January 2nd of 2006 saw the official launch of WTPO Internet Boradcasting! This is a high-speed internet radio station featuring media encoded in 128KB/sec WMA format.

You will need Windows Media Player 10 to listen.

Music featured includes performances by Tom Hoehn, the Bone Doctor, Joe Barron and others.

Currently, we are in the experimental phase without announcements and ads, and the radio broadcast consumes too much bandwidth. What we plan to do is downsample the material to make it stream faster without sacrificing quality too much. We will be going from 128KB/sec to 64KB/sec WMA format. Although the 128KB/sec files have CD quality, the 64KB/sec files will sound as good as today's better analogue stereo FM radio broadcasts.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,861 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

The MidiTzer3MSP is an amazing machine. I installed it on my server this morning and gave it a go with my mouse, like a kid in a candy store. I was immediately impressed, not only with the vast array of voices, but how good they sounded.

What a way to end the first month of 2006! Once again, Jim Henry and Crew Glajzev have wrought a miracle for the virtual theatre organ world that marks a major moment in history. The lovely MidiTzer Style 216 is a wonderful creation, and this new MidiTzer 3MSP takes the virtual WurliTzer to the next level where the big ones live!

I could not resist flipping the 32' and grabbing some fat 16's and rattling things a bit. Wow! Next, I went for the "Heavenly Chorus" and can tell you it was true to the expectations of a good WurliTzer String/Vox, both tremmed and untremmed. Then, I had to check out the little Fife. My Conn 640 or the Style 216 does not have that. Zowee! Mosquitos on the run! I then just wondered around the horseshoe, playing with all the toys and the new stops. The MidiTzer 3MSP is going to extend my education, indeed.

By the way, my server monitor is set to 1024x768 and the MidiTzer 3MSP looked wonderful on it. I could read everything, but the vast array of stop tongues is easy to get lost in. There are so many! It is slightly intimidating, like the first time I sat down to Mister Forker. This Virtual TPO is BIG!

To get your copy of the new MidiTzer 3MSP, log into the MidiTzer Forum and navigate to the 3 Manual MidiTzer section. The link to the download is there. Bear in mind that this is a trial version and must be registered to enable the MIDI controller functions. It is also concidered "beta" software, so many things might be a tad weird. We did not notice any problems when we installed and tried it out, however. Everything worked as expected.

If you are not a MidiTzer Forum member, now is a great time to join. This is going to be a great year for the VTPO. Membership in the Forum gets you the MidiTzerNewsletter via email and connects you to many other MidiTzer users who are ready, able and willing to help you all they can.

To join or log into the Forum, click here. Enjoy!

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,801 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

I just went to listen to the Virginia WurliTzer demo recordings last night at the Milan Digital Audio website and I am here to tell you that they are incredibly impressive. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a computer simulation and not a real TPO. The Tibias have that fragile sound with the air rushing about in the tone and they sob just like the real thing.

The percussions were frighteningly real. And that Tuba is so smooth and thick it will stirr your soul. I could go on and on, like talking about the Strings, oh, those Strings! Lest we not mention that lovely Vox! And the Celestes are perfect. Shucks. All the voices were faithful to the original.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe this is the beginning of something huge for the King. This is a moment in history the likes of which we have not seen until now. Get ready to be amazed.

I looked at the screenshots and was taken aghast at the reality and detail that Bret has put into this lovely little organ. Heck, there is even a key for the blower with a 16' Tibia tongue on the ring!

I really like the alternate screen for those who wish to run it in lue of the traditional horseshoe, a boon for the visually impared. And the chamber controls are just way cool. You just have to see this, folks.

So. What are you waiting for? Prepair to drool. Go check out the Milan Digital Audio Virginia WurliTzer for Hauptwerk 2. You are gonna want that!

I want to thank fellow Walnut Hill VTPO member and WHOC officer Jim Reid for the heads up. His story made the news at Walnut Hill, and rightly so! I applaud Martin Dyde and Bret Milan. (Clapping wildly like George Jetson did when Jane won the beauty contest...)

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,762 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

On Monday, January 30th, 2006 an historic event takes place in the Land of the King. Milan Digital Audio, in conjunction with Crumhorn Labs and the Virginia Theatre, releases a new organ sample set for Hauptwerk 2 taken from the 2/8 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed at the Virginia Theatre.

