About this Allen MDS Theatre III

The Theatre III has four primary channels and I use a fifth channel for the ARTE system (cymbals, sound effects, etc.). In addition to the five channels coming out of the console, it also feeds midi signals to the Ensemble. The Ensemble is a two channel affair that adds many extra voices to the organ. The organ and Ensemble feed three Alesis Nanoverb digital effects units that create electronic reverb. These Alesis units feed two separate amplifiers.

One two channel amplifier is used for the Ensemble and feeds two HC-12 speakers that are the middle speakers above the console. The second amplifier feeds the four primary organ channels to four HC-15 speakers - two at the outside of the west wall and two about 18 feet back from the organ - close to the ceiling. The final ARTE channel is fed directly into the fifth channel of the the second amplifier and that channel, in turn, feeds a large customer speaker system behind the console in the corner of the room. Total maximum feed to the seven speakers is 700 watts RMS - yes, it can really vibrate the house. The speaker system has been through a lot of changes. Two Cerwin Vega speakers have moved out of the organ room along with two Allen HC-10s and a couple of old allen speakers.

You can see some of the changes that the system has gone through in the Gallery. There are two pages of thumbnails in this album. Clicking each one will display the picture but you may have to resize it depending on your screen resolution.

So far things seem fairly simple but now for the rest. The outputs of the Alesis Nanoverb units plus the ARTE line also feed a Behringer mixer which, in turn, feeds the audio inputs of the computer in the next room. This makes recording a lot easier and, since the midi cable also feeds from the console to the computer, it enables my experimentation with the midi sequencer on that computer.

On the computer is a MidiTzer 260 virtual theatre organ that is the equivalent of a 3 manual, 19 rank Wurlitzer. The midi signals from the organ console in the front room can feed and control the voices and actions on the MidiTzer and have them feed back into the system out front - the Allen voices can be successfully mixed with the MidiTzer voices. The Allen Theatre III is the equivalent (as near as I can figure) of a 3/17 pipe organ.

I've done a little customization on the console, adding toe studs that parallel the 10 general pistons and the revert piston. The organ itself has ten general pistons and six divisional pistons for each of the three manuals - all are configurable and can be mapped to control any set of stops. There is also a 'Bass Coupler' and 'Melody Coupler' - the first couples the pedal stops to the lowest note being used on the Accompaniment manual and the later coupling the Solo manual to the highest note being played on the Great. There are also independent controls for second voicing - one for the Accompaniment and Great and the second for the Solo manual. When engaged, these controls change specific voices from 'theatre organ voices' to 'classical' organ voices. The two expression pedals act independently (unless the Master Expression is engaged) - the left being the main and the right controlling the volume on the tibias and percussions. Lastly, there are three independent controls for the Trems - Main, Solo, and Tibia.

Walt Strony (the best Allen organ voicer in the land - in my opinion) has voiced the organ, and it sounds beautiful. A good friend of mine who has played a wide variety of instruments told me he thought it sounded 'almost' as good as one of the newer Allen Rennaisance models.

Here is the stop list for the THIII:

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