The electronic organ is a keyboard instrument designed to replicate the massive sound of a traditional pipe organ using electronics instead of pipes. Invented in the 1930s, these instruments became a cross-genre phenomenon. Unlike a piano, the organ can hold a note indefinitely. Early models, famously the Hammond organ, created sound mechanically using spinning metal wheels called tonewheels to create electromagnetic signals. Later models transitioned entirely to vacuum tubes, transistors, and eventually digital microchips. – Ben Colgan
