Allen Organ
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The Allen Organ Company builds church organs, home organs, and
theatre organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements ...
s. Its factory is located in Macungie,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The Allen International Sales Headquarters also includes the Jerome Markowitz Memorial Center, a museum. It displays many instruments that represent technological milestones in the development of the pipeless, electronicorgan. Customers of the Allen Organ Company can choose from an array of sounds. Because of hard chips and computer programming, organs can be programmed to the customer’s taste. If sounds aren’t to a customer’s satisfaction, the organ can be re-tuned or reprogrammed at home by a company representative. Many churches are switching over to computer processed organs, made or inspired by the Allen Organ Company’s models, as opposed to the traditional pipe organs.


History

Allen Organ Company was founded in 1937 and named after its birthplace, Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company was incorporated in 1945, after interruption by World War II. Since its beginning, Allen has been managed by the same family. Steve Markowitz, the current President, is the son of the founder, Jerome Markowitz. The company had its first patent in 1938.Jerome Markowitz low frequency oscillator patent
/ref> Allen continued to advance analog tone generation through the 1960s with further patents. In 1971, as the culmination of a collaborative effort with North American Rockwell,
/ref> Allen introduced the world's first commercially-available digital musical instrument. Allen was responsible for the first three-manual electronic organ and the first electronic drawknob console. The first Allen Digital Organ is now in the Smithsonian Institution.The 111th Congress 2nd Session Congressional Record honored Allen Organ technological advancements and the Smithsonian acquisition of the first Allen Digital Organ
/ref> Allen Organ Company added a manufacturing  branch in England in 1969. *1947: Allen installed the world's first three-manual electronic organ in St. Paul's Lutheran Church in
Catasauqua, Pennsylvania Catasauqua, referred to colloquially as Catty, is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Catasauqua's population was 6,518 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th ...
. *1949: full-range, high-fidelity stereo audio equipment was incorporated in Allen installations. *1950: "Purely Electronic Carillon," "Harp Percussion" and sustain effects were introduced. *1952: "Chromatic Voicing" was introduced. *1953: Manufacturing was relocated to
Macungie, Pennsylvania Macungie is the second oldest borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Macungie had a population of 3,257. It is a suburb of Allentown, and part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 an ...
, to expand capacity. *1954: Allen built the first four-manual electronic organ. *1955: Allen developed the first electronic 32' stops used with pipe organs. *1958: the TC-1 was the world's first transistor church organ. *1959: Solid State Tone Generation (transistors) replaced vacuum tube oscillators in the entire Allen line. *1960: Allen introduced its patented "Random Motion Electronic", or "Whind". *1963: First European representation established in Zurich, Switzerland. *1969: Allen entered into a joint venture with North American Rockwell for digital sound research and development. The Digital Computer Organ employed LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuits. *1971: Using the technical knowledge co-developed with
Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...
, in 1971 Allen produced the world's first digital organs. That same year, Sharp introduced its hand-held calculator. Together, these were the world's first two digital consumer products. *2004: Allen's first digital musical instrument became part of
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
's collection of musical instruments. *2010: Allen Organ Company Honored by United States Congress


Technology


Quantum line

The Quantum organ line uses a digital processing technique called the convolution reverb, a technique widely used in both software and hardware musical instruments. In Allen's implementation of the technique, the acoustics of the sampled room become an integral part of the organ's sound. An 8-second stereo convolution reverb requires about 35 billion calculations per second; Allen patented a technique to reduce the computation amount to about 400 million calculations per second. A digital organ that produces Compact Disc quality sound without convolution reverb would require only about calculations per second for each sound. Quantum organs include about times that capacity to create convolution reverb.


Electric organs

The Allen organ is a type of electronic organ that was created in 1937 and 1939. It was the first organ to become available for sale to the public. The Allen organ company was also responsible for creating the first
transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
ized organ in 1951. In addition to that, a new way of generating sound, by digital waves, for the organ was produced in 1971. This new technology, new at the time, is seen in many organs that are available now. An example of the 1971 instrument can be seen and heard at the Musical Museum in Brentford in
West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...
, England. Allen Organs created a handful of electric pianos in the 1980s. Some are: * Electra-Piano * Rock-si-cord * RMI Keyboard Computer KC-I  and KC-II (These are two of the first
polyphonic synthesizer Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophoni ...
s.)


GENISYS

A computer software called GENISYS controls the sound and power panels on the organs. GENISYS is seen as the company’s best for sound quality and tone control. There is a variety of orchestral and organ tones that can be tuned for an individual’s organ. The sound can be modified using a computer program that goes along with the GENISYS interface.


Museum

The Allen Organ Company factory building is located at 150 Locust Street in
Macungie, Pennsylvania Macungie is the second oldest borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Macungie had a population of 3,257. It is a suburb of Allentown, and part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 an ...
. It was originally an air conditioned textile mill that Allen's founder, Jerome Markowitz and Vice President purchased (wisely, along with thousands of acres of vacant land that have been fabulously developed), they renovated the mill and moved organ manufacturing into around 1953. As the company grew, The International Sales Headquarters was built including Octave Hall (a room with adjustable natural reverb and rotating stage), teaching studios, a recording studio and the adjoining Jerome Markowitz Memorial Museum is located on Route 100. In the Museum, you can look at the development of Allen technology from tube analog organs from 1938 to the present, how an organ is made and the history and take tour of the museum.


See also

* Carlo Curley, an Allen organist * Virgil Fox, played an Allen organ on his Heavy Organ tours *
Walt Strony Walt Strony (born 1955) is an American recording, consulting and performing organist and organ teacher, both on the theatre organ and traditional pipe organ, ranging from pizza parlors to churches and theatres to symphony orchestras. Biography ...
, an organist who designed a digital organ for Allen, the Allen STR-4


References


External links

*{{cite web, url= http://www.allenorgan.com/ , title= The Largest Builder of Church Organs in the World , work= Allen Organ Company , url-status= live
NAMM Oral History Interview: Martha Markowitz reflects on the early days of the Allen Organ Company
September 11, 2005
NAMM Oral History Interview: Steve Markowitz talks about his father's development of the first Allen electronic organs
September 11, 2005 Electronic organ manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies established in 1937 Companies based in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1937 establishments in Pennsylvania Pipe organ Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United States