MikeDC wrote:I have the opportunity to purchase a large 3-manual Allen ADC console (approx. 90 drawknobs) at an excellent price. Console is in good shape and organ plays.
I have no interest in retaining the Allen electronics and would do a full MIDI conversion.
My question is, is it worth it? I actually already have a MIDI-fied console, so I would either canabalize that for use in the Allen console, or buy new electronics for the Allen in hopes of selling it.
So, more specifically, how easy is it do a conversion on an Allen (are drawknobs from the 80's usable), and what's the market like for a console of this size that has been midified? Are churches the only potential customers?
Just intersted in the hive's opinions.
Thanks!
Hi Mike,
If the organ is more than 34" deep it probably needs a church home. If it is less than 34" deep it should fit through a normal front door to a house.
There a very few draw knob Hauptwerk organs out there because of the limitations they impose on how many different organs can be used. The number of draw knobs has to be >the number of draw knobs in the sample set.
It is also not trivial to setup Hauptwerk to manage the draw knobs and it requires a lot of extra wiring and additional power supplies. OpusII is one company that I know of that makes a draw knob based combination system that is compatible with Hauptwerk. I would guess it would be in the $50-$100 per draw knob to use them. As for input/output electronics to use 80s draw knobs, I would contact Jordan at Midi Boutique and send him the voltage, current and solenoid arrangement to get a suitable set of electronics to run them.
Hope this helps,
Thomas