This particular instrument's sampled voices are sourced, separated, and stored by division on 6 separate "slave" computers aboard, one for each division, all of which were controlled by a single master computer.  Voices, couplers, and tremulants are brought on or retired by means of lighted drawknobs and lighted manual and toe pistons.  Lighted rocker tablets paired with an 8-position factory-set Crescendo indicator are built into the rail above the top manual controlled MIDI, Voicing Variations, and divisional Reeds Cancels.  All drawknobs and rocker tablets remain in alignment in both on/off positions.  Output channel phone (1/4") jacks in the back of the console allow for up to 3 separate outputs per division, thus as many as 18 separate powered speaker cabinets (3 for each division) can be added.

The console's self-contained speaker system consists of two 12-inch loudspeakers each powered by its own 80-watt (80W) amplifier.  Audio engineers know however that when a single 12-inch master-of-all-work speaker tries to reproduce the entire frequency spectrum all by itself the mammoth movements it undergoes to generate the lowest sounds will interfere with its ability to reproduce the finer movements needed for higher frequencies.  The resulting intermodulation distortion typically robs the sound of some of its midrange clarity.  The solution is to send the main output signal stream from the console to a system of loudspeakers equipped with multiple crossovers which divide the signal into specific frequency bands which can be sent to speakers of different sizes specially built to best reproduce those bands.  

In this installation the specific combination of external ampliers/speaker cabinets is a non-factory mix of pre-owned and new equipment which are grouped into four separate systems:  1) MAIN, 2) MONITOR, 3) AUXILIARY, and 4) MANUAL PIPE.  Each system contributes its own special quality to the sound of this instrument which, when combined, is singular and unique.

Both the MAIN and MONITOR systems receive output signal from all 6 divisional channels of the instrument through a new 600W Peavey XR8300 power mixer supplied with separate MAIN (stereo) and MONITOR (mono) outputs.  The MAIN is looped through a new Samson S-Curve 215 15-band dual graphic equalizer, mixed with reverb, and routed to a preowned Velodyne Servo F-1800RII powered subwoofer having an internal amp rated at 600W (1000W max), a massive 18" driver, and a low crossover set at 40Hz.  This massive sub is side-firing, has a frequency response all the way down to 16Hz, and, in this application, functions to reproduce all those infrasonic frequencies below the range of determinate musical sound by setting its crossover at 40Hz corresponding to 16-foot E which is generally agreed to be the downward limit of the human ear to detect determinate musical pitch.  The equalized signal thus filtered of its extremely lowest frequencies is sent from there to a free-standing BSR passive subwoofer retrofitted with a new Memphis 15" floor-firing driver which captures all remaining frequencies from 40Hz up to 120Hz.  The outgoing signal from this sub is then routed to a pair of BSR Colossus R/L stereo cabinets each rated at 200W.  These cabinets retain their own original pair of BSR 2" ceramic tweeters but were retrofitted with new Memphis (15") and Pyle (8", 5") drivers.  A crossover network in each BSR cabinet divides the audio stream into 4 different frequency bands which are sent to each of its 5 loudspeakers designed to receive them (120-800Hz to the 15", 800-1200Hz to the 8", 1200-3400Hz to the 5", and above 3400Hz to both tweeters).  Positioned to the right of the console this system disperses the sound to the right side and rear of the room. 

The MONITOR is connected in series to a pair of preowned Peavey PV215 quasi 3-way trapezoidal enclosure PA cabinets each equipped with a pair of 15" heavy duty woofers and a 1.4-inch RX14 titanium tweeter driver mounted on a 60 X 40 degree coverage constant-directivity horn.  These Peavey towers receive a flat mono signal, are rated at 700W each, and have a single crossover frequency of 2.6kHz, a frequency response of 58Hz to 17kHz, and a frequency range of 40Hz to 21kHz.  Positioned behind and to the right of the player these Peavey towers face opposite each other and disperse the sound to the right and left sides of the room.  A spare monitor output jack at the power mixer also is connected to a Roland CM-30 Cube Monitor unit equipped with a single 6-1/2" coaxial 2-way speaker powered by a 30W amp.  This unit is side-firing, placed on top of the console, and disperses sound in that direction.  This MONITOR system can be made to play all by itself by not turning on the Velodyne sub, but when the MAIN system plays it always joins with the MONITOR to provide an expansive sound and a strong, pervading bass.  These two channels have a combined power consumption of 600W (Peavey) + 600W (Velodyne) + 30W (Roland) = 1230W, and, as stated, the entire instrument plays through them at the same time.

