Viscount Organ

[hsmoller]

Viscount organ

I just wanted to add that I have been able to get good sound out of most brands of organs. The easiest have been the Rodgers from the Analogs right up to the present generation. The Allen I have is the MDS 317 EX Special and it is a joy to play. It is the last of the screwdriver specials as everything after that required the computer (which I would prefer) but the sounds are really as good as the Renaissance series and GW. This is the only such instrument here in the Philippines and it is an attention getter. Unfortunately the prices are way above what almost all people can afford.
Even for me it was expensive and the instrument was used and without original speakers.
For budget purposes we have been adapting old Yamaha Electone type instruments to the Artisan system as we can bring the price way down and the sound quality is quite good.
Harv

 

[Albert]

How much are these electronic instruments dependent on the speaker/sound systems used to run them?

The sound systems are the necessary improvement to create almost decent sound from a digital instrument. Get as many channels of sound as you can.

My home instrument (in my avatar and on my profile) is a Johannus Opus 10 (26/II/P). In no way is it as good as a pipe organ, but the sound compares favourably to an Allen R270 a friend purchased.

The stop list is limited, but the samples are good, and it came with four channels of amplification and external speakers. The external speakers are the reason the sound is tolerable from the instrument. On the console speakers it sounds, frankly, terrible.

My advice? Buy the external speakers and a smaller organ if you must to keep the price down. I really miss not having 16's on the manuals. I really miss not having three manuals. I don't miss being stuck with only console speakers.

 

[NEB]

I've now tried a couple of instruments, (viscount and Compton both small ones). They seem quite well equipped for their size, but hardly any kind of replacement for the real thing. But to practice on? Better than no practice instrument even if the sound quality does lack that something...?

 

[cbakes]

Update and clarification re the Viscount

All: In lauding the Viscount installation at All Hallows, Sacramento, I should have mentioned with emphasis that we have an extensive array of external speakers, ranging from an extremely large bass speaker to nearly-as-large speakers placed in locations throughout the front of the church. Additionally, the church orchestra (55-piece) performed Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 [organ] to a packed house [720] and great acclaim. So if you know the piece, you now have a sense of what the Viscount is capable of. [We installed the Viscount Symphonia, four-manual, with CM-100 midi box.]

 

[Z. Denis Blazek]

Wiring diagram for Viscount DB5

Hi there - could anybody kindly let me copy the wiring diagram of Viscount DB5 electronic organ (B3 clone) or give me a hint where to find it please? Thanks - Denis





[edit: regulator merged post into this forum area for subject continuity]

 

[musicalis]

diagram

Really sorry but I cannot help you. I am afraid your search may be difficult.
When I bought my Hammond organ, a long time ago, it has been very hard to get the electric diagram from the manufacturer.
J-Paul

 

[Drawstop]

I play a 2-yr old Viscount Prestige ll in my uk church. We have a 4-part adult choir (no children allowed in choir under any conditions) and sing Parish Communion of six hymns and service setting, with Choral Evensong on the first Sunday evening of the month. The organ with it's reasonable spec is ideal and copes with every piece played on it. It replaced a miserable pipe organ which I would not have played for any money and the congregation think it is marvellous (as does the organist!). In a corner of my sitting room at home I have an almost identical organ (by another maker) and the pistons on both organs are set the same so practice is no problem.
I look after a friend who has progressive MS and when I want to play in the early hours of the morning I put on the headphones and I'm in my own wonderful world.
Needless to say I have spent quite a while altering the parameters of the stops so that it really does sound like a pipe organ. And it gives me a great deal of pleasure.
BUT - I would love to have a large (50 stops at least) pipe organ in an accoustically good building. My church and I are happy with the Visount and that is all that matters.
Our local cathedral assistant organist played a local church's 1878 early English organ of ten stops and said how wonderful it was. I notice he went back to his 4-manual electric console very quickly.
Admittedly my church's Viscount is 3-manuals and 46 speaking stops with lots of pistons and controls and does all I want. Widor sounds great. Every note of every stop is instantly adjustable as are all the stops and the total timbre. And, using headphones, I can practice whilst the bellringers enjoy themselves. What pipe organ can offer these facilities? I should be most interested to hear what other organist have to say.
Drawstop.

 

[Robert Bell]

I used to sell Viscount organs in the 1970s and some of the organs are still in regular use - now almost 30 years old. I visited the Viscount Factories in Italy and they were clearly mass produced at that time - Woodwork, Electronics,Plastics made in different factories amplifiers built by out-workers and the whole lot brought to another factory to be assembled into the finished organ and some were sent as flatpack to USA.

