In digest 9505011 Dave Clark asked for information about equipping
his small street organ for Midi control.  His keyless book reader
scale is for 14 melody, 9 accomp, 5 bass, and 0 (zero)
counter-melelody channels, for a total of 28 channels with no
register controls.  This format nicely matches the WurliTzer 125
scale.

Mike Ames and David Wasson, of Solana Instruments, 234 N. Cedros,
Solana Beach, CA 92075, have performed several installations of Midi
into organs, big and small.  They would be happy to share their
experiences with others, and provide sources for the electric valves
and Midi circuit boards.  Phone them at the museum on weekdays
between 7:30 and 2:30 PM, Pacific time, tel: 619-481-1663.

(Wasson has 34-key small street organ he built from scratch, also
with 5 bass channels, and everything runs on one 5-inch wind supply,
including the keyless frame that reads book music made from cheap
manilla folders. It is equipped already for Midi control.)

In Germany last Fall I saw several makes of new small handcranked
street organs that all used the same electronic control system, in
which the valves and electronics are powered from a 12-volt NiCad
rechargable battery pack.  Wind power is still from the hand crank.
Most of the organs also had music roll spoolboxes, too, but the
operator could alternatively call up songs from ROM memory modules,
which were inserted much like a Nintendo TV game program.

Mike Ames said he thinks the little organs all use the same
electronic system, and I just found an ad for the Deleika Organ Co.
which suggests that Deleika is the producer of the "GEFI noba tronic"
systems used in these small organs.  Deleika offers complete organs
of 20 and 26 keys (music roll and tracker bar reader), and fitted
with 20, 31 or 44 pipes. By my reckoning the 44-key scale would be 5
bass, 8 accomp, 13 melody, 0 counter-mel, which is only slightly
smaller than Dave Clark's organ.

The organs I heard had very quiet valves.  Deleika offers 300 song
files containing 500 songs from the 19th and 20th century.  Many I
heard were familiar tunes, 'tho I couldn't name them.  As I recall
the battery pack was good for a couple of hours of music.

One cute feature:  the music plays faster and slower with your
cranking speed, and slows to a complete stop when you quit cranking
and the wind pressure disappears.  Quite realistic.

If Deleika sells the components in a kit, their system is a fine way
to instantly get a small street organ playing a BIG selection of
tunes.  The magnet valves they furnish could, with few extra
components (a diode or two for each valve) also work simulataneously
with the Midi circuit boards.  For "information and demonstration
at no cost" contact:

DELEIKA Drehorgelbau GmbH
Frankenstrasse 7
74219 Mockmuhl-Auttlingen
GERMANY
tel: 06298-3434
fax: 06298-4434

-- Robbie Rhodes <rhodes@foxtail.com>  7 July 1995