YOU CAN COME AND PLAY ON THIS ORGAN AT THIS MUSEUM IS (NOT) OBSOLETE. INFO IN THE DESCRIPTION. FULL VERSION OF FUNERAL OF QUEEN MARY IS AVAILABLE ON PATREON VID AND WAV :). it helps pay for the massive amount of LED's and wires and coffee needed for this project ha, have a good one!
Quick, send the coffee! You can tell Sam is running low, the capslock wore off part way through his comment, and now that stupid bot that thinks its 2012 above my comment is attacking him too!
Hey Sam. From the sound of the organ I think you're probably sorted, but if not I should be able to help you out in getting the C pipe extension to you from Bristol.
If any such opportunity arises again he should install another one in that church skate park for more people to use, and for some other maniac ...ahem... enthusiast to maintain.
Great job! Regarding the helium: It is one of the smallest gas molecules and probably leaks like hell out of the system. (It's commonly used for leak testing in high vacuum appliances ) Edit: It has nothing to do with the atom or molecule size. It but It could be the difference in density compared to air (0,166 to 1,21kg/m³) and the resulting difference in kinematic viscosity.
Helium gas mixtures have been used for many years in deep sea diving as well as in medicine for airway obstruction due to its ability to reduce the resistance to flow, thus reducing the work of breathing. It behaves like a gas lubricant, so as well as being difficult to contain due to its size, it probably made it easier for the gas to flow out of the pipes, draining the reservoir more quickly. Love it.
Fun fact: It's also used to check for leaky phone lines. Yes, phone lines. They pump air into the big cables leaving the exchange to stop water from getting in if there is a small hole, the pressure is monitored and if there is a big drop in pressure they put helium in it to go try to find the leak with a special device that listens for the helium escaping.
@@redsquirrelftw Yeah, that is very funny, thank you for that information from the last century and that before:) Also not giving any source or what is meant exactly. If undersea-cables are meant: The measurement to the failure point is done as reflection (echo) detection. Can be done in copper or fiber without any problem (and since decades). Also, as your big brain has successful identified and mentioned the failure-point of a leak(? what a strange wording ... do they leak earwax, ROTFL), f'n cables are usually built to isolate from other cable cores and THE OUTSIDE. Only a moron would build them to include the possibility of passing a gas through it, which at the same time would mean leaving space for moisture to penetrate or built up ... which is diametrically opposed to the idea of insulation. The other case, land based phone line cables ... which mostly are fiber today, too (... and the above said applies to it also). Oh and you HAVE to burry a special kind of cable (expensive!!!), that you can use devices like a "LHHLD-2002 Handheld Sniffer Leak Detector, by FLUIDX" (you guess it, expensive ... but good for that company;) ). BTW. this is such an edge-case(please check out the pdf, the manual) that it is funny, like someone telling, that you "can also fry fried eggs on edge ... with the necessary tools". Thanks for mentioning that curiosity, Red Squirrel:) (Also please note that with "morons" the company and the responsible person was meant, who bought this sh... for cable installation **g** before bankruptcy:) Hint for proper engineering: If it is really that important detecting cable failures exactly (which is anyway a meter if you have to open up the soil again and splice that punk) then you can use resistance based detection, the aforementioned echo/reflection cable measurements or you can bring in additional strands (which fulfill the second purpose of strengthening the cable, even), interconnected like f.e. a keyboard matrix to detect the "exact" place of failure. GUARANTEEING a secondary gas-pipeline function(sounds dumb, doesn't it?:) ) is not only against the safety and isolation purpose of a cable, but most likely foiled by the failure itself, the pressure of the water or soil above or ground movements caused by erosion and other natural phenomena. Stay over the radish, yeah?;)
I say this as someone who trained as an organist and was a working semi pro organist for some time, you are a legend sir! You’ve saved this instrument that would have normally been scrapped. It’s now a modern funky instrument with a super cool new lease of life. I’m going to come down and support your museum as I wanna have a go on this cool instrument and see what it’ll do 👍🏼
A Nasard (or Nazard) is the French name for a stop that is called a Twelfth on English style organs because it plays a twelfth higher than the key being pressed. For the keyboards of an organ, the basis of pitch is the 8’ pipe so a Nasard is often marked as a 2 2/3’. For the pedals, the basis is the 16’ pipe so a pedal Nasard might be marked as a 5 1/3’. The reason the chest had multiple names is because the rank (set of pipes) is used for several stops. This allows the organ builder to reuse an expensive part (rank of pipes) at different pitches or between different divisions (each keyboard or the pedalboard). It also reduces the overall space needed.
@@bacicinvatteneaca Yes, you can use one rank of pipes for let's say 8', 4' and 2⅔' by adding just 19 pipes to the amount of keys, so if you have 61 keys, you could make these 3 registers with just 80 pipes, instead of 3 times 61 (=183) as in a classical organ. The quint is close enough to the natural quint (about 2 cents) to sound good enough. If you would use it also as a third (e.g. 1 3/5'), you would hear that it's not exactly in tune. A Hammond organ does that, the 1 3/5' gives a very typical sound, as it is slightly out of tune.
@@bacicinvatteneaca I have an extended rank of 97 pipes that is serving 5 stops for one keyboard division as well as 5 stops in the pedals. By selecting both the 8’ stop and the 4’ stop, every key played sounds the principal pitch as well as the pipe 1 octave higher. If I add the 2 2/3’ Nasard, it also plays the pipe a fifth above the octave. The Nasard is the lowest non-unison pitch that reinforces the harmonic of the fundamental 8’ pitch. In addition, it helps bind the tones of a chorus using both the 8’ and 4’ stops. BTW, a Nasard is known as a mutation stop - a stop that plays a single pitch at anything other than in unison or in octaves with the principal pitch.
So I got/repaired an old electric organ recently, and most of the instrument selection buttons have like 4' and 8' and so on written on them, and thanks to your comment I now understand why.
I first started watching Sam's videos for the analogue synth stuff and was immediately impressed by his sheer technical know-how. Since the introduction of this organ project however, I'm just blown away by the work ethic he displays, non stop and always enthusiastic. Simply amazing, and a wakeup call for me to shift my lazy arse and do something productive with my time. (Not sure if I'll be buying a church organ any time soon though..)
