Archives

Who Doth Dare Enter Ye Olde Optigan® Archives???

Collected on this page you’ll find a variety of documents and pictures related to the Optigan. This stuff is mostly for the hardcore fan who just ain’t satisfied until they get the WHOLE story. I’ll be adding more items to this page as I get around to them (believe me- there’s LOTS of stuff to add!) so let me know which kinds of things you’d like to see more of here and I’ll try to accomodate.

1976 Letter from Ralf Hütter (Kraftwerk) to Vako Orchestron

After David Van Koevering passed away, our good friend Brian Kehew had an opportunity to rescue a large amount of ephemera from the Vako archives, which included a fair amount of paperwork related to

1971 Optigan® White Paper – Mechanical Film Scanning Editor

Recently we’ve been scanning the archive of original Optigan® documents saved by Stan Cutler, one of company engineers. There are lots of interesting things amongst these papers. This document (in pdf

NEW Optiganally Yours Song – WHOMEVER WATCHES YOU SLEEP

The first track from the new Optiganally Yours album “O.Y. in Hi-Fi” has been released! https://youtu.be/Xlhs2VPJkWU The album itself will be released this year on Joyful Noise Recordings. Here’s the

New 2018 Optigan® Disc – SAMBA! w/ Marimba on Keyboard

https://youtu.be/GgiLJVGkLrM Please click here to pre-order this title. From the depths of the Optigan® master tape archives comes this previously unreleased SAMBA jam, paired with a Marimba keyboard

A Mediterranean Optigan® at Nixon’s Western White House

Before he passed away, Mike LeDoux shared an intriguing Optigan® story with me, which I was reminded of this week in light of everything that’s going on with our current president. He pulled out these

Bob Moog References Optigan/Orchestron in 1985 Keyboard Magazine Article

The very first time I heard about the Optigan® and Orchestron was in this article penned by Bob Moog for the Sept. 1985 issue of Keyboard Magazine (with Jan Hammer on the cover).

Optigan® / Orchestron Master Tape Vault feat. “Kraftwerk Choir” Tape/Demo

https://youtu.be/j7czf09vh4Q Since there’s been some interest this week, here’s a quick video of the Optigan/Orchestron master tape vault, ie my library closet. Sorry for my incoherent rambling. Highl

Optigan® Featured on latest Sonic Talk episode

There’s some Optigan® chit-chat on the latest Sonic Talk episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRBWArSsnTI Many thanks for the kind words from Dave Spiers & company! To answer a couple of the q

Original ca 1972 Optigan® Promotional Demo Recordings by Johnny Largo

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwFlBfo6rvTW8ihgaGGuKpSTFPc-JeN7q I finally got around to assembling and uploading some miscellaneous Optigan® demo recordings made by Johnny Largo ca 1972. Some

One of the Long-Lost Optigan® TV Commercials Finally Found!

http://youtu.be/MY4hyWds6Qk Very cool news! I knew that eventually an Optigan® TV commercial would turn up! Youtube user chumrain writes this:
Finally…one has been found (I know that several people

Mike LeDoux Memorial American Cancer Society Donation for 2010

Continuing in the tradition of donating 10% of the proceeds of the Optigan® Archives Vol. 1 sample set to the American Cancer Society in memory of Mike LeDoux, the total donation for 2010 came to $248

Long Lost Optigan® Demo/Promo Cassettes

Awhile back I got a small package of cassettes from Jennifer LeDoux, Mike LeDoux’s widow. Before he passed away, Mike had told me that he’d given me all the Optigan-related items he thought he had, bu

Optigan® Disc Production Flow Chart

A flowchart illustrating the timeline of Optigan® disc manufacturing.

Inter-office Memo

A telephone memo, for comic relief.

Improved Disc Mastering System

Mike LeDoux’s thoughts on optical disc mastering.

Circular Photo-Electric Sound Track Joint Closure

A design change issue from Mike LeDoux.

The Optigan® Master Reels

An index of the contents of the Optigan® master reels.

Prototype Optigans from a Parallel Universe!!!

Take a look at these…

Optigan® Patents

View some of the original Optigan® patents.

How To Make An Optigan® Disc – Then and Now

A photo essay documenting the creation of Optigan® discs.

Do the master tapes for the Optigan® discs still exist?

Yes and no. All of the original 8 and 16 track masters are gone, but fortunately Mike held on to the 1/4″ stereo mix-down masters. These are probably the most useful tapes to have anyway. I am the cur

Are there any rare prototype Optigans still out there?

The earliest design concept for the Optigan® was a small organ containing something like an Edison Cylinder. When the keys were pressed, they would push down needles onto the audio tracks. This proved

Who Doth Dare Enter Ye Olde Optigan® Archives???