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1974 Allen keyboardstack

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

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1974 Allen keyboardstack

PostThu Jun 04, 2015 4:40 pm

I may have a chance to buy a three-manual Allen keyboard stack. It dates from 1974, but the person I'm buying from doesn't know the model of the original instrument. It does, apparently, have 5 swell pistons, with sw-ped reversible on the swell slip, 5 generals, 5 great pistons with sw-gt, ch-gt and sforzando on the great slip, as well as 5 choir pistons and ch-ped on the choir slip.

I'm used to Allen keyboards, and was wondering if this might be suitable for HW purposes. Are there issues I should be aware of before committing to this?

Many thanks.
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Sylvaticus

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Re: 1974 Allen keyboardstack

PostThu Jun 04, 2015 5:34 pm

I converted 2 x 1971 and 2 x 198x Allen keyboards, which were functionally interchangeable with one another, so yours should be similar. I went with converting to 8x8 matrix, which meant rewiring the contacts entirely, but I didn't think it was really that bad a job, as long as you follow good soldering practices and work methodically.

The results are everything I had hoped. I have read elsewhere on this forum that the leaf contacts are "old tech", but I haven't had any keying problems. Everything is nice and adjustable. I used Midi-Hardware's components for MIDIfication, and I understand that Roman incorporates anti-bounce features into his boards, so maybe they would not be as satisfactory with other brands, although those may have similar features, I don't know.

An added bonus to the Allen keyboards is that I came up with a way of adding tracker-touch, using lots of 10mm rare-earth magnets (2 per key), available on eBay. (I can't take complete credit, as I got the idea from another poster to this forum.) If this interests you, I would be glad to post or send details.

If you happen to run into any more of those keyboards beyond what you need, I'd love to get my hands on one more of them. :) Good luck!
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jkinkennon

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Re: 1974 Allen keyboardstack

PostThu Jun 04, 2015 10:28 pm

I'd be willing to provide one of my MIDI boards at no cost or send one with a programmed UBW32 board which piggy backs onto mine for the actual cost of the UBW32, $40. It does three manuals, either 11x6 or 8x8 plus pedals, expression pedals, and both pistons and SAMs with additional $25 boards. Send me an email if interested to john@kinkennon.com or look at my web site listed below. There are only a handful of these boards in use and I'd sure like to see someone else give one a try.
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TheOrganDoc

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Re: 1974 Allen keyboardstack

PostFri Jun 05, 2015 12:35 pm

John You are a godsend, your offer is amazing.
If at some time in the future my Midi interface should kick the Bucket,
I will definitely contact you !
I am amazed at your grasp of the digital realm,
as I tuned and repaired Pipe, and some and Elec. Organs, retiring a fairly short time after after
being trained on and repairing computerized Organs.
I also installed, and utilized multiplex systems on a few Pipe Organs !

You being able to wrap your mind around the complexity's of this Midi En/Decoder,
and its circuitry is just grand ! :roll:

Thanks and very best wishes to you, Mel
Mel..............TheOrganDoc...............
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jkinkennon

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Re: 1974 Allen keyboardstack

PostFri Jun 05, 2015 4:47 pm

Thanks for the kind words. I've got three of these boards in hand at the moment if I remember correctly. For anyone who is interested I parked a couple of photos on my web site with a rear view of the Allen theater organ that is nearly complete as well as a close shot of the encoder. Here are the links to display them:

http://www.kinkennon.com/images/Allen675-THrear.jpg

http://www.kinkennon.com/images/MatrixEncoderDecoder.jpg

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