Fellow Walnut Hill VTPO member and WHOC officer Jim Reid has this to say about the impending release:

Hear and see the Virginia WurliTzer for Hauptwerk 2 now!

Jim Reid

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,701 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,645 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,598 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,511 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,492 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Eugene Hayek has uploaded a new song that he recorded at the console of the Lafayette Theatre's Mighty 2/11 WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ entitled Always.

To listen to this and other great songs from this gifted organist, click here. As always, it is a pleasure when Eugene adds new material here at Walnut Hill.

Eugene has also updated his Theatre Pipe Organ Page to include a link to the Mighty MidiTzer at virtualorgan.com.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,420 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,389 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Today at 3:00PM, Rob Richards performed on the J. Tyson Forker Memorial 4/32 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed at Grace Baptist Church in Sarasota, Florida before and audience of over 500 adoring fans..

Accompanying Rob was legendary piano virtuoso Ralph Wolf on the beautiful Steinway Concert Grand Piano. Ralph has performed with Rob for many years in concert and on several recordings, available on the Rob Richards website.

Ralph was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Several years (and several thousand miles later) he found his way to the entertainment capital of the world, Hollywood, California. It was there that he formed a musical trio called the Bachelors, which performed across the U.S. and Canada, made musical shorts for Universal, and recorded for the MGM label and Standard Transcription Library.

After several years the trio disbanded, and Ralph went on to collaborate with many fabulous performers including Margaret Whiting, Mel Torme, Helen O'Connell, Connie Haines, Terri Moore, the late Marilyn Maxwell, and the sensational HI-LO's. He was the rehearsal pianist for Disney's original Mickey Mouse Club.

For ten years Ralph was Product Specialist, concert artist and supervisor of music education for the Thomas Organ company. He has recorded several albums on piano and electronic organ, as well as a fondly remembered theatre organ album on the Old Town Music Hall Mighty WurliTzer.

Currently, Ralph resides in Sherman Oaks, California, with his frisky poodle named "Tassie."

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,333 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,293 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,250 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,126 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,062 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Central Music at 5175 Ulmerton Road in Clearwater, Florida hosted a performance by Tom Hoehn accompanying the classic silent short movie entitled The Rink starring Charlie Chaplin.

We arrived at Central Music in enough time to set everything up for a live audio recording of the event using the Walnut Hill Mobile Recording Rig.

As Tom warmed up, Kimmy and Doc wondered around the store, talking with employees and looking at items for sale, one being a vintage Conn 650 Theatre Organ. Doc wanted very much to take this magnificent machine home, but alas, his small home has no room for such a grand instrument.

Kimmy sat down and posed for the camera so Doc could get a few shots for posterity. Kimmy has aquired an interest in learning how to play these beasts, so she purchased a music book full of love songs written for organ in big note and chord format.

Finally, it was time for the show to begin as everyone was seated and waiting in anticipation of this wonderful show. Tom took the bench of the Roland Atelier Digital Organ and began to play as the projector rolled.

After the movie, Tom treated the audience to an encore of show tunes and then door prizes were awarded to lucky attendees by the management. We had a great time and many memories were made.

Look for clips from the show to be posted on Tom's Music Downloads page in the days ahead.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 17,002 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Today saw another milestone for the Walnut Hill website when the hit counter rolled past 17,000. To date, there have been a total of over 26,850 folks walk through our front door, making Walnut Hill one of the most popular TPO destinations in cyberspace.

Work continues on Bob Davidson's new computer, which is turning out to be a very fast Windows2000 Server. This machine has two burners and a DVD reader, a Zip drive and two hard drives. It has 1GB of DDRAM and an nVidia GForce MX 4000 AGP video card with 64MB of RAM. To put it mildly, the machine flies. It should be more than enough to run the Mighty MidiTzer as well as all the other tasks that are bound to be put to it.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,915 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Kimmy is now a member of the Choir at the First United Methodist Church of Clearwater, and she is doing quite well according to her vocal instructor, Bradly Swope, Minister of Music at the Church. Today was her first public performance in the Choir.

