ALLEN ORGAN COMPANY

safely to the Earth.’ The technology required to meet this ambitious goal had not yet been developed, but scientists and large companies were determined to meet the Digital pioneer challenge. Technological hurdles to be overcome Recent technology has revolutionised our planet, and not least the world of . before NASA could fulfil Kennedy’s vision included the miniaturisation of computers Steven A. Markowitz relates the story of how his father, the founder of Allen Organ so that complex calculations, such as telemetry, could be made by astronauts in Company, pioneered digital organs 50 years ago. IMAGES COURTESY ALLEN ORGAN COMPANY real-time on the Apollo capsule. In 1961 a computer capable of such calculations weighed thousands of pounds; it had to be hroughout industries there are miniaturised to the size of a small waste bin, examples of individuals who have requiring significant advancements in large- changed the larger world. Some are scale integrated circuits (LSI) technology. The well-known,T while others focused on their aerospace company tasked with resolving this trade and avoided publicity. In the electronic challenge was North American Aviation, later keyboard industry, Jerome Markowitz not to become North American Rockwell. only invented the first fully electronic organ, Because of Rockwell’s expertise in rocket (l to r) In the late 1960s, IBM mainframe computers were necessary to prepare the pipe recordings for storage in the digital organs; Jerome Markowitz, who founded Allen Organ Company in 1937, was at the cutting edge but decades later would be responsible for technology, it was also a prime contractor of analogue sound technology the introduction of the world’s first musical for the Apollo programme, with thousands instrument utilising digital sampling. This of employees dedicated to it. In 1966, three they were unwilling to invest in it until on advanced radar systems. Prior to the is a history of how vision, ingenuity and years before the first American would land Rockwell would create an actual working war, he resolved the technical problem that dedication, along with a willingness to take on the moon, Rockwell understood that US organ. Rockwell was unwilling to make this hindered the production of musical sounds on risk, would change the way electronic spending on the Apollo programme would investment and the digital organ project by electronic means: the need for stable musical sounds are produced, with wane in a few years. To offset this inevitable was on the verge of being cancelled. As a tuning oscillators. In 1938 he was granted implications far beyond the organ market. revenue loss, Rockwell’s management last-ditch effort to save the project, Rockwell the United States patent US2140267A for Digital sound is now ubiquitous, a part created a strategic plan for the company to contacted a small organ manufacturer, Allen the stable oscillator. This technology would of all sound-producing products. However, utilise the advanced technology it developed Organ Company. lead to the first fully electronic organ and the not long before the advent of CDs and MP3, for the space programme in commercial Allen Organ Company, founded by Jerome birth of Allen Organ Company. all sound was created through analogue products. These products would then require Markowitz in 1937, had always been at the Through the 1950s and 60s, Markowitz technology. Remarkably, the roots of digital Rockwell’s LSI circuits and create a longer- cutting edge of analogue sound technology. introduced numerous innovations and was sound production emanated within the niche term revenue stream. As the home organ While attending Muhlenberg College in granted patents that included low frequency church organ field from a small company business was booming in the mid-1960s, an Allentown, Pennsylvania, Markowitz was oscillators (US2190078A), space discharge located in Macungie, Pennsylvania. idea spawned by one Rockwell scientist was enamoured by the sound of the generator (US2329069A0), In 2021 it will be 50 years since the to use digital technology to produce organ in the College’s chapel. In his book, Triumphs rotatable loud-speakers (Gyrophonic) with world’s first digital sounds. & Trials of an Organ Builder, he stated: ‘The stationary baffle (US2491674A), circuit for was offered for sale. The development and Since Rockwell had no organ or music intricate patterns of sound created by the big, tuning oscillators (US2939359A), and Chiff commercialisation of this revolutionary expertise, it needed a joint venture with sustained chords especially fascinated me.’ characteristics (US2989886A), solidifying technology is a remarkable story of one man’s an organ manufacturer to co-develop the In the early 1930s, there was only one Allen’s leadership in analogue organ dedication to creating electronic instruments digital organ. The plan was that Rockwell , the . It was technology. The company enjoyed significant of the highest fidelity. would supply the technology and LSI compact and inexpensive compared to pipe success, with thousands of analogue organ In a sense, the impetus behind the circuits, with the organ company supplying organs, which intrigued Jerome. However, installations made worldwide. technology that would lead to the digital the musical and business expertise. Also, the Hammond’s electro-mechanical tone By 1967, when Rockwell approached Allen organ and digital sound production was set Rockwell, using a practice common with generation