help with setting combination memory

[gebbytoo]

Hello everyone,

I will be starting a full-time organist job at Blessed Sacrament Church in Providence, RI in September. I have substituted at a few masses there in the past. I still haven't figured out, however, how to set the general and divisional pistons on the organ. It is an Aeolian-Skinner organ (I used to have the opus number, but the archive site with the opus lists went down). There are no digital components, (although I think the action is electric), therefore I think think there is only one level of memory. There is no set button or anything like it, so the usual way of setting the memory on newer organs doesn't work.

I have tried to hold down a piston and then set the stops, but the already preset stops won't go back in while the piston is depressed.

First of all, is there a way to reset the memory? It is a relatively small organ so setting registration manually is not a huge problem, but it would be helpful during masses to have my own combinations set.

If there is a way, does anyone have any suggestions on what to try?
Just throw out any ideas you have and I will try them.

Thanks for all your help,
Mike G.

[musicalis]

Hi
Can you show us some good photos of the memory system ?

[Krummhorn]

. . .
I have tried to hold down a piston and then set the stops, but the already preset stops won't go back in while the piston is depressed.

Hi gebbytoo,

Welcome to MIMF ... A friendly community where you will make lots of friends that are also fellow organists, myself included.

By what you explain on your capture system, my first thought was that you have an Electro-Pnuematic (EP) system - It takes a pretty stiff amount of force to set or remove stops when holding the piston. My church console has this type of capture system - very clunky and noisy.

Then I got to thinking ... are there any drawers below the cheekblocks on this console? Sometimes the selection of stops for pistons is via toggle switch - Allen Organs (way before the digital age) had done this, too.

I can't imagine that this builder (Skinner) would have built a capture system that was not settable by the organist. The absence of a "SET" piston if the capture system is not EP is puzzling.

How many generals and/or divisional pistons do you have on this console?

[gebbytoo]

Thanks for your help,
I can push the stops back in pretty easily while holding down the piston, but I think they pop right back out. I'll to check again when I play there next week though.

About the number of pistons, I'm pretty sure there are five for each division (3) and 5 generals, but I'm not 100% sure.

Also, what is a "cheekblock"? I have heard of setting the system manually in this way, but I don't think the organ is that old, and I haven't seen any ways to access a toggle switch board.

I'll try it though, and thanks again for your help.

[jvhldb]

I agree with Krummhorn, both the organs in town use toggle switches to set the presets. On the one organ they are hidden in drawers below the lower manual. The drawers have bull nose moulding on the front so they look like part of the manual support and legs. The only way to find them is to look for the seem in the leg, grip both sides and pull. On the other organ they are hidden behind two flaps beside the manuals, you had to stick something sharp in the joints to open them, until somebody decided to put two handels on.

Why organ builders try to hide the switches is beyond me.

[Contratrombone64]

Mike - hello and welcome to this wonderful forum. I am an organist, of sorts, but have no technical expertise what so ever. Just bidding you a warm greeting from Sydney. Can you share a picture of your new monster please? (the organ that is)

[gebbytoo]

Thanks to everyone's help, I figured it out.
I found the switchboard, (after very noisily ripping off a door in the side of the console). Setting the four general pistons didn't take too look, except the church was pretty dark and all of the stop names were handwritten (And in French). The action is electro-pnuematic (and it sometimes takes a fair amount of force on the pistons to push out all the stops, but thats what makes it fun right?) Now that I have that figured out, I can post some pictures and maybe some recordings. It really is a nice organ.

[Krummhorn]

Hi Mike,

Hooray!! Great that you found the "secret panel" to the setter board.

I agree on the force required for EP combination action - noisy thing, too - I have wait to cancel the stops simultaneously with the congregation saying "amen". (I have to use on of the generals as a General Cancel button as there isn't a separate one of those)

[gebbytoo]

I know what you mean about the noise. I like it though, it reminds me that what I'm playing is a real machine, not just a midi keyboard in a fancy wooden case. I would hate to waste one of my generals to use it as a cancel button. There are only four on the ** organ, and I still feel restricted. Oh well, everything else makes up for it.

Oh, and I did feel pretty special finding the "secret door" in the console (OOOHH!). There was an old paper taped the inside with the orginal specifications for the order, or sequence of the cresecendo pedal, so that was pretty cool).

Anyway, sorry for the tangent, and thanks again for your help

Mike

[Krummhorn]

Hi Mike,

Yeah, I hate like heck to waste one general for GC too, but for normal weekly service playing where the other three are set for hymns and liturgy, it works ok for me. I've also been playing this same organ since 1982, so I am intimately familiar with where each stop is - and with rocker tabs, it's that much easier. For concerts though, I need all four (and then some) and have to "cancel the rail" manually.

[gebbytoo]

My alternative to a cancel button:
Get two little kids to stand next to you during mass and time them on how long it takes them to push in all the stop knobs!

[jvhldb]

We dont have GC either, instead the no 2 piston on the great and swell are both set to nothing so I use them for GC. Pushing both at the same time causes a nice solid "thud" in the organ chest, like somebody hitting a wooden block with a mallet. If the electiricty supply is a little low this not only resets all the stops, but the organ usually trips the power button to the off position. When this happen the swell shutters would slam open, followed closely after by the thud of the wind chest lid slamming down, a great way to focus all the attention in the church on yourself.

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Johan,

Pardon me but I found your description of the slams and thuds quite hilarious
I did wonder if the instrument was somewhat *posessed*...

Cheers,

CD