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THE MIGHTY WURLITZER!!!

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schultzpo

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PostTue May 18, 2004 2:31 pm

After years of searching for a suitable update to my organ I finally made up my mind. I will go with Hauptwerk. The decision was made after I saw the entry from Brett Milan and his decision to sample a Wurlitzer.

The world of theatre organs is virtually unknown in Sweden. The total count of installations was two Wurlitzer 2/7, both installed in the 20’s and removed in the 60’s. One is in storage, probably beyond recovery. The other is living a healthy life in a private home.

I have a Rodgers Trio 321A, probably the only one in Sweden, which I will update with MIDI. I’m using a MIDI kits from http://www.ucapps.de/. This is a DIY kit where you buy the parts and they supply the schematic and software free of charge. The advantage is that the cost of the parts is about the same as a tank of gas for my car. The disadvantage is of course that you have to build it but that was surprisingly easy. I first build a test bed consisting of one octave and three registers. I have used this to test out various ideas. Right now I have it hooked up to the Hauptwerk. Having just one octave introduces some interesting limitations.

The Trio sounded OK when I bought it in 1975. Not that it sounds differently now, but my reference points have changed. After listening to Allens, Walkers, and of course Hauptwerk I have realized that there is room for considerable improvement.

While waiting for HW2 and Brett’s Wurlitzer I will complete the MIDI installation and test it with Hauptwerk. I also have to think about the disposition, the Trio has three manuals, none with second touch. I also have to figure out how to fix the stop tablets. Some will have the correct labeling but many have to be changed and some new added. How, I don’t know.

Regarding KFC. According to a book I have, Top Secret Recipes, a laboratory analysis was once made of the dry spice mixture. The analysis showed that instead of “eleven herbs and spices” only four showed up, flour, salt, pepper, and monosodium glutamate.
Per S
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B. Milan

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PostTue May 18, 2004 11:01 pm

Hello schultzpo! Thank you for your support and your decision to go with Hauptwerk for your virtual Wurlitzer theatre organ. I'm confident that you won't be disappointed with the results and features. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the results in HW2, not only for the sounds of the samples, but also for the console display. It will include all real photos of the actual Wurlitzer design. Moving parts everywhere! It will definitely be a unique virtual instrument!

Regarding 2nd touch. Even though your keyboards may not support "real" 2nd touch, if they can support velocity sensitivity then that should suffice. ie. you press harder and it will trigger the 2nd touch feature in HW2. A 1975 organ would not have this feature, but you could easily install a midi strip under the keys like the ones available from MIDI9. There's a link on our site to it.

Regarding KFC. According to a book I have, Top Secret Recipes, a laboratory analysis was once made of the dry spice mixture. The analysis showed that instead of “eleven herbs and spices” only four showed up, flour, salt, pepper, and monosodium glutamate.

KFC...so where are the other 7 ingredients? We've been fooled all this time!!!
Brett Milan
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MILAN DIGITAL AUDIO
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TheatreOrganNo1

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PostWed May 19, 2004 12:45 am

:D
Last edited by TheatreOrganNo1 on Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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G'day

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KFC

PostWed May 19, 2004 1:05 am

So lab analysis picked out flour, salt, pepper, and MSG? Big deal! It's the other seven that are really the secret, and so very secret are they that even lab analysis could not identify them Ha!
G'Day

P.S. the fourth manual is installed and I'm just completing the upper case which will house my synth module array. The draw stops might be in by the week-end, and my son is coming by with his digital camera. soon I will have pictures to post! Yeah!!!!!
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BachsFugue

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PostWed May 19, 2004 2:04 am

and so very secret are they that even lab analysis could not identify them Ha!


It's déjà vu all over again--just like the Holy Shroud of Turin!

Cole Votaw
Cole Votaw -- Springfield, Ohio, USA
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Jon Hammond

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PostThu May 20, 2004 1:06 pm

Hi Schultzpo; Wellcome and good luck. My experience may be of some use to you and others. My Ahlborn-Galanti Archive module went out of service when I first played a HW Silbermann. My used Trio 321 (ca 1970) received over 300 new electroytic capacitors within a month after I purchased it. Every capacitor I found was changed out. When the contact strips out of three used Fatar - Studio plus midi controllers were fitted to the excellent Nottingham made wooden Trio keyboards, I also retained the original contact strip. The midi output is entirely seperate from the still functioning Rodgers electronics. Some of the original contact wires had to be bent so that both organs would speak within 1.5mm of key travel. This adjustment could be widened and a bank of second touch springs added, plus a second set of contact to midi convertors to secure true second touch. Look at the double touch contacts on your thumb pistons to see an example. When the HW Wurly comes out, I'll scrap the Trio's 1965 designed electronics. Imagine their first issues had only germanium transistors. When you compare the stop tab engraving with the Virginia Wurly, they are very much alike assuming you shuffle either the organ definition file or the positions of the tabs. At a minimum, the Trio is a very well designed key desk and a beautiful piece of furniture. Best Regards - Jon Leslie Hammond
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schultzpo

