Several years ago I know there were some people trying to 'understand' the
Hofbauer 'black box' system used on their monkey organs and similar products.
Did anyone make any progress? I'm considering buying a used instrument and have
heard horror stories about maintainability, availability of factory support,
cost of factory repair, and availability of music.

Any assistance or comments by private e-mail would be appreciated.

 [ Editor's Note:  I'm personally interested in the comments that others
 [ might have to make.  I know very little about the system.  It would
 [ be nice to have both a review of what the system is, as viewed by
 [ the collector, and also what the system is, as viewed by an electrical
 [ engineer or computer programmer.  Can a 3rd party make new tunes ?
 [ There's enough composers and arrangers here that it would be
 [ really interesting.  I'd encourage those of you who write to
 [ Hal to CC: us on your thoughts.
 [
 [ Thanks, Jody