I have recently purchased an Alhborn SL-250 advertised as "not working". My intention is to either resurrect it or convert it to a VPO.
I bought it as a home practice instrument for my 10 year old goddaughter who is being taught organ on a larger A-G model in a local chapel. (She's a pretty accomplished pianist already and has taken to the organ like a duck to water. )
Because I already have a lot of projects on my list, my strong preference is to resurrect the SL-250 and have it out of my workshop asap.
I have researched the typical problems found in this era of A-G organs and they are among the sorts of things I have had to deal with before. So, unless I strike an insurmountable problem, such as a part that I cannot source, then I'm hoping to get the SL-250 back up and running under its own steam.
However, as mentioned, Plan B will be to convert it to VPO and, Googling around for MIDI encoders, etc, I came across Roman Sowa's nice set of modules which strike me as being the easiest and most economical way of going about a conversion.
The last thing I want to do is to solder wires to every key, pedal, stop and piston. Ideally, I want to be able to plug the organ's existing ribbon cables into purpose-built MIDI modules and connect to a computer.
But, it seems that obtaining modules is a major problem at the moment and for the foreseeable future due to COVID-related component supply problems.
So, I welcome discussion here on the suitability of Roman's modules and on any good alternatives.
I bought it as a home practice instrument for my 10 year old goddaughter who is being taught organ on a larger A-G model in a local chapel. (She's a pretty accomplished pianist already and has taken to the organ like a duck to water. )
Because I already have a lot of projects on my list, my strong preference is to resurrect the SL-250 and have it out of my workshop asap.
I have researched the typical problems found in this era of A-G organs and they are among the sorts of things I have had to deal with before. So, unless I strike an insurmountable problem, such as a part that I cannot source, then I'm hoping to get the SL-250 back up and running under its own steam.
However, as mentioned, Plan B will be to convert it to VPO and, Googling around for MIDI encoders, etc, I came across Roman Sowa's nice set of modules which strike me as being the easiest and most economical way of going about a conversion.
The last thing I want to do is to solder wires to every key, pedal, stop and piston. Ideally, I want to be able to plug the organ's existing ribbon cables into purpose-built MIDI modules and connect to a computer.
But, it seems that obtaining modules is a major problem at the moment and for the foreseeable future due to COVID-related component supply problems.
So, I welcome discussion here on the suitability of Roman's modules and on any good alternatives.