Drawknobs

[Austin766]

I don't play organ much nor do I play organ very well (I'm really a string player and a singer), but I know that over the years, I have seen a number of posts about burnt out bulbs in lighted knobs (I don't recall seeing posts about burnt out lights in tabs...), but I can say that I prefer to have things that move, be they tabs or knobs. I know for myself that when I sit down at a console to play, I can know for certain what is and isn't on in an instant and be sure of it with moving knobs and tabs. There are factors which could complicate this (e.g. malfunctioning electrics, ventil chests with cutoffs engaged...), but I don't think those are of immediate concern here.

[AllanP]

You are with the majority in liking moving tabs and draw knobs.

[douçaine]

Don't tar and feather me, but when relying on pistons extensively, lighted tabs are my favorite. They don't make that horrible "clunk" noise, which can be so distracting. I performed Messiaen's Les Mains de l'Abîme last week on an old electropneumatic organ with drawknobs. After the soft middle section, going suddenly to full organ should be a horrible shock to the audience. What ruins it is when you hear a loud "clunk" in the middle of the silence; it tells everyone "hey, loud bit coming up". I ended up pulling all the stops by hand for that change; it took a few seconds (at breakneck speed), but no one could see what I was doing, and they were appropriately startled by the sound of the organ in the next section.
I tend to do a lot of hand registration in services, though, so I prefer moving stop tabs for general use. Easy to manipulate, even if a little loud when I push a button. Drawknobs are hard to adjust very quickly and loud, so they are my least favorite, assuming that we aren't talking about organs with mechanical stop actions.

[Prinzipal123]

Thanks for all responses and thoughts.

I was able to obtain a good amount of SAMs, which I will use in place of drawknobs.

,Prinzipal123

[Larrytow]

I think Doucaine does actually have a good point about the noise involved in using drawknobs with pistons. I know it is almost Heresy to say anything negative about most folks ( mine too ! ) favorite style of stop control. But when I am playing a good size drawknob console, there are times I hand cancel all the stops after a piece or hymn, just so that the congregation does not hear the Thunk of them all going in at once.

I tend to cancel every stop ( with general cancel, or by hand ) when there are parts of the service going on that I am not playing for actively. That is mostly a just in case thing, so that if an errant book or whatever comes of the music rack while swapping stuff around, there is no chance of the organ making distracting loud noises. Been there, done that - sorta embarrassing !

That said, I really do like the Thunk of a big registration being set with a piston before a hymn. Kinda sets the mood for me I guess.

[Austin766]

I know that famed early 20th century concert organist Edwin H. Lemare preferred to do his registration by hand, even when the consoles were equipped with reliable combination actions and copious adjustable pistons (for example see the original console of the San Francisco municipal organ, Austin Op. 500). He also would specify the Crescendo shoe be waaaaaay off to the right much like period Willises or Harrisons, I don't recall if I ever found out whether that was a measure against confusing it for a swell shoe or if it was just where he thought it best placed.

[hartleymartin]

Despite having access to pistons, I still like to register everything by hand. I even make use of an assistant to register the organ for me when I am playing, and often act as a registrant for other organists. You start to get a feel for what they want to do next.