Does anyone have or have information about the Holmberg Musical Clock,
Model MC-17?  Holmberg Musical Clocks were made in Texas.  Ours is a
17-note, Gedeckt pipe model built for us in 2002.  It is giving us
serious problems.

Recently, within a half hour of arriving home from vacation, without us
touching the Holmberg, it suddenly gave off a cacophony of sound with
all 17 pipes sounding at once.  No attempt to shut it off by usual
means was successful.  Finally, in desperation, we unplugged it.

Since then it has not been possible to use or play the Holmberg.  It is
dead.  Absolutely nothing is working on it.  We did contact the company
and were told by Mr. Holmberg they are out-of-business and at present
do not have a means to resolve our problem.

Our Holmberg clock includes a computerized clock mechanism that can be
set to regulate when the organ and a set of 4 chime rods play.  The
mechanism is an old 3-1/2" floppy disk system with several diskettes of
music.

The system Holmberg used was their own.  It is not a standard MIDI
system and is proprietary, so the only way to obtain more music for the
musical clock was through Holmberg.  Detailed technical information
about their system has not been forthcoming from Holmberg.

Does anyone on MMD have any experience with these instruments?  Has
anyone converted the older Holmberg System to a MIDI system (even if
it meant entering your own music into the system)?  Any insights or
suggestions would be welcome because right now we have an absolutely
dead instrument that cost us quite a bit of money at the time.

Reply either through MMD or our private email [below].

Thanks,
Bob Ebert
North Ridgeville, Ohio
rebert@bw.edu.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

 [ Found at http://holmbergorgans.com/home : "Holmberg Musical Clocks
 [ are contemporary versions of historical mechanical clocks of the
 [ 17th and 18th centuries.  These are automatic musical instruments
 [ incorporating flute pipes and ... 4/4 Westminster chimes and
 [ computer technology and innovation."  -- Robbie