All Love

Pulled out my personal copy of Paul Ayres' Toccata on "All You Need Is Love" this morning and tried to sight read it.  No can do!  Still can't sight read it after all these years of letting it sit on my music bookshelf.  Very surprising how that works!

So I went to YouTube to see if anyone had recorded a good rendition and remind myself how it is supposed to sound, and sure enough, Randall Mullins has a recording of him playing it on his Hauptwerk Milan Digital Father Willis organ.   It brings chills and is well worth a listen if you haven't heard it and a re-listen if you have.

I find it fascinating how pop music of one age becomes the 'serious' music of another, with occasionally detours thru Muzak.  This has happened since before the time of Mozart I suspect.  What do you think of this trend?

As a side note, I'm impressed that he went to the trouble and was able to get permission from both Paul and Sony to record this.  That's the way it is supposed to work.

Swell Pedal Potentiometer

OrganQuest is alive!   Been a bit quiet for what, a few years?  What happened?  Well life happened and continues to happen, but that's no excuse so here we are again.

The two analog organs are still in the garage.  Well one is.  The other is now mostly MIDI-fied. As I think I wrote earlier, I ran into a few tricky spots, the last of which was my attempt to install the oh so important swell controlling variable resistor.  

Most electronic organs use a rotary resistor, but the range of motion is not really compatible with most commercially available rotary resistors.  And if you choose to use a linear resistor as I did, things get even more interesting.

I tend to obsess about details, so it was easy to get bogged down in prototype building.  The ideal solution will probably eventually turn out to be use of a 3D printer to create the desired support for the linear 10k potentiometer, but that means money and/or time.  In the meantime, there are some more straightforward solutions. Here's one way to do it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52179600@N06/8895491765/in/album-72157633819682339/

or even simpler:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7973276@N04/15263468498/in/album-72157648420143055/

You will note that some of these contraptions tend to require a bit of 'elbow room', which I am trying to minimize.  I also am trying to recycle the original Rodgers Swell pedal mechanisms, so obviously things got complicated fast.  Stay tuned for progress and feel free to post your suggestions.

MIDI pedalboard

So the Christmas rush is over, and on your New Year's resolution list is a project to finish your Hauptwerk setup by building a MIDI-pedalboard to go with those MIDI keyboards you have, plan to build, or plan to buy.

Basically you have two major options: Money or time? If you have too much money, and not enough time, your problems are over. Just head over to Classic MIDI Works and for only (!) $1725 you can have a brand new pedalboard that produces excellent MIDI signals for your Hauptwerk, GrandOrgue, MIDItzer, or jOrgan setup.
http://www.MIDIworks.ca/index.php/products/details/145/2/pedalboards/classic-ago-MIDI-pedalboard

Or if you have tons of time and amazing craftsmanship skills, you could build your pedalboard like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53505621@N07/sets/72157624882970350/

But if you are somewhere in between, like me you will probably find it easier to start with an AGO pedalboard from an old analog or pipe organ and convert it to MIDI. That's what this blog post is about.

In theory, it's simple: A pedalboard is basically 32 switches which are activated by pressing the pedals. You convert those switch open and closings to MIDI signals which are then fed to your computer for use with virtual pipe organ software. Some systems go one step further and send the MIDI signals on to the computer via a USB connection. Historically, however, you would use a sound card or other type of adapter to accept the MIDI signals using a 5 pin DIN MIDI cable. I will assume for this discussion that you want to output via a generic MIDI connector rather than a USB cable. MIDI output from the pedals will allow you to connect to a MIDI merge device (with the keyboards and pistons) and from there to the sound card MIDI input or perhaps a MIDI-2-USB converter. When you do so, just remember to watch for latency (lag). Each conversion can introduce just enough lag that it might become difficult to play. This is because MIDI itself is not a very fast protocol and merging and converting it can be slower than we might like, especially for continuous output signals from the swell expression pedal if they are too verbose. One way to minimize this lag when converting multiple keyboards from analog to MIDI is to use the same manufacturer's conversion system for all manuals and pedalboards. Doing so usually allows all the merging and mixing to happen BEFORE conversion to MIDI, and you only get one final MIDI output signal which has minimal lag.

