1.2. History of the original instrument
Farfisa is an Italian electronics manufacturer and in fact makes all kinds of products, even
if it’s best known for the electronic organs it created in the 1960s and 1970s. They predated
commercially affordable synthesizers but offered a different sound in a far more portable
form factor than Hammonds and other tonewheel organs which were fairly impractical
for many bands to transport. The Mini-Compact, Combo Compact, and Combo Compact
Deluxe had built-in legs and pedals that could be folded up and a top cover making it into
a self-contained suitcase for transport. The Farfisa sound was wider-ranging than the main
competitor of its time, the Vox Continental, thanks to having more bass waveforms playable
with a split keyboard on the left side and an expanded percussion and vibrato section. It
also cost less and was a little more reliable, according to some.
As a result, combo organs like the Farfisa series came to shape much of the popular music
of the period. Here was an instrument that had a distinctive and powerful sound and was
also very flexible in terms of the way you could alter its settings to get different tones. Best
of all, you could actually take it to gigs in the back seat of a car, which wasn’t true of many
keyboard instruments at the time.
The Farfisa Compact series had four models that appeared between 1964 and 1969. The Mini
Compact was the smallest, and the Combo Compact came in two different versions. The
Compact Deluxe – the model recreated by the Farfisa V – added significant features and the
Compact Duo had dual keyboards.
Among the notable features of the Compact Deluxe were:
• A splittable keyboard allowing the organist to play one or two octaves of left-
hand bass, denoted by the lowest octave of keys having black naturals and white
sharps (like the Vox Continental) and the next octave with grey naturals and
white sharps
• Independent percussion controls for both bass and treble manuals
• 16' Bass, Strings
• 8' Flute, Oboe, Trumpet, String
• 4' Flute, Piccolo, Strings
• 2-2/3' with independent brilliant tab
• 4 vibrato settings
• Real spring reverb
• 2 reverb settings
• Multi-Tone Booster
• Swell pedal and knee control for Multi-Tone Booster
There were a number of things that made the Farfisa popular and gave it a unique sound:
• A rudimentary envelope ("percussion") that allowed for an attack and decay that
went beyond the typical organ sound.
• The addition of a note repeat percussion function which gave it almost a square
wave tremolo type of effect similar to the sound of the Who’s “Teenage
Wasteland” keyboard part.
• The tone boosters gave it a grungy sound that made it great for the 80’s New
Wave bands.
• The softer attack made it popular with the indie electro bands and indie rock
bands in recent years.
• The knee lever was a type of global filter that added a manual wah type of effect.
• The overall sound is almost more top octave synth-like than organ-like.
Arturia - User Manual Farfisa V - Welcome to Farfisa V
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