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Hypothetical: Could a remote tonewheel organ be built?


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Hey all,

 

Let's say you're a pro with 20 or 30 grand to burn...

 

You love real tonewheels, but you don't want a piece of furniture on stage and a chop doesn't go quite far enough. You want an ultra-low profile, custom MIDI controller with a cutting edge appearance, and you want to keep the mechanical/furniture portion off-stage.

 

Could it be done? Could a mechanism trigger the tone wheels and related controls via MIDI and still maintain the immediacy and feel of a genuine tonewheel organ?

 

This is all hypothetical for me as I'm not a touring pro, but I do think about how cool it would be from time to time.

 

Thanks for your insight...

 

 

Sundown

 

Working on: The Jupiter Bluff; Driven Away

Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361

DAW Platform: Cubase

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9 contact waterfall keys. 4 sets of drawbars. Expression pedal . All the rocker switches and cv knob. All the reverse key presets. I dont think 30 grand would be enough to midi all that. Worst of all is youd give up the 2 manuals of waterfall keys for a midi keyboard. Not even worth fantasizing about.

FunMachine.

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Poverty actually made me do something like this but not midi because midi didnt exist yet so I used copper wire.

I was given a beat to death beast of a Hammond that was impossible to gig with and I couldnt afford to buy anything and even if I could clonewheels didnt exist yet either.

So, I did a chop where the playing console ended up in its own box and the generator assembly sat on the floor also in its own box. Each was still heavy as hell but I could get them around with just a little help and make a buck or two.

Cabling was done by way of phone mult cables and plugs. Assembly was via a customized set of RollerKarries.

Not elegant or sleek but movable and yes...remote generators.

 

(God bless the 70s...us dinosaurs still roam the earth.)

 

(And I still have it out in the garage!!)

 

(PS: Moes work is Nobel prize worthy.)

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Could a mechanism trigger the tone wheels and related controls via MIDI and still maintain the immediacy and feel of a genuine tonewheel organ?

I'd say it's a bit contradictory, if you don't use the original keyboards then you lose the multi-contact keying system and the original feel.

Personnally I think an organ looks great on stage.

"Show me all the blueprints. I'm serious now, show me all the blueprints."

My homemade instruments

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He does not know what he asks. Nothing good comes out of this.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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He does not know what he asks. Nothing good comes out of this.

 

Ha!

 

No, nothing will come out of it. It's just hypothetical.

 

I didn't know complex the action was (9 contacts).

 

It's completely subjective. Some like the look of an organ onstage, but I could appreciate a super slim slab with a near-invisible stand (albeit with one manual) instead of the classic console or chop.

Sundown

 

Working on: The Jupiter Bluff; Driven Away

Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361

DAW Platform: Cubase

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Never seen a chop that was easier to handle than a intact cabinet on ROKs. Also the worst maintenance / repair nightmares is the goofy stuff.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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