If you are an electronics engineer, you could even build all this circuitry from scratch. If you are really ambitious and have time on your hands, you might even like to check out the Highly Liquid forum:
http://forum.highlyliquid.com/

I am not an electronics engineer. Wish I were, but not even close. Fortunately there are several commercial circuit board kits available that have worked out all the details for me. Almost all of them directly output MIDI on/off signals. But because there are minor differences between the conversion kits, you do have to make a few choices however.

The first choice you must make is how to connect the pedalboard switches to the circuit boards. You'd think it would be simple: Just connect wire 1 from note 1 on the pedalboard to input 1 on the MIDI converter. Well, yes it is, but only for SCANROW style systems. There are two major categories of connections: SCANROW vs. MATRIX input. You don't need to understand these fully, but here's the bottom line: SCANROW simply connects one pedal switch to one input on the converter in a one-to-one ratio. It is the simplest system to visualize. MATRIX input is a bit more complicated, because it uses a kind of indexing to reduce the number of wires needed. Rather than 32 wires connecting to the MIDI converter as with a SCANROW system, you might have only 8-16 MATRIXed wires. The MATRIX is cleverly designed so that you have one wire for each note in a short sequence, say 8 notes, and another index wire for each sequence. Each played note (closed pedal switch) activates two wires, which combine together (MATRIXed) give your MIDI converter all the information it needs to know which note was pressed. MATRIX wiring is basically dividing the pedalboard up into several sections, each a sequence of notes. You are telling the converter something to the effect "The organist is pressing the 3rd note of the 2nd sequence of notes". These might be 8 note sequences (for digital computer reasons, not musical reasons), but a musician might wish to think of the MATRIX system as analogous to the way keyboards are full of sequences of notes that we call 'octaves' and each octave (of 12 notes) is designated differently. There would be one wire for each note in an octave (C,C#,D, etc.) and one wire for each octave (CCC, CC, C, etc.). Each time the organist plays a note, one wire from each group is activated, and the MIDI converter is smart enough to figure out what note it should play by combining the note wire and octave wire together. Same logic with MATRIX keying, except shorter (8 note) intervals are usually used to keep down the number of wires. Here's a nice little graphical illustration:
http://forum.highlyliquid.com/showthread.php?t=1115

The advantage is we can get by with using fewer wires. Perhaps a ribbon cable with only 8-16 wires in it to connect the pedalboard switches to the circuit board. MATRIX has a downside that you have to use diodes, one for each note, to make sure currents always flow one direction and don't allow the sequence wire to activate wrong notes by allowing current to flow backwards. Fortunately, diodes are cheap (less than a dollar) but have to be soldered one by one.

For me, SCANROW is just plain simpler. No diodes to solder, just 32 wires to connect. That narrows the list slightly, but we still have quite a few circuit board kits to consider. Since we do have 32 wires though, it probably will be best to mount the circuit board close to the pedals, even inside the switch end of the pedalboard. This will keep the wire rats nest to a minimum.

Now we need to decide if we want the circuit board to be capable of handling toe studs (mushroom presets) and swell expression pedals. Most of us do, so we will have to look at the capabilities of the MIDI circuit board kits carefully. Basically swell expression pedals are connected to variable resisters (potentiometers) and that variable resistance is converted to a MIDI signal number of 1-128. In other words, swell expression input is analog, not digital on-off like the pedal note switches. So we look at how many analog inputs the circuit board has. Lastly, we look for whether the circuit board can handle toe stud inputs. Toe stud piston inputs are very similar to pedal not switches, except they must be programmed slightly different -- when we press a toe stud, we expect it to latch, not momentarily turn on, then off, as it would if it were a keyboard note. It is my understanding (I may be wrong) that the switch itself is usually not different, only the way the circuit board handles the signal, so we have to inquire or check into how many such notes it can handle.

