Englewood United Methodist Church's recently installed Heritage Custom Four Manual by the Allen Organ Company is a combination of centuries old traditions and state of the art digital technology. For some, the idea of merging pipes with digital sounds sets the world of organ building on its ear. But for the musicians, choirs and members of this growing congregation, this idea was greeted not only warmly, but with great enthusiasm!
The nucleus of the instrument was built for the church in 1979 by Austin Organs, Incorporated as their opus 2628. Designed as a two manual, 16 rank instrument, the organ grew to 24 ranks with the addition of an 8' Gemshorn Celeste and Sesquialtera II in the Swell division, an 8' Krummhorn and 4' Flute Ouverte in the Great division, and a Mixture III in the Pedal division. Although cleverly designed and laid out, the organ became woefully inadequate when the size of the sanctuary was greatly enlarged. One could easily hear that the organ was designed for a much smaller space than it was ultimately required to fill.
Seeking a solution that would represent the best possible stewardship of the available resources, the organ committee selected Dunne Music Company to devise a new organ combining the resources of the previous instrument with a new console and digital additions by Allen Organ Company. Working closely with the Organ Committee and with the Director of Music Ministries and Organist, Fonda Davies, we developed a comprehensive specification that would meet the demands of the growing music program of the church both now, and in the future. Ted Hayes of Dunne Music Company, Sarasota managed all negotiations with the church.
With the exception of the Austin console, 100% of the original instrument was incorporated into the new organ. While the names of the original pipe stops are recognizable, their color and timbre are greatly changed. Wind pressures throughout the organ were raised, and all 1,403 pipes were adjusted for proper speech and volume and the interior of the organ received a thorough cleaning. This portion of the work was carried out by our colleagues at Guzowski and Steppe Organbuilders of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The console, built by Allen Organ Company of Macungie, Pennsylvania is of a special design that places all controls logically and comfortably within reach but maintains a profile low enough to allow the organist/conductor to easily see and be seen -- all while controlling an organ roughly four times the size of that controlled by the original console. Special features include divisional nameplate cancels; manual and pedal sharps, drawknobs and rocker tablets of rosewood; and a fully adjustable music rack and bench. An array of reversibles and ventils, piston sequencer, multi-track recording and playback capability as well as a multiple memory capture action assist the organist in commanding the vast resources of this instrument. A fully integrated, multi channel MIDI system allows the console to control (or be controlled by) other MIDI capable instruments opening the possibility for the organ to be used in contemporary as well as traditional worship settings. The Allen VISTA module further increases the organ's range and versatility by making hundreds of additional organ and orchestral voices conveniently available.
Digital additions were made throughout the organ increasing its size to four manuals and pedal with 94 ranks. Seven discrete sets of digital samples are contained within the console allowing the organist to transform the voices of the organ to sounds suited to the performance of any style of organ repertoire in a matter of mere seconds. The digital voices may be played antiphonally from a location high in the rear of the church. There are 90 speakers contained in 42 speaker cabinets of various sizes connected by some 18,000 feet of cable to amplifiers totaling 2,000 watts of power.