Ref. David Smith's request in 171124 MMDigest.  I built a 31-86 MIDI
organ using parts purchased from Rob Barker in the UK.  It was not an
easy build, but is very satisfying now that the bugs are out of it.

Concerning the music, I found that there are numerous hurdles to
composing music for this organ.  My organ pipes are 4 semi-tones lower
than standard tuning.  I wanted to use my MIDI keyboard plugged into
the organ and actually play the organ from the keyboard.  Being a
non-chromatic scale, I had to find and mark the keys that would not
play and work around that.  Then, with it tuned four notes away from
standard tuning, it became impossible to play with other musicians who
had to transpose.

I've taken the organ to New York twice to get help trying to tune it
to sound right.  Thankfully, Craig Smith and Jeff Vincent were able to
help me figure out a tuning that works.

When I first completed the organ it played well, and I purchased some
music from Rob Barker and Melvin Wright.  It didn't sound like I wanted
it to.  Then I talked to Wally Venable and he suggested that the music
that I was playing was from European arrangers and that I should try
music arranged by Wurlitzer for American band organs and scanned from
authentic vintage rolls.  What a difference that made in how the organ
sounds!  It has a crisp new sound like you are riding a virtual merry
go round.

It would be interesting to know if your organ is tuned to standard
scale or if the pipes are sized so that it needs to be tuned lower or
higher from standard pitch.

The build story of my Rob Barker 31-86 organ can be found in Issue #65,
Oct. 2015, of Carousel Magazine from COAA (Carousel Organ Association
of America).

Al Good
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania