Allen Organ

The Allen Organ Company was established in 1937, named after the place of its founding: Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Company was founded by Steve Markowitz, and family members have continued in its management.

In 1971, Allen introduced the first commercially-available digital musical instrument, the original example of which is now in the Smithsonian Institution. The ANU’s instrument was purchased with the assistance of Professor Robert Crompton and Mrs Helen Crompton.

The instrument features 3 x 61 note manuals, constructed by Allen in an adjustable keyboard format, and a 32-note concave and radiating pedalboard. There are 50 stops x 5 separate organ sample sets: American, English (willis), French (Cavaillé-Coll), Schlicker, and Arp Schnitger. The drawstop controls are mechanical. The instrument features 8.1 audio, with separate systems for on-stage and front of house.

Each of the various ‘suites’ in this organ contains different pipe samples from some of the world’s most famous pipe organ builders, providing appropriate sounds for a wide variety of organ literature. Different temperaments are also accessible.

The majority of the organ’s components are produced by Allen in-house, including console, keyboards, pedalboards, stop controls, printed circuit boards, and amplifiers. Allen was the first to use digital sampling in this context, recording real pipes and storing those samples in computer memory.

Model Q345C, #Q345CDL0.5DOC (24 October 2007)

Console L-Drawknob, 3M/1C, American Classica w/Orchestral Engraving, GC_System: MN-4