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An interesting phenomenon that I noticed while listening to organ pipes and most other instruments—perhaps the most outstanding example is the violin—was that the musical sounds were accompanied by a small amount of "noise." I was recently visited by a young lady from academe who was both a violinist and a physicist. During the course of the conversation I mentioned that one of the components of violin sound is noise, and she seemed to recoil at the thought. Nevertheless, a small amount of noise is a component of many musical sounds, including that of organ pipes. Over the years this fact has become increasingly acknowledged by acousticians and others interested in the production of musical sounds.
During the 1960s, we learned that organ prospects could indeed perceive these subtle sound characteristics when properly demonstrated. Interestingly, even with this arsenal of demonstrations, I encountered many well-seasoned organists who summarily rejected the idea that organ pipes, in fact, include random motion components as part of their sound. Clear demonstrations of this phenomenon to such persons were usually non-productive in that many of these organ "experts", once taking a position, found it hard to back off from that position regardless of the "proof of the pudding."
Another element of musical sound which I probed during those years was an effect sometimes called "chiff." It has become clear to students of musical sounds, over the years, that many musical instruments sound different at the onset of their sound production as compared to the steady-state condition which follows. For example, a violinist can bow the string of the violin in an accented fashion at the beginning of the sound, resulting in an easily perceived articulation of the tone, and then settle down into a more steady bowing during the aftersound. I observed that organ pipes have a similar effect in that some would begin with a slight "explosion" of sound—and noise—and then settle down to a more even, steady sound.
On June 27, 1961, I was granted U.S. Patents 2,989,886 and 2,989,887 covering mechanisms to produce chiff, random motion and noise in conjunction with the production of electronic organ sounds. On June 5, 1962, I was granted U.S. Patent 3,037,413 covering another method for production of chiff and similar transient effects in electronic organs.
To dwell a bit on the subject of inventing, I was happy to be a co-inventor with engineer Milton Nelson in the development of the photocell expression system described in U.S. Patent 3,045,522. Up to that time the volume control systems for electronic organs were basically rheostats or variable resistors. These devices invariably became noisy after a time, causing static-like sounds to emanate from the loudspeakers. The photoelectric system eliminated these noises. Moreover, reliability was dramatically improved. Most companies adopted this system in the years that followed.
There was substantial technological growth in the country in the decade from 1960–1970. Generally speaking, confidence in "technology" was high and innovation was flourishing. For example, during this period, the space program was in high gear; each new space development was eagerly followed by people all over the world. During this period, the integrated circuit became a reality, including the ubiquitous TTL devices which came onto the market during this time. The first commercial communications satellite was launched. IBM developed its famous System/360 and the BASIC computer language was created. These examples are just a few that reflect the quality of many of the technological developments which took place then. Moreover, many of these technological innovations are still quite relevant today more than twenty years after their development.
In contrast to other fields, I believe the musical instrument industry was slow to join the technological bandwagon. In Allen Organ's situation, although we did indeed come up with significant improvements as described above, we were essentially building electronic organs as we had in the past. We had a proven formula for success based on high quality, customer satisfaction, fiscal prudence, and the electronic oscillator. Why change?
Well, at first, it appeared we really didn't have to make fundamental changes. Sales were steadily increasing, at least in the early 1960s. Acceptance of the Allen electronic organ as a good alternative to a pipe organ was increasing. In fact, much of the history of the time period deals with prestigious installations and events which brought Allen into the limelight more than ever. The Company was still expanding with an employee roster of over 600. Our success during this period was due more to our continued hard work than to any major technological breakthroughs. The only problem with this was the fact that our competitors were slowly becoming more of a factor in the marketplace. This showed up when our sales growth flattened toward the end of the decade. I sensed that maintaining our leadership in the organ field would become more and more difficult if we simply continued down the same path. However, I didn't have the answer to this dilemma—at least, not immediately.
At that time, our competition had basically two strategies. One was to try to compete with us on our own turf—the institutional organ market—by emulating our earlier move into transistorization. The other was to create a new market—the "easy-play" home organ market—based on simple, low-cost tone generation combined with all kinds of automatic playing features. The companies who chose to follow the easy-play route did so because this method was an easy way to sell organs at the time. These companies were indeed selling many organs; however, they were also planting the seeds of their own destruction.
Even though a major, organ-related, technological development did occur in the late 1960s, I'll deal with that in the following chapters. For now, this chapter will focus on some more reminiscing about the Allen "electronic" organ. Accordingly I will reveal some more highlights of the decade.
