Added: 5 years ago
From: midmer455
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  • Man that would be amazing for a stadium organist!

  • Miss America!

  • I wish they took as good care of this organ as they do the Wanamaker Organ in Philly.

  • Although I couldn't agree more that this organ needs to be restored, it will certainly be quite a job! Being located next to the ocean, it recieves a lot of water damage. Also, the sheer size makes it hard to maintain. I'd say that even in its original condition it was a very cantankerous instrument. It is incredibly beautiful, however.

  • @TheOscillatingFan I understand this organ needs a lot of work and a lot of investment to make it fully functional again. However, this organ is and should be a National Treasure and Landmark and every effort needs to be taken by ACCHOS, government agencies, rich benefactors and philanthropists to restore, preserve, and maintain the Midmer-Losh Atlantic City Boardwalk pipe organ for generations to come.

  • Vegunite....there is a version of it on this organ. To those who commented on the status of the organ.......the Organ/Convention Hall recieved 1.7 million USDollars to fund the restoration; currently all but 6 ranks in the Right Stage Chamber are playable.

    It is rumored that restoration of the Left Stage Chamber will start when a new Solid State Relay is installed. The Right Foward chamber is also being looked at.

    It is now possible to restore the organ; but there is work to be done.

  • would love to hear Toccata on this monster organ!

  • @vegunited06 Yeah, me too...but we all should wait until this organ is fully restored and fully functional before hearing 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor' so you can hear this composition in its full splendor!

  • @vegunited06 - which of a billion and one Toccatas?!

  • @EccentricRichard ohright! I just had to look up wikipedia, didn't know Toccata meant , well, to dumb it down fast keyboard music. sorry for my ignorance. Ok, the peice Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. Fairplay to Bach though, that's as cheesy as calling a rock song "rock in C major" I guess he can get away with it though.

  • What piece is being played here? Thanks

  • There She Is, Miss America

  • I had heard a rumor that he wanted to bulldoze the place. He pulled the Miss America Pageant from the building and put in Vegas. I hope the rumor wasn't true. It would be a true loss.

  • Simple musics played with great organs are very amazing!

  • It's a deep shame that this great instrument is allowed to deteriorate to the point that parts of it would be sold for scrap. We need to utilize the investment and resources of the local, State, and Federal governments as well as rich benefactors to declare the Midmer Losh pipe organ a national landmark and treasure and fully restore and preserve this magnificent instrument. Let's hope the Midmer Losh Atlantic City pipe organ will become fully functional again very soon.

  • @ glenn3rd2004

    None of this organ has been scrapped. It's all present and accounted for, it just needs a lot of work after being neglected for more than 70 years.

  • @ccoraxfan Thank goodness all parts of this great pipe organ are accounted for. ACCHOS, government agencies, rich benefactors, and philanthropists need to put in every effort and investment they can to put in the work necessary to fully restore, preserve, and maintain the Midmer-Losh Boardwalk pipe organ for generations to come. It should be treated like the national landmark and treasure it deserves to be.

  • What is Trump's feeling about this? Is he contributing to the restoration or would he rather bulldoze the place and build high priced condos?

  • There she is........ Miss America

  • sounds good to me so far, why did people not look after it for so long!

  • That's a very sad sight to see an instrument of such grandeur being totally neglected and nearly lost all because of people's carelessness! I hope the restoration is successful so I can come play the emperor of all instruments one day.

  • well you could say that for any organ! Its so big, because of the space involved, and the job it had to do, and the budget they had was large enough.

    Plus at that time, everything was being built bigger and bigger! It makes perfect sense

  • Let it die? Are you insane or just a troll?

  • I suppose you feel the same way about the Coliseum? Or the Taj Mahal?

  • My friend you are plainly a sad result of the plastic disposable generation.

    "It's Old! Therefore it is Worthless!"

    Would you say the same of a Stradivarius?

  • The Midmer-Losh is not very old, only about 80 years old. The organ in Sint Bavo in Haarlem is over 300 years old and completely playable. Another organ, in Switzerland, is 700+ years old and still playable.

  • I wish to know the name of the 700+year-old playable organ in Switzerland. Anyway, the Midmer-Losh organ should be fully restored, preserved, maintained, and treated like the treasure it deserves to be.

  • It is in the Fortress Church in Sion. It is featured in "The Joy Of Music" with Diane Bish. Search for "Bish Fan"

  • History will indeed follow it's course, but that does not necessitate leaving things to rust and rot when they can still be restored for future generations to enjoy.