The AUXILIARY connects only with the Choir/Positiv and Pedal divisions and has two channels:  A pair of spare Pedal output jacks at the console are employed to add strength to the Pedal when only the console's internal speaker system may be desired for quiet practicing.  These two jacks are connected to a single pre-owned Sony SA-WM200 powered subwoofer equipped with an 80W amp and 8" bass reflex woofer with a frequency range of 28-200Hz.  A special variable crossover control on this sub permits it to cut off anywhere from 50-200Hz, and this control has been set at 100Hz to strengthen most of the 8-foot bass octave and the entire 16-foot octave of the Pedal.  This sub is side-firing, situated to the left of the console, and disperses sound in that direction.  Another channel employs an output jack from the console for the Choir/Positiv division with a Roland KC-150 floor-standing cabinet equipped with a 65W amp, 12" woofer, and 3-1/4" piezo tweeter.  A line out jack from this amp sends the Choir/Positiv signal to a single floor-standing Sony SS-U4033 passive cabinet equipped with an 8" woofer, 3" midrange, and 1" tweeter horn having a frequency range of 50Hz-20kHz; this unit is side-firing, situated behind the console, and disperses sound in that direction.  The Roland's separate sub out jack also sends the mixed signal to a pre-owned Sony SA-WMSP1 powered subwoofer equipped with a 50W amp and single 8" bass reflex speaker; this unit is floor-firing, is situated to the left of the console, and disperses sound in that direction.  The power consumption of the AUXILIARY is thus 80W + 65W + 50W = 195W, and, as stated, only the Choir/Positiv and Pedal stops play through them.   

The MANUAL PIPE connects with all five manual divisions and has three separate channels, the first two of which operate together.  One channel begins with a new 600W Rockville RPM80BT 8-channel power mixer which receives signal from each of the 5 manual output channels of the console and mixes them into a single flat mono output signal with reverb.  The Rockville's line out then sends this mixed signal to a preowned Klipsch KSW200 powered subwoofer equipped with a floor-firing 12" bass reflex driver and 200W amp with low pass crossover set at its highest [120Hz].  The Klipsch speaker terminals are wired to send the remaining low-end-filtered Rockville signal to two pair [Models 145-2, 145-3, 146-1, 146-2, all silver finish] of preowned Conn speaker pipes obtained from a private party in Hobart, Indiana.  Each set is rated at 8 Ohms equipped with four Cletron 6" X 9" oval speakers wired in series parallel, and is engineered to operate from 200Hz [around 8-foot tenor A] on up.  These units disperse the sound to the rear and far right of the room.  Two additional 8 Ohm outputs of the Rockville then rout this powered signal to a Roland KCW-1 powered subwoofer equipped with a floor-firing 10" bass reflex driver and 200W amp with crossover set at its highest [120Hz].  From there, the Roland output jacks then send the remaining low-end-filtered Rockville signal to an additional pair [Models 145-1, 145-3, both gold finish] of preowned Conn speaker pipes.  Each set is rated at 8 Ohms and equipped with the same four speakers wired the same way to operate from 200Hz on up.  These units disperse the sound to the rear of the room.

