Help me, I'm going to build a pipe organ

mshilarious said:
I am negotiating to acquire what I hope will be most of the pipes . . . I think I can hold the entire project to less than $2K :)
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That's quite reasonable for a project of this magnitude. Looking forward to updates no matter how long it takes! :)
 
bousou-whati? this is quite an under-taking, seems like you'd need some higher ceilings for a pipe organ, I don't know, but cathedrals usually have 20-30 foot ceilings in them, whats the scoop on this? any problems with pipe organ sounds due to ceiling height?
 
Lectric_Lab said:
bousou-whati? this is quite an under-taking, seems like you'd need some higher ceilings for a pipe organ, I don't know, but cathedrals usually have 20-30 foot ceilings in them, whats the scoop on this? any problems with pipe organ sounds due to ceiling height?
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Length is a function of frequency. The big pipes are the low notes. Organ pipe nomenclature is in nominal feet; middle C is 2', for example, but the pipes are usually a little shorter than nominal. A stopped pipe will sound an octave lower than an open pipe, so that's a common 'cheat' for those with little space (it's also used in bigger organs for a different tonal color). I will be limited to pipes that are 4' long, that will mean a range down to C3, at least nominally. I will probably be able to add some basses below that, hopefully down to F2, or maybe even C2 with stopped pipes.

By comparison, your big ol' church organ will have a 16' stop, which gets down to C1. Some giant organs even have a 32' stop, that's C0, or 16Hz! :eek:
 
An aquaintance of mine in College turned his parents' house into a pipe organ, running PVC pipes in the basement. He was one of those high octane people who like never slept and was always building stuff. There's got to be some kind of clinical name for that....

He also built violins and double basses out of PVC. The bass was pertty cool.

Good luck!

Do you have a link to your source for pipes?
 
OK! I have determined that 4 inches of water = .144 psi. I also see that I had a simple man-o-meter on the radon fan on my old house. I think I can score one of those.

Progress is being made!
 
this would be amazing to me. Its hard for me to grasp that someone could or would do it...but its sounding more interesting cause of the challenging factor.:D
 
50cal said:
this would be amazing to me. Its hard for me to grasp that someone could or would do it...but its sounding more interesting cause of the challenging factor.:D
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Well, the pieces are falling into place. I have bought three ranks of pipes, should be something like 120 :eek: and I hope to have them in a couple of weeks.

I have identified the MIDI output hardware, and I have written a control program that will run either as a standalone .exe or a VSTi to control the organ. I already finished what I need for my purposes, but I am expanding it so it might be of general use to . . . . ummmm . . . other MIDI-controlled pipe organ builders :o I'll post it on my site if anyone is interested.

It could be a kinda handy utility for anybody who wanted a VSTi interface between one or multiple controllers and another VSTi that actually had the organ patches you wanted to use. Basically it splits one or more controllers to virtual manuals, and routes the note output to various MIDI channels based on selected virtual stops. It will also transpose each manual and harmonize stops.

Right now I am just trying to decide how it will respond to program changes, and I need to add expression functionality for a "swell" manual. Also if you go crazy and do non-organ things like pitch bend, I have no idea what will happen :o I also can't decide what to do with velocity. I should just set a fixed velocity, subject to the expression control for the swell manual. Personally I don't care, because my output driver board doesn't use velocity (organ magnets are switches), and I will not have a real cabinet swell. But I should do something for the softsynth folks :confused: Maybe I will set a velocity threshold on the "great" manual that adds stops when you really bang hard.

Then it's just a bunch of carpentry, ductwork, and a small bit of electronics . . .
 
There was a segment on "Made in America" or "Dirty Jobs" (can't recall which) about a company that rebuilds pipe organs. Interesting to see what all goes into them. The metal pipes were rolled from sheet (tin or zinc alloy maybe), with a soldered seam, which in turn were soldered into a funnel-shaped base.

You might be able to borrow some of the output circuitry from the homebrew Xmas light show people. They use a sequencer to drive the lighting circuits in sync with an audio track-- lots of relay and dimmer circuits.

Might also be worth looking for an old band organ (like in a carousel). They typically had a few small ranks of metal and wood pipes that could be adapted. Plus you could engineer a "drum machine" to go with the pipe organ from the extra band organ parts. :D

Good luck!
 
pipe organ

Well; I've got to admire your balls! But you should REALLY think about getting a good , vintage Hammond, and a pair of leslies. Would probably be cheaper in the long run. (B-3"s) can be made midi controllable). If you are REALLY set on building your own pipe organ, (and you need lots of height for that) I'd suggest finding a really whacked out, (read, cool!) machinest! Best of luck, and please let me know how you make out. Roy.
 
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Roy/Keys said:
Well; I've got to admire your balls! But you should REALLY think about getting a good , vintage Hammond, and a pair of leslies. Would probably be cheaper in the long run. (B-3"s) can be made midi controllable). If you are REALLY set on building your own pipe organ, (and you need lots of height for that) I'd suggest finding a really whacked out, (read, cool!) machinest! Best of luck, and please let me know how you make out. Roy.
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Pipe organs don't sound anything like B-3s. It's like someone saying they're going to build a Carvin Bolt kit and you suggesting they just get a ukelele instead.
 
apl said:
Pipe organs don't sound anything like B-3s. It's like someone saying they're going to build a Carvin Bolt kit and you suggesting they just get a ukelele instead.
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Actually I think it's more like somebody saying they want a Stradivarius and suggesting they get a Carvin Bolt kit :D and then they decide to buy the Stew-Mac violin kit.

There really is no substitute for real pipes. I have never heard a classical release recorded on a Hammond. That is not to say there isn't one, but I don't want to hear it.

Also, the pipe organ will take up much less room than a Hammond. The pipes can be cleverly built into my bookshelves; a Hammond cannot.

Pipe length is a function of frequency. A capped pipe sounds an octave lower than an open pipe of the same length (roughly speaking), so you can get C2 out of a pipe a little less than 4'. No, it won't be the kickass C0 that a giant pipe organ gets, but a Hammond can't do that either.

I don't need a machinist as I am buying the pipes! I only need to fabricate some ductwork and some basic wood boxes with holes in them. I can manage that. (By the way, the metal pipes are generally tin/lead)

I have just about finished my MIDI application; hopefully today, then I will post a link here :)


Edit: Whoa, I just looked at the price of a Hammond--over $10K :o I guarantee I will spend FAR less than that!
 
apl said:
I think it's the other way around because the cap forces a node while the open forces an anti-node.
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http://www.lawrencephelps.com/Documents/Articles/Beginner/pipeorgans101.html

Flue pipes can be further classified into two sub-categories: open pipes and stopped or closed pipes. Open pipes are open at each end and have a full harmonic series with the main pitch and harmonics at a frequency of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, etc. Stopped pipes have a cap on the top and thus the pitch is one octave lower than the pipe would be if it was open. These pipes have only the odd harmonics: 1x, 3x, 5x, 7x, etc. Pipes having only odd harmonics have a uniquely different sound than open pipes.
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