  • you are mad! this is a treasure worth preserving!

  • An extra negative comment on your rather preposterous comment

  • Thats great to hear,Im really looking forward to hearing this organ in person one day..Thanks for the info!

  • it saddens me to think someone could be so careless around this instrument.I understand that not everybody appreciates it as much as we do,however,it still makes me wonder why people would do such a thing.God bless those that have given towards the restoration of this organ,as it truly deserves saving.

  • the organ hasn't been fully playable since a 1944 hurricane, and during the restoration, careless workers dented many pipes and cut off the ducts to the pipes

  • Please let us know as to how the restoration is going,this one of my favorite organs,and would love to see this organ,and hear it as well in all its glory!

  • Well, the right stage chamber is partly playable, which inclues the great, pedal right, the great-solo and teh solo divisions are playable. the complete restoration will take at least 5 years and a lot of finantial aid to complete, as the ACCHOS is not money-abundent

  • Hopefully I will get to see the restoration in December. I have e-mailed and tried to set up a tour. At first thought it would just be me and my lady but now it seems like the whole bus wants to go Yeah!!

  • Actually a great work is being done to restore this great organ by acchos.

    Check their homepage for further informations.

  • Yeah I saw that too! It was really depressing...such amazing, beautiful instruments. Trashed...

  • Man, it's a downright sin that they ruined that beautiful organ the way they did :(

  • It was actually neglected over many years. I belive a leak in the roof destroyed some wind chest. For a Real crime against artisanship watch "The fabulous fox last sounds of the organ"

  • FINALY.....THE 64 FTs ARE ALL UP AND RUNNING!!!!!!! ONLY THING LEFT IS TO SET THEM IN PLACE WOOO HOOOO

  • awesome!! time to crack the foundation and bring down some ceiling tiles with only 2 stops the diaphone-dulzian and the grand ophocleide... what fun!

  • man.....the two loudest stops in the world....Ive been listening to the ACCHOS page....what joy to hear the selections.

  • I personally visited that thing about 15 years ago as a kid and actually being able to play on it was amazing but the delay was one of the longest from when you hit the keys to when you actually hear the notes. Also there was only one caretaker maintaining it at the time and he was getting old and frail. Only a third of it worked but I got to hear the 64 foot wooden ones and even with a 3rd of the pipes still working it still rumbled the entire floor

  • You are lucky. Theres good news, you`ll have a surprise. Dennis Mcgurk retired in 1998, and a new curator took over in July 2007.

    Things are on the up.

  • hard to imagine in this day and age of dieing pipe organs. I was also the youngest member of the A.T.O.S. american theater organ society. I am going to look them up. I had a rough childhood after some other things and havent been able to keep in touch with the members. Dave Moreno is a well known name and personal friend I knew as a kid. I helped build the Towe Ford Museum Theater Organ there completely from start to finish. Maybee I can get back into the ATOS circle again. I'll see

  • BTW thanks acchos for telling me about that I accidently sounded doubtfull at the start of my message but that was an accident. I really do believe you about Dennis Mcgurk thing

  • The only two recordings (1956 and 1998) ever made of the worlds largest organ are avaible from ACCHOS.

    The 1998 recording of the 'only' functioning chamber (Right Stage) is simply amazing.

    There´s also several recordings of the other organ 'next door' (in the 'only' 4.000 people room) - itself a pretty large 32' organ.

    (If you like large organs, do also check the Wanamaker Organ).

  • Correctly if I'm wrong, but not long after this recording, wasn't the organ completely silenced due to relay damage caused by the renovations?

  • you are correct. Windlines were also cut as well, and many pipes were trodden on.

    Part of it is currently working, its going to be a slow task, due to the scale of the project, but we will get there.

  • Amazing! I pray I will see the day when this instrument is fully restored and playing. If we are lucky, this will come to pass, and if I am lucky, I will be there to see and hear it. Restored and fully functional, the sound will bring any music lover to tears. Again, amazing.

  • u will hear it, i`m sure of it.

  • Hi ya doing, Im shane ffrench, Im a music undergrad student (performanceBMus), I am an organist and a theatre organist, Im the only player of the only theatre organ in Ireland. I have worked for an organ builder for a few years, and learnes alot....I would love to get in contact with someone to become involved in your project after I have finished my degree

  • And to think the power of the 16' Grand Ophicleide. I sincerely hope this organ will be restored to at least something of it's former glory

  • and its not even being used in this at all, really people need to stop bickering over it and get the ACCHOS funding to allow the thing to be restored, the world cant hear its largest and loudest instrument becuase of neglect.

