Console Up! was the cue the projectionist gave the organist when it was time for the organ to rise from the pit into the spotlight.  With Miditzer open on your screen it is time for Console Up!

Now you should be ready to play.  An organ keyboard won't make any sound until a stop is selected.  On  a Wurlitzer theatre organ with 2 keyboards and pedals, a 2 manual instrument, the uppermost keyboard is called the Solo and the lower keyboard is the Accompaniment.  The large keyboard that is played with the feet is the Pedal.  The stops are grouped and labeled to indicate the keyboard that they control.  Click on a stop with your mouse to turn it on.  For example, this shows the Solo Viol d'Orchestre stop turned on.

Press one of the keys on the upper keyboard.  I'd suggest doing this with the mouse on the screen to confirm that your output device is working correctly  before you try using a MIDI keyboard if you have one.  If all is well you will hear a vaguely violin like sound.

If you don't have a MIDI keyboard, you can play notes using the bottom two rows of keys on the computer keyboard, Z through / are the white keys.  1 through 5 on the numeric key pad control the range of the computer keys with 3 making Z equal to middle C, the default setting.  Do be aware that you can create a cipher (stuck note) if you are playing with the computer keyboard and you change stops close to the same time as changing notes.  If that happens just close the Miditzer and restart it.

Feel free to poke around and see what you can discover about the Miditzer.  The Miditzer works very much like a real Wurlitzer theatre organ.  So most of what you know about real organs is useful here and things you learn here will be helpful if you have the chance to sit down at a real organ.

If you have experience with electronic organs or classical organs, a lot of the Miditzer console will be familiar to you.  But there will probably be some things that are unfamiliar or which work a little bit differently than you are used to.

If you have played a real theatre organ then you probably can find your way around the Miditzer console without much help.  Almost everything should work as you would expect.  Just breeze through these pages to pick up those few things, like setting combinations, that had to be adapted to squeeze the Mighty Wurlitzer into a computer.  And just to save you a little time, no the second touch doesn't do anything...yet.

If this is your first opportunity to see an organ console up close and personal, just  work through these pages at a pace that is comfortable for you.  It won't take long to learn what all the controls do but you can spend a lifetime exploring the musical possibilities that are provided.

Almost all organs have more than one keyboard.  One of the keyboards is usually a large keyboard to be played with the feet; this is called the pedal.  The remaining keyboards, the ones that look like piano keyboards, are called manuals.  Full sized organ manuals have 61 notes compared to 88 notes on a piano.  Organ manual keys start at C two octaves below middle C and go to C three octaves above middle C. 

Some small organs may have less than 61 keys on the manuals.  Usually the lower manual is offset to the left of the upper manual.  However, the keys that are directly in line with each other will play the same pitch.  If you have short keyboards and you are unsure of where middle C is, you can hold a key and see what key is pressed on the Miditzer screen to get oriented.

The pedal is a giant keyboard in exactly the same arrangement as the keys on the manuals.  A full sized organ will have 32 notes of pedal keys.  Many electronic consoles will have less, 13 and 25 pedals being common.  it may seem surprising but the pedals start two octaves below middle C exactly the same as the manuals. 

Organ keys are unlike piano keys because they are simple on/off switches.  An organ pipe sounds the same whether you hit the organ key hard or gently.  You cannot affect the volume of the sound of an organ from the keyboard.  You learn how volume is controlled in the Swell.

Organ notes cannot be sustained.  You have to hold a key for as long as you want the note to sound.  Organists develop what is called a legato touch where each key is held for the full duration of a note and is released just as the next note sounds.  You should learn to play so that there is no audible space between successive notes and yet no overlap of the notes either.