Difference between revisions of "Eminent Omegan old-school analog organ"

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|picture=Organ.jpg
 
|picture=Organ.jpg
 
|ProjectSkills=Basic electronics,
 
|ProjectSkills=Basic electronics,
|ProjectStatus=Planning
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|ProjectStatus=Active
 
|ProjectNiche=Electronics
 
|ProjectNiche=Electronics
 
|ProjectPurpose=Fun
 
|ProjectPurpose=Fun

Revision as of 16:41, 9 October 2013

Projects
Organ.jpg
Participants
Skills Basic electronics
Status Active
Niche Electronics
Purpose Fun

The space has been donated an old-style analog organ. It is an Eminent Omegan 7100 from the 70's. The Dutch organ manufacturer Eminent (the company still exists) become famous when Jean Michel Jarre used the Eminent 310 Unique as the main instrument on his albums Oxygène and Équinoxe. The string section of that organ was the first commercial polyphonic string synthesizer, and the technology was licensed to ARP and become ARP/Solina String Ensemble, used pretty much by everybody in pop and rock in the 70's.

Our Omegan 7100 is a "practice church organ" model, so it has the church organ console, with 2 4.5-octave keyboards positioned straight above each other (rather than staggered by one octave as is usual on home/club organs). Circuits are a combination of analog (basic oscillators and filters), with 709/741 op-amps, and primitive digital (octave dividers).

Stage 1: check function of current hardware

On a first inspection, we found the circuit diagrams inside the organ. The 50 W amplifier and speakers seem to work, as you can hear the sounds from the spring echo when you turn up the volume, but the tone generators don't seem to work. More investigation (with a scope) needed. Switches and pedals seem to be in good condition, one key on the upper end of the bottom keyboard stands out, but is probably easy to fix.

Stage 2: restore full functionality, or go steampunk "phantom of the opera" console - waiting for verdict of stage 1 study.

Contact person: Julf