Cassettes for Lowrey Rhythm Organ
By Rick Cooley
Hi folks, Boy is my face red. After 30 years of doing restorations, I just proved that I don't know it all and certainly don't have a good memory. You may recall my plea for cassettes that would actually play the 1970's Lowrey Rhythm organ (using a built-in tape player/recorder) that a collector friend acquired at auction. Remember, it didn't have any cassettes with it. My memory served me very poorly when I thought this machine was actually being played by the tape player when I last heard a Lowrey "play automatically" over 25 years ago.
I received a flood of responses that educated me rather quickly. So that others will not make the same mistake I did, let me try to set the record straight. The built-in tape recorder/players (if they work at all) can play any cassette through the Lowrey's amplifier and speaker system, i.e., music of all kinds, instructional tapes, etc. (My friend's Lowrey plays cassette tapes rather well, for now.) Or you can have someone play the Lowrey and actually record the performance for play-back through the Lowrey system, just as any tape recorder could do. However, unlike the MIDI instruments of today, no cassette actually plays the Lowrey, like a player piano would from a roll.
My friend is a world-class expert on music boxes but he has always depended on me to keep him straight on all the other stuff. Any suggestions on how I tell him I royally goofed?
In any case, many, many thanks for the education on the Lowrey from so many folks (many of whom actually assembled these machines or worked on them over the years). No response called me a dummy although I certainly feel like one.
Regards,
Rick Cooley, Delaware
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(Message sent Wed 29 Jan 1997, 20:57:25 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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