NOTE:  These Conn speaker pipes are of narrow scale, cylindrical metal, treble units which impart to manual stops a subtle brightness of color, a finespun but discernable edge to strings and reeds, a different kind of acoustical dispersion of the sound through the air in the room, and an extremely rapid but detectable buildup and decay of sound when keys are pressed and released, respectively -- effects which cannot be counted but noticeable to the ear.  While these units are inefficient compared with the power needed to run them, and the sound emerges from them only at the tops of the pipes, mere decibel gain is not their function.  Their purpose is subtle enhancement of upper partial tones of all manual speaking stops and the addition of the aforementioned pneumatic effects which, again, are noticeably audible and cannot be duplicated by ordinary direct beam loudspeakers.

The power consumption of this channel is 600W (Rockville) + 200W (Klipsch) + 200W (Roland) = 1000W, and it functions to brighten and strengthen the sound of manual voices particularly in the 8-foot and 16-foot octaves and to enlarge and distribute the sound.

Another separate speaker channel begins with a line out jack at the Klipsch subwoofer.  The Klipsch line out sends the remaining low-end-filtered Rockville signal to a new Radio Shack MPA-250B amp.  This amp then loops the signal through a Radio Shack 12-band equalizer in order to supresses the high end frequencies, allowing the amp to be driven a little louder without swamping the Conn pipes.  Wire output terminals of this amp then send this high end filtered signal to a pair of Sony SS-F6000P floorstanding 4-way tower speaker cabinets each rated at 180W and supplied with a 6-1/2" woofer, 3-1/3" midrange speaker, and 1" tweeter.  Positioned behind the console these units disperse the sound in that direction.  Auxiliary output jacks from this Radio Shack amp connect to a pre-owned Sony SA-WM250 powered subwoofer equipped with a 100W amp and 8" bass reflex speaker with crossover set at 100Hz.  The wire output terminals of this amp also send the high end filtered output signal to a pair of Acoustic Audio BR-10 3-way Karaoke speaker cabinets each having a crossover network, 10" X 4" horn tweeter, 10" lower midrange, and 4" upper midrange driver.  Positioned on top of the console these cabinets disperse the sound directly at the player and from there to the rear of the room.  This channel plays, as stated, with the other channel and functions to supply additional strength and dispersion of sound through the room.  This channel has a power consumption of 250W + 100W = 350W.

The combined power consumption for these two channels of the MANUAL PIPE computes to 1000W (Rockville/Klipsch/Roland) + 250W (Radio Shack) + 100W (Sony) = 1350W, and, as stated, all manuals play through it. 

One more channel employs a separate 60W Choice Select ST2060 amp which receives signal from as many as three selected manual inputs arriving from the console [Swell, Solo, and Echo were selected].  The Choice Select amp then routes the combined mixed signal to a pre-owned Sony SA-WM250 powered subwoofer equipped with an 8" bass reflex speaker, 100W amp, and crossover set at 100Hz.  The Choice Select mixed signal is also sent separately to a pre-owned specially custom-built PVC pipe speaker box created in Lodi, California by the McCurdy Corporation designed to work with larger speaker pipes.  This unit is of singular construction and composed of 12 general purpose 3-1/2" diameter PVC [polyvinyl chloride] cylindrical pipes all of the same diameter [3-1/2"] bundled together and positioned vertically on end over a wire baffle situated above a round opening in the top of a square, hollow wooden box, inside of which is mounted a single upward-firing, passive 12" Radio Shack woofer wired to play all frequencies arriving from the amp.  This PVC pipe unit is positioned behind the console and disperses sound in that direction.  The pipes are painted in a metallic gold leaf color, cut to various lengths determined by their locations over the speaker cone, and engineered to sympathetically resonate with fundamental frequencies generated by the 12 chromatic semitones from about 8-foot tenor A [200Hz] on down to bass A [100Hz].  The longest pipe of this unit when in operation also was found to resonate very strongly as a 2nd harmonic at tenor Bb pitch.  Thus, although this unit comes with only 12 pipes, it's practical upward range extends one more semitone to about 226Hz, overlapping slightly the lower limit of the Conn model 146 speaker pipes.  Employing this channel for the Swell, Solo, and Echo stops, the effects of gradual buildup of sound, gradual decay of sound, vertical dispersion of sound, and enhancing upper partial tones are extended an octave below the Conn pipes without noticeable midrange break.