system could only create sounds about the joint venture, Markowitz was the in motion by US President John F. Kennedy, government contracts, expected the organ appropriate for popular music; it could not world’s premier analogue tone generation who in 1961 declared: ‘I believe that this company to pay for the development cost for produce sounds required for classical or engineer. He immediately understood nation should commit itself to achieving the a commercially viable digital organ. liturgical music. Markowitz then decided the revolutionary potential of digital tone goal, before this decade is out, of landing After a small proof of concept project, to focus on producing pipe organ sounds generation, later called ‘sampling’. He focused a man on the moon and returning him Rockwell contacted all the major American through electronic tone production means. on the technology’s ability to accurately home organ manufacturers, including Markowitz was a self-taught electronic reproduce complex pipe organ waveshapes. The newest Allen organs have interface Hammond, Conn, and , proposing engineer with expertise in radio and vacuum For years, he had struggled with analogue as well as convolution acoustics, smart phone accessibility/Wi-Fi connectivity, and 250 dynamic a joint venture. While these companies were tube technologies. During the second technology’s limitations to create realistic (changeable) high-definition voices interested in the revolutionary technology, world war he was sent to Hawaii to work organ principal stops, the foundation sounds

38 CHOIR & ORGAN JULY/AUGUST 2020 www.choirandorgan.com www.choirandorgan.com JULY/AUGUST 2020 CHOIR & ORGAN 39 ALLEN ORGAN COMPANY ALLEN ORGAN COMPANY for classical pipe organs; but by the mid- circuits was then known as MOS (metal- the engineering work on the digital organ ensembles. What is recorded is what you get, Markowitz the coveted IR-100 Award for one 1960s he had concluded the technology oxide-semiconductor). would take over three years and required including room distortions and extraneous of 100 most significant innovations of that had limitations and reached its zenith. As a young teenager in 1967, while resolving significant technical issues. noises. And last, wet samples include some of year, and the first instrument is housed at Therefore, he was willing to radically change aware of the digital organ project, I did not More than a year into the digital organ’s the original room’s acoustics that then comes the Smithsonian Institution. This technology the company’s technology and direction to understand its significance. But in 1969, in development, significant tuning deficiencies in conflict with the acoustics of the building brought sampled pipe organ sounds to accomplish his tonal goals. the same week that Neil Armstrong walked were discovered by Allen, an issue Rockwell in which the digital organ is ultimately churches worldwide, many of whom could In 1967, when Allen Organ Company on the moon, I visited Rockwell facilities in had not recognised during the development. installed. not afford a pipe organ. entered the joint venture with Rockwell, Anaheim and El Segundo, California, with Ironically, this was an issue that my father’s To create pure pipe sounds, Markowitz The Allen Organ Company/North Markowitz bet the company’s future on my father; there I was instructed on LSI invention had resolved 30 years earlier for learned that the microphone needed to be American Rockwell joint venture was not the technology – a risky bet. To produce a technology by Rockwell engineers, and saw analogue tone-generation technology. Once commercially viable digital organ would a demonstration of laser technology. I recall again, the project was almost cancelled. ultimately require 13 unique custom LSI being schooled on Epitaxy growth, a basic Ultimately, the problem was resolved, but After Allen introduced the world’s first digital circuits, a project so large that nothing of process for the creation of MOS circuits – required additional hardware and increased organ in 1971, it was quickly recognised for its similar scope had yet been attempted by any heady stuff for a 15-year old! engineering development time. commercial company in any field. In fact, The joint venture called for Allen to While advanced technology was a crucial tonal quality and revolutionary technology the Allen digital organ would be only the invest US$2 million in the digital organ’s component for developing a digital organ, second commercial product ever to utilise development – a massive amount for a technological-artistic input was also required custom LSI circuits, the first being the Sharp company with sales of less than US$8 in the recording and processing of pipe placed very close to each pipe, which also without strains. After the introduction of the Jerome Markowitz receiving the IR-100 Award for significant innovation for his work in creating the calculator. The technology behind these million. After the agreement was signed, sounds. Cohesive ensembles had made the offered the optimal signal-to-noise ratio for Allen Digital Computer Organ at the 1971 Allen Digital Computer Organ pipe organ the ‘King of Instruments’, and the recordings. These pure sounds could National Association of Music Merchants Randy Miller, tonal director, sampling pipe sound this was also a requirement for a successful then be processed, as all sample sounds must (NAMM) in Chicago, a conflict developed digital organ. These musical-engineering