ROB Quinn’s home-made organ sounded “dead as a dodo” when he played in his new Tasmanian home.
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The instrument, which he built in the 1980s, fit an alcove at his old Sydney home but didn’t give the sound he wanted at his new house.
Frustration led to invention for the former industrial electrician.
He experimented with computer programs and learnt electronics finding a way to pack the power of a large church organ into an instrument that fits in his living room.
Mr Quinn’s 1950s vintage English oak organ is now refitted with a finished Tasmanian oak extension which houses modules with digitally-sampled organ sounds.
It’s capable of producing sound powerful enough to fill a church building and lead a large group of singers.
“It just about parts your hair,” Mr Quinn joked.
The road to reinvention took a few byways after the organist, now 74, tossed his old home-made organ pipes onto the fire.
The idea of playing a Yamaha electronic organ he saw advertised in the paper didn’t excite him. But his Google search on the model led him to computer software Hauptwerk, which lets organists play digitally-sampled organ sounds with key and pedal boards connected to a computer.
He found keyboards and pedals at a barn at Underwood, Tasmania and connected them via three MIDI scan computers to his Mac, which had the software.
“I was now able to play a rather large English church organ in my home.”
When he discovered sound modules, he extended his old English oak organ case and fitted them along with his new key and pedal boards.
Organs are a rare sight in churches.
“They take up a tremendous amount of real estate,” Mr Quinn said.
He has played his digital organ at Legana Christian Church at two Christmas services.
“There’s a tremendous thrill in leading a big congregation singing.”
His fascination with the instrument began at the age of two. When the morning service ended, as a child he would walk up to the organ, push in the stops and switch off the blower.
“I was a little boy who was interested in things that worked,” Mr Quinn said.
The organist has kept tinkering with the instrument. He added a set of LED lights to its music rack.
Mr Quinn modifies his instrument’s sound for the building it’s played in.
A chimes sample sounds strident in his home but suits a church building.
He is curious about the organ’s potential.
“I’d like to put it on a really big speaker system and see what it could do.”
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Email doug.dingwall@fairfaxmedia.com.au
I’d like to put it on a really big speaker system and see what it could do.
- Rob Quinn