Lastly, and perhaps least important, is the type of switches in the pedalboard. Most reasonably modern analog organs use a system of reed switches activated by magnets on the tips of the pedals. This is a nice system because the reed switches are enclosed in glass like a light bulb and are less vulnerable to arcing oxidation and 'bouncing' that can happen when a circuit is closed. There are other ways to make or break a circuit. Some, like the home made pedalboard linked to above, use photo cells to optically open and close the circuit. This is probably the most elegant and trouble free, but it might cost a little more to use. It's completely up to you however, all we need for the input to the MIDI circuit board is some kind of switch. Most circuit boards have a 'debounce' circuit to minimize the number of MIDI on-off signals sent with a single not depression, but again optical might be the gold standard in clean switching.

Assuming you want to MIDIfy a standard AGO pedalboard using SCANROW wiring, I've done the hard work for you and posted a summary spread sheet of various vendors and their relevant products as of December 2013. You may still have further questions after studying it, but it is at least a good start to your project.

By the way, if you don't have Excel, I recommend Libre Office (Calc) or perhaps Gnumeric. Both are open source and free spread sheet viewing tools. You will need to unzip the file first using your operating system or a tool like 7-zip. Compare and contrast!
www.anim8.com/organ/blog/MIDI_Pedalboard.zip

Movie Magic

In my next blogpost I plan to get back to writing about midification of an electronic organ, but first I just have to share a holiday movie with you.

By way of background, yes, it's that time of year in the U.S., the Thanksgiving-Hanukkah-Kwanzaa-Christmas season. For those of you outside the U.S., all you need to know is that Thanksgiving still has some solid remnants of good, honest, family togetherness left to it. The Christmas holidays have been hijacked by corporations (and some churches) wringing the last drop of humanity out of any well-meaning soul that falls into their marketing territory. But Thanksgiving is arguably still mainly about being with family and gratefully sharing a nice meal together. I was fortunate to be able to simply visit with my family rather than worry about shopping and gifts and all the scheduling anxieties that come with the X-mas season. But the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday for reasons best left to the imagination, and that day is probably better spent at home if you dislike competing with crowds of greedy consumers as much as I do.

So instead, we watched a jewel of a movie called "A Christmas Without Snow", and although it is set in San Francisco, a city not far from where I write this, it was the first time I watched this film. The main story is about a demanding choirmaster preparing a small amateur choir to sing Handel's Messiah but there are multiple personal stories interwoven around this unifying theme. Whoever wrote the script knew a thing or two about the craft of making music, because the dialogue is spot on. It's one of those classic movies with lines that any music lover can and will appreciate. The writer also knew something about organs, there are a few priceless scenes comparing a pipe organ with an electronic imitation to quite humorous effect.

There's a free download (public domain) at:

https://archive.org/details/AChristmasWithoutSnow

I found both DivX and Mp4 versions playable. If you don't have a player, VLC player will play almost anything:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

but you can probably use whatever player you have, perhaps even Windows Media Player!

If you like music and films that appeal to both mind and heart, I hope you have a chance to watch this movie before the holidays are over.

Second thoughts on Listening to Organ Music

Some might say that the solution to the relative unpopularity of the organ in the US includes 1) more advertising and 2) just keep listening longer (from GABISOMA, the Grin and Bear It School of Organ Music Appreciation). Even if you don't like it at first, you'll learn to appreciate it later. The first idea is to lure unsuspecting people in, the latter, to allow one's own tastes to broaden. Which is all well and good in what it affirms. I have often wished I had heard about a concert before it happened rather than after. But to paraphrase a college professor, these solutions are wrong in what they deny, which is that there is anything out of line in the organ world.