be prior to being stored in a digital organ, between the companies. Rockwell started to generational leaps made since. Allen’s latest tasks were the responsibility of Allen Organ without the distortions and extraneous market the technology to other companies, GeniSys™ Technology features not only Company, more specifically Markowitz. room noises. This ‘dry sampling’ technique, despite the joint venture agreement requiring advanced digital tone generation, but a user- Digital sampling begins with recording which Allen continues to use to this day, Allen’s approval first. At the NAMM show, friendly touchscreen interface, convolution pipes, with this information ultimately stored allows the digital sounds to be individually Rockwell brought in approximately 20 acoustics, smart phone accessibility/Wi-Fi in the organ for playback. Markowitz spent voiced, as a pipe technician needs to voice Yamaha engineering personnel, as well as its connectivity, and 250 dynamic (changeable) months experimenting with different means individual pipes. This process leads to the president, Genichi Kawakami, for a private high-definition voices. In addition, through to record organ pipes for sampling. The grand ensembles found in fine pipe organs. showing of the Allen Digital Organ. Though proprietary voicing software and its simplest method is to place the microphone It is tedious work, whether the sounds are Allen’s focus at that time was on stabilising SoundMatrix™ Library, Allen voicers can out in the building in which the organ is produced from winded pipes or digital the digital technology and production meet the tastes and expectations of even the installed, distant from the pipes, and to just sampling. After the pipe recordings were requirements for the organs, Rockwell’s most demanding . Finally, Allen’s record from one location. This technique made, significant musical engineering work was to maximise the sale of LSI circuits, Stoplist Library™ allows to explore was found to be unacceptable, since the was required to prepare them for storage in turning to the larger home organ market different schools of organ building including recordings would also include distortions the organ. In the late 1960s this necessitated in which Yamaha was a growing force. American Classic, English Cathedral, caused by the building, as well as extraneous the use of a large IBM mainframe computer, The disagreement grew and led to lengthy Cavaillé-Coll, Arp Schnitger, Schlicker, room noises captured during the recording which were rare. GAC (General Acceptance litigation, which ended in Allen’s favour. Aeolian-Skinner, as well as multiple theatre process that were accentuated by the higher Corporation), a financial company in By the mid-1970s Allen had resolved organ suites, at the touch of a screen. microphone input gains needed to capture Allentown, Pennsylvania, allowed my father the technical and production challenges Thanks to Markowitz’s vision and the distant pipe sounds. Any attempt to access to their computer. These sampled with the digital organ. Allen owned the dedication, Allen Organ Company was the eliminate the unwanted noises through sounds were then worked on for many musical instrument patents for digital innovator for both analogue and digitally filtering mutated the original pipe sound. hours using the secret engineering model sound technology, and the digital organ sampled organs. My father passed away This recording technique is known as ‘wet located in our house. This work had to be dominated the church organ market. The in 1991, a year after I became president of sampling’. nearly perfect since, at the time, all sampled company then made the strategic decision Allen. The mission of the company remains Some companies today offer ‘virtual sounds were encoded at great expense in not to monopolise the technology, but unchanged to this day: to bring the finest organs’ using PC tone generation and wet hard memories, with Allen having to commit instead to offer patent licenses to other organ pipe organ sounds produced electronically samples, a recording method that offers to the purchase of thousands of these and manufacturers, ultimately to churches and consumers worldwide. advantages to these suppliers. Wet sampling unchangeable LSI memory circuits. entering into agreements with most Throughout Allen Organ Company’s is a simpler and less expensive process for After Allen introduced the world’s keyboard musical instrument manufacturers, eight-decade history, it has installed some recording pipes. In addition, wet samples first digital organ in 1971, it was quickly including Yamaha. Those that did not take 80,000 instruments in over 70 countries require less processing power and therefore recognised for its tonal quality and a license remained committed to analogue and employed thousands of workers. allow for the use of less powerful tone revolutionary technology. The Allen Digital technology until the patents expired in the generators. With wet samples there is little Computer Organ would precede most late 1980s. Steven A. Markowitz is the president of Allen attempt (or ability) to optimise individual competing digital church organs by more The basic Rockwell technology Organ Company and son of its founder, sounds or how they work together within than 15 years. The invention earned Jerome was utilised by Allen until 1982, with Jerome Markowitz.

40 CHOIR & ORGAN JULY/AUGUST 2020 www.choirandorgan.com www.choirandorgan.com JULY/AUGUST 2020 CHOIR & ORGAN 41