I love the way that each pipe is lit up by a corresponding led. It adds to the listening experience by making it more visual. Like watching a live concert! It's ALIVE! Perhaps the bigger pipes should have different colour leds! Exciting. Well done Sam.
You need to see and hear the original Wurlizer Concert Organ in New York City music Hall. It not only lights up in waves but slowly rises from below the stage as the Organist is playing! Hair-raising experience...a little like Phantom of the Opera !
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 there a famous one two or three of them in Blackpool in the UK, don't no a bout it lighting up part but the are white in colour, and they glitzily,
@lookmumnocomputer I don’t think people appreciate the amount of work that you are doing in both modernising and refurbishing a church organ. You have my utmost respect. It is a real shame that so many church organs find their way onto the scrap heap and I’m both impressed and pleased that you have saved one. Hats off to you dude.
As a Classical church musician, currently helping to restore a 100 yr old pipe organ, I truly appreciate what Sam has done. Sorry we can't have the wee lights winking during service 😕, but it's fun to think about anyway 😀!
Thank you for acknowledging the scarcity of Helium. I am really impressed with what you achieve here, you are a man of many talents. Hopefully I can make it to the UK at some point to visit the museum.
@@user2C47 Nah it fine as long as you don't hold it near any flames, potential sparks including static discharge or any other heat sources. Easy peasy! /s
every one of these, i can't help but think that the old couple would of loved to see this happen to their beloved organ so it can entertain countless people for many more years to come. would of been sad to have everything smashed up and sent to the junk yard.
"You don't know what you're doing Sam, you're never going to get it to work again" is all I can think about when I see you acing the hell out of the this! keep 'em coming, it sounds great.
8:40 Something about seeing a real pipe organ being played by a little midi controller on your knees is just magical haha, I love that. Kind of wrong but soooo right! Love the way the pipes being sounded light up too, *great* idea for an educational museum piece! Great work Sam, this museum is going to inspire a _lot_ of people, I'm sure
As an organist and organ builder I thoroughly enjoyed this! Happy to advise/help if you have any questions. Loved the das boot theme snuck into that midi file btw!
It is so good to hear that organ making beautiful music again. It may have changed a lot and upset some purists, but the fact that it is playing for people again instead of having been scrapped is an absolute victory. It looks great, too!
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 Happily not all the purists. I hear of so many organs ending up abandoned, scrapped, vandalised or dumped because they literally couldn't be given away, and I have no idea how anyone could think it's a better fate than what Sam is doing with this one.
It was a pretty hacked up instrument in its earlier incarnation. I think Sam said the previous owner did a 70s refurb of the electronics when they moved it out of the church into their home 50ish years ago. Not one to be too precious about, as it’s the pipes that would be expensive and relatively rare compared to everything else that makes it work.
(50 year old formerly-British musician in Spain) I love watching your channel, your patience has been mentioned by many, and your love for this project, and everything you do is completely inspiring. Also my favourite music teacher, who died tragically young used to build organs (and make Krummhorns!), and I know he would love what you're doing. If I ever visit the UK again, I'd love to come to your museum! Keep doing what you're doing! Love to you and yours x
i think this is the most i have ever looked forward to a youtube video in my life i love pipe organs so much for some reason and you doing this is making me feel complete thanks.
Sam, most pipes are put in the chest with the pipes for the odd-numbered keys on one side and the even-numbered on the other. This gives a more symmetrical appearance side by side. When an organ tuner is working on a rank of pipes like this, they would have an assistant play every other key so they didn’t have to keep moving back and forth, side-to-side. Your tuning will go much faster. Our great division actually has 2 chests, each 10 foot apart as they flank both sides of a large stained glass window. In some churches, these could be mounted on the wall and would need a ladder for access. In those cases, you would exhaust yourself climbing up and down the ladder.
Yeah, I've always understood they'd put the naturals one side, sharps the other, but that obviously would mean 25 one side, 36 the other, so are they laid out that way or are they divided more evenly?
@@richardharrold9736 No, the lowest key on the keyboard is note 1 then you count up chromatically. On a modern 61-note manual or a 32-note pedalboard, the lowest note is a C. Therefore, your odd note sequence is C,D,E,F#,G#,A# or 3 whites then 3 blacks. Even note sequence is C#,D#,F,G,A,B or 2 blacks then 4 whites. Since there are 12 notes in the octave, the sequence just repeats through each additional octave. BTW, it a keyboard rank was built with a 16’ extension (32’ for pedal), those might be the first 6 pipes you encounter on each side so you might start with that stop first. Likewise, if it was built with extensions on the upper end, you’ll need to switch to those to do the final pipes of the rank. If a rank was extended years after the original build, an additional chest might have been constructed to house those additional pipes. In that case, you might want to save tuning those until later.
@@thomasbland6428 normally a 16ft extension would be on an offset chest... even some 8ft basses tend to be on offsets. I have also seen top-note chests containing an additional 5 pipes per rank where a 56-note compass has been extended to 61.
Wow, that room has become quite organic. Sorry for that one! Great work on restoring and refitting that beast. I can deal with a plethora of wires, but I can not wrap my head around that microcontroller stuff. Amazing!
A stopped diapason (or stopped flute) is the English equivalent of a French bourdon or German gedeckt stop. They are usually made of wood though shorter (higher pitched) pipes might be made of metal. The stopped portion of the name refers to a stopper or plug in the top of the pipe. This is opposed to an open diapason which is an open pipe. Closing the end of the pipe causes it to play an octave lower. This results in shorter, cheaper pipes.
I remember the 1st organ video, and thinking this is gonna take years... and you got it going in what, a week or two? I already knew you were amazing, but you really have 😎 pulled out all the stops 😎 on this project! ❤ You're a total inspiration. I need to get off my butt on some of my restoration projects lying around here!
Fuckin amazing. When you was pulling that ting apart in that hoose I thought you might get around to making use of it one day in a few years or something. Can't believe how good it's sounding and looking already. Should never have doubted it for a second. Shame on me
It’s awesome to see this piece of music history being lovingly brought back to life and being made to work in ways never intended. It all just works with a little bit of love and elbow grease.