A recent thread on a pipe organ list even questioned whether it was unacceptable to walk out on an unenjoyed organ concert. For the record, I think this is more than perfectly acceptable, it is desirable and a healthy way to promote more enjoyable concerts in the future provided it does not interfere with the pleasure of those remaining. But I have never done it for fear I might miss something really great coming up afterwards. That said, subsequent list posts completely missed the point regarding one key reason to leave a concert. Most of the comments obsessed on the technical skills and perfection of the performance, rather than the emotional content of the music (or lack thereof). Were Bach's improvisations all note perfect of something written 200 years previous to his performance? Was he thinking about phrasing and articulation to the exclusion of emotional content? Did he mature and develop his style to fit the current trends and needs of his church or endlessly try to perfect his Vivaldi and Telemann performance?

Incidentally, this reminds me of the time I happened to mention that I refuse to learn any piece of music I don't like. Period. Full stop. End of story. What would be the point of learning to play something you dislike or are even lukewarm about? It would only create distaste for the instrument and the music. This apparently remarkably independent thought came across as quite a novel concept indeed, and one organist reader even volunteered that he had never once been asked what music he would like to learn! The rationale supposedly is that learning to play music you don't care for will accustom you to it to such a degree that, as with a poor quality pop tune played incessantly on the radio, you will eventually develop some kind of fondness for it. But is it this self-denial, this kind of alienation of one's one thoughts, emotions, and desires, that has helped to create a repertoire seemingly of marginal interest or attractiveness to the general public? It is simply inexcusable in this modern age of digital recordings not to allow the student to listen to and learn music that appeals to him or her.

I refuse to wear a hair shirt or enjoy self-crucifixion to enjoy music! I'm not talking about dumbing music down or playing show tunes on the organ (no offense to my theater organist friends, if any should incorrectly suspect that I was specifically referring to that genre). No, I'm talking about focusing less on the liturgy and religious trappings of the classic concert organ and more on the sensual beauty, peace, voluptuous rapture that can come from great art.

By way of example of what I consider a reasonably good combination of good taste and accessibility (apparently that's the term for what I'm promoting), I just recently received an organ CD not-coincidentally by the same organist who recorded the Durufle of my previous blog post. In my mind this second CD goes a long ways towards mitigating the effects of certain more alienating types of organ music. It's called "In A Quiet Cathedral" and I highly recommend it, not for the recording quality (it seems to have a slight very low rumble on my system) but for the pure listening pleasure it gives. Pity the concept for the album had to come from a pianist.

Evening Thoughts on Listening to the Complete Organ Works of Duruflé

Have you listened to a music box album recently? Mechanical perfection, charming, delightful, but not exactly emotion stirring. And not what I'm going to write about today.

In the medical field there is a concept of "publication bias". This is the intuitive notion that ideas, hypotheses, and research studies will be more likely to be published if they fit the needs of the organization footing the bill. In the case of pharmaceuticals, for example, a study which doesn't show a particular drug in the most favorable light will be swept under a rug somewhere and never see the light of day, unless some outside agency was involved and has control of the study. The same can be said of other media, including online forums and email lists, to greater or lesser degree. Organ lists are composed of individuals heavily invested in the status quo and detest any variance. Hence this post. On my own private blog, or as close to my own as Google will allow. He who pays the piper usually calls the tune.

Which got me thinking. Why are the tunes played on the organ still largely the same in overall tone and emotional impact today as 50-200 years ago? Then they were financed by the church or the aristocracy. Could this be one reason the average man on the street cannot relate to organ music? The other day a post on a popular pipe organ email list in the midst of yet another pity party over the perceived lack of popularity of the pipe organ pointed out differences from the past. There used to be a cultural or aristocratic elite who could afford to subsidize the fine arts, and the lack of that patronage system today was a prime reason for the decline in interest in careers in music, most specifically organ music. For the record, many U.S. symphony orchestras struggle to make ends meet, and rely on generous corporate grants and private philanthropic funds to keep ticket prices just below the stratosphere. And it seems some would have us believe that symphonies have become less adventurous in their programming so as not to offend the middle class concert goer. That average bloke who would prefer not to be surprised with anything dissonant or new. This blog isn't about symphonies, so I won't debunk all the assumptions in the above statements, but you get the idea. Funding has crippled creativity and dumbed down classical music, or so the story goes. It seems that the lack of an aristocracy or other system to support the gifted organists strongly favors pop or other styles of music because of this 'defect'. But is this really a defect?