Lincoln Center planned to open its first building, Philharmonic Hall, with a gala concert on September 23, 1962. A pipe organ was being incorporated into the building. Several scores requiring an organ were part of the musical program. As the big day drew near, it became clear that the pipe organ would not be finished in time. A committee, including Leonard Bernstein and William Schuman, was hastily assembled to address the problem. They decided to use an Allen Organ to save the program. We were asked to install a suitable instrument on a temporary basis with one week's notice. This would normally be a six-to-eight week job, but I was not about to miss this fabulous opportunity. We quickly agreed to the Committee's request and told them not to worry. Allen would be there ready for the opening day. We brought in a moderately-sized, two-manual organ with enough power to compete with the large symphony orchestra. Working around the clock in the midst of a din of construction noise, the Allen was brought to life just in time for the rehearsal.
In recognition of Allen's contribution to the program, my wife and I received an invitation to Opening Night, a very formal, white-tie affair. We attended along with many luminaries such as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and Adlai Stevenson. As we settled into our seats in anticipation of the start of the concert, the first sound we heard was that of the Allen Organ, played by perhaps the most famous organist of that time, E. Power Biggs. On the program were the Gloria from Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" and the first part of Mahler's gigantic Eighth Symphony, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
As The Morning Call of Allentown reported: "The Allen Organ, installed hastily by the Macungie company's technicians at the request of an organ committee from Lincoln Center, was as capable of filling its role as the great pipe organ which will eventually take its place.... The organ made itself known with the opening 'Star Spangled Banner'; brought a cathedral sound to the Beethoven 'Gloria,' and contributed with extraordinary effect to the tremendous Mahler score."
In the weeks following Opening Night, several other concerts were held which included prominent works for both organ and orchestra. Columbia Records was present; they later released recordings of the various performances. The publicity surrounding these events certainly enhanced Allen's image as a builder of fine institutional organs. A concert held a few weeks after Opening Night featured the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy with E. Power Biggs as organ soloist. The New York Herald Tribune, reporting about the substitution of an Allen for the Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, observed that "the switch brought pain to many an organ purist, but all we've got to say is that Aeolian-Skinner had better look to its laurels when Allen transistorized oscillators are around. The pipe-less stand-in had good definition of sound in both reeds and strings, and it even managed the 'chiff' at the beginning of each sound on the flute stops, which is so highly prized by devotees of the now fashionable Baroque organ." Dear Reader, I couldn't have summed it up any better.
Unfortunately, establishing and keeping a good image is not merely a matter of doing a good job. In the very same year we "proved" ourselves at Lincoln Center, someone started a rumor that transistorized organs would be damaged by radioactive fallout. This was nonsense, but someone apparently wanted to attack the "image" of the electronic organ by capitalizing on the public's legitimate fear of radiation fallout. Happily, the vast majority saw through this particular ruse. Sadly, though, this kind of tactic is all too common in our business. Moreover, much of it is subtle—not as overt and obviously ludicrous as the example just cited.
As a postscript to the Lincoln Center story, some years later we were again approached by Lincoln Center to help solve a problem. They were getting complaints about poor acoustics; some experts attributed part of the problem to the pipe organ—the one that didn't work for Opening Night. Well, the pipe organ was removed, the hall was renovated, and upon reopening sported a new name, Avery Fisher Hall. The management of Lincoln Center rented Allens for awhile, were pleased with the results, and decided to go with a permanent Allen installation. They gave us another call—this time with a purchase order.
The use of Allen Organs to accompany symphony orchestras became more common after the great success at Lincoln Center. An amusing anecdote connected with such a concert occurred when Robert Pearce and I decided to personally supervise the placement and voicing of the organ to be used to accompany the Philadelphia Orchestra in a recording of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss. The recording session was scheduled for a Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. Having set up the organ the day before, we relaxed Sunday morning and waited to enjoy the performance. Well, when the full organ was sounded with the orchestra, an unmistakable out-of-tuneness was heard. Much to our dismay, we learned that the Orchestra was using a non-standard A-442 pitch reference; we had tuned the organ to the standard A-440. As I recall, Mr. Ormandy naturally assumed that retuning the organ was out of the question and the session would have to be cancelled—at considerable expense. Keeping my fingers crossed because of time pressure, I decided to try for a retuning of the organ while the orchestra ran through some other music. Robert Pearce and I disconnected the organ, raced it to another room, and worked feverishly to change the pitch to A-442. In a little over an hour, we had the organ back with the orchestra and ready to go. Mr. Ormandy smiled his approval and conducted a marvelous performance.
In 1963, the Sales Seminar was held in our newly built showrooms which had been added to the factory the year before. The Theatre Compact model was introduced at the seminar.
The following year, 1964, another 66,000 square feet of factory space was added. This was used for assembly and finishing. Now our employee count topped 600. In addition, we went "international" with the establishment of a dealership in Switzerland.
