Optigan TV Commercial

[@dr.insignia7361]

i don't know why people find this ad unsettling, it's really charming to me, it's so much more simple and to the point rather than just in your face, sure it may not be great at selling the product to most people, but i think it's still a good advertisement that gives you exactly what you need to know about it without overstaying it's welcome.

[@AluminumBird]

I can see why this great instrument fizzled out - they take your little finger when you buy one. So menacing.

[@donnablankenhorn5905]

I can imagine this Optigan was a "gateway" to many people moving on to regular organs.I, for one, almost purchased one but instead got a small Kimball organ and later gulbransen organ of which I am still playing.

[@The.Official.MrUnCoolBirb]

The thing that gave us "Chirp" from minecraft.

[@henryatherton]

Yep!

[@Invy-PT]

And the LittleBigPlanet Main Theme

[@Mrenderboyo]

And Devo’s EZ Listening version of Beautiful World

[@Harlow.]

and the ending solo from modern day cain by i dont know how but they found me

[@Thestrawberrycat_Jr]

Orb of the dreammeerrrssss​@@Invy-PT

[@cheezfri]

I had one of these growing up; I think we got it at JC Penney. I have no idea how my parents afforded it;we were not well-off at all and had nothing else of any value. We had most of the discs and I played the heck out of it though for many years and it never broke down.

[@PhilVerryChannel]

I had a million hours of fun on that growing up! Wish I still had one today with every one of the records.

[@chumrain]

I would love to see that too...hopefully I can at least get it properly transferred sometime in the near future. I was browsing old film commercials on eBay one day, and in one listing, there was a photo of the boxes of film. One of them had "Optigan, Carl Betz" written on it, so I took a chance and bought them. Sure enough, when I got it and very carefully loaded it on the projector and ran it, it was what I'd hoped it was.

[@optigandotcom]

Awesome! I knew at least one of the Optigan TV commercials would turn up eventually! Thanks for sharing, and I'd love to see a fancy frame-by-frame, color restored transfer sometime!

[@lenrice9980]

Well ill colorize it for u

[@lenrice9980]

(Btw I don't know how to restore ;(

[@lorrainebowen]

Always a fan of the auto accompaniment! What a selection too! Thanks for posting!

[@RitaColacoNuminous]

Interesting to see you here

[@RetroPlus]

Of course

[@patsaxon5284]

I wish that you could find more organ TV commercials, as I remember such commercial for Lowrey, and Thomas many years ago.

[@olo1156]

この投稿に感謝いたします。Thanks for this post!

[@KettuX-Records]

Imagine playing Rush E on it

[@QUIZFILTER]

I can hear a little bit of DEVO's "it's a beautiful world" from their E-Z LISTENING DISC album... interesting.

[@kadenvanciel9335]

Experts wrote on Wikipedia they sampled the banjo disc.

[@Mrenderboyo]

Theres an app that replicates the Optigan and i can confirm its what they used, its also on the Whosampled website

[@chumrain]

I don't mind, that would be great. This is a very crude transfer using a consumer video camera recording the image while being projected. I eventually plan to have this professionally transferred, and of course, the resulting video from that would be a lot better to work with.

[@kadenvanciel9335]

Maybe decrease the pitch a semitone as well.

[@cloudsugar272]

Magenta overload.

[@jeffmissinne3866]

Eastmancolor film is subject to color fading. The blue and yellow dyes gradually vanish, leaving only the pink-red part. If you have any Kodacolor snapshots from the 1960's, chances are the same thing has happened to them. The processes were very similar.

[@Thitoss]

I want one!

[@stevethepocket]

Such a corny opening line. He's not an Optigan, but he's playing one on TV!

[@schmootheonly]

Carl Betz died only seven years after this... sad.

[@PhilVerryChannel]

Yes, he died of inoperable lung cancer.

[@PHAEDRIDER]

i played one of these .. it was in a freind's back yard. one played it by beating on it with drumsticks.