I'd love to hear Bach's Toccata and Fugue through that thing, but then hook up the midi file through all the other crazy stuff you've got so that by the end of the piece you've got a slamming electro funk rendition of a baroque classic coming out of every room in the museum. That would be some serious mad professor s**t😉
Toccata and Fugue was played on part 3 at 8min 30sec , video title I BOUGHT A CHURCH ORGAN Part 3 - Its Playing music! i loved the Clockwork Orange Theme played at the 14min 11 sec here (part 5)
That MIDI file at the end really made me think about Walter Hus. He did a lot of covers of modern techno/trance songs on Decap organs, like The Age Of Love and Universal Nation :D Awesome job, Sam! Makes me want to build an organ of my own!
I like the LEDs a LOT more than I expected to! I just love in general how this whole thing has come together, it's _much_ more interesting than I thought it would be. Nice work!
This is awesome. You've taken an organ that was trapped within someone's walls and made an organ that could be potentially moved to different spaces and venues. I'm curious to see how you resolve the keyboard situation. Midi organs are fairly pricey as are organ foot pedals and the various stands. There's definitely a second-hand market, and you can probably make a lot of that stuff. Looking forward to seeing that part of the build.
The boards to convert an electronic organ to MIDI are pretty cheap and easy to install if you're good with soldering and lots of wires (as Sam is), and suitable organs are regularly given away on FB or eBay - I got a few that way.
I think he took all of the console with stops, pistons etc. And it was electro pneumatic to begin with so after piecing together all the wind chests regulators etc I'm sure he'll look at modernization of the console itself to be able to connect and control different ranks with the option for midi input and possibly recording but that would only make sense once the rest is all "functional" Gonna take some time but I'm stoked at the progress made so far along with all the other projects on the go in the background. It must be quite a headache at times to keep on top of all the other museum exhibits with their obsolete parts and methods of operation. Hats off to Sam.👍
Loved the exit music... usually played in a grander manner, but yours is playfully interesting! You have my admiration....we are currently restoring 100 year old pipe organ( I'm the Organist) to digital combination, and I have spent a few hours avoiding spiderwebs in the area unseen by church members! Great work...all the best!
@@PWMaarten its the title theme of the movie "das boot" If u mean the last organ piece i mean... The synth wave end cart song he always used is händel's sarabande in D
I truly appreciate the quality of work in all aspects of the wind chest. The video combines an eclectic assortment of embedded systems, woodworking, vintage electromechanical devices, I could go on… The results are spectacular.
Good job, man. There's something strangely haunting about automated pipe organs. Reminds me of those cool old trucks you see at vintage rallies, with full pipes, drums and what have you built into the back, playing cool old tunes.
Integration of a punch card reader might even be possible further down the line. But if it's going to be midi anyway not much point other than to show the old music playback tech. Would be hella cool tho!
@@geraintjones6401 I agree👍 and a lot of early computer databases in the 70's particularly libraries and the like used an optical punch card reader for file retrieval so it could be an interesting hybrid of obsolete-ness!! Rather than the pneumatically driven ones found on fairground organs. Given the existing old computer exhibits and the expertise at the local micro museum to Sam's could be an interesting collaboration.🤔 I reckon once he's got the rest of it going it could be quite possible to add some percussion ranks too a'la cinema/fairground organ stylee. But we're just "pipe" dreaming at the moment! (Sorry couldn't resist!) 👍
8:54 The first 3 chords sound beautiful in this order! Btw, no critique or anything but I think it would look cooler if the LED's would shine indirect light out of the flute openings.
@@Nukle0n Yes, I thought about the same thing. It would be complicated and way too much work but it sure would look amazing. In my imagination that is. Maybe it wouldn't even be that pretty in actuality.
I think it might be nice to slightly extend the light covers so they block the light from hitting the pipes next to the intended one. Other than that, that's a REALLY good effect!
Possibly just some linear frost over the LEDs would give them slightly more directivity to neaten that up. But also the camera would possibly show up the spill more than in the room. Really wanna go check it out in person!
You have amazing tenacious motivation to get this organ upgraded with a midi interface. Amazing how you managed to utilize that telephone cable and wire it all in, like you were a telephone technician for years. Love this series of video you are producing. Excellent work young lad.
A little helium factoid - for the longest time, most helium was a waste byproduct of the oil & gas industry, especially wells in north Texas. It wasn’t until the demand for helium started climbing due to it’s medical usage to cool imaging equipment and it’s industrial use primarily in welding that needed to be done in the absence of oxygen that they started drilling wells primarily to harvest helium. (Helium is the first noble gas on the periodic table. Because it’s valence ring of electrons is filled, it will not normally react with any other element. As it is lighter than any other gas other than hydrogen, it is safer to work around as it would normally want to rise and leave your lungs if accidentally inhaled as compared to neon and argon which are heavier than most components of air and would normally sink and pool in your lungs.)
I was gonna say I would love clockwork orange on the wood pies, and there you go! Also Mazzy start look down on the bridge. I think party ballon helium is only 10-20% A. because you don't need much to be lighter than air and B. stop people doing stupid things. That organ is just epic. Your doing it wrong Sam! In a high squeaky voice :D Maybe squirt a bit of gas in a few stopped pipes, it will desplaces whats in there and should go up and hang around for a few plays.
@@_Piers_ you are quite correct. I'm not sure where I got that figure in my head. Might have been myth busters. Hmm. Thanks for making me re evaluate my parrot :D
these videos make my day. combining new and old to get a beautiful instrument back on its feet cant wait to come visit again its changed so much since i visit in at the begining of the year
The blower is probably driven by an induction motor, so that the rotation rate is roughly constant. The pressure that it can produce is proportional to the blade velocity squared times the density of the gas. Therefore, if the density goes down, the pressure goes down.
The item on top of the air reservoir is the device he’s using to control the motor speed and establish the proper air pressure. If there was an assistant available, one could have controlled the motor while the other adjusted the motor speed.
@@thomasbland6428 I just reviewed video #2 about this. He called it a rheostat, but I expect (and/or hope) that it’s really a variac (a variable transformer). The reason he’s using it is that the motor was made for 210V, but the mains power is 240V. It originally had a transformer to do that conversion, which no longer works. Most likely the motor is in fact an induction motor (i.e. it has no brushes), in which case you can’t vary its speed by varying the voltage.
