Obviously many have MIDIfied a band organ, and of course it is quite
possible to buy one new with MIDI as the music source.  Much of the
Wurlitzer 165 and B.A.B. music is available from Don Stinson at
roughly $5 per tune.

I am curious to know if anyone has worked out a standard MIDI protocol
(channel and key assignments) for band organs?  Would it seem logical
to assign each pipe rank to a separate MIDI channel and just use
a MIDI note number that corresponds to the pitch of each associated
pipe within the rank?  Would this be the simplest design spec for a
newly constructed organ?

If any of you have MIDIfied a new or existing band organ, what protocol
did you use and how did you arrive at it?

Bill Finch

 [ See the articles by Mike Ames at http://mmd.foxtail.com/Tech/ames.html
 [ and http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/200203/2002.03.01.07.html
 [
 [ New organs are often constructed with a magnet valve under each pipe,
 [ as so are controlled, as you suggest, with each rank assigned to a
 [ separate MIDI channel.  Existing player organs, or new organs with the
 [ same control architecture, usually play a MIDI file that is an image
 [ of the music roll.  -- Robbie