Combo organ

Combo organs were probably originally developed in the United Kingdom, based on the Univox polyphonic version of the Clavioline, and some models included the inner-workings of Italian-made transistor accordions.

Combo organs ended up having a major impact on the music scene of the mid- and late 1960s, particularly on rock and roll of that era.

A number of different pitches and tone-colours ("voices") were featured, often using rocker-switches, tabs or drawbars to function as "stops" to select them.

For instance, the Vox Continental tends toward having somewhat of a Hammond-like, or "sine wave"-like sound (only thinner); while the Farfisa Combo Compact has an aggressive, raspy quality to some of its boosted tones, and the Gibson G-101 has a cleaner, contoured, more "sawtooth wave"-like tone, with harpsichord-like, percussive sound capabilities and a slight "after-jingle", with Sustain selected, on some voice settings.

Although the instrument fell from favor during the 1970s, there was a resurgence about 1977 when new wave artists such as Blondie, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and XTC used them.

More recently, vintage combo organs have been used by The Horrors, Stereolab, Pulp, Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.