M-111 Mod Journal

[tomtiki]

This is slick. You've given me an idea.

Great. All I need is another project. Or maybe I do.

--tom

Woohoo! Got the woodworking done on the Micron last night!

Attachment 4619

I'm gonna try to get the bass pedals MIDIfied by this weekend (release date of the Moog Minitaur).

Things are back in action!

-HH

[M3me]

Only thing I can add to the werx is on the internal Laney thing....

Keep it ~out~ of the Hammond. It will be heavier, hotter, and harder to work on should the need arise. It might even cause some noise issues due to having that much more RF producing stuff all wedged into the Hammond's lower house. And if you need to place the amp elsewhere due to projection issues (or lack thereof) the ~loose~ amp certainly makes that a breeze!

I went through that same hole thing .... in 1977. (see attached funky pics of my M100 rig .. The Barbarian .. from 1977. "Fire Hazard" would have been a more appropriate name I think!)

As to the rotary sim .... BOSS RT-20 .. all the way. I don't know how it compares to the Neo, but I had one of the Boss units. Used it with an XK-2 and my M3 ... wonderous. Headphone out as well. Very cost effective.

But just to get it said ... you can get a "junker" Leslie and DIY the heck out it for your purposes for (probably) no more money than the Boss thingy. Find a Leslie with no amp or a dead amp and use the Laney to drive it (see my sig). The Laney can still be used in parallel for adding key click and reverb. "Rotary reverb" doesn't sound so good, so you may wish to keep your reverb tones from the spinning whirlygigger. The paralleled Laney would provide a fine service in that role.

You'll discover that there are about "a hundred right ways" to do most anything with these old organs.

[Ham Hands]

This is slick. You've given me an idea.

Great. All I need is another project. Or maybe I do.

--tom

Hiya, Tom.

I'm happy to inspire. Good luck with your new project.

Thank you for the kind words about mine.

Only thing I can add to the werx is on the internal Laney thing....

Keep it ~out~ of the Hammond. It will be heavier, hotter, and harder to work on should the need arise. It might even cause some noise issues due to having that much more RF producing stuff all wedged into the Hammond's lower house. And if you need to place the amp elsewhere due to projection issues (or lack thereof) the ~loose~ amp certainly makes that a breeze!

I went through that same hole thing .... in 1977. (see attached funky pics of my M100 rig .. The Barbarian .. from 1977. "Fire Hazard" would have been a more appropriate name I think!)

As to the rotary sim .... BOSS RT-20 .. all the way. I don't know how it compares to the Neo, but I had one of the Boss units. Used it with an XK-2 and my M3 ... wonderous. Headphone out as well. Very cost effective.

But just to get it said ... you can get a "junker" Leslie and DIY the heck out it for your purposes for (probably) no more money than the Boss thingy. Find a Leslie with no amp or a dead amp and use the Laney to drive it (see my sig). The Laney can still be used in parallel for adding key click and reverb. "Rotary reverb" doesn't sound so good, so you may wish to keep your reverb tones from the spinning whirlygigger. The paralleled Laney would provide a fine service in that role.

You'll discover that there are about "a hundred right ways" to do most anything with these old organs.

Great advice, M3. Thank you for sharing your experience with amp-rodding your Hammy. Mounting the Laney internally is one of hundreds of ideas that I've had for my M-111 so this journal is very much an effort to shoot down bad ideas so I very much appreciate hearing your story. I love those pictures too.

As for the RT-20, there is a new sim out that I'm going to try out called the Roto Choir by Tech-21. We're having a little bit of a discussion about it in sfp1954's RT-20 vs Ventilator thread. http://www.organforum.com/forums/sho...r.-22H.-XK3-c.

All the best!
-HH

[Ham Hands]

The Micron came out awesome!

Before: alesis_micron-1.jpg

After: PIC_0475.JPG

Dry-transfer lettering is a bitch!

PIC_0466.JPG

PIC_0464.JPG

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I still have to add some felt to add to cover the gap between the keys and the panel. I've also got amber LED's on the way to switch out the green and red ones with. The wires for the display back-light weren't long enough to reach the new location so I've got that to deal with as well. Arg! That thing was like 1/4" too short! I'll wire a new 2-prong connector in there when I do the LED's.


On to bass pedals...

Peace!

[M3me]

Holy Radioactive Coyotes, Batman!! Friggin AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All hail the Ham Hands!!

I'm a Moog user from wayback. You've captured the essence of The Doctor just wonderfully. You should post this on the Synthesizers dot com forum. Them guys would LOVE this little beasty! Hell, I'd buy one!

You're a talented and well-practiced craftsman. Well done, well done indeed.

Brian ...

[Ham Hands]

Thank you for the awesome compliment, M3me. I am flattered that it has approval from a man of your tastes.

