Yamaha GX-1

The forerunner to all things CS and what a beast the GX-1 is, both sonically and in terms of sheer tonnage.

Released in very limited quantities back in 1975 the instrument made quite an impression on users such as Stevie Wonder and Keith Emerson. On his album Songs In The Key Of Life Stevie referred to it as the ‘Dream Machine’ and there’s no denying that the strings on ‘Village Ghetto Land’ still sound as wonderful today as they did back then. Keith too had an affinity with the instrument and it made the perfect visual contrast and impact when combined with the modular Moog. Other users included Abba, who used it extensively on their Arrival album, and Led Zeppelin who used it on In Through The Out Door.



The GX-1 looks more like an organ than a synthesizer, with its three tier keyboards and bass pedals, and general styling. It even has the Yamaha organ moniker ‘Electone’ emblazoned on it and contains an organ style drum machine.

It’s way cooler than an organ though. For example, the upper keyboard comprises miniature keys which are not only velocity sensitive but also could be moved from side to side to modulate the oscillator pitch, filter cutoff and resonance. There was also a ribbon controller too making it a hugely expressive tool.

The upper and lower keyboards are normal sized keys and can be set to independent sounds the played separately or linked to one keyboard to create bombastic layered tones.

Finally, the bass pedals were concealed within the casing which, from the front, wouldn’t have looked out of place in a 70s sci-fi movie.



Don’t be fooled by the apparent lack of controls and the veiled appearance of an organ, because although the GX-1 was undoubtedly the flagship of their organ range, the scope of the instrument goes way beyond that.

For example, a drawer to the left of the keyboard slides out to reveal a wealth of controls. Additionally, there’s a natty looking programmer that you plug in to the instrument and this is where you change filter settings. Full-on programming is a complicated affair though and there’s not enough room to go into detail here.

The GX-1 also came with its own amp and speaker system and in keeping with the larger-than-life ethos, these too are massive, weighing in at 140 Kilos each. You could attach up to four of these to the 120 Watt valve amplifier.



Having spent a significant part of our teens skirting with the GX-1 - Dave and his love of Songs In The Key Of Life and Chris with his Keith Emerson days, when we finally got to play it we weren’t disappointed.

Chris says “I think it’s probably the most amazing instrument I’ve ever played. The depth of sound through the speakers is just magnificent. It's also an engineering marvel - to think of the amount of circuit boards in there is staggering.”



The GX-1 Programmer


If we’ve whet your appetite for a GX-1, forget it right now. The last we saw was on eBay with a modest reserve price of $120,000. Also, this is not an instrument you want to have to ship. Music journalist, Gordon Reid did - all the way from Australia to the UK - and ultimately ended up having to dismantle his fence and his doorway just to get the thing in the house. For this amazing feat alone, Mr Reid Sir - we salute you.



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