1928 Marr & Colton Theatre Pipe Organ - "Crazy Rhythm"

My 2/5 Marr & Colton theatre pipe organ home installation being controlled by a MIDI PC, which is controlling the stops as well as the pipes. The organ can also be played from the console. I can also record a live performance as a MIDI file, and play it back on the organ exactly as performed!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Marr & Colton
• M&C
• theatre pipe organ
• home pipe organ

[phaskl]

Thanks for the suggestion! Actually, the door itself is connected to a 5 stage swell motor, which works great. The organ is loud enough that a 1" - 2" opening is plenty in the house!

[phaskl]

Thanks! I agree about keeping it as original as possible. The manufacturers produced a lot more of the small organs than the mammoth ones! Unfortunately, I don't know who the artist was on that recording - it was one of a large collection of MIDI files that was given to me.

[phaskl]

Thanks! I see your name on the DIY list fairly often! Stay tuned - I'm assembling some more videos, hopefully better, that should be here soon.

[phaskl]

There are no swell shades, just the door to the room. The large wall was the only place the Bourdon 16' octave would fit, horizontally, and by placing the other offsets next to them, it left good access to the main chest, relay, toy counter etc. The room is only 11' X 11' anyway, so nothing's very far away! Thanks for your interest!

[MrMiner49r]

What a neat installation! Where did you learn to execute the MIDI upgrade? Is there a book, resource, or hardware mfg you could recommend?

Thanks!

[phaskl]

Glad you liked it! The relay was missing when I got the organ, so I chose a Z-Tronics electronic relay to replace it. That's part of it on the back wall of the chamber, the rest is in the console. One of the options with it is the MIDI interface, and it's all covered in the relay's manual. It's tedious and time consuming to install, but has been completely trouble free since then. I highly recommend it if you have some ability in electronics, cabling, and soldering!

[The2010SnowDay]

I would imagine that it would be possible to get some small shades to fit in the door itself to give expression, and access to the chamber.

[KawhackitaRag]

Nice to see that some people are keeping the smaller theatre organs to original spec and not "hot-rodding" them with extra ranks as happens too often nowadays!

Is that a Ron Rhode performance? I think I hear one of his trademark codas at the end...

[bartonorgan]

Very nice installation, thanks for sharing.

[lansfordno9mine]

im confused why are the deeper pedal pipes in front of the chamber by the shades and the smaller pipes toward the back of the chamber

[MrMiner49r]

@phaskl Thanks! I've checked out their website, and appreciate the information! At some time I'd like to add Midi chimes at our church, but I've got some time, and like the idea of being able to start to figure this out!