Add this copy of Electronic Musical Instruments [2nd Edition] to cart. $10.95, good condition, Sold by S. Sprain rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tomah, WI, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of Electronic Musical Instruments to cart. $43.00, very good condition, Sold by Bungalow Books, ABAA rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pueblo, CO, UNITED STATES, published 1968 by Radiofile.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. A bookplate to the front pastedown endpaper. Green cloth, slightly leaning. The dust jacket is slightly nicked, with closed tears to the front panel and rear flap. Publisher's price of $10.00 to the front flap. Includes an index.; 393 pages.
Add this copy of Electronic Musical Instruments to cart. $46.27, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. 2nd edition. Foxed on page edges. Owner's name on endpage. Shelf cocked. Shelf worn. Toned spots inside. Minor soiling on cover. (electric, musical instruments, music)
Add this copy of Electronic Musical Instruments to cart. $75.00, very good condition, Sold by Chaparral Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1954 by Radio Magazines, Inc.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. The binding is tight, a couple slightly bumped corners. Text and images unmarked. The dust jacket shows some light handling and rubbing at the corners, in a mylar cover. 8vo. vi, 326pp.
This book was originally intended for people who wanted to design, build, or repair electronic organs, or just to learn how they work. Instruments evolved so quickly that the third edition of 1968 is an almost entirely different book from the first edition of 1954. The book will still be of interest today for those restoring analog electronic organs, or anyone who wishes to learn more about the theory and history of electronic musical instruments. However, those who are looking for a more modern or more general book may want to check the suggestions at the end of this review.
For what could be a dry technical subject, Dorf's writing style is both clear and lively throughout. In the first two editions, the initial four chapters on The Nature of Music and Musical Instruments, Basic Musical Facts, Requirements of an Instrument, and Tone Color provide a good introduction to the basic theory of musical sound and electronic instruments. The middle portion of these editions contains technical descriptions of vacuum tube electronic organs made by Hammond, Baldwin, Minshall, Conn, Lowrey, Wurlitzer, and Allen, some with partial schematics. The first two editions also have a chapter on Other Electronic Instruments including the Theremin and Les Ondes Martinot. The final chapters of the first and second edition contain technical information for those wanting to design and build their own instruments or to establish a repair and tuning business.
The first edition contains extensive details of the "Electronorgan", a one-of-a-kind electronic organ designed and constructed by Dorf and originally described by him in a series of magazine articles which appeared in 1953. The level of interest in the Electronorgan encouraged Dorf to set up the Schober Organ Corporation, and in the second edition he describes a vacuum tube electronic organ then available from Schober in kit form.
By the time of the third edition, analog electronic organs were approaching their peak of development. Solid state circuitry, though as yet without integrated circuits, enabled instruments to be more complex and in many cases better sounding, but also less expensive and more durable. At the top of the price range, Allen and especially Rogers (a relatively new company at the time) had analog instruments that approached the sound of a small to medium sized pipe organ. Dorf still includes descriptions of organs by Baldwin, Lowrey, Wurlitzer, Hammond, and Conn, but also by Thomas, Gulbransen, and Seeburg, as well as theater and classical models from Schober. He finds something to like about all of them -- if not the sound, then the engineering.
At the time of the first two editions, most electronic organs were used in churches. Home use was less common, both because of cost and due to the heat generated by ranks of vacuum tubes. The third edition reflects the growing popularity of home electronic organs.
The introductory and technical material in the third edition is reorganized as eight chapters at the beginning of the book. Most of the material in the original first four chapters remains, but it is intermixed to a greater extent with specifics of largely obsolete technology which may not interest all readers. A useful addition is an appendix describing the A.G.O. specifications, which recommend dimensions and locations of keyboards, pedal boards and certain other controls on organ consoles.
I have enjoyed reading all three editions, but I would recommend the the first or second edition for readers who would like to learn the basics and find out how modern electronic organs began. Those who are restoring organs which use transistors will probably find the third edition more useful. All three editions are regularly available used at reasonable prices.
Readers who want a broader introduction to the theory of musical instruments should consult Arthur H. Benade's book Horns, Strings, and Harmony. For a more general treatment of musical acoustics, I like Benade's Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics. Both of these books are readily available new or used.
I should also mention Musical Applications of Microprocessors by Hal Chamberlin, which brings us into the early modern age. He extensively discusses digital synthesis and MIDI, with theory and many practical examples. Although his example implementations use the 68000 and the 6802, these can be translated without too much difficulty into modern circuitry. Unfortunately, Chamberlin's book is hard to find and rather expensive.