Quality (or lack....) of Wurlitzer A210 vs. Allen MDC 22

[Guest]

I'm the organist for a small congregation with a lower-end Baldwin organ -- the owner's manual that came with it calls it a Wurlitzer A 210 or A 220 (though the plate on the organ says 'Baldwin'). I've been offered an Allen MDC-22 organ for free from another local congregation that doesn't use it anymore. The information I've read on The Organ Forum says that the Allen MDC-22 is not a good quality instrument. But I can't find any information on the quality of the Wurlitzer we already have. So if the Allen organ is a better instrument than our current Baldwin, I'd like to take it.

Could someone tell me if I'd be trading 'up' or 'down' if I swapped the Wurlitzer A 210 or A 220 for the Allen MCD-22?

I don't need midi capability -- I just use the organ to accompany worship, funerals and weddings.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Horseshoe_or]

Baldwin sold organs imported from Italy under both the Wurlitzer and Baldwin name.s The quality of the construction is better with the MCD but the quality of the digital samples are far better with your current organ. The MCD organ will not have an AGO pedal board.

[arie v]

Hi,

Neither of these two organs are going to be great sound wise. The Allen will have superior build quality.

The A210 and A220 are from the Alpha series that Baldwin re-badged as Wurlitzers. The "alpha" series were the absolute lowest bottom feeder organs, designed to be sold at the lowest price. The tone generator hardware was very minimal, so these organs had few samples, short samples, low polyphony, poor ensemble, etc. The internal audio system was also very poor.

The Allen may not sound better on a per stop basis, it will sound better in terms of ensemble.

The Allen dates back to the mid 80s. The Wurlitzer early to mid 90s.

AV

[KC9UDX]

In other words, if there's nothing currently wrong with the Baldwin, don't change it.

[Guest]

Thank you very much for your help -- I really appreciate it!

[radagast]

If I remember correctly, MDC stood for "Modified Digital Computer". The MDC line was the bottom of the bottom in digital technology. Instead of lots of digital waveforms derived from pipe recordings, MDC organs produced only a few waveforms that were filtered to produce different stops. It still had the 12 note polyphony limitation which wasn't too bad until you selected Celeste Tuning which would cut it down to 6. Don't expect the MDC to sound even remotely close to how a regular Allen digital sounds. I know nothing about the Baldwin so I can't do a comparison.

In a post from a few years ago, Jbird694 said that using the Carillon stop ate up 5 notes of polyphony leaving only 7 left!

https://www.organforum.com/forums/sh...-20-home-organ

[m&m's]

Having played both, I believe you would be better off keeping the Wurlitzer. The MDC series by Allen was designed to take the place of the old analog organs, at the very bottom of the line, that only had ONE set of oscillators and sounded like a classical version of the Hammond organ. The analog organ sounded better.

The Wurlitzer has a fairly full specification for its size, and frankly sounded pretty good. especially when connected to good external speakers.

[myorgan]

The MDC series by Allen was designed to take the place of the old analog organs, at the very bottom of the line, that only had ONE set of oscillators and sounded like a classical version of the Hammond organ.

M&M,

Huh? For some reason I thought digital organs didn't use oscillators. Do tell.

Michael

[radagast]

M&M,

Huh? For some reason I thought digital organs didn't use oscillators. Do tell.

Michael

I believe that was in reference to the analog organs that were replaced by the MDC series. They were the "super-flutey" models that just had sine waves in combination to produce stops.

[m&m's]

I believe that was in reference to the analog organs that were replaced by the MDC series. They were the "super-flutey" models that just had sine waves in combination to produce stops.

You are absolutely correct.

[myorgan]

I believe that was in reference to the analog organs that were replaced by the MDC series. They were the "super-flutey" models that just had sine waves in combination to produce stops.

Thank you for the clarification. I was confused somehow.

Michael