@@kc9scott Not sure. Many of these blower motors are decades old, dating back prior to 1950. Our organ runs on the original motor and blower from 1932. The only change made was that there was a generator mounted parallel to the motor shaft and connected via a pulley attached to the motor shaft (the blower shaft is in-line.) The generator provided a DC voltage to power circuitry on the console and to power the valve solenoids in the pipe closet. In that early video, didn’t he slowly increase the rheostat until he had it up to voltage?
@@thomasbland6428 re: “didn’t he slowly increase the rheostat until he had it up to voltage”, yes he did, and I cringed for the sake of that motor. Not a good way to treat an induction motor, if that’s what it is. In the US, as early as the 1920s, induction motors powered the majority of blowers, but there still was the occasional DC motor here and there.
You’re doing a really good job with this and those wooden flute pipes sound very nice. It’s great that this organ has been given a new life with probably the best owner it could have, and will be enjoyed by museum visitors.
I'm constantly amazed by how smart and industrious Sam is with this stuff. It took me 12 hours to wire my car stereo up and even then it still had a weird hiss. Forget wiring up a pipe organ!
I'm still blown away how full and articulate the organ sounds! Usually they're designed to be bespoke to the space they're played in, but it really shows in love and dedication you've put towards it.
I never know why I start these as something to listen to in the background, because I always end up fascinated and watching it intently the whole time. 😆 Love watching what you are doing with the organ!
Sam thank you for rescuing this instrument. Thank you also for highlighting our folly in wasting Helium for party balloons and such like. It is going to be essential for fusion reactors in the near future yet if we have squandered it all then we may well come to regret our folly.
When I saw you and your mates take the organ apart, I had serious doubts. What you have created is one heluva beautiful setup and like someone else commented, you are the best thing that could have happened to this organ. Fantastic!!
YOU CAN COME AND PLAY ON THIS ORGAN AT THIS MUSEUM IS (NOT) OBSOLETE. INFO IN THE DESCRIPTION.
FULL VERSION OF FUNERAL OF QUEEN MARY IS AVAILABLE ON PATREON VID AND WAV :). it helps pay for the massive amount of LED's and wires and coffee needed for this project ha, have a good one!
Quick, send the coffee! You can tell Sam is running low, the capslock wore off part way through his comment, and now that stupid bot that thinks its 2012 above my comment is attacking him too!
That song in the credits. Any chance you can make that available? I want to make that my ringtone....
Wait, what? The ending music? They played Das Boot at her funeral?
Can you also upload the fullversion of "Das Boot"? That would be awesome!
Hey Sam. From the sound of the organ I think you're probably sorted, but if not I should be able to help you out in getting the C pipe extension to you from Bristol.
You,Sir, are literally the best thing that could ever happen to that old organ. Just amazing and every other superlative imaginable.
Agreed.
Yep
Most definitely!
If any such opportunity arises again he should install another one in that church skate park for more people to use, and for some other maniac ...ahem... enthusiast to maintain.
Thats exactly what your dad said
Just wow. Massive amount of tenacious work, works wonderful, looks wonderful, sounds wonderful. What a rescue.
Cheers marc!
Wooooo Marc is here, noiiiiice
did they have an organ on Apollo 11? if yes maybe there could be a collab in future
Yoo marc is here!
@@tomb8156 Agreed! Every spaceship should have a pipe organ.
I have started singing "you don't know what you're doooooooooing" to myself at work when I have no clue what I am doing, which is quite often
im in this comment and i dont like it
😂
Your not the only one.....
Ha ! Me too.
Same. Every time I run compile and need to wait a few that plays in my head.
Great job! Regarding the helium: It is one of the smallest gas molecules and probably leaks like hell out of the system. (It's commonly used for leak testing in high vacuum appliances )
Edit: It has nothing to do with the atom or molecule size. It but It could be the difference in density compared to air (0,166 to 1,21kg/m³) and the resulting difference in kinematic viscosity.
Helium gas mixtures have been used for many years in deep sea diving as well as in medicine for airway obstruction due to its ability to reduce the resistance to flow, thus reducing the work of breathing. It behaves like a gas lubricant, so as well as being difficult to contain due to its size, it probably made it easier for the gas to flow out of the pipes, draining the reservoir more quickly. Love it.
Also being a lightweight molecule it represents less pressure at the same cinetic energy, which LMNC guessed.
Please do not run a freon of SF6 version to save our environment.
Fun fact: It's also used to check for leaky phone lines. Yes, phone lines. They pump air into the big cables leaving the exchange to stop water from getting in if there is a small hole, the pressure is monitored and if there is a big drop in pressure they put helium in it to go try to find the leak with a special device that listens for the helium escaping.
@@redsquirrelftw Yeah, that is very funny, thank you for that information from the last century and that before:) Also not giving any source or what is meant exactly. If undersea-cables are meant: The measurement to the failure point is done as reflection (echo) detection. Can be done in copper or fiber without any problem (and since decades). Also, as your big brain has successful identified and mentioned the failure-point of a leak(? what a strange wording ... do they leak earwax, ROTFL), f'n cables are usually built to isolate from other cable cores and THE OUTSIDE. Only a moron would build them to include the possibility of passing a gas through it, which at the same time would mean leaving space for moisture to penetrate or built up ... which is diametrically opposed to the idea of insulation.
The other case, land based phone line cables ... which mostly are fiber today, too (... and the above said applies to it also). Oh and you HAVE to burry a special kind of cable (expensive!!!), that you can use devices like a "LHHLD-2002 Handheld Sniffer Leak Detector, by FLUIDX" (you guess it, expensive ... but good for that company;) ). BTW. this is such an edge-case(please check out the pdf, the manual) that it is funny, like someone telling, that you "can also fry fried eggs on edge ... with the necessary tools".
Thanks for mentioning that curiosity, Red Squirrel:) (Also please note that with "morons" the company and the responsible person was meant, who bought this sh... for cable installation **g** before bankruptcy:)
Hint for proper engineering: If it is really that important detecting cable failures exactly (which is anyway a meter if you have to open up the soil again and splice that punk) then you can use resistance based detection, the aforementioned echo/reflection cable measurements or you can bring in additional strands (which fulfill the second purpose of strengthening the cable, even), interconnected like f.e. a keyboard matrix to detect the "exact" place of failure. GUARANTEEING a secondary gas-pipeline function(sounds dumb, doesn't it?:) ) is not only against the safety and isolation purpose of a cable, but most likely foiled by the failure itself, the pressure of the water or soil above or ground movements caused by erosion and other natural phenomena.