The power consumption of this separate channel is thus 60W + 100W = 160W, only the Swell, Solo and Echo stops play through it, and it functions to extend the downward range of the Conn speaker pipes and to add strength to the 5 Doubles [16-foot stops] supplied to these divisions.  

To summarize, this self-contained instrument now plays through 12 external amplifiers ranging in size from 30-600W which power 7 subwoofers plus 59 other loudspeakers spread across 16 sizes from 18" down to 1" which are housed in a total of 25 external cabinets.  At full tilt the instrument now speaks through 3 sets of model 145 Conn speaker pipes, 3 sets of model 146 Conn speaker pipes, a set of custom-built PVC speaker pipes, and operates at very nearly 3000W of power.  Counting what's inside the console the 68 speakers break down this way:  one 18" Velo SUB, one 15" [passive] Memphis SUB, six 15", one 12" Klipsch SUB, two 12", two internal 12", one 10" Roland SUB, two 10", two 10" X 4" horns, three 8" Sony SUBS, three 8", twenty-four 6" X 9" ovals, three 6-1/2", two 5", two 4", two 3-1/3", one 3-1/4", one 3", four 2", two 1-1/2", and three 1".

The goal of this project was the creation of improved realism from an older digital sampling technology point of departure, striving for an unforced but powerful and more life-like pneumatic tone quality and enhanced dispersion of sound throughout the room in the most cost-effective and space-effective way possible.  By hunting down and combining new and repurposed electronic elements like this which were carefully and strategically wedded to complement each other, by configuring the various mixers, amps, and speakers accordingly, and by carefully testing using the ear to adjust the volume and balance, treble/bass, equalization, and artificial reverb separately for both speaker systems and their respective channels to get the sound exactly right individually, the combinational tone generated by using more speakers and driving them gently like this has been more than satisfactory.  One has to really hear the result in person to fully appreciate the impressive transformation these various retrofits, add-ons, and adjustments have made.  While the instrument itself still leaves a few things to be desired, the sonic result is quite satisfying for a home practice situation.

Most manufacturers of sampled organs, for marketing purposes, say they record (or sample) every note of every stop (not necessarily every rank).  They may even say that their original samples are 30 seconds long or even 60 seconds long.  They may even boast about what bit-rate, sampling rate, etc., they use.  In actual fact it is very hard to get all notes of a rank in a pipe organ to sample perfectly.  Most ranks have notes which are "off" either in volume or tone.  What they actually put into their instruments therefore is going to be something that is vastly reduced, so, just a basic sampling system doesn't really make a digi organ sound exactly like a pipe organ.  The behavior of a wind instrument also needs to be reproduced.  Therefore things like wind noise ("chiff") as pipes get on speech have been put into digi organs like this one but still they end up sounding a little too focused and straight.  The biggest problem manufacturers face is, what can be done at what price.  Companies experience periodic lulls in sales, there has always been serious price competition, and, in order to stay price-competitive, most sampled organs are seriously compromised.  The marketplace for digi organs is such that, most purchasers want more stops, more manuals, etc., rather than the very highest quality musical result.  This has everything to do with the way manufacturers must design their line of products.

This organ stands or falls on how the various divisions are tuned to the Great.  If tuned exactly true to the Great and each other the sound is lifeless, plastic, and sterile, but if too far away from the Great the beating that result is objectionable if not unbearable.  The trick with this organ to get it to sound with richness is to find that very narrow sweet zone which has each division tuned just barely different from the Great but not so far as to produce noticeable undulations.  The entire organ's pitch is adjustable up or down from A440 by means of a general pitch control knob.  The other 5 divisions are made tuneable up or down to the Great by means of their own individual pitch control knobs, all of which are situated out of sight under the bottom manual within reach of the organist's left hand.  Since the ear will tolerate a little sharpness but not the same degree of flatness, it was decided, using the ear to adjust the amount, to tune the Echo very slightly sharp and the Solo very slightly flat so that when the hands go to the Solo the Echo can be blended in.  Similarly the Swell was tuned barely sharp to the Echo, the Choir barely flat than the Solo, and the Pedal barely sharp to the Echo and barely flat to the Swell.  This was accomplished by drawing the loudest 8-foot reed in each division, coupling them one at a time to the Great Trumpet, listening for beats, and adjusting the tuning knobs accordingly.

