You may want to see if Walker Technical is still providing updates for the
analog Rodgers models.You might get a significant improvement in the playing
experience even with the analog sound.
On Saturday, October 7, 2017 12:03 AM, Jeff White <jawhite1967@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks, Nelson. I figured that’d be the case, but I thought I’d ask.
I don’t think this has MIDI... at least I don’t see any evidence of that. The
console is in perfect condition...I’d hate to mess it up.
I’m considering moving and I doubt I can take the organ with me. It’s simply
too big to go through a regular door. I had to take both panels of a sliding
glass door out to get it into my basement.
Yes, I’d love a 3-manual instrument!
Jeff
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 6, 2017, at 11:20 PM, Nelson Dodge <nelson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Anything is possible...if you're willing to spend enough.
Rodgers has never offered an "upgrade kit" for analog models--it's not really
feasible and would be a support nightmare (when you play out the implications).
An "upgrade" to newer technology (digital) really means a complete rebuild--gut
the console and start over. The challenge is the availability of a complete
system--there are not many choices. Artisan is a modestly priced option, but I
don't recommend it. I got it to use in a complete "rebuild" of a model 205,
but gave up and am using Hauptwerk. We're using the Artisan I/O and microMIDI
boards for the keying and MIDI, but abandoned the Artisan "engine" in favor of
HW.
We've made a large investment of time and $$ in the 205 project....and the only
reason I went down this path was because I wanted to preserve the uniqueness of
the 205 console with the pipes, but give it a state-of-the-art digital sound
engine. We've been working on it for two years (spare time project!) and have
it playing now...down to the short strokes of getting it finished.
The average 2-manual analog console would not warrant or justify the effort.
Just buy a newer organ. It's kind of like trying to "upgrade" an old B/W TV to
color....hmmm: why would you do that other than to preserve some really cool
1960s piece of TV furniture? And now that I think about it, retrofitting an
old B/W TV with the guts of a color TV would probably be easier than these
organ "rebuilds!"
With your 760 there is another important issue: it is 2-manuals. For that much
effort and expense, wouldn't you want three manuals out of the deal? I have
the same issue with the 205--and we even added some stops (because we
could--there was space on the jambs). So now we have rather large divisions
(like your 760) but stuffed onto two manuals. Again, my motivation was
preserving the pipes and the unique design of the 205--a 760 would not have
been worth this much work and investment.
Your 760 has MIDI, so it shouldn't be too much work to simply plug it into a HW
system. If the console were a digital model, I believe you could configure HW
to work with the draw knobs, but it seems somewhat impractical to me since HW
by design is any organ you want it to be and you would typically have several.
Each sample set is going to be rather different and won't map cleanly or
necessarily logically to the existing draw knobs. Touch screens are the
pragmatic and effective solution.
Consider plugging your 760 into a HW system with screens and going for it.
Nelson Dodge, President
Church Keyboard Center
The largest selection of church organs and carillons in Southern & Central
California
Rodgers | Johannus | Monarke | Makin | Copeman-Hart | Hammond | Schulmerich &
Verdin
909 599 7899 office / service
818 468 9870 mobile
On Fri, Oct 6, 2017 at 8:26 PM, Jeff White <jawhite1967@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All -
Is it possible to upgrade a Concord 760 from analog to more modern equipment?
I’m not talking Hauptwerk, although that’s a possibility. I’d just want it to
work with the existing stop knobs, not touch screens. I thought there was a
time when you could upgrade the internal system…but maybe that wasn’t Rodgers
that did that?
Just curious.
Jeff
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