[@alexriesenbeck]

Incredible! Thanks for sharing

[@the_real_faridvr]

My favorite part of the Optigan 0:13

[@UncleFeedle]

"'Hi, I'm Troy McClure" 🤣

[@kadenvanciel9335]

Now I know this ad is high pitched.

[@wolfunplugged]

250 dollars? I would buy one immediately!

[@lenrice9980]

There sold out :(

[@Camop-iz9kt]

That was a fortune in the 1960's.

[@rufusmtvernon]

Yeah….that’s about 1,800 bucks now lol!

[@galleryofrogues]

Where’d they film this, Mars?? Why’s everything so red?! 😂 In all seriousness tho very cool ad! I love the unique lo-fi sound of old keyboards like this one and the Mellotron. So fun!

[@RichardHolford-k4n]

Troy McLure

[@Nico93]

i think there is a method so you can modify the camera and projector so you can get a better transfer image.

[@JeffMagnetum]

"Two hundred and fifty Dollars." 0:54

[@AluminumBird]

Hi, Carl!

[@heybulldog98]

hello do you mind if I use this I want to download it restore it recolor it and adjust the sound I want to work on it and make it the commercial as if it were recorded today and re upload it you will get full credit.

[@Syngekhoomei]

Bryan Cranston??

[@JeffCfreeradiorevolution]

Is it still $250.00? Is that the latest model? Where can I buy one?

[@yosi1989]

Maybe femboyfilms can do the scan for you if you ask him to...

[@LgiidOakLeaves]

Ohw

[@briankehew579]

I'm Carl Betz, and here is SATAN INCARNATE.

[@n.miller907]

I'd rather play a "solo" on my "organ" (or a "duet" with my wife) than spend an equivalent of $1,800 for something like this. It may have appeared "high-tech" back then, but the resulting sound is pretty irritating to listen to. At least to my ear anyway. (If you have found memories using this machine, I don't want to insult anyone with my comment. I'm usually pretty cool with old-tech stuff, but this device really gives me the creeps.)

[@chicoandtheman7599]

N. Miller Organs are cool, (we had one when I was a child....Lowery or Wurlitzer, I forget. Early 80's model...I remember it had a micro-cassette thing to record your music) but Melotrons, Optigans, Orchestrons, auto-arranger keyboards, Like Yamaha's "Tyros") etc, are also cool. Personally I'm into digital & analog synthesizers & digital workstations. But to each their own. So long as you enjoy making music, it doesn't really matter how, or with what. ;-) Organs have really come a long way. Some of the modern (home) ones are just gorgeous. Like high-end fine furniture/works of art + musical instrument in one. Some (or most) of the new organs are digital, & have so many sounds on them & do so much....it really blurs the lines between auto-arrangner, organ, & keyboard. IMO, anything with keys = cool. :-)

[@n.miller907]

Gerry No I'm not proficient on keyboards although I've been into electronic music since I was fairly young (The Doctor Who theme song is still one of my favorite pieces.) I bought just about everything Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk put out. Back in the early '80s, I bought a Moog MG-1 synthesizer sold by Radio Shack. It makes some great sounds and I still have it in working order. There were a lot of really cheesy Moog-based albums back in the day. One of the best ones was "Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog" by Shepard and Kazdin. It was never released on CD to the best of my knowledge. Such a shame. This would make for an insanely great surround sound album release.

[@chuckcolson]

only the finest for you, and your goddamned wife too

[@n.miller907]

chuckcolson I honestly don't know how to take that comment... maybe it doesn't really matter.

[@senorverde09]

It's because all these lo-fi hipster musicians have driven the market up insanely making them collector's items.

[@zeke7100]

Carl Betz kinda looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger a little doesn't he? Btw back then, $250 was expensive. No wonder this is a rare instrument.

[@bricology]

Yeah, but consider the fact that just a couple of years earlier, Hammond was selling their Chord Organ, which was likewise marketed by the whole "play everything but the melody with one finger of your left hand" gimmick -- and they were $1,000. And yet Hammond still sold tens of thousands of 'em.