The Yamaha EM-90A is what happens when an organ, a rhythm box and a 70s lounge act throw a cocktail party and accidentally record the whole thing to 8-track. It is a combo organ with auto-accompaniment so deeply unhip it loops right back around to cool: plastic sliders, preset rhythms with names like Beguine and Disco, and basslines that sound like they are wearing flared trousers. It was built for the uncle who played Girl from Ipanema on Sunday afternoons, not for synth nerds. But sampled, or run through a juicy pedal chain, it slaps in the weirdest, funkiest way.

FEATURES & PROS:

• Built-In Rhythm Machine: Latin, swing and funk presets straight out of a 1976 dentist's waiting room.
• Auto Bass Chord System: one-finger chords for when actual harmony feels like too much effort.
• Spring-Style Reverb: that boxy, haunted-casino ambience we have all learned to fetishise.
• Tone & Percussion Sliders: slap the drawbar-style sliders and feel like a budget Jimmy Smith.
• Built-In Speaker: lo-fi gold. Mic it up and call it vintage saturation.
• Made for Sampling: run it through a sampler and you are Madlib with a hip replacement.
• Furniture-Grade Retro: looks like furniture, sounds like funky furniture. Pure studio-corner vibe.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Year: 1970s
• Type: Combo entertainer organ with auto-accompaniment
• Voices: preset organ and orchestral tones
• Rhythm: built-in preset rhythm machine (Latin, swing, funk, etc.)
• Features: auto bass chord system, tone and percussion sliders, reverb, built-in speaker
• Keyboard: single manual
• Inputs / Outputs: line out, headphone
• Power: mains