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Parts availability/upgrade for older models (1 reply)
Hello,
Good to know that older organ has provided long and mostly trouble free service. It is possible to upgrade anything if you throw enough thought and money at the challenge but in the case of most digital electronic equipment it is always cheaper to start from the new production unit. This is true for digital organs so unless the console is so loved and adored it really is not an economic process and of course it would be impossible to offer any worthwhile warranty.
The issue you have with the stop that does not turn off is almost certainly part of the mechanical part of the mechanism so you should not need a new board. Does the stop go off with a piston command?
You can not add voices to this instrument by converting stops to a different function but if that addition was to drive hauptwerk voices there may be a chance of getting it to work but complicated. Hauptwerk is driven by midi information that sits in the organ CPU. As those stops do not exist in the Grand Opera there is no midi to call on. You may also find as it is an older instrument that while it generates midi for key strokes and voices it does not do that for piston commands so you will have an incomplete slave console to work with Hauptwerk. If you want an engineering/computer coding challenge this is a good project. If you want an easy life and get Hapuptwerk running quickly you are entering a jungle of challenges to try to add stops and move functions about.
I am sure I can get a schematic for you when our engineer is back from furlough. Other parts you ask for are available but I can not emphasise too much the difficulty of getting the midi coding to work with Hauptwerk.
Regards
David
Back to Viscount Organs Forum...
Hello David
I have a Grand Opera v2 model year 2000, one of the ones destined for the palaces in Dubai I think that were never delivered. Having lived in a packing crate for 5 years, it's given me 15 years of superb service with only 1 minor failure. I'm looking at 2 options with it now.
Option 1. Could it be upgraded to run the current Viscount operating system in the existing console?
Option 2. I can convert it to Hauptwerk.
All internal speakers have been disconnected and it's running 12 channels out into a mixing desk and then through 7 channels of amplification. 1 15" and 1 12" sub, 2 12" + horn tweeter units and 3 midrange + tweeter units.
As I am investigating/pricing up the jobs can you tell me if a replacement stop control microswitch board is available. 1 stop will turn on but not cancel by hand.
There are 5 empty ports on the stop control boards and appropriate space on the jambs. I would like to add 5 additional drawstop units each with 6 pin ribbon cable. Is this, or an equivalent unit available?
I would like to change some of the stop names to more accurately reflect the sounds. Are 27mm concave faces still available?
If I go down the either route I plan to convert the 6 "ventils" to couplers to free up space on the jambs for speaking stops, Could you supply 6 tab faces for the couplers?
Is there a console construction and wiring schematic available?
Many moons ago I was trained as an organbuilder so the techniques required to do the console work are within my capability but a manufacturers blueprint speeds up the process.
Happy to discuss by phone if you prefer.