electric fan to blow air across the reeds. Two years later, the company developed the Cordovox accordion with Lowrey, which combined accordion reeds with electronically generated sounds. Following the introduction of the Vox Continental combo organ in 1962, Farfisa decided to quickly build a competing instrument using the technical expertise they had gained from working with Lowrey. The first model, the Combo Compact, was introduced in 1964. Production was moved to a factory in Aspio Terme. The relatively cheap labour in Italy, compared to the UK and US meant that Farfisa were able to produce a greater quantity of combo organs at a cheaper cost, and consequently they were picked up by many amateur and semi-professional groups. For example, the list price of a Farfisa Mini Compact in 1966 was $495, compared to $995 of the Vox Continental a year before. Distribution in the U.S. was handled by the Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson, and the instruments were originally known as CMI organs when introduced there. This design was copied for later combo organs such as the Gibson G-101. The organs also had a flip-down modesty panel displaying the brand name. The line of FAST (Farfisa All-Silicon Transistorized) organs was launched at the 1968 NAMM show. These superseded the earlier germanium transistors used in the Compact models, and were styled to closer resemble the Vox Continental, including chrome stands. The Professional series appeared around the same time, which included more features than earlier models. The VIP models were introduced in 1970, and included a foot-operated pitch bend. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments in Camerano in the Marche region of Italy. By the late 1960s, major groups had moved on from combo organs and started to prefer the sound of a Hammond organ with an overdriven Leslie speaker, which were used by contemporary groups such as Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. In response, Farfisa advertised that its latest organs at that point could emulate a Hammond and had a full set of drawbars. The American conglomerate Lear Siegler became a major controlling interest in 1968. Production of combo organs began to be phased out in the late 1970s after synthesizers had become more commonplace, with the last unit being produced in 1982. The company faced increased competition from Japanese companies, and struggled to handle the