Allen ADC-5400D Bass Coupler dead

[smithge31419]

The wife has just gotten a job playing at a church with a really nice sounding Allen ADC-5400D organ. So far, the only "glitch" she's found on the organ is a non-functioning bass coupler.
The prior organist never tried it. While this is not a show-stopper, she does find it useful when playing straight out of the hymnal or piano parts (or when the feet just get lazy). Are there any obvious things to look for before placing a $ervice call?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

[AllenAnalog]

The first thing I'd look for is to see if there is a bass coupler board installed and connected to the data cables and DC power in the organ. It is possible that the stop tab is there without the actual bass coupler adapter board, either because the organ was "prepared for" the BC but never installed or the board failed and was disconnected. That will require you taking the back off the organ and checking the data cable from the multiplexer board to the card cage to see if it is a direct run or if it connects through an auxiliary board, usually mounted on the right (looking from the back) swing-out panel.

If it is there, it should have one cable going to the multiplexer board, one cable going to the card cage and a 3rd connector with two wires going to the 5-Volt power supply and one wire to one of the REM outputs of the multiplexer board.

Here a photo of the board you are looking for:

[myorgan]

Smithge31419,

The Bass Coupler board may have been prepared-for, but never installed. Check to make sure it's there first.

The second item to check is to make sure the board is getting the proper power (the 2-pin connector–probably at one end of the board). If it is getting power, the next thing to check is to make sure there is an EProm chip in either the first or second position in the CM-1 or CM-2 board.

Basically, for it to work properly, the complete package is:

• The Bass Coupler board is in the back of the organ,
• The Bass Coupler board has power,
• The Bass Coupler board has a companion EProm on the CM-1 or CM-2 board in your organ.

Hope that helps discover the issue. Only one of my organs came with the Bass Coupler board, and I disabled it in order to use the power from that board to connect MIDI. I felt the MIDI was more important.

Michael

P.S. Could you possibly provide pictures?
P.P.S. What Larry said! I didn't realize we were posting at the same time.

[jbird604]

I can't add much to the advice from Larry and Michael. Spot on.

Some people find that the Bass Coupler function is quirky and they have trouble using it. Some have even had me check it out because they think it isn't working properly, or at all. This is because of the peculiar way it works. It only plays a pedal note from the great manual keys if the Bass Coupler stop is already down when you play the key, and you have to be in the "range" of the coupler, which is normally just the bottom 24 keys. (And of course you must have some pedal stops drawn.)

Also, if you play the bass part "legato" it will probably not follow you. You need to fully lift the left hand pinky and then strike the next bass note. Otherwise you will find that it doesn't work worth a hoot. This odd playing style required is a complete turn-off for me and some others who have tried to use it. So much easier to play the pedals with my feet!

[smithge31419]

Thanks, everyone for the prompt (and thorough) replies.
I'll check it out the next time I drop by the church. :-)

[AllenAnalog]

Well I may have just wasted $5 on ebay but I had some ebay bucks to use and for fun I just bought that USBC-1 board in my photo above. But I'm a bit confused about myorgan's post about needing a companion EPROM on the console multiplexer board.

The documentation I got with my MIDI board just showed the BC board being wired in series on the data lines after the MIDI board when it was used. Of course since the board I bought was not part of a kit with the mating cables I may have missed out on another critical part. I need help from the experts here.

[jbird604]

For $5 you didn't waste anything! Allen probably sells that board for several hundred dollars, so hang onto it, even if it won't work for you.

The board does indeed go in series in the data line, just as your diagram shows. To insert it into the data line, you need either another short length of the same data cable used to interconnect the other boards in the chain (with appropriate connectors installed), or else you can cut the cable you have in two and add a connector to each cut end. The data obviously goes "in" on the plug marked "In" and "out" on the other one, so be sure to connect the cables in that order.

The other missing piece of the puzzle is a power connector. As you can see in the pic, it needs +5 volts and a ground, and the fourth pin is labeled "ON" I think. That pin would need to be grounded by a tab to enable the Bass Coupler function.

Best I can determine, looking at the instructions on the Allen site, you can connect the "ON" pin to any unused REM output on the USCM board. Check your REM OUT chart to see which outputs correspond to which knobs or tabs. Make yourself a "custom" label for that tab with a sticky note ;-)

On MADC models, there aren't any "REM" outputs of course. All stop switching on MADC models is simply grounding, as in MOS organs. So you can connect the "ON" pin to any unused tab on an organ of that type.