Stay over the radish, yeah?;)
I say this as someone who trained as an organist and was a working semi pro organist for some time, you are a legend sir! You’ve saved this instrument that would have normally been scrapped. It’s now a modern funky instrument with a super cool new lease of life. I’m going to come down and support your museum as I wanna have a go on this cool instrument and see what it’ll do 👍🏼
A Nasard (or Nazard) is the French name for a stop that is called a Twelfth on English style organs because it plays a twelfth higher than the key being pressed. For the keyboards of an organ, the basis of pitch is the 8’ pipe so a Nasard is often marked as a 2 2/3’. For the pedals, the basis is the 16’ pipe so a pedal Nasard might be marked as a 5 1/3’.
The reason the chest had multiple names is because the rank (set of pipes) is used for several stops. This allows the organ builder to reuse an expensive part (rank of pipes) at different pitches or between different divisions (each keyboard or the pedalboard). It also reduces the overall space needed.
So, you're saying that the same pipe can be the octave of one register and the twelfth of another?
@@bacicinvatteneaca Yes, you can use one rank of pipes for let's say 8', 4' and 2⅔' by adding just 19 pipes to the amount of keys, so if you have 61 keys, you could make these 3 registers with just 80 pipes, instead of 3 times 61 (=183) as in a classical organ. The quint is close enough to the natural quint (about 2 cents) to sound good enough. If you would use it also as a third (e.g. 1 3/5'), you would hear that it's not exactly in tune. A Hammond organ does that, the 1 3/5' gives a very typical sound, as it is slightly out of tune.
@@bacicinvatteneaca I have an extended rank of 97 pipes that is serving 5 stops for one keyboard division as well as 5 stops in the pedals.
By selecting both the 8’ stop and the 4’ stop, every key played sounds the principal pitch as well as the pipe 1 octave higher. If I add the 2 2/3’ Nasard, it also plays the pipe a fifth above the octave.
The Nasard is the lowest non-unison pitch that reinforces the harmonic of the fundamental 8’ pitch. In addition, it helps bind the tones of a chorus using both the 8’ and 4’ stops.
BTW, a Nasard is known as a mutation stop - a stop that plays a single pitch at anything other than in unison or in octaves with the principal pitch.
As someone who has no musical background I am awestruck by how much of this I didn't understand
So I got/repaired an old electric organ recently, and most of the instrument selection buttons have like 4' and 8' and so on written on them, and thanks to your comment I now understand why.
I first started watching Sam's videos for the analogue synth stuff and was immediately impressed by his sheer technical know-how. Since the introduction of this organ project however, I'm just blown away by the work ethic he displays, non stop and always enthusiastic. Simply amazing, and a wakeup call for me to shift my lazy arse and do something productive with my time. (Not sure if I'll be buying a church organ any time soon though..)
Yeah me too, but has inspired me to build my own analogue synth.
@@fuzzybobbles I want to build one my cousin has his own company making kits and modules to build an analogue modular synth.
Right? The way he just keeps chugging through these projects. It impresses me.
and just how easy it comes to him
I'd love ❤️ an organ to assemble. Unfortunately they just aren't available in Oklahoma.
The organist who had that monster installed in her home would have been well proud of what you have done.
Bravo Matey !!
I love the way that each pipe is lit up by a corresponding led. It adds to the listening experience by making it more visual. Like watching a live concert! It's ALIVE! Perhaps the bigger pipes should have different colour leds! Exciting. Well done Sam.
You need to see and hear the original Wurlizer Concert Organ in New York City music Hall. It not only lights up in waves but slowly rises from below the stage as the Organist is playing! Hair-raising experience...a little like Phantom of the Opera !
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 there a famous one two or three of them in Blackpool in the UK, don't no a bout it lighting up part but the are white in colour, and they glitzily,
@lookmumnocomputer I don’t think people appreciate the amount of work that you are doing in both modernising and refurbishing a church organ. You have my utmost respect. It is a real shame that so many church organs find their way onto the scrap heap and I’m both impressed and pleased that you have saved one. Hats off to you dude.
As a Classical church musician, currently helping to restore a 100 yr old pipe organ, I truly appreciate what Sam has done. Sorry we can't have the wee lights winking during service 😕, but it's fun to think about anyway 😀!
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 My grandfather was organist at Islington Chapel. Its now Dave Stewart's recording studio
I was a lucky that my school had a pipe organ
Thank you for acknowledging the scarcity of Helium. I am really impressed with what you achieve here, you are a man of many talents. Hopefully I can make it to the UK at some point to visit the museum.
Love how he is very skilled but doesn't indulge in verbal masturbation about it. Gets to the point and has fun.
Really glad Sam mentioned it (and didn't waste a copious amount).
I saw the video title and was about to rant about as soon as I watched it but he did just a small experiment which is fine I think.
Which is why I fill my party balloons with hydrogen. (/s. I am well aware that it explodes.)
@@user2C47 Nah it fine as long as you don't hold it near any flames, potential sparks including static discharge or any other heat sources. Easy peasy! /s
every one of these, i can't help but think that the old couple would of loved to see this happen to their beloved organ so it can entertain countless people for many more years to come.
would of been sad to have everything smashed up and sent to the junk yard.
It really fell into the right hands.. :)
@@vzwopx yeah
Wow. The solenoids kept up a lot better with that MIDI file arpeggiation than I would have expected them to. LEDs make all the difference! 👍
That baffled me a bit as well. Didn't think solenoids could react that fast. Some serious sorcery going on here!😮
10/10 for the serious patience you have in reconstructing this and adding value to it !
Sam, we all owe you a big thank you and a hearty well done. You've taken on a monumental task and we applaud you.
I deeply appreciate both the PSA about helium, as well as your use of as little of it as possible for this demonstration.
Man, I could listen to you play that organ all day long.
Thanks for the helium disclaimer, I wish more people knew about the helium problem.