  • What is the "Grand Ophicleide?" Is it a pipe?

  • It's a set of 85 pipes. They are all reeds and the pipes are all on 3.14 PSIG (100" pressure). One pipe is as loud as six of the world's loudest train whistles put together.

  • The Grand Ophicleid has been calculated to have a volume of 120dB!!

  • its amzing to think that we are only hearing a few stops in the Right Stage Chamber.

  • Tim Hoag is not only an accomplished pipe organist but he also works on them and knows them inside out. He's also a very humble man. Keep playing Tim!

  • Amazing - hopefully there will be more recordings here with this great organ.

  • That's interesting about the resultant 128ft acoustic at 4 Hz. There was a french scientist, Dr. Gavareau who experimented with infrasound as a non-lethal weapon. He built giant whistles that generated inaudible sound that produced nausea, blurred vision, and disorientation. He bagged this project as it became apparent to him that infrasound cannot be focused and is capable of causing internal hemoraging.

  • I read on the web that a lot of the Midmer-Losh organ was disassembled for the renovation of the hall and my heart sank. Were those parts ever reassembled? Also, how is the funding coming along for the restoration? Is the CD and the books about the organ still available? Sorry about so many questions; just not sure how current the ACCHOS website is. I'm a pipe organ nut and would love to see & hear it in person someday.

  • the organ is still instact, everything is there exept for some pipes and a relay room, which was destroyed by the builders.

    The funding is in place for restoration of the Kimball, but there still is alot to be raised for the Midmer Losh.

    I`ll give you my email.

  • how much more is needed to fully restore the Midmer-Losh organ? if the Right Stage Chamber is fully functional, it shouldn't be much more, as the Right Stage Chamber houses the most pipes (Pedal Right, Great, Solo, Great-Solo Reeds, Great-Solo Flues, and Percussion).

  • the 64ft rank now works perfectly and you can now go on a tour of the Midmer Losh. Wow!

  • right and left stage chamber hold about 10,000 pipes each, its balanced out on each side.

  • From listening to tracks 12 and 13 on the CD, I wouldn't doubt that at all. A single pipe on this stop is most likely capable of an SPL in excess of 130 dB at 1 meter. That's as loud as some air horns operating at a much higher pressure. A 3-5 note chord would exceed this by 5 to 6 dB or more. The tuner should wear ear protection to tune them.

  • they do. I`d say that youd probably be asked to wear ear protection at all times when in the chambers and tuning any part of the organ. Mr Mcgurk the old curator used to warn people if the 100`ers were going to be used. as well as that in the past they had to inform the power company that the organ was going to be used as it used so much power. The blowers total in excess of 600hp!

  • I believe full organ would fill the 40,000 seat house with approximately 110 dB. There would be some seats near the chambers where the SPL could be several dB louder. The Grand Ophiclede by itself would be considerably less, but would still be the loudest individual stop. I have serious doubts about this one stop being as loud as six locomotive whistles as I have read. A typical locomotive whistle produces around 110 dB at 100 feet.

  • the ophicleide has been said to nearly completely defen people who are near the chambers. It cuts throught the full organ it can be very clearly heard.

  • I have the CD "Auditorium Organ" I have heard the Grand Ophiclede. It is a loud stop at 100" wc, but is still about 6 to 10 dB below the level of full organ. That's a power ratio of 1/4 to 1/10 that of full organ.

  • once they had a competition with a rock band and the organ, the rock band played avery thing they had as loud and as hard as they could(as far as know a rock bank playing very loud would be around 120db), the organ completely drowned them out, people have also said about them feeling sick while the organ is being played and that it can create a really hard pounding in the chest when its being played.

  • No rock band by itself would generate anywhere near 120 dB in the 40,000 seat hall. You're only dealing with, at most, several hundred watts/amplifier. It would take a lot of ancilliary equipment, such as rack of high powered amplifiers and large loudspeaker arrays totalling tens of thousands of watts found at rock concerts.

  • it was a rock concert that was being held in the hall, i think it was done at the end of the concert. I have also read that when theorgan was first build, th firstime it was being played alot of the ceiling tile came down., I recently found ou that it is the only organ in the world capable of pruducing the acoustics of a 128ft stop.