In a real pipe organ the mistuned ranks (celestes) inserted by the builder typically are never drawn in fuller ensembles, but in an organ like this some of these celeste stops, provided they're not too assertive and don't create a disturbing pitch "warble," may be drawn with advantage in fuller ensembles to simulate those minute pitch variations among real pipe ranks.  Experimentation with the ear is the best judge as to how much of this salt, pepper, and vinegar to add to the registration recipe.  In this organ all 8-foot celeste stops automatically draw the "mate" rank tuned true which is given its own drawknob, and, with manual division tremolos in this organ being adjustable for depth and speed, compound tones of great beauty are possible by coupling voices -- some mistuned (celestes), some tremmed, and some untremmed -- located in different divisions.

This instrument came with 2 percussion stops (Great Chimes & Solo Harp).  The top octave of the Great Chimes (C#50 to C61) was wired to double back an octave, but, unlike the Chimes in many pipe organs, it did go all the way down to bottom C1 and thus represented 49 equivalent bars.  The Solo Harp ran all the way up to top C6 without doubling back and thus comprised 61 equivalent bars.  Every stop in this organ including Chimes and Harp was equipped with 2 voicing variations (A and B) controlled by tilting tablets which permitted the organist to select from 168 equivalent ranks.  The A voicing reflected more traditional voicing whereas on B the change in harmonic content in the strings and reeds resulted in a different tone, brighter in many cases, the open flutes changed to stopped, and the Principals and Diapasons became either brighter or more bland and flutey-sounding.

The Choir Hohl Flute on A, for example, is open with more harmonic content but stopped and hollow-sounding on B;  both A and B are good for solos, with or without Tremolo.  The Great Flute Celeste is awfully strong but good if it's turned down a bit.  The Great Rohr Flute is a big burbley flute full of color.  The Solo Gamba on B coupled to the Swell Principal, Viole, and Great Salicional on A is very French-sounding.  The Cromorne is also very French-sounding on A, more like a Clarinet on B.  The Bassoon on A is very realistic for an actual Bassoon and on B is brighter in the mid-range and rounder in the bass.  The Cor De Nuit on B is also very French-sounding.  The Vox Humana is good on A where it's mixed with a soft helper stop and on B it's all by itself.  The Principals and Diapasons on B are big, flutey, and lose some of their characteristic tone.  The Solo Diapason, as expected, is of strong but dull tone, arguably the most useless stop in the organ in combination save for being paired with the Tuba to add valuable, punchy volume for carrying a line over the top of the full organ without affecting the latter's characteristic tone.

Each voice in this organ is independent with no unification or duplexing.  The Pedal Fourniture V is the only mixture in the organ which extends throughout the compass of its clavier without breaks and is thus of the proper class of mixture to adopt for this division.  All manual mixtures save for the Plein Jeu have one or more breaks.  The Swell Plein Jeu III is wired to sound through only the bottom half of the Swell manual's compass; from F#43 it drops back to replay notes from the previous octave and thus sounds with the same quality and strength of tone, and thus without equalization very shrill, above that note.  All six manual suboctave (16-foot) stops are wired to sound clear down to bottom C1 without breaking back.  All 5 manual 2-foot stops and those of higher pitch either break back in the top of their compass or have "dead notes" which are unwired to sound above the limits at which a real pipe can be made to sound.