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PostSat May 22, 2004 4:19 am

Hi Jon Hammond and thanks for your comments. I have had very little trouble with my Trio. There were some cold solders in the diode keyers which were easy to fix. The expression control for the Glockenspiel gave up years ago but that doesn’t really matter since the function was questionable anyway.

My original plan was to augment the Trio with some sampled voices using a sampler (Akai S2000) but now with HW2 and the Virginia Wurly I will junk the entire original electronics as you plan to do. This includes getting rid of the huge speaker cabinet, ML-201, complete with amplifiers, speakers, 15” slave bass, and a Leslie. If somebody wants it, just pick it up.

About 2nd touch. I will look closely to your suggestion. Judging from your description of the key desk it seems that Rodgers made some “improvements”. My keys are plastic attached to U shaped aluminum profiles. No wood to be seen. There are several ideas on the Internet but so far no report about a successful implementation. The aftertouch function seems to be ruled out as being too imprecise. Anyway, 2nd touch is not my first priority.

The stop tabs look OK, as you point out. I will shuffle the positions and since Wurlitzer was quite liberal with the naming of stops I think I can be that too. There are several tabs that I can’t use like “Tibia bright” or “Pedal ff”, but there are enough of them to handle the Virginia Wurlitzer. I did pick up some used stop tabs at an ATOS convention some years ago. They were fitted with a small chain and advertised as car key holders.

At present I can only wait for the release of HW2 and the Wurlitzer.

Per S
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TheOrganDoc

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THE MIGHTY WURLITZER

PostMon Sep 27, 2004 10:48 pm

HELLO BRET, MARTIN, AND THEATER ORGAN FANS,

THE EXPERIENCE OF REPAIRING MANY WURLITZERS HAS AWED ME MANY TIMES OVER AS TO THE AMAZING TECHNICAL FEATURES AND CONSIDERING THAT THEY WERE BUILT IN THE EARLY 1900'S.

ONE OF THESE IS THE MANNER THAT THEY CAUSED GREATER DEPTH OF TREMULANT ON SOME SETS OF PIPES SUCH AS THE TIBIA CLAUSA, WHERE THEY WOULD CONNECT THE TREMULANT FEEDLINE, (DUCT) FROM THE FAR END OF THE PIPE CHEST, OPPOSIDE THAT OF THE FEED END, SO AS TO CAUSE THE WIND IN THE PIPE CHEST TO PULSE STRONGLY WITHIN, AND CREATE THE DEEP THROB OF THE TIBIA CLAUSA.

THE BASS PIPES OF THE TIBIA WERE NOT TREATED IN THIS MANOR BECAUSE EXCESIVE VARIATIONS OF WIND PRESSURE WOULD CAUSE THE TONE TO BE UNSTEADY, ESPECIALLY WHEN PLAYED FROM THE PEDAL KEYBOARD.

ALL OF THE 16' BASS PIPE SETS ARE CONNECTED TO UNTREMULATED WIND PRESSURE FOR THE SAME REASON.

OTHER RANKS SUCH AS THE REEDS HAVE THEIR TREMULANTS CONNECTED FROM THE FEED END OF THE PIPE CHEST SO AS TO MINIMIZE THE AFFECT THAT THE TREMULANT WOULD ON THE REED PIPES SINCE THEY WOULD WARBLE TERRIBLY IF TREMMED THRU THE PIPE CHEST.

I HOPE IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DUPLICATE THESE DIFERENCES OF TREMULENT WITHIN THE HWv2 FRAMEWORK.


I AM ALSO WISHFULL THAT HWv2 WILL ALLOW DUPLICATION OF THE THROBBING TIBIA SOUND THAT IS THE BACKBONE OF MOST OF THE MIGHTY WURLITZER TONAL BLEND'S.

ANXOUSLY WAITING HWv2 AND YOUR SAMPLE SET BRET.

PS, WE SURVIVED HURRICANE JEANNE WITH ONLY AN EXTENDED POWER OUTAGE AND DISCOMFORT, HOPE OTHERS WERE AS LUCKY AS WE.
Mel..............TheOrganDoc...............
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