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645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

Building organ consoles for use with Hauptwerk, adding MIDI to existing consoles, obtaining parts, ...
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ChangedForever

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645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostSun Dec 07, 2014 7:01 pm

First picture upload - be easy on me...

Trying to finally begin the modification of my Rodgers 645 pedals for use with Hauptwerk Advanced Version with an expression and crescendo pedal / 3 midiclassic keyboards in a custom console. First pic is just of the 3 color wires; seem blue is common to the reed switches, green goes to the individual reed switches (they all work), but is the yellow for? Seems on the far end of this plate it's just cut off. I guess at this point it's insignificant?..

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2nd pic - I guess this is the famous "buss bar" I've exposed I read about sometimes (it's common to all the reed switches)?
I've heard I need to snip each connection for modification? Any literature how to modify this? I've heard of midi-boutique but don't know what board I need to get this rig all hooked up to work with Hauptwerk. I did earn a 3.9 in electronic engineering in 1981 at Control Data Institute but all I do now is sit around and tell people how to fix there 20 petabyte storage arrays... :-(

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These are all the wires... I guess I can jerk the yellow wire out as it was used with something on the 645 the pedals were removed from?..

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Last but not least - the entire reed plate that mounts to the pedal board.

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I've checked the Classic Midi Works site - they have a kit that has switches, board and wiring but here I've got all that already...... isn't there a cheaper alternative to get this working?..

Thanks for looking,
Mark

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steve till

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostSun Dec 07, 2014 7:46 pm

Rodgers used an extra wire in almost all of its cable bundles.
Usually called a tracer, it could be used if a wire broke somewhere.
It was also used to distinguish between two similar cable assemblies.

So you only need to worry about the 32 green wires and the blue common.
These would be wired to whatever encoder you are using.
Good luck and best wishes.
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johnh

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostMon Dec 08, 2014 1:11 am

Check out the MBBS from midi-hardware:

http://www.midi-hardware.com/index.php?section=prod_info&product=MBBS

This has more inputs than you need but the advantage is that it is a single board. Unfortunately the half-WIPLUG adapters are currently out-of-stock. These make wiring to existing leads really easy but you could splice into ribbon cables if you can't wait for the adapters to come back into stock. You might want to inquire...

I believe the current price is approx. $75 US

---john.
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mdyde

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostMon Dec 08, 2014 4:47 am

[Topic moved here, since it isn't a technical support request for the Hauptwerk software per-se.]
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostMon Dec 08, 2014 9:59 am

johnh wrote:Unfortunately the half-WIPLUG adapters are currently out-of-stock. These make wiring to existing leads really easy but you could splice into ribbon cables if you can't wait for the adapters to come back into stock.


A neater method is to replace the Rodgers wiring with color coded ribbon cable. It's no big deal/job - really.

Rgds,
Ed
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostTue Dec 09, 2014 3:08 am

I finished completing a midi conversion of this exact pedalboard last month. The yellow wire is indeed a trace...with no electrical function....
I used a $5 breakout board with Phoenix terminals to interface the Rodgers wiring with a Midi Boutique scanrow board. Works brilliantly. It was required to use a multi meter to check and numerically label each Rodgers wire to the relevant Phoenix terminal, then ribbon cable from breakout board to the Midi Boutique encoder. Will post photos shortly of the whole console project.
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostTue Dec 09, 2014 10:07 am

Take a look at the PIC-1 Pedal and Swell Shoe Midi Encoder from DTS Midi Systems.
It appears that you have enough stub wiring left that you could connect directly to this board using Molex crimp connectors if you mount the board on standoffs right behind the reed switches, or just off to the side on the console.

Alternatively, you could splice the wires with small crimp connectors, or solder and heat shrink.

Note that this board is "pull to ground", so the common wire should go to ground instead of the +12 that Rodgers used.
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engrssc

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostTue Dec 09, 2014 1:31 pm

While reed switches have some merit, be aware that there has always been alignment issues between the pedal board itself (the magnets are on the ends of the pedals) and the reed switches.

Rgds,
Ed
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organtechnology

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostTue Dec 09, 2014 2:10 pm

stevendethick wrote:I finished completing a midi conversion of this exact pedalboard last month. The yellow wire is indeed a trace...with no electrical function....
I used a $5 breakout board with Phoenix terminals to interface the Rodgers wiring with a Midi Boutique scanrow board. Works brilliantly. It was required to use a multi meter to check and numerically label each Rodgers wire to the relevant Phoenix terminal, then ribbon cable from breakout board to the Midi Boutique encoder. Will post photos shortly of the whole console project.


This is also the way we would handle this in order to make the pedalboard into a MIDI pedalboard. The scan matrix for this switchboard appears to be a 1x32 point matrix. So the MIDI Boutique bo34 break out connector and the mpc32xrs are a good simple solution. This way you can use the existing switches and wiring and there is no soldering. You will need a 34pin ribbon cable in addition.

Ed is correct. The mechanical alignment of the reed switch board to the pedals can be tricky, if you do not have the original console to go with the pedalboard. Contact me at my signature email for more details.

Thomas
Complete Hauptwerk™ systems using real wood consoles, PC Sound Engines, Dante Audio for Home or Church. info (at) organtechnology.com http://www.organtechnology.com
Authorized Hauptwerk; Milan Digital Audio and Lavender Audio reseller.
USA and Canada shipments only.
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Thx Steve, John, mdyde, Ed, Ray & Thomas!

PostTue Dec 09, 2014 7:31 pm

You poor chaps - you must think I'm am soooooo rude! Just saw your replies to my post a few days ago - never got a response to my private email that anybody had responded and I went to the forum to find the message had been moved. I literally found this ACCIDENTALLY!!

Thank you gentlemen for your kind responses with hints and links! That makes it SO much clearer now. I'm sure I'll have other questions. I was hesitant about asking such low brow questions, but I know a lot of people here have already "been there done that and bought the T-shirt" and are willing to share. Before I go browsing I'll see if I can detect something in my profile that I need to turn on for alerts!!

Well, looks like I have some browsing to do - better get my Windows Notepad out and do some notations....

Many thanks again,
Mark
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mdyde

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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostWed Dec 10, 2014 4:50 am

Hello Mark,

Yes -- there's a preference in your forum profile for whether to be email automatically when people reply to your topics ('Profile | Board preferences | Edit posting defaults' in the current version of the forum software).
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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Martin - board preferences

PostWed Dec 10, 2014 6:48 pm

Sure enough - the one area I bypassed had default set to no. Thanks.

Merry Christmas,
Mark
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostWed Jan 07, 2015 10:19 pm

Just as a side note -- have you explored or considered Roman Sowa's site? He is in poland but very very nice to deal with and his boards are small and not very expensive. I was able to wire an Allen Princess to one of his boards with no soldering involved and it was a quick and easy process. Just thought I'd offer an alternative. The board I used has extra space for keyboards and swell shoes etc. as well. But it did take a while to get here from poland but was worth the wait IMHO.

Tom
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostWed Jan 07, 2015 10:20 pm

PS -- Allen pedalboard had the phantom yellow wire to nowhere as well so I guess its normal :)
Tom
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Re: 645 Rodgers pedal board pix - midi help needed

PostSat Jan 10, 2015 11:26 am

Tom Bentley - thanks for the feedback about Roman Sowa - will find his site - it's 28 degrees Fahrenheit in the computer room now, though --- will need to wait till it warms up....

Regards and thanks for the yellow wire information!!..
Mark

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