Any omnichord advice?

[glimmertwin]

...been thinking it's time to snag an omnichord and run it through a shit load of pedals to see what happens.  Anyone have any experience with them?  I only have about an hour of screwing around with one in a studio to reflect on.  On ebay it seems like there are quite a few models.  Anyone with experience using these?  Seems like the midi implementation would make it fun to hook it up to a proper synth and trigger from the touch pad on the omni. 

[dain]

i'm right behind you.  been looking at the youtubes trying to figure out the differences. looks like the basic models (without midi) are still around 100$ but what's up with the om300 climbing into 700$ territory???  are flight of the conchords REALLY that cool?


here's the one that started it all and IMHO the best looking one of the bunch!  but try finding one...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tronichord

it LOOKS like if you're planning on midiing it anyway the Qchord isn't a bad deal (i think it has the same midi functions as the om300)  the internal sounds are just whack...

let me know what you discover!

[glimmertwin]

Ya, that was the first one I saw too - I immediately thought some goofball pop band I was unaware of used one and I had missed the days of finding a cheap omnichord but that auction has to be a scam with a zero feedback seller getting twenty bids like that.  Didn't know the Flight of the Conchords guys used them.  I had been wanting one for a while to add to my collection of "arrangement instruments" but I heard them used to pretty good effect on the newest Grizzly Bears album(the first two singles both have one on it) and thought I could use one sooner rather than later.

I think I would rather avoid the Q-chord as I like the midi as an option but the sounds are so much better in the omni.  I just got a moog ring mod and think it would be so rad to run an omnichord through it.  I guess I'll just keep an eye out for a good BIN on a OM-300 if nothing else pops up.  That was the one I had originally played and it seemed to have the most options.  I was thinking it would be cool to write a simple Max patch in the newest Abelton to allow the omni to trigger samples too so it could be used as an instrument and as an interface for a sampler.

By the way, did you see this bad boy for $800?  The good side of circuit bending. 
http://folktek.com/benhouston/folkchord84.html

[dain]

jerome from the conchords has (allegedly) the largest omnichord collection on the planet    but who knows if that's just part of the legend..

the folktek one does look like fun, and their stuff usually isn't that technically intense so it may not be that hard of a bend. 

the midi outs (i think) start on the OM100 anything lower and i haven't seen midi on it.  i could be totally wrong though.  no midi IN on the 100 though which is a bummer because you couldn't sync it to your host, (i think) only the 300 and the qchord have that capability.  it seems there are a few out there called the OM300m (!) which leads me to believe some had midi and some did not, really a bitch on ebay too because nobody puts pics of the jacks

i normally wouldn't get all wanty about midi but the idea of having three sets of midi out info is really intriguing, having midi files of those cheezy bassanova beats would be worth it right there.  also i saw a OM250 with a rad delay on the chord section!  i don't think this is available on the 300 and it was BOSS!

[Gideonian]

[dain]

it took me exactly two days to figure out what he was doing to that omnichord...

[eggwheat]

Hehe..my gran has one of these bought it in the 80's..theres a japanese guy who's collected them since the 90's, he has like 300 or something.. was in a magazine about 10 years ago...

[InsertNameHere]

I don't know what kind I have, it's an older model, and I love it.