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 and its Celeste, 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 19 rank Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ.
This is the final spec and according to Jim, the organ sounds fabulous.
- Brass Saxophone
- Brass Trumpet
- Clarinet
- Concert Flute Celeste
- Concert Flute
- Diapason
- English Horn
- Kinura
- Oboe Horn
- Orch Oboe
- Quintadena
- Salicional
- Salicional Celeste
- Tibia Clausa
- Tuba Horn
- Unda Maris
- Viole Celeste
- Viole d'Orch
- Vox Humana
- Chrysoglott
- Glockenspiel
- Wood Harp
- Xylophone
Stop List
| Pedal | Accomp | Great | Solo |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Diaphone 16' Tibia 16' Bourdon 16' Violone II 16' Tibia Pizzicato 8' Bass Flute 8' Accomp to Pedal 8' Great to Pedal 8' (Piston) Solo to Pedal 8' (Piston) |
Diapason II 8' Tibia Clausa 8' Oboe Horn 8' Clarinet 8' Soft String II 8' (Salicionals) Quintadena 8' (Rocker Tab) Concert Flute II Vox Humana 8' Tibia Clausa 4' Piccolo 2' Wood Harp (Rocker Tab) Chrysoglott (Rocker Tah) Accomp Octave 4' Solo to Accomp (Piston) Great to Accomp (Piston) Bass Coupler (Piston) |
Tuba Horn 16' Diapason II 16' Tibia Clausa 16' Contra Viole II 16' Vox Humana 16' Bourdon 16' (Rocker Tab) Brass Trumpet 8' Tuba Horn 8' Diapason II 8' Tibia Clausa 8' Orchestral Oboe 8' Oboe Horn 8' Clarinet 8' Brass Saxophone 8' Viole d'Orch II 8' Quintadena 8' (Rocker Tab) Concert Flute II (Rocker Tab) Vox Humana 8' Tibia Clausa 4' Nazard 2 2/3 Piccolo 2' Fife 1' Glockenspiel (Rocker Tab) Xylophone (Rocker Tab) Great Sub Octave 16'(Rocker Tab) Great Unison Off 8' Great Octave 4' (Rocker Tab) Solo to Great (Piston) Melody Coupler (Piston) |
English Horn 8' Brass Trumpet 8' Tuba Horn 8' Clarinet 8' Diapason II 8' Tibia Clausa 8' Clarinet 8' Kinura 8' Vox Humana 8' Quint 5 1/3 Tibia Clausa 4' Tibia Clausa 2' Solo Sub Octave 16' (Rocker Tab) Solo Unison Off 8' (Rocker Tab) Solo Octave 4' (Rocker Tab) |
| Tremulants | General |
|---|---|
|
Main Tuba Solo Tibia |
Celestes Off (Rocker Tab) Map (Switch) Set (Piston) Set Enable (Button) Transpose - + (Pistons) 11 Blind CA Pistons |
The Audio section has 10 channels driving 37 loudspeakers. 400 watts RMS of audio power.
The samples are stored on a high speed personal computer using two high speed hard disks configured in a SATA RAID 0 array.
The sound engine is GigaOrchestra version 3.2.
The Audio System is an M-Audio Firewire 410.
The digital relay was supplied by Artisan Instruments Inc.
Jim enjoying playing his new organ.
