Allen Q350 Quantum - couplers not switching with General combination pistons

[wave.jaco]

Hi fellow organists!

We have an Allen Q350 Renaissance Quantum in our church which has been installed about 2 years ago. On some occasions the intermanual/pedal couplers would not switch with the general combination pistons. It is literally a case of one Sunday I get to the organ and the couplers would switch with the general combination pistons, and the next Sunday it doesn't. The result is that you would have to manually activate/deactivate the couplers by hand at all times. One can imagine the difficulties that causes, especially when playing some standard organ repertoire involving regular combination changes.

I have gone so far as to reset the piston configuration to factory defaults, which should have overwritten any obscure setting that could have caused the couplers to not switch with the general combination pistons. That did not solve the problem.

Could this be an electrical/electronic problem rather than a setting that I am missing somewhere? Has anyone experienced this phenomenon before?

[bbierbaum]

This could be a problem with the capture power supply. Definitely worth calling your dealer as it would still be under warranty if only 2 years old.

[wave.jaco]

This could be a problem with the capture power supply. Definitely worth calling your dealer as it would still be under warranty if only 2 years old.

I am also thinking it is some electrical fault, since a reset of the piston configuration did not solve the problem. Either that or some internal configuration setting not accessible by the user that needs to be corrected.

I have contacted the dealer and they will be looking into the issue shortly.

[jbird604]

Coupler tabs that fail to move with the capture action can be a simple mechanical regulation problem. The rocker tabs have an adjustable felt up-down bumper right on the magnet frame itself which sets the limits of the tab's travel. If this felt bumper is not adjusted "just right" the tab may fail to move when triggered by the capture action. It can work one day, and then not work the next. I suspect that the temperature and humidity can affect those bumper felts, and when some are right on the verge of being out of adjustment, a slight change in humidity resulting in a lengthening or shortening of the felt bumper will throw a tab out of adjustment far enough to cause it to fail.

Your Allen tech should know exactly what I'm talking about. As an Allen tech myself, I have dealt with this issue many times, though it normally doesn't present itself until a console is 15 years old. Since yours is quite new, it is possible these felts were not properly set at the factory.

Of course if could be something else entirely, but I have seen this happen so many times that I always check it first when an organist has this particular complaint.

[wave.jaco]

Thanks a lot for the suggestion jbird. What you say makes complete sense. Since it is now the turn of the season I strongly suspect the tabs are adjusted "just enough" but perhaps not adequately. I will inform our Allen technician about your comment and see what comes from an inspection at the organ.

[prm]

Have you tried using the "reconfigure pistons" window in the console controller? If not, PM me and I'll talk you through it.

[wave.jaco]

Have you tried using the "reconfigure pistons" window in the console controller? If not, PM me and I'll talk you through it.

I did, yes. I suspected that there could have been an obscure setting causing the behavior. Unfortunately, resetting the piston configuration did not solve the problem.