Kimmy is now Staff Photographer for the Walnut Hill Gazette, a role she is very proud to play in the ongoing growth of the site.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,856 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

After trekking to Carl Walker's house in Sarasota Florida to load up the Conn 646 Theatre Organ that was owned by the legendary J. Tyson Forker, Tom, Kimmy, the Bone Doctor and Bob Davidson brought the organ home to Tom's residence in Clearwater.

The trip was not without incident, however. As we came across the Skyway Bridge, Bob's trusty van began to act strange. As it labored against the heavy wind, the engine suddenly lost oil pressure and began to overheat. We made it to the first off ramp when the motor died, leaving us stranded at the end of the ramp.

Bob phoned for a tow truck and Tom scrambled to find a way to get the organ the rest of the way home. Two local folks rode up on a motorcycle and inquired of our situation, which we replied was under control. A few minutes later, these same two wonderful folks pulled up in their four door pickup and hooked the tralier to it, towing it the rest of the way to Tom's house.

They even helped us move the organ inside and stayed while we set it up. Tom treated them to a mini concert on his original Conn 644 Martinique, the first time either of them had ever heard a Theatre Organ. Now the world has two new organ nuts, and Father God smiled on us all.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,800 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Today, CoyoteNET Digital System Solutions took on another monumental computer project. The Vice President of the ATOS, Bob Davidson, built a custom machine for his office, and all was well until something mysterious happened to rob it of its ability to find its primary drive. This rendered the rig unbootable.

Tom Heohn brought the troubled machine to Walnut Hill for repairs. We found a computer that has the makings to be great, with its AMD 2600 Sempron CPU and 1GB of DDRAM. There are two 80GB Maxtor drives and two burners plus a DVD reader, along with onboard sound and a PCI LAN card. We plan to upgrade the video and remanufacture the machine, replacing the WindowsME operating system with Windows2000 Server.

Stay tuned as another success story unfolds at CoyoteNET...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,740 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Tom Hoehn Gets Another Conn!

Tom Hoehn at the console of the Conn 646 Theatre Organ.

Tom Hoehn and the Bone Doctor went to Sarasota today to look at a Conn 646 Theatre Organ that used to be owned by J. Tyson Forker. The owners of this instrument have given it to Tom, and Saturday, we shall go to pick it up and haul it back to Tom's house, where he will install it beside his existing vintage 1979 Conn 644 Martinique Theatre Organ.

This organ was one of the last of its kind to be manufactured, and the assembly date is somewhere around 1983. Included with the organ is a set of pipes and a special 722 Leslie speaker cabinet.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,702 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Kimmy and the Bone Doctor
Visit Clearwater Beach

Sunset on Clearwater Beach - picture courtesy of Kimmy Tiny One

Today, Kimmy and the Bone Doctor went for a long walk to visit Clearwater Beach to try and catch the sunset, which they did, indeed. Clearwater is known for its miles and miles of powder white sand beaches where many street musicians and sovenier venders gather along the shore for the millions of tourists who visit each year.

If ever their was a favorite vacation destination, Clearwater is it! Here, you will find lots of things to do, great restaurants and some very friendly people. If you have yet to visit this fine community, now is the time to book an outing to our wonderful City by the Bay.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,645 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

The new look for the website is now standardized enough to where we can begin the retailing of border space to interested parties.

Prices are as follows:

• 147x150 on left border: $30 per month per page, $10 setup fee, $10 widget fee if we make the widget.
• 147x150 on left border: $300 per year per page, free setup and free widget.
• 147x150 on right border: $15 per month per page, $10 setup, $10 widget fee if we make the widget.
• 147x150 on right border: $150 per year per page, free setup and free widget.
• 400x300 on any page: $60 per month per page, $20 setup fee. You must privide a linkable picture.
• 400x300 on any page: $1,000 per year per page, free setup. You must provide a linkable picture.
• 600x800 full page ad: $120 per month per page, $100 setup fee. You must provide linkable content.
• 600x800 full page ad: $10,000 per year per page, free setup. You must provide linkable content.

As you can see, widgets are cheap, but as you occupy more space with an advertisement, things get more expensive. Most ads can be widgets and will yeald good sales. However, a widget can only show so much detail, and that is when you need a linkable 400x300 picture. If you really need screen real estate, only a 600x800 full page ad will do, and we can do the coding for you for a small fee.

