Farfisa Combo Compact

The Farfisa Combo Compact is an electric organ with a unique sound. The Farfisa sound in it's own is it's own type of organ sound, as it's pretty cheesy and thrives on this notion. This isn't too much unlike many of the other Farfisas out there, but it's hard to find one that's better than this as to me this one does it all. The studio I work at has one of these and it will see some use from time to time. It's definitely fun to play with to say the least. It's got an attached 1/4" cable as well as a built in power cord. The keyboard has full polyphony...

UTILIZATION

Operating the Farfisa Combo Compact isn't difficult. The keyboard itself spans about four octaves, and it has a pretty good feel although the keys are pretty light and flimsy. I think you're going to find this to be the case with any Farfisa, however. It's got a variety of controls to work with, including switches to control the bass volume, reverb, tone boosting, and the different voices. Included in the voice to choose from are strings, flute, oboe, bass, trumpet, and piccolo, with a few of them have multiple buttons for different sized sounds. It's a simple push and play systems, so no manual should be necessary here.

SOUNDS

The sound of the Farfisa Combo Compact is everything you would hope it would be for those familiar with the Farfisa sound. If you don't directly know what this will sound like, you've certainly heard it on records. I like it as it's a great change of pace for to your more traditional sounding organ. It's definitely a cheesy sound, but that's the novelty to it in my opinion. There's also a good amount of differing sounds possible between all the voices on here since you can mix and match them.

OVERALL OPINION

The Farfisa Combo Compact is an awesome electric organ to have in any studio. I don't know if it's worth it to have one of these otherwise as it's somewhat bulky to bring around and is a sound that can be emulated digitally easier than most other instruments. I'm really glad that we have one at the studio where I work, as although it doesn't get used as much as the Hammond B3, it's definitely a nice color and option to have around. I don't know what one of these would cost, but it's certainly worth looking out for for any fan of Farfisas.

It is a transistor organ based on the principle of octave dividers: there are 12 discrete electronic circuits that generate each one of the 12 highest notes, then a frequency divider for lower octaves.
So we have a total polyphony.
You can choose as records of all organs (the most serious and dull than sharp and aggressive), and there is a vibrato and spring reverb)
That's it.

UTILIZATION

The big problem with these organs is their reliability. It is very fragile, ca resents transport, condos tend to be dry, chemicals lose their sponsor, in short, is like a classic car, you must love your hands in the hood.
But against what charm!

SOUNDS

The sound is cheesy wish. Less than a rock VOX jaguar, that one less majestic Hammond, sparkling. Impossible to mouth playing the Farfisa, provided he wants to work well!

OVERALL OPINION

For me it is really the Fiat 500 organs!
Charm and reliability all Italian ...