammen? Die ELKA X 705 spielt man ganz anders.Mach mal den Shake-Rhythmus mit Orchester-Automatik rein und spiel mit der guitar mal den Red River Rock.Ich hatte auch mal die X705.Musste sie aber weggeben weil sie vom häufigen transport und kälte im Auto stark ramponiert war.Aber gut ist die Orgel schon

[thommy491]

Kannst du mal einen gescheten sound spielen mit voller Begleitung und Orchesterautomatik. zb.einen fetzigen Schlagerrhythmus oder Red River Rock.

Es ist schade dass du die technische Automatik nicht voll ausschöpfst

[paulj0557]

So much to say here, but I noodle with my comments sometimes. SO, great playing! Put it on my 'Organ Tunes even Organ Haters will love!' II playlist.

I play organ and when listening to this video I wonder why I clutter my life with 3 organs in my living room. Guess it's hard to say why, but it's not like an Elka like this is showing up on Craigslist every day. I've got 8 organs total ( including a Farfisa FAST4) that I've invested less than $500 total. Guess it's hard to play theater on Elka??

[Laura041974]

This reminds me of Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield but it has an ancient Celtic feel which would work well on a historical fantasy film eg King Arthur/Robin Hood or an Scottish/Irish history documentary. Have you thought of sending a sample recording to your local Tourist board for playing in historic buildings or for use in local history info films? My Mum works in the heritage industry and has been involved in organizing projects like this.

[Laura041974]

I've seen one on ebay starting for £10.00 but it needed work doing. Big old organs seem to go for less than synths but usually have to be collected by buyer due to weight and you need enough room!