WERSI

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Belongs to MUSIC STORE professional GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1969
Seat Cologne
management Michael Sauer
Branch Musical instruments
Website www.wersi.de
As of August 1, 2020

WERSI is a German manufacturer of electronic organs .

Wersi Sonic OAX1000 (from 2015)
WERSI bass synthesizer
WERSI mixer
MIDI system 64

WERSI-electronic , founded in Simmern / Hunsrück in 1969 , offered analog organs as a finished model and also as a kit. In 2010 Music Store in Cologne took over the brand, sales and development of what are now computer-controlled organs. The production site is the independent company WERSI-Studio Hochrhein in Hohentengen.

history

The founders were the brothers Wilhelm-Erich and Reinhard Franz from the Rhein-Hunsrück district . The name WERSI is composed of the first letters of their place of birth Werlau and those of the district town of Simmern .

The large number of electronic and mechanical components required extensive manual labor at the time, so that the factory-made products were unaffordable for most musicians. Therefore, a large part of the clientele used the kits. Because of the self-construction, the idea of which was taken over by the competitor at the time, Dr.-Böhm-Orgelbau , larger electric organs from WERSI became interesting for many bands and amateur musicians for the first time. In addition, the construction of a WERSI organ offered many a hobbyist the opportunity to earn additional income. There were a variety of kits

When technology became increasingly complex and the miniaturization of electronic components required automated circuit board assembly, later only organs that were ready for use or ready to play were available to buy.

After the company went bankrupt in 2010, Music Store in Cologne acquired the trademark rights and has carried out development and sales ever since. The former location in Halsenbach was given up.   

The Wersi-Studio Hochrhein in Hohentengen continued the production of the organs of the OAS series and from 2015 also took over the production of their successor, the OAX series. With the OAS system, WERSI is market leader in the premium product segment.

In October 2018, the Leipzig sales office with OpenArt showroom and the Gottfried Silbermann organ school was opened by organist Claudia Hirschfeld to meet the needs of East Germany .

Model series

Older instruments from the OAS series

The last organs manufactured by WERSI in Halsenbach were the models of the OAS series (OpenArt Systems) with the names Apollo, Abacus, Ikarus, Xenios, Verona, Scala, Louvre, Gigapiano and Expander . The sound is generated using various methods such as sampling , wavetable , drawbars (OX7), analog , FM , VST host for up to four instruments, video and MP3, fully digital , whereby the respective strengths of the sound generation come into play at the same time. A digital multi-channel mixer , an equalizer , an effects device and timbres from third-party manufacturers are also installed.

Current instruments of the OAX series

The latest model series is the OAX series (OpenArtXtended) with the OAX1 keyboard, the two-manual organ models OAX500, OAX600, OAX700, OAX800 and the three-manual PERGAMON OAX1000.

The OAX concept with software and hardware was developed by Music Store in Cologne. The OAX operating system is constantly being further developed and then made available to customers as software updates.

The WERSI-Studio Hochrhein took over the housing development and production.

Compared to the OAS system, the housing design of the OAX series has only been modified moderately. The technology used has, however, been fundamentally changed.

Certain previous models of the OAS series (including Verona, Scala, Louvre ) can be converted to the new OAX system via hardware updates.

Other models

Wersi also made compact keyboards such as the Pegasus Wing and earlier the AP-8 bass synthesizer . as well as a MIDI keyboard for the C-64 . There were also speaker systems.

WERSI musicians (selection)

Web links

Commons : Wersi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Armgard Seegers: The Wersi company manufactures electronic organs ; In: Südkurier . October 24, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Wersi kits 1981/82. In: www.analogorgel.de. 1981, accessed 2020 .
  3. ↑ Andreas Erbe: Manufacturer. Magic Keyboards, accessed August 2020 .
  4. ↑ About us. In: Wersi - Leipzig. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ pr-gateway: Claudia Hirschfeld live: Premium organs in Leipzig. In: Press portal for press releases and news. October 2, 2018, accessed on August 4, 2020 (German).
  6. ↑ by Henrik Bruns: Wersi Pegasus Wing - Portable Keyboard in the Test. In: https://www.keyboards.de . September 12, 2018, accessed August 2020 .
  7. ↑ by BERNHARD LÖSENER: Wersi AP-6 (* 1977) bass synthesizer. August 7, 2016, accessed on August 4, 2020 (German).
  8. ↑ HaywardMusic: Calypso Wersi - Margaret Mason. Retrieved December 5, 2018 .