[ Dave Ward wrote in 120821 MMDigest:

> I have a Leach dance organ with a SonicCell sound module.  Does
> anyone know where I can get some MIDI files that I can play with it?

Hello Dave,  Could you elaborate a little more on what this instrument
is, please?

I am assuming the organ is one of the, I think, four dance organs
produced by David Leach which operate to a very loose interpretation of
the 105 Decap scale.  They feature varying combinations of percussion
instruments (some real and some for show) along with a moving but
non-sounding accordion, and a number of working Violin and Bourdon
pipes.

If so, the good news is standard 105 Decap MIDI files can be easily and
fairly cheaply obtained from Tony Decap, Hiddo van Os and Tom Meijer.
The bad news is an awful lot of time and effort is needed, first to
determine what MIDI note commands are operating what functions on the
organ (as some do things like lighting, accordion and saxophone buttons,
and some are scrambled, i.e., those which operate pipes), and then to
assign the original Decap instrumentation to whatever the organ plays.

Each tune must be treated completely separately and a good deal of
sensitive re-arranging carried out for this to work, as well as it
being necessary to set up a new User Performance Preset with custom
voices on the SonicCell if you really want the best out of the 105
Decap files.

If this sounds a bit tricky (which, I can tell you, it is!) your only
realistic option is to petition Mr. Leach to arrange some more tunes
for you.  If I am correct I believe that all four organs built were
supplied with about 100 tunes -- mostly short strict tempo and some
classical pieces -- which may well be enough for home use but may not
be so ideal for several long days out on rally fields.

If in your original post you meant that you currently have _no_ music
to play on the organ, then whoever sold it to you should find the USB
memory stick with those tunes on and supply it to you; they will be of
little use on any other organ.

You could talk to Hiddo van Os or Tom Meijer, and they may feel
inclined to arrange some tunes for your instrument, but the biggest
problems are (a) that each organ is unique, and (b) the way the
SonicCell works.  This means they would really need to have the actual
box in front of them to be able to successfully arrange anything,
as it supplies the voices, instrumentation and effects used on each
channel, and not the MIDI file, which purely supplies the note on and
off commands.  So that could get expensive rather quickly.

Regards,
Nicholas Newble

 [ A 105-key Leach hybrid dance organ, "Palm Court Orchestra", is
 [ presented at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4SyIs4_PY  -- Robbie