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Help with connecting Conn 643 Theatre organ to 32 key

Building organ consoles for use with Hauptwerk, adding MIDI to existing consoles, obtaining parts, ...
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josephmartin1945

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Help with connecting Conn 643 Theatre organ to 32 key

PostSat Oct 02, 2021 8:16 am

Hey everybody,

I had a guy that was going to connect my Conn 643 Theatre organ to a 32 key pedalboard, but the email exchange we had suddenly petered out. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that he got busy and it's not anything I said. Ruling out a miracle that, having not heard from him since about last July that he'll write to me today, does anybody know anyone in Long Island that does these sorts of things? I'm also close to NYC. I just looked this up, and the smaller 25 key pedalboard was the theatre organ, so I'm trying to retrofit the "deluxe" features onto what was presumably the more economical choice between the Conns in the 80's. I have a 32 key pedalboard sitting in my foyer, with the Conn, living in Long Island, New York, and I wanted anyone who could help me with trying to get that 32 key pedalboard in. Would it be nice to have, in addition to that, gutted the original sounds, have me donate an old laptop as a digital "brain", and put Hauptwerk in? Sure, but even before that, if anybody knows any companies in Long Island or individual contractors that might have the knowledge to do what I'm asking since I already paid enough that it'd be a shame to just get rid of both, I'd really appreciate it.

JM
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engrssc

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Re: Help with connecting Conn 643 Theatre organ to 32 key

PostSat Oct 02, 2021 10:20 am

Which version of Hauptwerk are you using? Details of 32 note pedal board?

Rgds,
Ed
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josephmartin1945

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Re: Help with connecting Conn 643 Theatre organ to 32 key

PostMon Nov 08, 2021 5:49 am

Hi Ed,

So, currently I am not using Hauptwerk on the instrument at all, but I was trying FIRST to connect a 32 key pedalboard to the Conn 643, and, assuming you don't know this, as I discovered it upon getting this particular organ in my house, the Conn 643 has a 25 note pedalboard. So there's a few issues I've managed to fix so far: for instance, the bar you would rest your feet on on the organ bench bumped up against the 32 key pedalboard, so I was able to move the bar up a bit, and the next order of business is that the 32 key pedalboard is a bit thicker than the point of insertion allows for the 25, so whether I raise up the bottom of the organ with moving pads or do something more interesting by sanding away the top of the pedal..."hole" so that I can accommodate the pedals without altering the resting height of the organ...whatever.

The pedal board itself is a 32 key pedalboard that was originally for another Conn organ that obviously came with a 32 key one. Do you need more details about the pedalboard than that? As you can see it's a bit of a twofold problem: 1. retrofit this 25 key pedalboard organ with a 32, and then 2. with MIDI information and connections, make a new instrument that would have noise for that additional octave, that would be a little harder to do with the original Conn wiring.

And of course, I have no idea how to do any of it, so if you had any leads of companies that do that sort of thing I would appreciate it, and, if you have reason to believe that's not a real thing, I think I just have to get rid of this and save up for an actual home organ with a 32 note pedalboard instead of going on this whole journey.

JM

N.B. I had another organist tell me that I should just be ok with having a 25 note pedalboard. I can't settle for that because now that I'm trying to have a home practice organ, the idea that I should just be okay with not practicing leaps and jumps in difficult German or French organ music until I get to my church organ is...well it just seems downright silly. Like have a grand piano with 81 keys. I'm just going to "hope" that Lizst piece works when I go and perform it on an 88, having spent hours on one with 81? No. Please. Obviously I should have the same amount of keys. I'm not a snob...but I wouldn't practice on a cello with 3 strings.

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