In the last 15 years, the electric organ has become very unpopular. However, the electronic keyboard arranger and workstation market has gone through the roof, especially with popular keyboards like the Yamaha Tyros 3, Ketron SD 5 and the Korg PA2X Pro.

I personally think the organ is much more playable and great as a live instrument because of the use of pedal-bass, you can play the organ without the singing and dancing of computer generated chord and bass systems and it still sound fantastic.

The electronic keyboard on the other hand does need all the embellishments of automatic styles and rhythms to give it that professional orchestral sound. Electronic keyboards are considerably cheaper than new organs, they are easy to move because of their portability and they are actually easier to learn than the organ.

So have organ manufactures lost the plot? How can the organ possibly compete with these new and modern looking, easy to play keyboards? The first thing they need to do is get rid of the furniture, yes you read it right. Most organs are designed cosmetically to appear to be a piece of furniture instead of a musical instrument. Now this idea worked for many years but not any more. Organs, like keyboards need to appeal to all generations, unfortunately the organ market is virtually limited to the older generation with a lot of money to spend. Talking of a lot of money, the cost of a new organ today is ridiculous. The top of the range Roland Atelier AT900 will cost you £25000 whereas the top Yamaha models such as the Tyros 3 will cost about £3500. That is a massive difference especially when you consider that the electronics are basically the same.

Yamaha are making an effort in the organ market with the introduction of the Electone Stagea and D Deck organs. They are very portable, not heavy and not expensive. Unfortunately, you can only buy them in the East.

The keyboard market continues to soar with the introduction of the Ketron Audya. I have to say, even though I am still a fan of the organ, certainly from a playing point of view, these new Ketron keyboards are fantastic. All right, they still use onboard computers to control the rhythms and styles but the realism of a performance is stunning. In fact putting two of these keyboards together and adding a pedal board would give you the playability of an organ and the portability and price of a keyboard. You could easily get 2 Ketron Audya keyboards a pedal board and amplifier for less than 10 grand.

I think the battle is being won by the electronic keyboard as far as new models are concerned. However, the war continues with the second hand market, which is literally overflowing with organs and keyboards. Who will be the victor? Watch this space.