Conn 720 - Overture to "The Phantom of the Opera"

Here's a recording of me playing the overture to Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" on my Conn 720.
You may need a subwoofer to hear the bass pedals.

You may have been wondering why I haven't uploaded a whole slew of organ videos since aquiring this antique. Well, here's why:

I procrastinated on recording videos just because I was having too much fun playing the organ. It looks and sounds awesome with the pipe speakers and everything. I only recorded two performances on it (this is one of them).

AND THEN THE VACUUM TUBES WENT BAD.

And when a vacuum tube goes bad, the thing that it's powering begins to sound terrible. And I mean terrible. The keys started getting out-of-tune, theres a hissing crackle in the speakers, you have to crank the volume up to full just to hear the notes, and the sounds themselves are scratchy and crackly. And it gets worse every time I turn it on.

Not quite the sound I would like to share with you guys.

I called over a tube specialist and he found eight bad tubes in the back of the organ, and the cost for all eight will ring up to around $100.

However, I am now toying with the thought of refitting this organ with modern, MIDI equipment and installing the program "Hauptwerk" into it. This, unfortunately, is a couple thousand dollars more expensive than the vacuum tubes.

So, its really undecided as of yet as to whats going to happen to the organ.

Sorry this isn't my best performance, but since this is one of the only videos I managed to record before the organ went to hell in a hamsterball, this is all I have to offer.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• conn
• artist
• 720
• model
• organ
• church
• electric
• analog
• old
• vintage
• antique
• phantom
• of
• the
• opera
• notes
• keys
• music
• fromthegang

[RainbowCupcakes08]

Marry me?

[FromTheGang]

@RainbowCupcakes08 But my tux is in the laundry D:

[SphinxFriend]

.........I'd like to learn how to play this song, if I could find the sheet music.

[FromTheGang]

@SphinxFriend /watch?v=dWsovuyv0jY

This is where I got the sheet music from.

I only modified it a little bit so it would suit the organ.

[cornermoose]

Beautiful. You play the organ in your socks? My teacher had a fit when she caught me doing it. Said had to feel the pedals through my shoes. Then I got a teacher who played in engineer boots.

[FromTheGang]

@cornermoose You don't want to mess with an organist who wears engineer boots.

[MrK2345]

I thought you said " this is percarious" lolz

[TheAmazingEuph]

I like how your right hand flows liquidly and fluidly through the 32nd notes.

[paulj0557]

@FromTheGang I Hope you wised up about going MIDI on a great organ like this. The whole digital Hauptwerk and Miditzer is a joke in comparison to maintaining the electronics on the relatively simple analog organs. Nothing digital can have the ongoing varied tonal warmth that Conn individual oscillators have. Break down the sound in it's smallest forms of tone and timbre & see w/ digital you get one thing, the same thing every time. With analog you get interactive components. Fix the EZ boo boos!

[Fullmetal1890P]

You can have me.

[Zylstra555]

@PhantomOrganist1 Hi! I have a Conn Artists 720 model myself. I play Bach on it all the time. I do want to emphasize: it is 50's technology, and as such, is prone to overly complicated failure that is difficult to repair. For example, electrolytic capacitor failure, tube failure, and general breakdown.

Which manual has more sounds? I won't tell you since an organist shouldn't get used to the idea that any manual is louder. Feel free to ask me more questions if you want.

[PhantomOrganist1]

Most importantly, does the pedals sound good?

[PhantomOrganist1]

I need your opinion on this organ! i am replacing my conn 645 with a classical suiting organ, and right now i can buy a conn 720. How well is it for playing bach?And which manual is the stronger manual?Does it sound anything like a pipe organ? i cant judge from the video.Thx

[DiscipleofRock13]

When the music first comes on, the camera shakes. It reminds me of the Broadway version. The whole theater shook

[0MindSwept0]

nice man!