New Elka Owner

[Roberto]

Just picked up an Elka X-605

Hope to give her a good going over very soon

[Time Lord]

Hey troops,
Roberto is one of the coolest guys on the the planet. We are lucky to have him hanging around here. He has been very active in the Alesis Fusion community and at his blog...
failedmuso.blogspot.com

Be sure to check it out and get to know him.

Rob,
Anything I can't help you with on getting your Elka up and running, I'm sure that Karl can.

[Roberto]

Well, if anyone can find me legs and a swell pedal in the UK I'll be sorted as they were all that were missing. I also have a service manual which I need to scan so that I can share it.

I should have a stand of sorts, so it won't be too restrictive, and the previous owner has placed a small resistor between a couple of the pins in the swell pedal control socket which he says knocks the volume down to an acceptable level.

I look forward to conversing with you all soon

[Roberto]

Right, well, I just got her upstairs (anyone got a spare spine knockin' about ?!) and the first thing I noticed was that the paltry keyboard stand I had is in no way suitable for the task, so it remains floor bound for now.

She powered up and once connected to an amp, she sounded very good, in so much as there were no discernable crackles present on any of the settings. The drawbars all moved freely and worked, as did all the other switches and settings. The only thing wrong with this beast is the the missing parts (legs & swell pedal) and some very minor cosmetic things, such as a few scuffs in the Tolex, tarnished latches and a missing washer where the music stand sits. Not bad at all for a 30 year old bit of gear.

But, after playing with the sounds and tinkering, I began to wonder how this might add to my collection over and above being another nice item. As Rod has pointed out, I already have an extensive studio that sports some fine, modern hardware (Akai S6000/Z8, Alesis Fusion, Korg Prophecy, Yamaha CS1x, and much more) and I know that in the Fusion alone, it has many organ patches that would probably cover the range of the Elka and then some. I know that you can not normally "beat the real thing" but I am beginning to think this may be of little value to me in the long term.

One option I have considered is keeping it for my kids to use. Both have exhibited early signs of interest in music and playing keyboards (they are aged 4 & 2) and this could fill a gap very cheaply, but then so could any other keyboard, be it an organ or a synth. The benefit being that a more modern, MIDI capable synth would be lighter, safer and much more flexible then the Elka.

I am very tempted to keep her, tart her up a bit and merely add it to the collection, maybe even take some samples from it. But, as I'm sure we all know, we have partners who simply see large units like this as just "another piece of clutter".

I'm not going to make any rash decisions yet. I will see how I feel. It is a nice organ, and once mounted on proper legs and with the swell pedal replaced, could indeed be more attractive.

Time will tell, but for now, I'd like to see if anyone has some legs and a swell pedal. Answers on a postcard, please

[Time Lord]

Rob,
I found a stand at DV that is similar to mine. You can see it here...
www.dv247.com/invt/49648/

More expensive than mine and it is only one tier where mine is two. The brand I have is called OnStage. I'm not sure if they are available in the EU. I paid $100.00-US for mine on Ebay. There are some pictures that I put up here so you can see what I am talking about.

I also found this style at Musician's Friend (on sale)...
www.musiciansfriend.com/product/OnStage-Stands-Pro-Platform-Keyboard-Stand?sku=450384

It will do the job for far less and would not look out of place holding up a variety of legless vintage keys. I almost got this for my Elka, but decided that I would want something else stacked and eventually opted for the two teir Z-stand.

[mtwallet]

Hello

I'm an Elka Owner too, but a cheapest one: Elka Panther 100
I found it for 100€ last month
I had to clean/repair some stuff and now it works fine
I use it in my rock&roll band
www.myspace.com/thediamondrangs
very cool because very light to move

I only had a Farfisa Matador before (it is on sale now),
and I couldn't afford a Vox Cont. or a Compact or a Philicorda (but I'm still looking for some)

I found an Eko Tiger on ebay for 5€ last week
and it works very well too

I'm at 200% into 60s music, that's why I love those organs
but at first, I'm a guitar player

that's all