---
title: "The Organ That Forgot To Use Transistors"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-organ-that-forgot-to-use-transistors-tdzbbc1ed
source_url: https://hackaday.com/2026/07/03/the-organ-that-forgot-to-use-transistors
type: article
source: "Hackaday"
published: 2026-07-03T15:41:49.307Z
updated: 2026-07-03T16:01:30.714Z
reading_time: 2
upvotes: 0
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# The Organ That Forgot To Use Transistors

**[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A look at the Philips Philicordia, a 1960s electric organ that used vacuum tubes and neon tube dividers instead of transistors for its digital logic circuits. At a time when transistors were revolutionizing electronics, Philips engineers in Eindhoven chose neon bulbs as switching elements — a practical choice before affordable digital logic chips existed. The instrument has a clean early-1960s aesthetic and notably provided the organ sound on Chris Montez's 1962 hit 'Let's Dance'.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://hackaday.com/2026/07/03/the-organ-that-forgot-to-use-transistors>

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