DR Elmore --
I wonder if you ever knew a local friend of mine, Arnie Gross. He's been retired for a while now and is battling some health issues. I don't know the extent of his work on Broadway, but I knew he'd conducted ANNIE for a while, so I emailed him about replicating the sound of the "RMI". Here's his reply. (When I respond I'll have to tell him the current MTI materials are more bloated and unhelpful than he knows...)
Hi Charles -
Yes, it WAS an RMI - which had only 2 basic sounds, each was available as 8' and 4'. The closest sound to the opening of "Hard Knock" would be a mix of 8' harpsichord and 8' lute.
Have fun - it's a good score.
BTW, the show was originally written for 3 reeds, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, guitar, bass (doubling tuba), Piano (doubling RMI and celestette (a terrible "clangy-sounding" miniature keyboard made by Jenco), 2 percussion, 1 SOLO violin, and 1 SOLO cello. Any parts beyond those were added for subsequent productions, and are unnecessary doublings. (All the flute was originally on Reed 1, but I understand that there is a separate flute book included with the rental, which is nothing more than a copy of the flute parts on reed 1.)
Arnie
