The Chordorama

The Chordorama is a foot controlled 8-track accompanist. I assume it was created for solo players to have a "back up band" similar to the cheesy preset drum machines that came soon after or the horrid general midi boxes of today. The one major difference is that the Chordorama uses 8-track tapes with four variations of one loop.

For example: Track one is usually the drum loop. Track two is the drum loop and adds a bass line. Tracks three and four all add a chord here and there or incidental percussion. The front of the carts indicate that you can transpose the key of the loop by pressing down on the red buttons on the front of the unit. In theory this sounds great but as with all 8track technology in practice it's a bit fickle. What the transposition buttons basically do is speed up or slow down the tape which then alters the "key."

The tape slides in the side and the unit is remarkably sturdy (even includes it's own carrying handle). There is a tune knob for setting the initial key (speed?) and on/off switch and a 1/4" mono jack out. The tapes range from cheesy lounge to country and back again. No rock or
jazz (outside of the obligatory "swing" tape of course.)

I used this in live shows with my band Overdrive Date Master where it was not unusual for us to plug in old analog synths and beatboxes, space echoes, toys (our drummer was a miked windup monkey), tape loops, and such. One of us would slap in a tape and start the Chordorama going while the other started to noodle around over top. Of course there's no way to sync it so we usually just ran it into an old fender vibrolux to crank it up and get that "old school" feel that it may have been intended for.

Listen to the amazing Chordorama in RealAudio:

PHOTO AND COMMENTARY BY David Talento (e-mail)

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