It's a very quirky thing. Even Allen warns about it on the installation instructions. Techs are told to adjust the key contacts on the great to be a little less touchy (set the contact point deeper). Otherwise the player may get wrong bass notes frequently. A clearly "detached" playing style is called for in the left hand pinky. And you may have to learn a subtle technique of "rolling" the chords from the bottom, making sure to play the desired bass note FIRST. If the tenor note happens to hit the contact first, the sound may "burp" or "gurgle." (Weirdly pipe-like, huh?)

IMHO, a player would be better off to concentrate on learning to play the PEDALS and avoid this nonsense! But some people may love it ...

[AllenAnalog]

John, I had read your caveats about the BC board in a previous thread so I don't have high hopes of anything great coming of this, once I find the proper IDC connectors for the board. (See my other thread about that. https://organforum.com/forums/forum/...circuit-boards )

I've got a spare stop tab and REM output just begging for something useful to do! LOL Since I don't need trems, chimes or a hymn player this was just so cheap I couldn't resist having another toy to play with. My fascination with the ADC Universal System parts continues unabated.

Any thoughts about Michael's comment about the EPROM? I'm not sure why you would need one but just double checking.

Yes, I do need to practice my pedal technique for sure; this will certainly not be a substitute for those exercises.

[myorgan]

Any thoughts about Michael's comment about the EPROM? I'm not sure why you would need one but just double checking.

Larry & John,

IIRC, you have an ADC-5300. On my ADC-4300, which came with a Bass Coupler, I added Allen's MIDI package to that organ. When I did (check the MIDI documentation), I believe the documentation mentioned that on the ADC-x3xx series, the MIDI EProm needed to go into Slot 2 on the CM-2 board. The Bass Coupler EProm needed to be in Slot 1 on the CM-2 board.

I wish I had read your post before this AM because my ADC-4300 is at church, and I could have checked it out for sure and taken a photo. I seem to remember the Bass Coupler EProm was in Slot 1, but I raided the power adaptor for the Bass Coupler to power the MIDI board. Personally, I found the Bass Coupler to be quite useless.

Also, FYI, the Bass Coupler is controlled from one of the rocker tabs above the Swell.

Let me see if I can find my documentation (PDF) and provide more factual information once I have reviewed the documentation.

Michael

[AllenAnalog]

Michael, I'll be interested to see what you find on your 4300. The only EPROM that came with my MIDI kit went on the MIDI board itself. (The kit also had an EPROM for MADC organs, which I did not need for my ADC organ.) I did not change anything on the USCM-2 board and my MIDI in and out work perfectly.

It was my understanding that the only time an EPROM is installed in socket 2 (or 3 or 4) was if there are additional card cages (wired to the data busses having the same number) on the USCM board. Since there is only one data bus on a 4300 or 5300, every option that intercepts the data stream from the USCM board to the card cage (MIDI, Bass Coupler, Hymn Player) is wired in series on the same data bus, which is number 1.

Yes, the BC is probably going to be useless but it will be a toy for the simple minded to play with. Interestingly, while I was working on the electro-pneumatic relay system for the Atlantic City Midmer-Losh pipe organ, one of the things I was trying to figure out was how they implemented the bass coupler system. I wonder if it worked better than Allen's version?

[jbird604]

I don't see an EPROM listed in the parts kit for the Bass Coupler, but there are many things I don't know about or remember ;-) Maybe Michael will verify when he gets to check his 4300 in person.

The idea of a Bass Coupler is of course very old. I think some old pump organs had that didn't they? Some kind of simple mechanical lever or something that felt out the lowest note and played it an octave lower for a bass pedal effect. I do know that Rodgers had it on their analog organs quite a while before Allen broke down and offered it as an option on ADC/MADC models. This feature, like MIDI, was added to Allens largely under pressure from dealers. I remember being at a dealer meeting at the factory when several dealers sort of put the Allen folks on the spot, telling them that they "had" to have MIDI because Rodgers was killing them by offering it.

The Bass Coupler was supposed to make it possible for any old piano player to play lovely hymns on the organ without any pedaling. We do face, to this day, a growing lack of good organists with pedal skills, and churches are sometimes turning to converted piano players just to have someone on the organ. The Bass Coupler may be better than nothing for some people, but barely.

Personally, I couldn't stand to go back to playing without a pedalboard. Have my feet in play takes a big load off my hands. I can't imagine that it's "easier" for a player to not have to use the pedals. But that just just my opinion...