The MIDI House Organ - Orchestrion

I always wanted an organ in the house, but the Decap was a little on the large size! Practically speaking, a house organ would be some sort of chamber organ.

I love to play the organ ( manually ) though a little touch of old age setting in and my fingers don't always do what I would like them to do.

Anyhow, browsing on 't'internet last year and I found about Chris Bruce who makes midi operated pipe organs for the home from old church organ pipes. I contacted Chris and arranged for a 4 octave chromatic organ to be made using wooden stopped pipes for a softer sound ( I'm more used to wooden pipes than metal ones anyway).

The Pianola had to go and was snapped up by a friend a few miles away and there was now space for the new pipe organ. Chris made the 'bare bones' of the instrument, I have cleaned and polished the pipes and made a contemporary case for the organ to fit in with my furnishings.

The organ has an integral blower and a midi control system from John Wale ( J-Omega). There is a midi input and with various cross connections, now can be played from my Elka electronic keyboard or through a midi controller connected to a laptop computer. In addition to the pipes and the Elka, I have also connected  a Roland SC55 sound card and amplifier to the ensemble and specially arranged music can play orchestral pieces with the organ and sound card playing different parts.

The effect is quite entertaining and I have arranged many pieces, from Rock to classics which make for a unique home entertainment system!

The pipe organ can also play solo, thereby being useful for trying out new organ arrangements in MIDI format before being committed to card books for Marina and other organs.

For those interested in a similar organ, Chris Bruce can be contacted at www.smallpipeorgans.com or email pipeorgans@virginmedia.com or by phone on 01612887922