Thanks to John Tuttle, Don Teach, and Dan Fenner, who have all supplied
me with valves, pneumatics, and brain picks.  I have just completed
taking a 1970's Organ-matic, or "Magic Organ Player", and adapted it to
play our Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, using valves and pneumatics supplied by
these fine gentlemen to extend the range of the player and correct some
of the design flaws in the clever but imperfectly designed machine.

The Magic player designers correctly noted that, to play piano rolls,
much of the bass or "pinkie" notes of piano playing is in the second
full octave, what organists call the 8 foot range, rather than the 16
foot range of the typical pedal notes used in popular and theatre style
organ.  They came up with a bass coupler using double throw switches to
find the lowest note in the lowest octave of the piano, and the second
octave.  For you tech types, this is child's play.  When Low C is off,
through the double pole switch, it supplies C# with keying current.
When C# is off, it supplies D, etc.  Then, when a note is played, the
keying current is cut off to the next note, therefore to all notes
above it.

The problem is that they went on the cheap: they tubed Low C and second
C together, Low C# and second C# together, etc.  Those of you who play,
or have observed rolls, know that piano styles often use a "Fifth"
interval in the second octave, such as C and G, or D and A, to create
the effect of a lower note.  These are also used in the "Rolling
tenths" of Stride and jazz.

When the two octaves are tubed together, if the "Fifth" interval is
anything higher than E and B, for example G and D, or A and E, the
system thinks the D, or the A, is actually the lower note and sends
that to the organ pedals.  Musically, this is atrocious.

An additional problem is the canceling of higher notes in the second
octave.  I tried a QRS roll of the slow movement of Beethoven's famous
"Moonlight Sonata."  At the end of the piece is a long C# with a series
of notes above it that descend and "meet" the low C#.  As designed, the
Magic Organ Player cancelled out all of those very essential notes.

The solution was twofold.  First, using the materials supplied by these
experienced friends, I used a valve and pneumatic assembly instead of
the Magic Organ bottom octave.  I "Unparalleled" the tubing, and used
12 pneumatics for the 16-foot normal pedal range, then an additional 16
valves and pneumatics to play the second octave, up through D# of the
third octave, just above what the organists call "Tenor C."  I used the
pneumatics to play Double Pole Double Throw microswitches, which were
reliable, unlike the maddeningly unreliable circuit board switches
originally in the unit.

To prevent the canceling out, I wired the second octave of the pedal
coupler not only down to the pedal with the canceling feature, but
with the other pole of the microswitches, had the same note also play
the bottom octave through second D# of the lower manual in the normal
fashion, no canceling.  When I tried the "Moonlight Sonata" again, the
result was a very satisfying low C# pedal and the descending notes
heard clearly on the lower manual.

Finally, after watching Fats Waller and other stride rolls, pop rolls,
and classical rolls, I divided the notes so that from G above Middle C,
the keys play the Solo, or upper manual.  This means that the
Accompaniment notes can play without such sounds as the Xylophone or
Glockenspiel getting into the Accompaniment "riffs."  Obviously,
sometimes a melody will veer down into the lower manual range and
disappear a bit, but most of the time, the set-up works surprisingly
well.

I realize all of this may seem old hat to many of you, but after years
of theatre organ and "pressure" applications, the whole area of players
and "vacuum" applications is new to me.  Gentlemen, thanks again for
the help and materials, and I am about to record some of the rolls onto
a CD to give out to fellow roll and old time music fans.  Let me know
if you want a copy at pignwurli@hotmail.com.

Thanks again!
Ken Rosen

 [ MMDigest articles indicate that the player system was manufactured
 [ by Automatic Music Corp. for Kimball Piano & Organ Co.  It was
 [ variously called "Magic Organ Player", "Organ-Matic Player Unit"
 [ and "Magic Organ -- Organmatic".  Kimball also supplied the
 [ system to Wurlitzer.  -- Robbie