With regard to interesting installations, we had a few that year including a specially built organ for the chapel in the Church Center for United Nations in New York City. An Allen was also installed on the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Champlain, the same ship that retrieved Alan Shepard after his descent from outer space.
We suffered a personal loss in 1965 with the death of Michale M. MyLymuk. His contributions to the Company were many, going back to the 1940s. Eugene Moroz, who also had a great deal of experience with the Company, having joined in 1946, was named Vice-President of Production.
In 1966, over 200 dealers attended our sales seminar. Our staff was surprised at the large surge of new orders, this just following months of heavy ordering. As a result, the backlog required working on Saturday mornings, skipping vacations, and carefully using temporary help.
Facing the need to expand again, we decided to establish a subsidiary operation, Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI), in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where land was inexpensive and labor plentiful. We announced our plans in 1966 and set up a temporary 10,000-square-foot operation in an empty tobacco warehouse. By the following year, we moved to a handsome, 60,000-square-foot, newly-built factory located in a nearby rural area. Many new products geared to the popular market and carrying the RMI label were designed. RMI portable keyboards, novelty instruments, and portable amplifiers were introduced. We developed a rapport with many popular and rock musicians of the day. RMI's mascot, "Gopher Baroque," provided the "Underground Sound" in vogue at the time. Actually, many musicians are still fond of their vintage RMI equipment and still use it today.
The Doors used an RMI "Rock-si-chord" in their hit song, "Hello, I Love You." The Rock-si-chord was a combination harpsichord and guitar played from a keyboard. Other top musicians and groups of the day such as Hank Williams, Jr., Deep Purple, The Association, Frank Zappa, and The Beach Boys, adopted the Rock-si-chord's successor, the RMI "Electra Piano and Harpsichord."
Formal dedication of the Rocky Mount plant was held in 1967 with North Carolina Governor, Dan K. Moore, cutting the ribbon. The employee count at RMI had grown to about 100 people by then. Meanwhile, back in Macungie, an April sales seminar brought in about 250 dealers. The Carousel Model was introduced. This instrument, aimed at the home market, offered many popular sounds including a rather convincing strumming-string section all in one package. Moreover, Allens continued to be used in concert with orchestras, including a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra at the huge Washington National Cathedral.
In 1968, organists Earl Ness and William Whitehead performed a two-organ recital at the Drayton Avenue Presbyterian Church in Ferndale, Michigan. A three-manual Allen was used with a large Moller pipe organ. Organ concerts featuring two organs playing simultaneously are quite rare; however, there are some scores available for two organs. The organists in this recital had been recorded at a similar performance in Philadelphia a few years earlier; the results were quite satisfying both musically and with regard to Allen's prestige. On the popular front, when Steve Allen went shopping for an organ in 1968, guess what he bought? Of course, he selected an Allen.
In an effort to diversify in 1969, we bought another company, Eichler Wood Products, Inc., a manufacturer of pallets, shipping containers, etc. Eichler operated as an Allen subsidiary for a while, but we were not satisfied, so we sold it in 1971. At the January 1969 sales seminar, we announced the Crystal Carousel and Continental Carousel derived from the original Carousel model. Also, in 1969, we announced that Allen Organ was involved in a joint program with a large aerospace company. The announcement only hinted at what was occurring. There certainly was a lot "going on," but I'll tackle that issue a little later.
By 1970, Allen Organs were to be found on six of the seven continents. An Allen Classic organ was purchased for the one-thousand seat Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. Jackie Gleason bought an Allen Carousel. However, closer to home, Allen delivered what was undoubtedly the largest electronic organ of its kind in the world to the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Dr. Robert Elmore, the noted concert organist and composer who was Director of Music and organist at the church at the time, had requested the custom, four-manual, 132-stop Allen. Purists were aghast that Elmore, the organist's organist, chose an electronic organ. But his reasoning made perfect sense. He explained that, with the funds and space available, he could either settle for a rather "modest two-manual pipe organ" or get an organ with the resources to match his broad creative interests. Happily, he chose the latter.
Finally, at the close of this time period, Allen announced a new capture system based on something called "microelectronics." The capture system of an organ memorizes or "captures" the various combinations of stops used by an organist during a particular performance. The organist sets up and captures the desired combinations before the performance. Once captured, a particular combination of stops on the organ, often involving numerous physical changes to the pattern of stops, may be brought back instantly at the push of a single button. Early capture systems were built using relays and involved rather bulky systems of hardware. In contrast, the new capture system did not need relays and was physically small. Most who pondered this new curiosity at the time didn't know they were actually previewing an incredible new era about to begin. Only a very few people knew about the immensely significant events taking place behind the scenes. However, much more was about to be announced in 1971.