This console's sampled voices were 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 were 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 built into the rail above the top manual controlled MIDI, Voicing Variations, and divisional Reeds Cancel.  All drawknobs and rocker tablets remained in alignment in both on/off positions.  Output channel phone (1/4") jacks in the back of the console allowed for up to 3 separate outputs per division, thus as many as 18 separate powered speaker cabinets (3 for each division) could be added.

The console's self-contained speaker system consisted of a pair of 12-inch drivers each powered by its own 80-watt (80W) amplifier.  This 160W of internal power amplification is more than enough for quiet home practice.  Audio engineers know however that when a single master-of-all-work 12-inch driver tries to reproduce the entire frequency range all by itself the mammoth movements it undergoes to generate the lowest sounds will interfere to a degree 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 and then send it to speakers of different sizes which 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 five systems:  MAIN, MONITOR, and MANUAL PIPE.  Each system contributes its own special quality to the sound of this organ which, when combined, is singular, exceptional, and unique.

The MAIN and MONITOR speaker systems, largest and most powerful, 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 SYSTEM 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 powered sub functions to reproduce those mammoth frequencies below the range of determinate musical sound by setting it to capture all frequencies below 40Hz [corresponding to 16-foot E, the low E of the contrabass of the grand orchestra].  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" driver which captures all remaining frequencies below 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).

The MONITOR SYSTEM 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 cabinets 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.  A separate monitor output jack at the power mixer is also connected to a preowned Sony SS-U4033 floorstanding speaker cabinet supplied with a crossover network and 8" woofer, 3" midrange driver, and 1" domed tweeter rated at 8 Ohms, 100W output (140W max), and frequency response of 50Hz-20KHz.  It functions to supplement the sound emerging from the Peavey towers.

Both output channels (main/monitor) are set to play when the power mixer is turned on, and they function to provide an expansive sound and a strong, pervading bass.  The console when speaking through MAIN and MONITOR has a combined power consumption of 160W (console) + 600W (Peavey) + 600W (Velodyne) = 1360W, and the entire instrument plays through both at the same time.  

The MANUAL PIPE speaker system is divided into three sections.  The FIRST SECTION 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 12" bass reflex driver and 200W amp with low pass crossover set at its highest [120Hz].  From there, 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 and equipped with four Cletron 6" X 9" oval speakers wired in series parallel.  These speaker pipes are thus shielded from clipping and possible speaker damage from louder frequencies in the 8-foot and 16-foot bass octaves.  Two additional 8 Ohm outputs of the Rockville then rout this powered signal to a Roland KCW-1 powered subwoofer equipped with a 10" bass reflex driver and 200W amp with crossover set at its lowest [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 obtained from world class theatre organist Tom Hoehn in Clearwater, Florida.  Each set is rated at 8 Ohms and equipped with the same four speakers wired the same way.  These two units are thus also shielded from clipping and possible speaker damage from louder frequencies in the 8-foot and 16-foot bass octaves.  The speaker pipes are 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 the 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 for this FIRST SECTION 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.

The SECOND SECTION 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 250W Radio Shack MPA-250B amp.  Speaker terminals of this amp are wired 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.  Additional speaker terminals of this amp are wired 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.  This SECOND SECTION has a power consumption of 250W.  Both FIRST and SECOND SECTIONS play at the same time and function to strengthen and augment midrange and upper frequencies.  The Radio Shack amp is driven gently however to avoid swamping the sound emerging from the Conn pipes.

The combined power consumption of these two divisions of the MANUAL PIPE system computes to 1000W (Rockville/Klipsch/Roland) + 250W (Radio Shack) = 1250W, and all five manuals play through it. 

A 60W Choice Select ST2060 amp is separately employed in the THIRD DIVISION to receive signal from 3 additional channel inputs arriving from the console [Great, Swell, and Choir/Positiv were selected].  It then routes this combined signal to a pre-owned Sony SA-WMSP1 powered subwoofer equipped with a 50W amp and 8" bass reflex speaker with a frequency range of 28-200Hz.  This 60W amp also powers a specially custom-built PVC PIPE speaker created in Lodi, California by the McCurdy Corporation to work with larger speaker pipes.  This unit of singular construction is composed of 12 general purpose 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.  The pipes are painted in a metallic gold leaf color and cut to various lengths determined by their locations over the speaker cone so that they sympathetically resonate with fundamental frequencies generated by the 12 chromatic semitones below 8-foot bass G#.  In covering a range of one octave the 2 shortest pipes of this unit overlap the bottom two notes (8-foot bass G# and G) of the 3 sets of Conn model 146 speaker pipes, thus extending the effects of gradual buildup of sound, gradual decay of sound, vertical dispersion of sound, and enhancing upper partial tones one octave lower down to 16-foot G# with no audible break.

The power consumption of this THIRD DIVISION is thus 60W (Choice Select) + 50W (Sony) = 110W, only the Great, Swell, Choir/Positiv stops play through it, and it functions to extend the downward range of the Conn speaker pipes in the FIRST SECTION.  

To summarize, the instrument's self-contained speaker system is supplemented with 8 additional amplifiers powering 61 additional loudspeakers of various sizes from 18" down to 1".  The system includes 3 sets of model 145 Conn speaker pipes, 3 sets of model 146 Conn speaker pipes, one custom-built set of PVC speaker pipes, 14 additional speaker cabinets, and at full strength requires 2720W of power to operate.  The speaker sizes are:  one 18", seven 15", four 12", three 10", two 10" X 4", four 8", twenty-four 6" X 9" oval, two 6-1/2", two 5", two 4", two 3-1/3", one 3", four 2", two 1-1/2", and three 1".

The goal of this external speaker project was the creation of a balanced and proportioned sound with improved realism, a punchy bass, and enhanced tone quality and dispersion of the sound throughout the room in the most cost-effective and space-effective way possible.  By combining new and repurposed materials like this which were carefully and strategically matched to each other, repurposing amps and speakers, and using the ear to balance the volume, treble/bass, equalization, and artificial reverb for each speaker division and section against all the rest, the result has been more than satisfactory.  One needs to hear this instrument in person to fully appreciate the transformation these various retrofits and add-ons have made in the sound.  Reliable sources who have heard it have opined that they've heard other digital organs which did not sound nearly as good.

The audio/video was captured using a Sony HD Handycam camcorder mounted on a tripod at a distance of 3-10 feet from the speaker system and elevated 7 feet above floor level.  

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 and sterile, but if too far away from the Great the beating that result can be downright 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," cab be included 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.

Three 1/4-inch phone jacks per division provided in the back of the console allow all 6 divisional output channels to be sent to as many as 18 separate powered 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 this instrument is settling upon a scheme for tuning its divisions and coupling the voices to create something of the sound the composer knew and rich-sounding ensembles that can be listened to for long periods of time.  For its size, this organ is overly supplied with upperwork (octave stops and higher, much of it assertive), undersupplied with manual Doubles (there are only 6 in the whole instrument -- they are all independent however and go to the bottom without breaks), and, lacking sub couplers is seriously deficient in manual suboctave tone.  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, loud or climactic passages in French Romantic music are far less sonorous and sound thin when performed exactly as written.  To create something of the same random chorus effect of a pipe organ one needs to draw voices of different pitches from different divisions and play them all coupled together.  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.  The Tutti piston and 8-position Crescendo are also unprogrammable and bring on all of the big, tubby-sounding diapasons and flutes in the buildup, creating a very thick, cloudy, muddy, opaque sound that is just the opposite of the lean, transparent full organ so many organists desire for playing contrapuntal music, and Bach in particular.  All of this demands a special approach to drawing the stops, keeping balance above all in mind.