-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD --

 [ Johan Liljencrants wrote to the MMD Pipes Forum:

Recently in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rollscanners/ Phil Dayson
brought up a slightly off topic thread about visual effects in
mechanical instruments.  A main theme is how elements like the moving
perforated roll adds to the impression of a mechanical instrument.

My own organ is pretty dumb to look at, being MIDI controlled.
Onlookers often tend to hold their hands above the pipes to find if
they can feel the airflow from them.  Mostly they don't.  But at
performances I have noted people were quite fascinated by the 'flags'
I had installed for maintenance purposes on my accompaniment chest.

So now I have installed such flags everywhere in my organ; a close-up
photo is attached of a few of those on the melody chest.  A 1.7 mm
diameter 'bleed' hole is drilled from outside into each note channel.
Each hole is covered by a 5x28 mm strip of thin motor cloth, held at
its top end between two washers by a screw.  Its bottom end is visually
accentuated by a glued-on confetti from an office paper punch.  When
a note is turned on its flap is deflected outward by a tiny jet of air
from the note channel.

Apart from its maintenance utility I find this to be a good eye catcher,
also illustrating that even in a 'rich' arrangement there are really
quite few pipes simultaneously turned on at any one time.

Johan Liljencrants
Stockholm

 [ Thanks, Johan, I'll place the photo at the MMD Pictures site,
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/  -- Robbie