So, I finally got the backlight for the screen working. They do not sell pre-wired connectors, just the connector itself that you have to install your own wires into which was a PITA. I also installed a nice set of strap-locks (yes, I keytar) and found a sick set of headphones that match her pretty well. Updated the Micron OS as well which also means I'm wired to program the Highly Liquid MIDI CPU when the time comes. LOL, I had to dig up a PC with MIDI ports out of the shed. It was a "finger's x'ed" kind of thing at first but it fired up no problem.

PIC_0492.JPG

PIC_0490.JPG

I had a little accident with her at a jam session this weekend. I rested my arm on the strap-lock (yes, wile keytaring) which caused it to dis-engage and she fell straight to the floor! Everyone was worried but me 'cause I know she's solid as a rock. I was just glad it missed my toes! No damage done. Good girl! I should mention that I was probably very fortunate that I had it plugged in with an elbowed patch cord. The enclosure kept it from even touching the ground. A straight cord might have done some damage though.

In other news, I decided to go with the Tech-21 Roto Choir to use as a Leslie sim and it should be here in a few days. I'll do a video so y'all can hear it since there aren't yet any examples of it with a keyboard out there. I bought it for the Hammond but I'm really curious to hear the Micron through it. I'll be stoked if it can turn the Micron organ sounds into something useable.

All the best!

-HH

[Ham Hands]

Woohoo! Got the "brain box" for the bass pedals soldered up last night and it's functioning 100%!

MIDI in/out and labeled wires for hooking up to the switch array:

PIC_0517.JPG

Power in and a 5 pin din for plugging in the octave and sustain switch box:

PIC_0514.JPG

4 feet of heat-shrink and a little over 1 foot of leads should be enough to route things nice and tight:

PIC_0510.JPG

It's going to mount vertically against the side wall of the Hammond with just the 2 MIDI ports in view. I might add audio outputs to it but that won't happen until I have some experience using all the parts. I'm also envisioning a fader knob to balance the organ audio between the amp and the Moog but I have to hear what the organ sounds like through the Moog before I go through the trouble. I'm just focusing on the bass pedals for now but generating as much forethought as I can so as not to miss out on any potential badasseries.

Next step is to build the switch array which will all be mounted on a 2" angled aluminum and should install with just 2 screws. The snake will pass through a hole in the floor of the organ and all of the wires will connect to a barrier strip which will already have the reed switches pre-wired on the input side. The actual install should be a piece of cake. Altogether I've got about $120 invested in the parts for this project. The Moog Minitaur is $600 so I feel like I came out on top to pull-off a set of built-in Taurus bass pedals for my Hammond for $720. You can hardly buy a bass pedal MIDI controller for that and the Taurus bass pedals run about $1700-$2000! I might have kits for sale when this is all said and done.

-HH

[Ham Hands]

Thought I'd throw up a photo of the Chord Organ:

PIC_0523.JPG

Would love to hear some comments on her. I've only ever seen a couple with this body style. Is it accurate to call that the "Bertha" shape?

I've long desired to gut it and mount a clone in it. Somebody needs to take her off my hands before I do. Especially now that my comfort level is increasing with such projects as of late.

If it wasn't for the fact that this instrument is 100% intact and in such good shape for her age, I'd be a little more willing to dismantle her. She really needs to be in the company of somebody that will appreciate her. I want that to be her destiny, not to become another one of my Franken-sticks. I'm in the search for someplace awesome for her so please share any ideas as to where that might be.

-HH

[Ham Hands]

Got the switch array put together yesterday and installed everything. The MIDI bass pedal project is done and functioning 100%!

PIC_0541.JPG

I'll get some video up after the Moog Minitaur arrives which could be weeks, IDK. Apparently it's a long wait in line to get your hands on one of them right now.

All the best!

-HH

[Brendon Wright]

Dang!
How'd I miss this thread?
(prolly cos it's an M111 mod journal and I've never even seen an M series organ in person)

However, this is perfick, I've a friend I help out in the weekends with with his various madifications... I should get him signed up here....

We're not only alterificating his L122 into some other sort of creature, he got sick of the stupid sounds on his Korg digital piano apart from the three main pianos but loved the key action and the built in speakers (which actually sound pretty nifty. He's applying a bit more wood to the thing, has sawed off the buttons he doesn't want and is grafting in the guts of a Nord Electro rack mount for its EPs and Hammond.

He's an engineer, so his workmanship is a good deal better than mine. I offer completely unnecessary advice and he believes me. That's what friends are for, eh?



The Micron is DAMN fine looking!!!!!

Did you have to lay on the lettering one character at a time, or did you get the words made up in the shop? What was the transfer method you used?

I've been listening to a great band from 1978 called Minotaurus: loads of moog as well as hammond and guitars, like War of the Worlds if Camel performed it. The moog tone is so perfect, fat and warm, there's nothing at all tacky about it which would cause a modern rocker to go "ugh".
I was thinking an eventual visit to this DIY analogue synth site would be in order:
http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/
and with housings built like your one it'd be heavenly.

Unless, of course the synths don't measure up. I need to look into the sound samples one of these years....