Our Allen Organ

For a while we have been talking about upgrading our 25-plus year-old Allen electronic organ. Well, after a lot of research and experimentation we’ve finally accomplished it and we think you’ll like the results. The Allen was a fine instrument in its time but as with all electronic devices, technology has so improved the state of the art in electronic musical instruments that the Allen just can’t compare to a new, modern organ.

That doesn’t mean that we need (or want) to scrap it and start over. The Allen is still a fine, high-quality piece of equipment and, for the most part, can continue to serve us well for a long time. We are only replacing the outdated portion of the instrument, the synthesizer (sometimes referred to as the “engine”). The Allen organ is actually a collection of multiple parts. The main part, the console, contains the keyboards, pedalboard, various switches and piston controls, digital circuitry (including the synthesizer) and five high power audio amplifiers. Additionally, multiple full range speakers and subwoofers are located at the front and back of the sanctuary behind grill panels in the walls. By updating the synthesizer portion of the Allen we are able to create an instrument that performs like a new, modern unit.

The new synthesizer we have chosen is a sophisticated computer program called “Hauptwerk” that runs on a high end personal computer. Hauptwerk closely models the sound of an elaborate pipe organ by using actual sound samples of each individual pipe in the organ and digitizing them, along with the reverberant acoustic created in the hall or cathedral where it is located. It also creates video displays showing virtual controls that simulate the actual controls on the pipe organ. This gives the musician the simulated experience of sitting at the actual console of the pipe organ and hear what they play come from that instrument. In our case, it also gives the congregation an audible taste of what it might be like to worship in a 900 year old English cathedral.

Hauptwerk doesn’t just recreate the sound of a generic pipe organ. It recreates the sound of the specific organ you choose. In our case, we chose the organ located in the Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England: the 1877 Father Willis organ. Built by Henry Willis, possibly the greatest organ builder of the Victorian era, it’s considered one of Britain’s finest and most well-known pipe organs.