Allen MDS Expander registrations

[Guest]

I have an Allen MDS-45DK. My very thoughtful wife gifted me with an MIDI Division II Expander for Christmas. I've been having great fun with my new toy.

I have been reading posts for the past few months and see that one of the esteemed members of this forum has the same organ.

I am eager to learn of specific registration combinations using the MDS expander that others have found to really enjoy. Thanks for the suggestions in advance!

Henry

[jbird604]

The MDS-45 combined with an Allen Expander can be a lot of fun to play. I play one every Sunday at church, and there is at least one forum member who has one at home. (At home I have the same Expander on my Renaissance R-230 organ too.)

To be honest, the most significant use I have for the Expander is to provide a marvelous Festival Trumpet, which I use at least once a month at church. Another patch I use now and then is the Zimbel III, a brilliant mixture that tops off the organ's own principal chorus.

Since Expander stops don't couple like regular stops, but are playable only from the manual on which the MIDI tab is drawn, you can of course set the swell MIDI for the Festival Trumpet and still couple the full swell native stops to the pedal and great for your big full-organ registrations. Then when the Festival Trumpet is wanted to solo out a line, just play it on the swell and it will gloriously sing above the full organ. You must of course have the volume knob on the Expander set high enough to accomplish this.

The other patches on the Expander that I occasionally use include the Arco Strings and certain percussions. Also, it is possible to enhance the Flute Celeste on the great division by including an 8' flute from the Expander and the native 8' flute on the great along with the Flute Celeste.

Anyway, I really enjoy both the organ and the Expander, though my use of the Expander is more limited than some.

[m&m's]

We have just put in an MDS 26 at my church. It has a built in Expander, and I find it very useful.

I am one of those who likes a hymn registration that reaches from top to bottom, from 32' Pedal all the way to a Cymbale on top of the Great, and of course that Cymbale comes from the Expander. With that registration, I also like a softer 16' reed in the Pedal, and that reed is the RohrKrummhorn from the Expander.

I also use the "Tremulants Full" stop to give the Theatre Organ sound for gospel music. That does wonders for the flutes, and I combine the soft Vox Humana from the Expander to the Great, with tremulant, of course. For solo use, I have the louder Vox Humana from the Expander available on the Swell.

The MDS 26 does not have a Trumpet available on the Great, and I am considering resetting the fourth division on the Expander to use with the Great, so that I could use the Trumpet and Cymbale simultaneously.