The current range of organs are quite good, giving a choice of sample for most stops. But with ANY digital organ you should spend at least 50% of the cost of the organ on speakers. The organ I currently play is a Copeman Hart 4 Manual 105 rank and we have 16 speaker cabinets. It is tremendously verstatile and thunderous although not too loud for the church.

 

[nullogik]

I personally think that early Viscounts pre-mid 1990s should be avoided.

Build quality was poor and reliability wasn't great when you compared them to an Allen or Rodgers of equivalent vintage. Moreover, parts for the earlier Viscounts are now nigh-on impossible to get hold of.

That said, credit where its due, reliability and build quality has improved in leaps and bounds particularly in the last five years or so. These organs are now good solid instruments and are seriously worth considering (especially for those on lower budgets <£20k)

 

[greatcyber]

Some Links

Hi there - could anybody kindly let me copy the wiring diagram of Viscount DB5 electronic organ (B3 clone) or give me a hint where to find it please? Thanks - Denis





[edit: regulator merged post into this forum area for subject continuity]

Here are a couple of links for owner's/service guides: http://www.mitatechs.com/serviceowner.html
http://www.pugetsoundorgan.com/

Hope this is helpful.

Stephen

 

[raymondo30837]

Hello, I agree with choirmaster. Ok its not a Pipe Organ but an enhancment in any home of an organist who no longer has access to the former. Well, I think so. Regards Raymond

ps Think young, sadly life is so short.

 

[raymondo30837]

Further my friends, note my comments in other threads. I found Viscount to be a very friendly and helpfull company. For both technical and general help. Raymond

 

[Brabo]

Does anyone know where I might find a (complete) handbook online for the Viscount Vivace 50 Deluxe? Information must include how to change voices & styles.

Many thanks.

Brabo

 

[tegshee]

Does anyone know where I might find a (complete) handbook online for the Viscount Vivace 50 Deluxe? Information must include how to change voices & styles.

Many thanks.

Brabo

Hello, you can find it here in the official Viscount site.
Have a nice day!!

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha tegshee,

Welcome aboard! Please do make yourself feel right at home and stay for a spell.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce

 

[Brabo]

Dear Tegshee,

Many thanks! How very kind of you. This information was not on the Viscount UK website (why not, I know not), and I never contemplated looking at the manufacturer's Italian website. So, again, many thanks!

Brabo

 

[tegshee]

Thanks for the welcome and you're welcome to Brabo!

 

[Drawstop]

Hi - I have just done 6-months on a Viscount - the position of the inter-manual couplers needs sorting out as they are at the right hand end of the manuals and not where they should be - on the left. Several times I cancelled everything off by pressing the HR piston thinking it was the
Sw to Gt. Tone was not bad though there are better electronic organs. I know - I play one!
Regards
Drawstop

 

[FelixLowe]

Hello there,

Have you visited a German link with a long playlist of organ works played on the Viscount organ? The link is: http://www.sakralorgelwelt.de/viscount/klangbeispiele/index.html.

Because it is extremely rare to be able to hear a pipe organ of the Italian Baroque school, please, if any one can, comment on the authenticity of the pipe simulation of Viscount.

It seems that the Viscounts playing the songs at the above link do have reasonably good articulation. But can any one help comment on the Mixture and the reeds? Are they genuine-sounding or do they sound fake? I am not familiar with the sounds of some of the reeds playing. Do you think some of the reeds are Medieval instead of Baroque?

Also, can any one identify what the reed is in the first solo voice of J S Bach's Wachet auf? Is it in fact a Cornet V? The second solo voice seems like a Medieval reed. It sounds like a very raspy short-length reed blaring.

Generally, some Medieval reeds can sound quite harsh, unlike the Baroque or the concert hall classical organs.

Felix

 

[Orgue1]

We have just had the new Viscount Unicom 500 organ in our 1,000 seater church for a 2-week trial. The tone is undoubtedly better than the Phoenix, Allen, Makin, Ahlborn and other Viscount models that we previously tested, not least because it uses 'real time synthesis', not sampling (and, as I understand it, not Musicom). Until the Unicom arrived I was all set to order a Phoenix. Now we are rethinking! We also looked at Copeman Hart, but were disappointed (their technology does not seem to have moved on much) and we have heard of some bad after sales experiences with them.