The second photo shows how much space was needed for just these two cabinets.
The Free State Theatre Organ Society featured a change in our organ with the September Concert. Organist Dick Smith show the membership the first steps of our move to the new Pipe Organ to be located in Rice Auditorium at Spring Grove Hospital Center. Our plans had been to use the Devtronix electronic organ as a filler for our programs while we installed the pipe organ. As indicated by Bernie in the September, 2011, news letter, many organist said that the one thing we needed was to have a working combination action on the large console. That was not possible but we saw the chance to move in the WurliTzer console and give the artist and you a better experience than what we had before. This came about from our discussions as to what we would do with the old console when the project was finished.
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The old
console required a lot of electronics behind it
and this took up a lot of room on the stage. It
made it difficult to set the organ up and
presented problems when other people wanted to
use the stage. Before the construction of the
new stage chambers and platform the Devtronix
organ took up 4 times the space of the console.
Two large electronics cabinets and two platforms
for the eight speakers used up most of the
stage. Once the speakers could be moved off of
the main stage the electronics could be draped
in black cloth and be hidden from view. The second photo shows how much space was needed for just these two cabinets. |
So with most of the work completed on the Wurlitzer console we decided it was ready to replace the old Devtronix organ console. Now the question about the sound come up. We had selected a computer based control system for our new organ. There were new technologies on the market today that would make building an organ for yourself cheap and more realistic than anything in the past. This is know as the Virtual Pipe Organ, or in our case the Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ. We were moving in the direction of using this with the old console and saw the chance to apply it for the new organ to keep us going and make the installation easer by taking less space.
These two photos show the console as it was when we started and as it looks today.
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The sound you hear today
comes from a computer. Pictured here are two
computers. The one on the left controls the
organ functions and will control the pipes as
they are installed. This computer can record a
program. Not like an audio program but as
another console. So when it plays back it is as
if the organist is there pressing the keys.
The computer on the right is making the sound we hear. This is the virtual part of the organ. A person goes to an organ and makes a recording of every pipe. These recordings are then put in the computer. The computer then plays that recording like a CD. So when someone selects a rank of pipes and plays a three note chord it is like playing 3 CD's at the same time. So when you play 10 notes it becomes 10 CD's. And as you add more ranks (pipes) it becomes thousands of CD's all playing at the same time. |
| So now
the console and sound generation equipment take
up this much space leaving only the need to have
the console out on the stage and the remainder
of the organ tucked away out of sight. When finished we will be using 14 to 16 speaker cabinets and 12 to 14 audio amplifiers although you have to admit that at present, the sound is very impressive. |
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To see a clear layout of the Console - Click Here.
Free State Theatre Organ
Society current organ design.
The present organ is based on the intended real pipe organ using the Paramount
332 sample sets. The ranks listed at the console are as follows. Other ranks in
the Paramount sample may be added or substituted at the organist request. In
addition, pitch and manual specifications may be altered via the Uniflex relay
system as well as the stops effected by the pistons.
