Latest Music Project

[VictorBravo]

It seems every Thanksgiving I start some sort of big project. Year before last it was replacing a shower.

This last year I decided to do something about my old organ that was in senescent decline. Capacitors were drying up, the amplifier was humming. Several stops started to sound terrible. Replacing individual components became too time consuming. It just sat in the corner for a couple of years: a neglected and heavy piece of furniture.

And I wanted to get back to playing. My hands on a keyboard feel like clubs.

So I started reworking the organ. I decided to convert it to a midi-controller system--in other words, digitize it. That way, I could use a computer to generate sounds instead of analog oscillators and filters. There are all sorts of approaches out there, and they can sound pretty good.

So here is a youtube video I made last night showing the progress to date. It is playable, but I still have more work to do.

(And yes, I am an rank amateur at many things, including video production and organ performance).

[video=youtube;GE_mfInv7HY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_mfInv7HY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_mfInv7HY[/video]

 

[Wayne]

Very nice. As one who can't play at all, I'm impressed.

 

[Ne Oublie]

Brilliant!

 

[AThornquist]

Really cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JBaldwin]

Want to come over and repair my pump organ?

Thanks for sharing. Loved the music (and the credits at the end!)

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

My Son Daniel watched this Vic and said you are a genious. That is so much more than giftedness than we possess in our family. Now you need to patent it.

 

[Susanna]

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge

 

[KMK]

Which is more fun for you, Vic, taking things apart or putting them together?

 

[VictorBravo]

Which is more fun for you, Vic, taking things apart or putting them together?

That's an insightful question.

Taking things apart is like eating sugar: instant pleasure that experience tells you is short-lived.

Putting things back together is like making wine: the sugar is transformed, but you know that much time must pass before it is palatable.

A well-planned destruction is often the precursor to well-executed construction, so I think they both are just as fun.

Sue: I've always liked that Coolidge quote, except for the "omnipotent" part.

 

[VictorBravo]

My Son Daniel watched this Vic and said you are a genious. That is so much more than giftedness than we possess in our family. Now you need to patent it.

Randy, I'm just a borrower. The real brains behind the system is Thorsten Klose of Germany,who came up with the circuit design and software for the PIC chip. And then there are the folks in the jOrgan community who have come up with a way to make MIDI signals trigger actual recorded organ stops. I also had a lot of help from the developers of Miditzer, including Jim Henry, who came up with a virtual theatre organ.

Most of these projects are open source. The cool thing was that 2 months ago I didn't even know such resources existed, yet with a few internet searches a whole new world opened up.

Want to come over and repair my pump organ?

Thanks for sharing. Loved the music (and the credits at the end!)

It sounds like a grand project! I had an old harmonium long ago. It worked pretty well, but the bellows were a bit leaky. I always wanted to try to rebuild them, but that was one of the many projects that got away.

 

[Susanna]

yah, me too ... I just figured with kitty Coolidge and all the persistance it took you it was fitting.

 

[VictorBravo]

yah, me too ... I just figured with kitty Coolidge and all the persistance it took you it was fitting.

It was fitting. Coolidge is the very example of persistence too, at least when it comes to things like demanding what he wants.

 

[Laura]

Very nice! I'm glad our unreliable internet connection persisted long enough that I could watch this. I'm a "rank amateur" at the piano, so maybe I have no right to assess your playing, but I went a matter of *months* without playing and my "comeback" was much, much more painful to the ears than yours seems to have been after two years!

Oh, and I had to wonder what the Medaglia d'Oro can was doing under all the wires at one point in the video.

 

[VictorBravo]

Oh, and I had to wonder what the Medaglia d'Oro can was doing under all the wires at one point in the video.

Good eye! I spotted that after I finished the editing and thought maybe people wouldn't notice.

That was the container into which I tossed clipped wire ends, insulation pieces, and whatever else fell out. Otherwise, the Inspector was likely to eat them with undesirable consequences.

 

[Laura]

That is a resourceful use of a coffee can. I used to save our big Trader Joe's coffee cans because I was sure a great use for them would occur to me someday. It hasn't yet.