As stated earlier in the month, we will not charge for ads that link to local ATOS chapters or non-profit organizations which cater to the Theatre Pipe Organ community. A link to an artist's webpage as a widget will also be free to the artist if they provide their own 147x150 linkable widget (see widget prices above.)

Bear in mind that these prices are our retail figures. We will be running sales from time to time as well as offering discounts for multipage advertisements, be they widget, picture or full page.

If you would like to get your ad placed on the site, call us at the Walnut Hill Office of Operations (see number above at the beginning of the Gazette,) and we will be glad to arrange to have it placed.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,591 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

The new computer constructed for Dan Rowland by CoyoteNET Digital System Solutions is now online and running the Mighty MidiTzer using two SoundBlaster Live! Dolby Digital SB0220 audio cards as well as the onboard SoundMax audio engine.

At first, there were a few glitches, but after some adjustments were made in the MidiTzer Settings dialog, the machine smoothed out and allowed Dan to run either the FluidSynth environment or the standard SoundFont setup we have all grown to love.

Now that everything is running perfectly, we plan to revisit Dan and make some recordings on this shining example of a very powerful Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ machine. Stay tuned...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,485 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Today, Kimmy and the Bone Doctor became members of the First United Methodist Church of Clearwater, Florida.

One can never have too many friends, and the congregation of the Church welcomed the couple with open arms. In the days ahead, Kimmy and Doc plan to become very active in the ministry of the Church.

The green borders along each side of the pages on Walnut Hill are more than just ornamental additions. Today, we began to add widgets to these borders. Each one is 147 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall. Concidering the amount of border space at the site, several such devices can be placed, numbering in the many hundreds.

If you would like a widget placed on the border of a certain page, here is all you have to do:

• Make the widget using a 147 by 150 pixel template and save it as a JPG file.
• Mail the widget to the Bone Doctor at Yahoo.com
• Along with the widget, send a link to where you want the widget to redirect to.
• Tell us which page you want the widget to be placed on and which side of the page you want.

If the space is available, your widget will appear within 24 hours of submission. If the space is not available, we will reply with choices for you before placing the widget.

ATOS Chapters and nonprofit organizations dealing with Theatre Pipe Organs do not pay for space in the border area provided they have their own widgets. We can make a custom widget for a small fee. To learn more, call the Walnut Hill Office of Operations at 1-727-230-2610 between 10AM and 6PM Monday through Friday EDT.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,395 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Rodger Dunk, fellow webmaster from Australia and member of the Walnut Hill Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ group on Yahoo! Music Groups, brought to our attention that the site was not drawing properly at resolutions other than 1024 x 768 (the screen size we use at the office) and so we began a day-long process of setting master tables on each of the 151 pages of the site.

This is a good thing, because now the borders are in place for the widgetry that is to come in the days ahead. These widgets will include buttons to some of your favorite places at the site, advertisements from organ retailers and manufacturers, progress tickers for site attendance, group memberships and activity, and many more. Stay tuned as we forge ahead...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,302 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

No, it isn't Version 5, but today, we began to give Walnut Hill a facelift. There are green borders to the left and right of the pages. All the pages have them except for the Index and the WTPO pages.

Now, you might be asking, why are those green borders there? The answer is for future "wharf objects" and advertisement space. In the days ahead, we will be adding little items on these green borders that do all sorts of things like play music, run slide shows, and take you places.

Stay tuned as we transform the site...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,263 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Hauptwerk Version 2 Was Released
And Crumhorn Labs Was Officially Launched Today!

Hauptwerk Version 2 was released today after much anticipation from the virtual organ community. We quote Martin Dyde, Hauptwerk's creator, below:

After a good few thousands of hours of work, much patience from all sides, terrifying amounts of money, and not a little love and dedication from everybody involved, I am truly delighted to announce that Hauptwerk Version 2 is available for sale. From Version 2 onwards, Hauptwerk will be produced and sold by Crumhorn Labs, a new U.K. company of which I am a director, and will be available through this website.

Martin Dyde

Work on Dan Rowland's new Mighty MidiTzer computer is nearing completion. All the software has been installed and tested. The final task of backing up the machine will commence today. We hope to deliver the computer to Dan sometime over the weekend.