GREAT

2' Super Octave G56 -- C61, 6 dead notes

SWELL

2' Flautino G56 -- C61, 6 dead notes

1-1/3' Larigot doubles back from C#50 -- B60 over 11 notes (C49 and C61 are dead notes)

III Plein Jeu doubles back from F#43 over 19 notes

CHOIR/POSITIV

2' Doublette G56 -- C61, 6 dead notes

1-3/5' Tierce D52 -- C61, 11 dead notes

1' Sifflote G44 -- C49, G56 -- C61, 12 dead notes

SOLO

2' Octavin G56 -- C61, 6 dead notes

ECHO

2' Flautino G56 -- C61, 6 dead notes

This represents a total of 111 equivalent small pipes in the manual divisions which do not sound.  When this is factored we find an instrument capable of commanding the equivalent of 5,779 sounding pipes on the A voicing variation, and the same number on B.  This means that it would take 11,558 separate individually voiced pipes to make available to the organist the same tonal spread and range of pitches.

Phone (1/4") output jacks, three per division. provided at the back of the console allow it to send as many as 18 separate output signals to external amps and speaker cabinets.  The console is Guild standard, supplied with Fatar premium keybords, MIDI friendly, and equipped with lighted MIDI rocker tablets for MIDI program changes by division which make it capable of storing sounds from an external sound module on its piston memory.  It may also be retrofit with Hauptwerk sample sets, should that be desired.  Separate divisional cancels which operate by pressing the various divisional labels situated at the top of the stop jambs are also provided.  The combination action is computer capture with 8 programmable memory banks.  Additional controls provided include Ventil tilting tablets which silence reeds or mixtures (duplicated with toe studs), a Pedal to Great (Automatic Pedal) reversible piston, a reversible Tutti piston and toe stud, "O pistons" which remember starting hand registrations, all the usual intermanual and manual to pedal couplers, a registered Crescendo shoe with 8 lighted positions, separate expression shoes for the Swell, Choir/Positiv, Solo, and Echo divisions, an All Swells to Swell piston which makes the Great and Pedal expressable through the Swell shoe along with all the other divisions, divisional Tremolos adjustable for depth and speed, adjustable Great, Pedal, and Master Volume, adjustable Brilliance control, transposer, pitch control, divisional generator tuning, and headphone jack.

The biggest challenge with playing solo repertoire on this instrument is settling upon a scheme for coupling the voices to create something of the sound world the composer knew and which can be listened to for long periods of time.  It helps when the player works from the premise that the Solo is part of the Swell; this makes for a massive voice palette in the Swell for coloration of sounds and a massive dynamic palette with compound flexibility and expression for nuancing the music played there.  If the player's hands happen to go to the Solo, then the Echo can be blended in. The same can be said for coupling the Choir/Positiv to the Great and thinking of it as being part of the Great.

This organ of 84 stops, for its size, is overly supplied with assertive upperwork (octave stops and higher) and undersupplied with manual Doubles (there are only 6 in the whole instrument, however all of them go all the way down to bottom C without doubling back).  Being a bit deficient in manual suboctave tone means that when drawing the full organ pretty much all manual Doubles need to enter and the amount of upperwork needs to be reduced.  The Great sub coupler, in particular, an essential element of the sound universe known to 19th and early 20th century French organists, especially Franck, Widor, and Vierne, a coupler which had much to do with the way they notated their compositions, is entirely lacking.  Without it, big final spread chords above middle C may sound a bit less sonorous and thin when performed exactly as written -- in which case it might benefit to experiment at changing the manuscript mentally by adding to the final chord another note or two.  As stated, in an organ like this with divisional tuning, voices from different divisions including even a celeste or two may need to be drawn and coupled in combination to get something of the same random chorus effect of a pipe organ.  Individually some of the voices are quite beautiful and very useful on A Voicing, on B Voicing, or both.  Then again, some of them are so dull or shrill in tone that they have little use on A or B, dated technology being largely responsible.  Curiously, the Pedal division of 16 stops, relatively few for an instrument of this size, is supplied with 6 stops of superoctave (4-foot) pitch or higher but only 5 stops of the all-important unison (16-foot) pitch.