The "Christmas Organ" -- Homemade Pipe Organ (with Audio)

[jrzzrj]

Wow......talk about a Rube-Goldberg special....LOL

[jrzzrj]

Wow......talk about a Rube-Goldberg special....LOL

[ArabRider101]

just a very spiritual and homely sound to it :D 

[ranmadog]

it can be called the "principaloid" stop LOL :-)

it makes me do LOL but the stop sounds almost like a megurine luka's muffled humming (for muffled i think to say with a light cutoff and a soft resonance made with a TB-303 filter (i imagine how does it sound))

[b7et5]

The reason I looked up your video is that I am building a wind driven organ. I live on the windy prairie and thot that like an aeolian wind harp -- I could annoy the neighbors as easily with this.

You are a genius. Very simple and precise.

[ssngai]

@b7et5 Let me know how it goes! If your project will be 100% directly wind-powered, remember to experiment to find out how much pressure you'll be able to achieve that way. You'll want a minimum pressure of 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water. To build an organ you can play even when it isn't gusty outside, you'll probably want a backup electric blower.

[b7et5]

@ssngai i will try to get this going soon. i don't have the tools and space so it is a bit at a time, but i am going to try some different ideas with the mouth part of the flue. I dont want paper, and i think it just needs to be thot through a bit to make a more mass produced weather resistant product. my fantasy is a totally wind generated model, with a mechanical actuator to randomly select notes or chords, and possibly a wind generated air pump.

[b7et5]

@ssngai as well -- if you are interested, i am working on an elbow motor. you can find the videos easily, but my twist will be to make on out of stone. I carve soapstone, and when I saw the engine at first, I knew I had to make it from stone, and use water as the driver instead of steam or compressed air. Now you would think that because stone is hard that this would hold up well, but i am finding that stone has so many variables ....another creative way to waste my time......

[ssngai]

@b7et5 Also, if your pipes will be standing outside -- in order to maximally annoy the neighbors, of course! -- you will need to shield the mouths from the ambient wind. The flue mechanism is fairly sensitive. Good luck!

[b7et5]

Brilliant

[anglerfly]

Im having problems with my pipe organ becuase I dont know how to attach them to the machine.... how do I ?

[ssngai]

@anglerfly I'd be glad to help, but I need more details. By "them" do you mean pipes? If you drill vertical holes in your windchest, and if your pipes have conical feet, then you can just drop your pipes into the holes and let them seat under their own weight.

[anglerfly]

@ssngai What Holes? Where does the air comfrom?

[ssngai]

@anglerfly The box underneath the pipes is known as a windchest. It's filled with pressurized air from a blower (that black thing jutting out of the middle of the box).

When a pedal is depressed, the motion is transmitted through a string and opens a valve within the windchest. This admits air to the foot of the corresponding pipe.

[anglerfly]

@ssngai Thanks!. I am making a player organ like a player piano that plays it self and runs by paper rolls..

[The2010SnowDay]

How did you play chords on a pedal board?

[ssngai]

@The2010SnowDay Dyads (such as in the Amen) are routinely possible with two feet. For triads, well, you cheat: you kneel beside the pedalboard and use your hands. =) I was just trying to get the most out of my octave!

[DerAlteKlavieren]

@ssngai You don't have to cheat to play triads or even chords of four notes on the pedals if you wear organ shoes or shoes which are sufficiently narrow and have a distinct heel. This way, you can reach across about a third by turning your foot sideways and bridging a note with the arch of your foot (you can get a fourth from F to Bb, or B down to F#). Do your pipes have any facilities to be tuned?

[Zumipali2]

Jesus Christ! Its horrible!

[ssngai]

@Zumipali2 Oh, sir, you are too kind!

A Cavaillé-Coll it is certainly not. But what is impressive about this crude prototype is how cheaply and readily it was constructed. I have shared this to encourage others to be creative and to engender interest in organ-building. See, for instance, my videos on how to build a flue pipe.

[mythril4]

You should make a bellows reservouir. It is simple to make and what it does in control the air pressure to eliminate the wavers in the sound, its basicly a regulator for the air.

[daddybear1965]

nice! but you need a resavoir to control your air pressure so you dont get the over blow that i heard in the pipes. :-) you want atleast 8 inches of wind pressure going in. but you have to find out what your pipes were made for the wind pressure. but other than that, awesome!

sincerely, jeff

[LaDivinaAriell]

I think I love you. Wow I really want to try this.

[ssngai]

Thanks for the kind words. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with!

[DarrenNemeth]

Wow! Extrodinary!

Thank you for the vid! :)

[JoelTrekell]

There are an octave pedals, but no keys

[falaqdad15]

i would definitely assume that the sound quality of the video doesn't nearly do the real thing justice.

[KE5RHD]

Although you don't have a monk pulling a bellows you are pretty much there for a 15th century organ. Many kudos. Hey, the University of Oklahoma in Norman just added a pipe organ degree. Building an organ is part of the degree. They even created a pipe construction lab to make it happen.

[bobssweetinsanity]

I'm impressed, Great Job *****