Allen 120 Mos 1 Midification...

[buzzyreed]

Hey all!
I think this is my first posting in maybe five years. anyway.. question about midification of an Allen 120 Mos 1 organ. I was looking at Aritisan products but they seemed just a bit too complicated for me. I used to build robots as a kid and fix computers, but I've ruined too many really good organs (last one being an Allen sys 600 or 300, I forget exactly) to do this sort of thing with a lot of soldering, etc.

So I discovered two products just for Allen Mos 1 instruments for mididfication and stop tab midification (I think) and wondered how difficult they may be to install. This would be the products from Harrison Laboratories, etc.

Any advice would be great, it's good to be back..
Buuuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy

[jbird604]

Welcome back, buzz! I took a leave from the forum for a year or two but have come back as a regular. Hope you will stay with us.

The Harrison system is certainly the easiest and fastest way to MIDI a MOS1 organ. If you had a MOS2 with at least two computers you could use the neat adapter marketed by our own Admin's Zuma Group. But since you are doing a MOS1, Harrison is the way to go.

Couple of drawbacks -- the output for each organ division is via a separate MIDI jack. So, if you want to use a single MIDI generator for all three divisions, you'll need to insert a MIDI merger ahead of the generator. But if you want to get creative and have each division drive its own module complete with its own amp and speakers, you are in luck. It's already set up for that! Even if you have to spring for a MIDI merger, the system is still the best way to go because it is so quick and simple to install, and allows the Allen stops to continue to function. Any other system out there requires soldering to every individual keyswitch, and the Allen stops will no longer play after that.

Also, I'm not sure whether Harrison will have anything to MIDI the stop tabs. They have been talking about doing that for some time, but I don't know what the status is. You might have to go with some other system for the tabs. Or, if you're planning to use Hauptwerk or jOrgan, just get a touch-screen. That works so well, gives you a vast, almost unlimited capture system, lets you switch to any stoplist you can design, and so on.... I once had a setup with a touch-screen and honestly I got used to it very quickly and wouldn't have gone back to stop tabs.

Good luck!

[buzzyreed]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190717099074...84.m1438.l2649

[Admin]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190717099074...84.m1438.l2649

that's just a wire break out board that allows you to attach wires to the Stop Array board without soldering or wire wrapping. It has no Midi functionality. You need his Stops Convertor board as well. BTW, the problem with picking the connection to the stop keys at the Stop Array board is that only speaking stops go there. Control stops such as Alts, percussions, chiff, trem, etc. don't terminate there.

[buzzyreed]

Very interesting everyone, thanks as always. So sorry for being so uneducated, but do they make stop converter boards for Mos 1 organs?

[jbird604]

Apparently Harrison has a Stops Converter board listed on their web page, but I haven't ever seen or used one. Should work just fine, as it only serves to detect when a tab is down (voltage changes at the terminal), and should not interfere with the normal operation of the Allen stops themselves, if you plan on keeping them usable.

As I mentioned above, you might consider using a touch-screen rather than the Allen's own tabs for your external MIDI voices. The touch-screen display can be set up to show exactly which stops are available in a given jOrgan or Hauptwerk disposition, and you can have an unlimited capture action. If you use the Allen tabs alone to control your external device, you are limited to the tabs you have, and of course there is no capture action of any kind on an Allen 120.

That being said, I know a guy who has a fully-midified Allen analog console, and he can use either the console stop tabs or the touch-screen to select stops. His monitor screen even shows when the console tabs are activated. Pretty cool.

[buzzyreed]

I plan on using the Hauptwerk capture system or what not. I am also thinking about getting a piston button board thing (the slat of wood the piston buttons are on) from an Allen 123 or any such console that fits with the Allen 120 and wire it up so that I can have more piston buttons at least when I use Hauptwerk.