  • The organ in Sydney's Town Hall also has a 64 ft. reed stop, but it would have nowhere near the potency of the 64 ft. reeds on this instrument at 100" wc. Someone ought to do a C weighted SPL reading of this instrument from the middle of the hall during full organ and then just the Grand Ophiclede. I predict that this instrument can generate about 5000 acoustical watts, which would equal 50,000 watts of amplification driving speakers with a sensitivity rating of 100 dB/W/meter.

  • the 64ft reed on the midmer is on 35 inches. What i mean by the 128ft acoustic is that the 64ft rank has many stops coming from it at different pitches. Using the 64ft stop and the 42 2/3 stop of the same rank the stop produces an acoustic of a 128ft stop which would sound at 4Hz.

  • The largest single stop is 64 ft. You can get an acoustic 128 ft. by simultaneously sounding notes a fifth apart, such as low C and G. Sorry, I thought there was a 64 ft stop was on 100" (about 3.57 PSIG). The more stops on this pressure, the more powerful the instrument becomes.

  • If there was a 64ft Stop on 1002 it would bring the house down, literally. When they were first testing it after i was installed it caused so much vibration that the a good few of the ceiling tiles fell off. They try and use the 64ft only when needed as the vibration it cuases can make people feel sick and it can shake the rivets in the roof out of place.

  • you know, the 64' Diaphone Profunda was supposed to be on 50" pressure. The Profunda was supposed to be the 64' on Pedal Right and the current Dulzian was to be in Pedal Left and on 30" of pressure.

  • the organ now has a curator, and the kimball organ has all its funding for restoration and the plans have been approved so after 10 years something good is happening.

  • The Who did at one time.

  • Ranks optimally voiced for 400" wc would be 12 dB louder (16 times as powerful) as those optimally voiced for 100", so 30 such ranks would more than do the job.

    I'm not talking about the same conditions you would find in the seating arrangements in Boardwalk Hall, but something more like the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, with the pipework located several hundred feet from the nearest seats.

  • Since you can work out the decibels n stuff, how many decibels loud is the Grand ophicleide? and how many decibels loud do you think the Midmer Losh would be with all the stops going?

  • It's true that I can't see a large venue going to the expense of trying to duplicate the ACCHOS instrument in Atlantic City. What I am saying is that we should build possibly a 30 rank instrument of equal or greater power, using pressures up to about 400" wc (about 15 PSIG) using even larger pipe scales. The technology to do it already exists and I can't see the cost to build and maintain a 30 rank instrument being totally out of the question for all large venues.

  • The atlantic city organ only uses these stops at 100" as solo stops. A 30rk instrument would not provide enough "back up" in sound at this volume. Its also important to remember that peoples hearing is already damaged listening to the AC organ, People seated near the chambers have been reported to being near deaf after the ohphiclied was used. I would say a stop on 400" of wind would deafen people for good and it would be so loud it would be reaching the volume were your skin starts to burn.

  • venues as big as this won`t want to have a pipe organ anymore, they wont go to the expense. An instrument of this size couldnt be built for $30 million now.the reason the organ was built was to fill the hall with music as speakers couldnt have done so at the time as they werent powerful enough so they used a pipe organ. Now we have amplifiers and speakers capable of doing so. The convention hall organ is the only organ in the world capable of producing an acoustic 128ft.

  • The most signficant aspect to be learned is that for every doubling of a flue pipe's scale or cutup, the operating pressure quadruples and the output goes up by 12 dB, all other factors being equal. Other instruments cound take advantage of this and be designed for installation in large venues.

    See where the results of my research into this took me.

  • The sound and power of this instrument is awesome! It's in a class by itself among acoustical instruments for sheer output not only for its number of ranks, but for its pipe scaling, large cutups, use of double languids and high pressures. I'd like to see more pipe organs use some of these features.

  • The reason why the organ is mostly large scale pipes and high wind pressures is to allow it to be heard in the hall and to fill the hall with sound. There aren`t very many organs, if any, left in a building this big. There probably wont be any organs put in a new stadium or arena so there is very little chance of a repeat of whats happened here in atlantic city.

  • Alright, it's the biggest. But I just love the Sydney Town Hall one ...

  • Google there website and look at mp3s. I like the psalm 100.

  • Nice to finally see a video of the King of the King of Instruments - good job :D

    Any more of this organ? - please post

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