On a whim the other day I purchased Todd Wilson's CD of the complete works of Duruflé. According to Henderson's Dictionary of Composers for Organ (an amazingly comprehensive Who's Who of the organ composer world by the way), Duruflé was born in France January 11, 1902. He died in Paris in 1986, but stopped performing after his car accident in 1975. Therefore arguably, Duruflé is a modern composer for the organ. Yet listening through the 69 minutes and 13 seconds of his complete works this evening, I was immediately struck by a recurring emotional theme which could have come from any previous time in history: Mystery and awesome power. The kind of mystery in a horror film. The kind of mystery in the dramatic organ chords of Phantom of the Opera. The kind of mystery in a spooky movie. The dramatic thundering pedal notes of some kind of terrible disaster flick. Or to inspire awe and respect for an aristocratic or religious institution.

I reflected back on the organ concerts I have attended over my life, and with a few notable exceptions, I quickly noticed that this was not really an aberration. The organ seems tailor made to awe and intimidate it seems. To inspire respect and admiration for the ruling class, or the ruling religion, and possibly as a stand in substitute for holiness. Organ historians have documented a period of ever increasing air pressures used even in secular organs. Perhaps this trend is not hurt much by the organist's ego. Perhaps this is even one reason I was attracted to it. What better way to really strut your stuff than to really scare the dickens out of the birds in the rafters? That'll show them who's boss. It's hard to argue when you play the 'king of instruments'. Maybe the audience will be scared enough to be impressed or at least get a shiver up their spine. More or less a cathedral version of the ghetto car boombox which vibrates houses for two blocks around. But is this music?

Which got me thinking again. Unless we are planning on moving back into the feudal system, or a religious theocracy, perhaps the middle class which is now driving popular culture is not all that far off track. They aren't impressed with being impressed, and maybe, just maybe, they can't relate to music designed to inspire reverence and awe for a monarch or even a earthly appointed religious representative of the deity. Maybe the average Jane or Joe considers it just a bit off-putting, to say the least.

Maybe I'm off base here, but I would venture a guess that the music that really touches you does so because it reaches out and accepts you, it strikes a familiar and welcoming jacket around you and makes you feel at home. It says "I've felt that way too, why don't you hum along with me as we think back to that time when...". It doesn't slap you in the face or creep you out.

Maybe, the general public that doesn't currently have a CD of Durufle' running in their auto's CD player day in and day out is no more attracted to organ music than you are to listening to mechanical music box recordings, and for similar reasons. Maybe what we need is a combination of a completely reworked repertoire including completely new compositions and a neo-Leonard Bernstein's Young Person's Guide to the Organ for PBS.

In Dir Ist Freude

Surprising as it may seem, I was able to resurrect that seemingly beyond hope capture action integrated circuit which was so badly damaged by leaky NiCad batteries. Two days in 50% vinegar/distilled water, a good scrub with an old Sonicare toothbrush, a few minutes in Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, and then 5 days of drying under a 100W flood lamp seemed to do the trick. That along with soldering a $16 cordless phone battery lead to the card to replace the old leaky ones. Oh, and removing and replacing an EPROM chip with somewhat dubious electrical contact with the mother ship. Now stop presets work again! Yea! I still have more 'fix-up' projects to do on the organ, but it's quite a rush to make one more step towards original condition.

So it is only appropriate that the first piece I am trying to learn after decades on hiatus from playing, is BWV615, In Dir Ist Freude. Bach's music is pure genius, and this is one of my favorites to listen to when played well. It always makes me happy. I only hope I can learn this short piece well enough to maybe post a sample of what the ADC-4900 organ sounds like. I'll let you know if I do.