"You don't know what you're doing Sam, you're never going to get it to work again" is all I can think about when I see you acing the hell out of the this! keep 'em coming, it sounds great.
8:40 Something about seeing a real pipe organ being played by a little midi controller on your knees is just magical haha, I love that. Kind of wrong but soooo right!
Love the way the pipes being sounded light up too, *great* idea for an educational museum piece! Great work Sam, this museum is going to inspire a _lot_ of people, I'm sure
As an organist and organ builder I thoroughly enjoyed this! Happy to advise/help if you have any questions. Loved the das boot theme snuck into that midi file btw!
So did I...an sister Organist !
glad to know im not the only one who picked out das boot.
thanks for mentioning it! i was wondering why that melody was familiar!
...wow, I Would have guessed that was an extinct job..!!
@@clubcyberia8572 I missed the Das Boot theme, not seen it for a while, but I recognised the first part - A Clockwork Orange.
It is so good to hear that organ making beautiful music again. It may have changed a lot and upset some purists, but the fact that it is playing for people again instead of having been scrapped is an absolute victory. It looks great, too!
We purists don't mind when it's done well and with clever innovations...that's what we do too; we call it improvisation. Sam understands!
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 Happily not all the purists. I hear of so many organs ending up abandoned, scrapped, vandalised or dumped because they literally couldn't be given away, and I have no idea how anyone could think it's a better fate than what Sam is doing with this one.
It was a pretty hacked up instrument in its earlier incarnation. I think Sam said the previous owner did a 70s refurb of the electronics when they moved it out of the church into their home 50ish years ago. Not one to be too precious about, as it’s the pipes that would be expensive and relatively rare compared to everything else that makes it work.
@@Roikat Exactly.
The Das Boot theme sounded awesome! This whole thing is becoming quite cool.
(50 year old formerly-British musician in Spain) I love watching your channel, your patience has been mentioned by many, and your love for this project, and everything you do is completely inspiring. Also my favourite music teacher, who died tragically young used to build organs (and make Krummhorns!), and I know he would love what you're doing. If I ever visit the UK again, I'd love to come to your museum! Keep doing what you're doing! Love to you and yours x
Was so nice to see that you laced the wiring loom instead of using cable ties. Lacing looks much nicer.
[removed]
Edit: Don't comment while drunk at 4 in the morning. Those weren't white zip ties.
@@user2C47 painful? Why?
@@user2C47 Respect
i think this is the most i have ever looked forward to a youtube video in my life i love pipe organs so much for some reason and you doing this is making me feel complete thanks.
Thank you for your expression of love for pipe organs. Please make some unappreciated Organist's day by telling him/her so.
I really love this project. You’re preserving the function of the original organ while making it so much more!
There's just something so magical and ethereal about the sound of the pipes, it's such an evocative sound
As soon as the first chord was played at the end, Clockwork orange just sprung in to my head
Das Boot. Now i have to see the whole series again. Doldinger rocks!
更に温もりのある音源が勢ぞろいしましたね。このシリーズ楽しみにしていました。ありがとうございました。
There are even more warm sound sources. I was looking forward to this series. Thank you very much.
What about setting up a web portal where a midi can be uploaded and the organ plays it back on a webcam? Could charge a fee to cover the upkeep costs?
Nice.
Hell yessss. Id pay for that.
that would be so dope
I mean i know we would just be spamming Megalovania
Fuck yeah i would pay for that too, making some friking sick samples and playing iconic songs in it
Sam, most pipes are put in the chest with the pipes for the odd-numbered keys on one side and the even-numbered on the other. This gives a more symmetrical appearance side by side. When an organ tuner is working on a rank of pipes like this, they would have an assistant play every other key so they didn’t have to keep moving back and forth, side-to-side. Your tuning will go much faster. Our great division actually has 2 chests, each 10 foot apart as they flank both sides of a large stained glass window. In some churches, these could be mounted on the wall and would need a ladder for access. In those cases, you would exhaust yourself climbing up and down the ladder.
Yeah, I've always understood they'd put the naturals one side, sharps the other, but that obviously would mean 25 one side, 36 the other, so are they laid out that way or are they divided more evenly?
@@richardharrold9736 No, the lowest key on the keyboard is note 1 then you count up chromatically. On a modern 61-note manual or a 32-note pedalboard, the lowest note is a C. Therefore, your odd note sequence is C,D,E,F#,G#,A# or 3 whites then 3 blacks. Even note sequence is C#,D#,F,G,A,B or 2 blacks then 4 whites. Since there are 12 notes in the octave, the sequence just repeats through each additional octave.
BTW, it a keyboard rank was built with a 16’ extension (32’ for pedal), those might be the first 6 pipes you encounter on each side so you might start with that stop first. Likewise, if it was built with extensions on the upper end, you’ll need to switch to those to do the final pipes of the rank. If a rank was extended years after the original build, an additional chest might have been constructed to house those additional pipes. In that case, you might want to save tuning those until later.
@@thomasbland6428 normally a 16ft extension would be on an offset chest... even some 8ft basses tend to be on offsets. I have also seen top-note chests containing an additional 5 pipes per rank where a 56-note compass has been extended to 61.
Wow, that room has become quite organic.
Sorry for that one! Great work on restoring and refitting that beast. I can deal with a plethora of wires, but I can not wrap my head around that microcontroller stuff. Amazing!
Hey I still quote lines from your "what are you doing, Sam??" short vid on an almost daily basis. It's an instant classic!
A stopped diapason (or stopped flute) is the English equivalent of a French bourdon or German gedeckt stop. They are usually made of wood though shorter (higher pitched) pipes might be made of metal.
The stopped portion of the name refers to a stopper or plug in the top of the pipe. This is opposed to an open diapason which is an open pipe. Closing the end of the pipe causes it to play an octave lower. This results in shorter, cheaper pipes.
Love the organ! Now it's time to rewatch A Clockwork Orange.
I remember the 1st organ video, and thinking this is gonna take years... and you got it going in what, a week or two?
I already knew you were amazing, but you really have 😎 pulled out all the stops 😎 on this project! ❤
You're a total inspiration. I need to get off my butt on some of my restoration projects lying around here!
