First, BRAVO Nelson Dodge for setting the record straight.
Second, Noel's message about sharing midi files throughout the Rodgers
community is not really true.... most two-manual artist midi files will work on
other two and three-manual Artist organs.... and some will even work well on
Infinity organs too. Granted PDI files dont work so well in the new series
organs, but there is still an ability to share files on many instruments and
learn from eachother.
l recently received some instruction from a local Allen Dealer on the the VISTA
recording system for a large 2-manual Allen instrument that is roughly 9 years
old. This made me appreciate RODGERS organs (even 20 year-old instruments)
even more. Let me explain, this organ has 8 built in memory banks and when you
record in VISTA, the organ only records which PISTON you used (not the
individual stops chosen as Rodgers has done for decades). As such, when you
change the pistons on the memory level that you used in the recording, the
recording is no longer use-able as the stop changes are not saved and different
stop choices will come up. Given this severe limitation (which are not found
on any digital Rodgers), it is nearly impossible to create a library of
performances for our sister church to use when an organist is not available.
Information like this would be so much more helpful to disseminate to folks on
this list (rather than rumors) so list members can make informed decisions on
the pros and cons of various organs they may wish to consider. Unfortunately
our sister church did not know of this limitation for nine years since the
competitive salesperson was their organist at the time this console was
purchased. I would also add that the memory battery in this console is only
expected to last for five years which is about 1/3 of the lifetime found in
most Rodgers PDI memory batteries.
Steve Smith
205/797M Home
W-5000 Other Home
798M with pipes in Church Chapel
-----Original Message-----
From: Noel jones <noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [rodgersorganusers] Thoughts for Rodgers US
Date: Mon, 15 May 2017 18:29:42 -0400
Up until the Trillium Series, Rodgers used a standard MIDI ID system, so that a
MIDI file recorded on one organ would play on any other Rodgers.
It appears that the idea of customizing stoplists gave someone the idea that
this would no longer work.
If they had asked the users of the organs they would heavily have voted to make
the stop positions reflect the STOP ID, not the wave shapes assigned to it…so
an 8’ Principal Family stop on the GT would always be XXX, no matter what the
name of it was or the stop wave shapes assigned to it.
If the Rodgers organ was a French organ that stop would play a Montre 8’.
On another Rodgers organ it would play a German Principal.
Currently MIDI files recorded by organists from prior years often trigger a 16’
on the Great, one of the least-used stops on the organ, muddying up the sound
tremendously.
Sharing midi files throughout the Rodgers community was enjoyed by many and not
available right now.
Could we please have standard MIDI ID’s back along with all stops being PDI
standard - give an option to vary this ihf you must, but let’s start them all
as PDF insted of having it a hard-to-access option in advanced voicing menus
available to techs?
Private owners, always be nice to your tech. She/he can be VERY helpful with
isues like this.
Noel Jones, AAGO
for Playing Guides to your Rodgers Organ at Frog Music Press