Converting a Conn 650 into a Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ

My friend Jim purchased this particular Conn 650 in the mid 1990s; after a few months of restoration work, we had it playing again.

The stop rail was changed to provide a more suitable range of stops; a year or so later midi encoders were added to the solo and accompaniment keyboards.

The stop tabs in the Accomp lacked a few important voices; namely the Flute, Oboe Horn, Clarinet, Quintadena and the Vox Humana.

These stops replaced less useful voices.

Mid 2005, Jim posed the possibility of having his own virtual theatre pipe organ. We spent a few months in the planning stage and because there is only so much room on a Conn 650 console, we utilised every stop tab, rocker tab and piston to achieve a good result.

It took about 3 months of spare time to install everything and get it playable.

The instrument now represents a 3 manual 17 rank Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ.

All samples were wave files converted into Gig files and run in GigaStudio v3.2

This is the final spec and according to Jim, the organ sounds fabulous.

Not so final; 10/11/2009, we adjusted the strings trems to a shimmer; and now the Vox String chorus is just heavenly.

The 16' Strings tab on the Great now has 4 strings as in most theatre organs; The 8' Strings tab on the Solo has the same; just gorgeous.

We removed a couple of Celeste ranks made that organ sound muddy.

Here we are in November 2010 and we are about to convert the organ relay system to Artisan's Micro MIDI.

Hauptwerk free version will be set up as a trial and the organ used will be the Paramount 310 free version.

Jim admitted than he mainly used Tibias Strings and Voxes in most of his registrations and a smaller instrument would not hinder his playing one iota.

December 11th 2010 and the new organ is installed and Jim is over the moon!

Below is the new stop list. (The Post Horn was included for Larrikins like me!)

Now it is January 2011 and wait a minute!

What has happened; Jim has purchased a full Hauptwerk license v3 and Neil Jensen's 3/19. I just finished installing it! What is next a new console? I don't think so.

May 27th 2011 and I have just installed Hauptwerk 4 and Neil Jensen's 3/35; what a sound, incredible.

December 2011 The Paramount 332 now installed; Jim loves the sound.

Brass Saxophone (WurliTzer)
Clarinet (WurliTzer)
Concert Flute (WurliTzer)
Concert Flute Celeste (WurliTzer)
Flauto Dolce
Flauto Dolce Celeste
Lieblich Flute (Morton)
English Horn (Trivo)
Horn Diapason (Palmer)
Horn Diapason Celeste (Palmer)
Diaphonic Diapason (Palmer)
Kinura (WurliTzer)
Krumet (WurliTzer)
Oboe Horn (WurliTzer)
Open Diapason (Christie)
Orchestral Oboe (WurliTzer)
Quintadena (WurliTzer)
Quintadena Celeste (WurliTzer)
Salicional (Christie)
Salicional Celeste (Christie)
Solo String (WurliTzer)
Solo String Celeste (WurliTzer)
Viol d' Orchestre (WurliTzer)
Viol Celeste (WurliTzer)
Tibia Clausa (WurliTzer) (S)
Tibia Clausa (WurliTzer) (M)
Tibia Minor (WurliTzer)
Pedal Tibia Pizzicato (WurliTzer)
Trumpet D (WurliTzer)
Brass Trumpet (WurliTzer)
Musette (WurliTzer
Tuba Mirabilis (WurliTzer)
Tuba Horn (WurliTzer)
Vox Humana (WurliTzer) (M)
Vox Humana (WurliTzer) (S)

Chrysoglott
Vibraphone
Glockenspiel
Orchestral Harp
Harp
Xylophone
Grand Piano
Upright Piano
Chimes
Traps
Effects

Stop List

Pedal	Accomp	Great	Solo
16 Diaphone 16 Tibia Clausa 16 Bourdon 16 Violone II 8 Tibia Clausa 8 Concert Flute 16/8 Piano Accomp to Pedal Great to Pedal Solo to Pedal	8 Horn Diapason II 8 Tibia Minor/Lieblich Flute 8 Oboe Horn 8 Clarinet 8 Salicional II 8 Quintadena II 8 Concert Flute II 8 Vox Humana (M) 4 Tibia Minor/Lieblich Flute 2 Piccolo (Flute) Sub Harp Chrysoglott Piano Accomp Octave Solo to Accomp Lieb flute off/Tibia Minor On	16 Tuba Horn 16 Open Diapason 16 Tibia Clausa (S) 16 Strings VI 16 Bourdon 16 Vox Humana (S) 8 Trumpet D 8 Tuba Horn 8 Open Diapason 8 Tibia Clausa (S) 8 Orch Oboe 8 Clarinet 8 Oboe Horn 8 Strings IV 8 Saxophone 8 Quintadena II 8 Concert Flute II 8 Vox Humana (S) 4 Tibia Piccolo (S) 2 2/3 Tibia Twelfth (M) 2 Tibia Piccolo (S) 1 Fife (Flute) Glockenspiel Xylophone Piano Sub Octave Unison Off Octave Solo to Great Melody Coupler	8 Post Horn 8 Brass Trumpet 8 Tuba Mirabilis 8 Diaphonic Diapason 8 Tibia Clausa (S) 8 Strings VI 8 Clarinet 8 Kinura 8 Saxophone 8 Vox Humana (S) 8 Quintadena II 4 Tibia Clausa (S) 2 Tibia Piccolo (S) Glockenspiel Xylophone Sub Octave Unison Off Octave