I love that you're doing proper GPO-grade lacing with waxed cord 😀
Fuckin amazing. When you was pulling that ting apart in that hoose I thought you might get around to making use of it one day in a few years or something. Can't believe how good it's sounding and looking already. Should never have doubted it for a second. Shame on me
nobody was expecting it to come out so good, and usefull, and quick, and nice..
I was thinking the same, was VERY surprised and pleased to see a short with him playing it only a couple weeks later! 😁❤
It’s awesome to see this piece of music history being lovingly brought back to life and being made to work in ways never intended. It all just works with a little bit of love and elbow grease.
I swear everything you do gets cooler every time
So glad you rescued that. Those wood pipes have a lovely mellow tone.
Well worth the effort you have put in ,fantastic to hear ,thank you for saving this instrument,,
Thanks Sam for giving this organ new life, you are the man. That midi file from A Clockwork Orange was brilliant.
I'd love to hear Bach's Toccata and Fugue through that thing, but then hook up the midi file through all the other crazy stuff you've got so that by the end of the piece you've got a slamming electro funk rendition of a baroque classic coming out of every room in the museum. That would be some serious mad professor s**t😉
Toccata and Fugue was played on part 3 at 8min 30sec , video title I BOUGHT A CHURCH ORGAN Part 3 - Its Playing music! i loved the Clockwork Orange Theme played at the 14min 11 sec here (part 5)
Watching your be productive and succeeding with projects is fulfilling
Loved the bit of das boot on the organ!!
Ohja
another day another windchest, I'll hum it ,you play it ,sam, fun as F ,playing that i bet ,thanks for all you do and show ,excellent channel ,👍💪👽🤳
That MIDI file at the end really made me think about Walter Hus. He did a lot of covers of modern techno/trance songs on Decap organs, like The Age Of Love and Universal Nation :D
Awesome job, Sam! Makes me want to build an organ of my own!
this was theme from 'Das Boot' film, composed by Klaus Doldinger, which was then covered by U96, a german techno band
@@mateuszorlinski7334 Thanks for that, I thought that the music sounded familiar and was wondering where did I hear it from.
I like the LEDs a LOT more than I expected to! I just love in general how this whole thing has come together, it's _much_ more interesting than I thought it would be. Nice work!
This is awesome. You've taken an organ that was trapped within someone's walls and made an organ that could be potentially moved to different spaces and venues.
I'm curious to see how you resolve the keyboard situation. Midi organs are fairly pricey as are organ foot pedals and the various stands. There's definitely a second-hand market, and you can probably make a lot of that stuff. Looking forward to seeing that part of the build.
The boards to convert an electronic organ to MIDI are pretty cheap and easy to install if you're good with soldering and lots of wires (as Sam is), and suitable organs are regularly given away on FB or eBay - I got a few that way.
I think he took all of the console with stops, pistons etc. And it was electro pneumatic to begin with so after piecing together all the wind chests regulators etc I'm sure he'll look at modernization of the console itself to be able to connect and control different ranks with the option for midi input and possibly recording but that would only make sense once the rest is all "functional" Gonna take some time but I'm stoked at the progress made so far along with all the other projects on the go in the background. It must be quite a headache at times to keep on top of all the other museum exhibits with their obsolete parts and methods of operation. Hats off to Sam.👍
So, I can't stop smiling. Please continue to do amazing things, Sir!
That is so massive. Thank you for being so weird, the world needs this kind of creativity.
Amazing project. Perseverance furthers! The world needs this organ, THIS organ.
Look mum, the building pipes have become the computer
Loved the exit music... usually played in a grander manner, but yours is playfully interesting! You have my admiration....we are currently restoring 100 year old pipe organ( I'm the Organist) to digital combination, and I have spent a few hours avoiding spiderwebs in the area unseen by church members! Great work...all the best!
But how is that exit music called?
@@PWMaarten its the title theme of the movie "das boot"
If u mean the last organ piece i mean...
The synth wave end cart song he always used is händel's sarabande in D
@@femboyorganist Thank you!
You are not just a musician, but a magician. Thanks for sharing.
14:56 DAS BOOT!!!
I was lookin' for this comment 🤭 Another Klaus Doldinger fan, huh?
@@catoblepag U96 fan ))
Otto Kretschmer was the best ever, in only 1,5 years active time on U-99
I truly appreciate the quality of work in all aspects of the wind chest. The video combines an eclectic assortment of embedded systems, woodworking, vintage electromechanical devices, I could go on… The results are spectacular.
Good job, man. There's something strangely haunting about automated pipe organs. Reminds me of those cool old trucks you see at vintage rallies, with full pipes, drums and what have you built into the back, playing cool old tunes.
Integration of a punch card reader might even be possible further down the line. But if it's going to be midi anyway not much point other than to show the old music playback tech. Would be hella cool tho!
@@Hendeesh Imagine a punched card based programmable looper/sequencer....
@@geraintjones6401 I agree👍 and a lot of early computer databases in the 70's particularly libraries and the like used an optical punch card reader for file retrieval so it could be an interesting hybrid of obsolete-ness!! Rather than the pneumatically driven ones found on fairground organs. Given the existing old computer exhibits and the expertise at the local micro museum to Sam's could be an interesting collaboration.🤔 I reckon once he's got the rest of it going it could be quite possible to add some percussion ranks too a'la cinema/fairground organ stylee. But we're just "pipe" dreaming at the moment! (Sorry couldn't resist!) 👍
Excellent! 🔝🎼👏
8:54 The first 3 chords sound beautiful in this order!
Btw, no critique or anything but I think it would look cooler if the LED's would shine indirect light out of the flute openings.
Indeed it did
Would probably affect the harmonics too much. You'd have to embed each diode into the wood in transparent resin.
@@Nukle0n Yes, I thought about the same thing. It would be complicated and way too much work but it sure would look amazing.
In my imagination that is. Maybe it wouldn't even be that pretty in actuality.
You'd also have to add some type of connector to each pipe to allow it to be removed. This would not work with the smaller pipes, though.
@@user2C47 There are plenty of connectors for cables. Smaller pipes could be an issue though, good point.
Its so nice that you rescued that historic instrument. And the music you offer in every video is fantastic.
