In fact, the first models produced were combo organs, including the four-octave "Explorer", the "Lark", the "Band Organ" and the "Calliope" and "Calliope B" around 1968 or early 1969. The first electric piano model was the "Model 100 Rock-Si-Chord" in 1967. Retailing for $4,695, it contained only 2 sounds but was later updated as the "Model 100A" which contained 5 sounds. The "Model 200 Rock-Si-Chord" produced in 1968 was similar the first "Model 100", but featured an accenter option that shortened the decay of the sound. The "Model 200A" however featured twice as many sounds as the "Model 100A".
Electra-pianos
Beginning in 1967, RMI began producing the 300 Series Electra-piano, the sound of which became very familiar to fans of bands such as Genesis, Yes andDeep Purple. On Miles Davis 1968 album Filles de Kilimanjaro a RMI electra-piano is played by Chick Corea. The original 300A and B models had 61 keys. Eventually seven more keys were added to create the 368 model. The 368x was essentially a 368 housed in a new molded plastic case instead of the previously used vinyl covered plywood. In 1973, RMI came out with the Model 400 which was a 300 with a self-contained sound system aimed more at the home-user market, and the 600 series, which was a stereo version of the 300 with two tone generators per key, but also included some newer sounds.
Other products
In 1974, RMI produced the pioneering "Keyboard Computer" model keyboard instrument, the first portable digital sample player. It produced sounds from waveform model punch cards which were input and digitized into volatile memory, and used no magnetic tapes. From 1974 to 1976 RMI produced its only true synthesizer, the $3,000 RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, an instrument that was years ahead of its time but not widely used or understood. The 48-key dual mono, analog/digital hybrid synth featured two digital harmonic generators, five presets, an LFO, arpeggiator, a VCF with mixable low-pass, band-pass and high-pass outputs, and AM and FM capability. It was used most prominently by Jean Michel Jarre who played the RMI Harmonic Synthesizer on his Oxygène album as well as on many other albums that were to follow later. Stevie Wonder and Isaac Hayes were also rumored to have this instrument in their rigs. In more recent times, the Harmonic Synthesizer was used by Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin and Stephen Parsick/. In 1979 RMI introduced the DK-20 as a replacement for the old analog 300 Series. This model was produced until 1982.
