Most large organs are electrically controlled anyway, and the keys are just on/off switches. All those organ stops control an overly complicated combination of electrical, mechanical, and pneumatic parts which implement a switching system to change the mapping between keyboard and pipes. This is just a logic function, but implemented with century old technology it's the size of a mainframe computer.
In modern pipe organs all that switchgear is replaced with a microprocessor. Once that's done, it's trivial to add MIDI in/out, and the organ console is often just MIDI keyboards. Self-playing is a standard feature today.
The Stanford Theater in Palo Alto has a modern pipe organ, and it was deliberately built without self-play. But that's because the place is a hobby project of somebody who inherited money from HP.
Yep, the 'Durian' concert hall in Singapore, for instance, has an organ with an additional wireless console, which can be moved to wherever is most convenient. I was there as the German organ builders responsible for it were putting on the finishing touches.
What interests me about the organ in the clip is that the music, "putting on the ritz", has been slowed down. That implies that the mechanical pipe switching system must be a bit slow.
Given that this guy did the whole thing largely from first principles, neither of the above are meant as a criticism; it's a brilliant project!
Former church pipe organist here. I've always thought organ is a great candidate for a digitally manipulated real instrument as playing with precision and feel is NOT dependent on fine motor functions as it is for most keyboard and string instruments.
Press velocity is not correlated with volume- in fact sound is not dependent on a key press at all. Organs don't really require percussive mechanical functions for a full range of control: an idea virtual/real instrument.
[+] [-] Animats|7 years ago|reply
In modern pipe organs all that switchgear is replaced with a microprocessor. Once that's done, it's trivial to add MIDI in/out, and the organ console is often just MIDI keyboards. Self-playing is a standard feature today.
The Stanford Theater in Palo Alto has a modern pipe organ, and it was deliberately built without self-play. But that's because the place is a hobby project of somebody who inherited money from HP.
[+] [-] bencollier49|7 years ago|reply
What interests me about the organ in the clip is that the music, "putting on the ritz", has been slowed down. That implies that the mechanical pipe switching system must be a bit slow.
Given that this guy did the whole thing largely from first principles, neither of the above are meant as a criticism; it's a brilliant project!
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ottomanbob|7 years ago|reply
Press velocity is not correlated with volume- in fact sound is not dependent on a key press at all. Organs don't really require percussive mechanical functions for a full range of control: an idea virtual/real instrument.
[+] [-] jacquesm|7 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a04EO5gNfMw
[+] [-] woliveirajr|7 years ago|reply
I always find amusing how dealing with physical world is challenging even if you know everything about it in theory.
Like this scene from Big Bang Theory that I use as an example in every class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9en6AcVkBo
[+] [-] skykooler|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unstuckdev|7 years ago|reply