I think it might be nice to slightly extend the light covers so they block the light from hitting the pipes next to the intended one. Other than that, that's a REALLY good effect!
Possibly just some linear frost over the LEDs would give them slightly more directivity to neaten that up. But also the camera would possibly show up the spill more than in the room. Really wanna go check it out in person!
You have amazing tenacious motivation to get this organ upgraded with a midi interface. Amazing how you managed to utilize that telephone cable and wire it all in, like you were a telephone technician for years. Love this series of video you are producing. Excellent work young lad.
A little helium factoid - for the longest time, most helium was a waste byproduct of the oil & gas industry, especially wells in north Texas. It wasn’t until the demand for helium started climbing due to it’s medical usage to cool imaging equipment and it’s industrial use primarily in welding that needed to be done in the absence of oxygen that they started drilling wells primarily to harvest helium.
(Helium is the first noble gas on the periodic table. Because it’s valence ring of electrons is filled, it will not normally react with any other element. As it is lighter than any other gas other than hydrogen, it is safer to work around as it would normally want to rise and leave your lungs if accidentally inhaled as compared to neon and argon which are heavier than most components of air and would normally sink and pool in your lungs.)
it's a pleasant feeling knowing someone make such things in the world right now. and sharing the experience!
I was gonna say I would love clockwork orange on the wood pies, and there you go! Also Mazzy start look down on the bridge. I think party ballon helium is only 10-20% A. because you don't need much to be lighter than air and B. stop people doing stupid things. That organ is just epic. Your doing it wrong Sam! In a high squeaky voice :D Maybe squirt a bit of gas in a few stopped pipes, it will desplaces whats in there and should go up and hang around for a few plays.
Yes. Very Clockwork Orangey. 50 years ago now. Wow.
@@billr3053 Gets me in the mood for a nice cold, ice cold milk.
The helium sold for balloons is usually almost entirely helium, sometimes as low as 85% but usually +95%
@@_Piers_ you are quite correct. I'm not sure where I got that figure in my head. Might have been myth busters. Hmm. Thanks for making me re evaluate my parrot :D
these videos make my day. combining new and old to get a beautiful instrument back on its feet cant wait to come visit again its changed so much since i visit in at the begining of the year
The blower is probably driven by an induction motor, so that the rotation rate is roughly constant. The pressure that it can produce is proportional to the blade velocity squared times the density of the gas. Therefore, if the density goes down, the pressure goes down.
The item on top of the air reservoir is the device he’s using to control the motor speed and establish the proper air pressure. If there was an assistant available, one could have controlled the motor while the other adjusted the motor speed.
We've just found that out
@@thomasbland6428 I just reviewed video #2 about this. He called it a rheostat, but I expect (and/or hope) that it’s really a variac (a variable transformer). The reason he’s using it is that the motor was made for 210V, but the mains power is 240V. It originally had a transformer to do that conversion, which no longer works. Most likely the motor is in fact an induction motor (i.e. it has no brushes), in which case you can’t vary its speed by varying the voltage.
@@kc9scott Not sure. Many of these blower motors are decades old, dating back prior to 1950. Our organ runs on the original motor and blower from 1932. The only change made was that there was a generator mounted parallel to the motor shaft and connected via a pulley attached to the motor shaft (the blower shaft is in-line.) The generator provided a DC voltage to power circuitry on the console and to power the valve solenoids in the pipe closet.
In that early video, didn’t he slowly increase the rheostat until he had it up to voltage?
@@thomasbland6428 re: “didn’t he slowly increase the rheostat until he had it up to voltage”, yes he did, and I cringed for the sake of that motor. Not a good way to treat an induction motor, if that’s what it is. In the US, as early as the 1920s, induction motors powered the majority of blowers, but there still was the occasional DC motor here and there.
You have really done this organ justice. Fascinating to watch.
He doesn't know what he's doing! You don't do it like that, you do it like this!
You’re doing a really good job with this and those wooden flute pipes sound very nice. It’s great that this organ has been given a new life with probably the best owner it could have, and will be enjoyed by museum visitors.
Once a church organ, now a rave organ
This machine is sooo whow!
I love it ❤️
And I love „Das Boot“ too
OHH NOR SAMM WAT R U DOIN???
Amazing. Your knowledge, ingenuity, and patience are unrivaled.
Oh nooo, dont do it like that, you're doing it wrong! You don't know what you're doin'! Leave it to the people who have the knows!
I'm constantly amazed by how smart and industrious Sam is with this stuff. It took me 12 hours to wire my car stereo up and even then it still had a weird hiss. Forget wiring up a pipe organ!
Sulphur hexafluoride next please....
you know it makes sense
Soooooo Looooow
Playing the Main theme from Das Boot was amazing thank you very much for that! ❤️
I'm still blown away how full and articulate the organ sounds! Usually they're designed to be bespoke to the space they're played in, but it really shows in love and dedication you've put towards it.
SO BRILLIANT!!!!
This instrument could have gone to scrap so easily with anyone else, you're one in a million Sam, awesome work!
Awesome, another video. And cool that you explain how the tuning was done on this.
You are so special in a great way!👍
You're amazing! I'm happy for your interest in organs cuz this has been too enjoyable to watch and listen! What a gorgeous set that wooden one is
This sounds so beautiful. I'm hooked on this project.
I never know why I start these as something to listen to in the background, because I always end up fascinated and watching it intently the whole time. 😆 Love watching what you are doing with the organ!
Whoaah, "Das Boot" hit me very hard, goosebump material!
I love the aesthetic! Part builder, part electrician, part musical genius!!
Sam thank you for rescuing this instrument. Thank you also for highlighting our folly in wasting Helium for party balloons and such like. It is going to be essential for fusion reactors in the near future yet if we have squandered it all then we may well come to regret our folly.
When I saw you and your mates take the organ apart, I had serious doubts. What you have created is one heluva beautiful setup and like someone else commented, you are the best thing that could have happened to this organ. Fantastic!!
this has to be the best project on youtube at the moment!!!
The "A Clockwork Orange" theme at the end was fantastic
Thanks for saving these pipes!
I like that you care about resources. I watched a video last year about helium mining.
Bravo! You’re the ultimate passionate being materializing dreams!
Wow, now _that_ was cool. Probably the coolest thing I've seen on YT for a while!