This system is a fine example of what a virtual organ computer should be, and it is more than capable of performing its design goals. When the installation is complete, we will have many pictures and more news of the event, so stay tuned...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,200 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

Dan Rowland, Mighty MidiTzer Player, returned to Florida with a machine that was built for him during his recent visit to his summer home in Ohio. This new computer will replace the one he is currently using for the Mighty MidiTzer, an aging but still capable Intel 266MHz PIII.

The machine, running Microsoft Windows98SE partially set up, had no real workable OS configured with a complete driver model. Knowing that Microsoft Windows98SE would not support more than one soundcard without lots of speacial tweaks, Dan brought the computer to Walnut Hill to see what the folks at CoyoteNET Digital System Solutions could do for it.

The CoyoteNET techs promptly went to work on the machine, finding a nice platform with two Intel P4 3GHz CPU's installed along with 1GB of DDRAM on an ASUS P4S800 motherboard with onboard SoundMax 5.1 Audio and gigabit LAN. The video engine was a 4X AGP GForce2 MX400 64MB solution from nVidia. There was a Seagate 120GB Baracuda IDE-ATA133 hard drive and a 40X TDK CDRW Writer. Two Creative Live! 5.1 Dolby Digital soundcards awaited installation.

This machine had the makings for a great server, so Microsoft Windows2000 Server SP4 was loaded, along with all the tools Dan would need to run a digital recording studio, including the two Live! soundcards and a fresh copy of MidiTzer 0.50 with FluidSynth. Thanks to the robustness and strong multimedia capabilities of Windows2000 Server, the machine ran perfectly, with three sound engines available for up to six tracks at once during recording and fifteen tracks at once during playback!

The final steps are to back up the system using Norton Ghost and then install it in Dan's winter home in Saint Petersburg, Florida. There, the Bone Doctor and Tom Hoehn will configure and voice the MidiTzer for some recording sessions on this monster machine. Stay tuned...

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,150 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

We have been tweaking the Walnut Hill website of late, finding and fixing a number of small errors. We have also changed the look of the entry page to include four quick links to other places of interest.

As you can see, we are now incorporating a system of tables on the pages. This will allow for many possibilities, including quick link side wharfs and advertising space.

Rather than impose fees to those who use the site in order to keep it going (we have always thought that Walnut Hill should be a free service), we will be selling advertising space to interested parties.

Now, before you get your dander up, let me explain. I can hear you now - Walnut Hill is selling out. The truth is, no, we are not. What we prepose is running advertisements for organ related merchandise. There will not be the trash that litters most websites. If you see an ad, it will be for something to do with organs or the computers that run them.

Currently, we do not have any pricing scheme set up. However, when the ad plan goes into effect, advertising space will be sold on a size/per page per day/week/month/year basis, just like all the major publications do it..

If you are interested in running an ad, call the Walnut Hill Office of Operations at 1-727-230-2610 for further details.

There are a few companies that will never pay for advertising space at Walnut Hill. Joe Barron and Jim Henry will never pay because they have given so freely to make Walnut Hill possible.

Companies that will pay are the ones that are big enough to afford it. Even then, we hope to keep our prices low enough to be competative with the mainstream adverisers out there. Walnut Hill will represent good value, because ours is a targeted audience with a strong retail channel.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,106 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

See our Top Story for more about this monumental event. Although the station is just starting out, we currently feature enough music to keep you busy for quite a while as you travel down memory lane with us to listen to the King of Instruments, the Mighty Theatre Pipe Organ.

As the station grows, we will be featuring interviews and documentories about various installations and those who play and maintain them. There will also be advertisements full of information about the may fine machines available for purchase from the world's top manufacturers. Eventually, we plan to add concert schedules and other items of interest to the TPO enthusiast, so stay tuned.

Greetings from the Bone Doctor.

I want to thank the 16,045 visitors to our site this year. God bless all who come here.

The year of 2005 saw phenominal growth for Walnut Hill. It was our best year on record with 15,987 visitors. We added several new pages to the site for a total of 151, with new pages planned for the coming year.

The release of Tom Hoehn's long awaited CD entitled Sounds of Grace was met with much success, including the launch of a new website for his publishing company known as Laughing Eyes Music.