Allen 903 Stop Key Model

[MikeDC]

I'm looking at purchasing an old Allen 903 for conversion to Hauptwerk. I would gut it, but I'm curious to know more about the stop action...what SAMs did they use or is it one of those slow Reisner type of things.

[toodles]

The SAMs were an Allen organ design that is unique to them. They incorporate a circuit board with drive transistors for switching the coils right on the SAM assembly. In the 903 vintage, they had silver contacts very similar to the Reisner type. I don't know that they were "slow", though.

The boards will likely need modification to be used with any combination action system other than Allen's.

[Admin]

Early this fall I should have a Hauptwerk compatible plug-in replacement for Allen DM series combination memory boards. The board will provide a Midi interface between Hauptwerk ( or other virtual organ software) and the stops and combination buttons on the console. It will be bi-directional meaning that operating a stop on the physical console will activate the corresponding stop on the virtual and operating a stop on the virtual will move the stop on the physical console.

The board will have no memory of its own and will rely on the virtual software to store and recall the settings.

[MikeDC]

Oh wow, that's outstanding. I guess the other option is to wire the SAMs directly to a new encoder and driver board.