RANKS USED ON THE FSTOS CONSOLE
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16 English Horn 73 (S) |
16 Strings (8 Ranks) 85 (M) |
Xylophone 49 (S) |
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RANKS IN THE PARAMOUNT SAMPLE SET |
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16 English Horn 73 (S) |
8 Saxophone 61 (S) |
8 Vox Humana M 61 (M) |
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STOP LIST FOR THE FSTOS CONSOLE |
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SOLO |
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16 English Horn
16 Trumpet (Ten C)
16 Ophicleide
16 Diaphone
16 Tibia Clausa S
8 English Horn
8 Trumpet
8 Tuba Horn
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Open Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa S |
8 Tibia Clausa M
8 Clarinet
8 Kinura
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Strings (8 Rks)
8 Gamba
8 Viol d’Orchestre (2 Rks)
8 Oboe Horn
8 Saxaphone
8 Concert Flute
8 Vox Humana S |
8 Vox Humana M
4 Octave
4 Piccolo S
4 Piccolo M
4 Strings (8 Rks)
4 Cello
4 Viol (2 Rks)
2
2/3
Twelfth (Tibia S)
2 Piccolo (Tibia S)
1
3/5
Tierce (Tibia S)
1 Fife (Tibia S) |
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8 Piano
Harp Sub
Cathedral Chimes |
Xylophone
Glockenspiel
Chrysoglott |
Vibraphone
Sleigh Bells |
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GREAT |
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16 English Horn
16 Ophicleide
16 Trumpet (Ten C)
16 Diaphone
16 Tibia Clausa S
16 Tibia Clausa M
16 Clarinet
16 Orchestral Oboe (Ten C)
16 Gamba
16 Bourdon
16 Vox Humana S (Ten C)
16 Vox Humana M (Ten C)
8 English Horn
8 Trumpet
8 Tuba Horn
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa S
8 Tibia Clausa M
8 Clarinet |
8 Kinura
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Strings (8 Rks)
8 Gamba
8 Viol d’Orchestre (2 Rks)
8 Oboe Horn
8 Saxophone
8 Concert Flute
8 Vox Humana S
8 Vox Humana M
5
1/3
Fifth (Tibia S)
4 Octave
4 Piccolo S
4 Piccolo M
4 Strings (8 Rks)
4 Gambette
4 Viol (2 Rks)
4 Flute
4 Vox Humana S |
4 Vox Humana M
2
2/3
Twelfth (Tibia S)
2 Piccolo (Tibia S)
2 Fifteenth
1
3/5
Tierce (Tibia S)
1 Fife (Tibia S)
16 Piano
8 Piano
4 Piano
Harp
Xylophone
Glockenspiel
Chrysoglott
Vibraphone
Sub Octave
Unison Off
Octave
Solo to Great PIZZ |
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ACCOMP |
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16 Gamba
16 Bourdon
16 Vox Humana S (Ten C)
16 Vox Humana M (Ten C)
8 English Horn
8 Trumpet
8 Tuba Horn
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa S
8 Tibia Clausa M
8 Clarinet
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Saxophone
8 Strings (8 Rks)
8 Gamba
8 Viol d’Orchestre (2 Rks) |
8 Oboe Horn
8 Concert Flute
8 Vox Humana S
8 Vox Humana M
4 Octave Open
4 Piccolo S
4 Piccolo M
4 Strings (8 Rks)
4 Gambette (2 Rks)
4 Viol (2 Rks)
4 Flute
4 Vox Humana S
4 Vox Humana M
2 2/3 Twelfth (Flute)
2 Piccolo (Flute)
8 Piano |
4 Piano
Harp
Chrysoglott
Vibraphone
Snare Drum
Tambourine
Castanets
Tom Tom
Chinese Block
Tap Cymbal
Ride Cymba
Sub Octave
Unison Off
Octave
Solo to Accomp |
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PEDAL |
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32 Contra Diaphone
32 Contra Tibia Clausa
32 Contra Violone
16 English Horn
16 Ophicleide
16 Diaphone
16 Tibia Clausa
16 Gamba
16 Bourdon
8 English Horn |
8 Trumpet
8 Tuba Horn
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa S
8 Clarinet
8 Strings (8 Rks)
8 Gamba
8 Flute
4 Tuba
4 Octave
16 Piano |
8 Piano
Bass Drum
Kettle Drum
Snare Drum
Crash Cymbal
Ride Cymbal
Accomp to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Solo to Pedal |
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EFFECTS |
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Grand Crash
Cymbal Roll I |
Chinese Gong
Triangle
Train Whistle |
Fire Bell
Ahooga Horn
Siren |
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TREMULANTS |
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Main
Solo
Tuba |
Tibia Clausas
Voxs
Strings |
Vibraphone |
| RE-ITERATION | ||
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Harp |
Xylophone |
Glockenspiel |
Hear the sound of our Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ - Click Here