does anyone else have a dulcitone?

[nj61]

sorry for flurry of excitable posts from me I'm excited to find this forum!

Anyway I have this old dulcitone and I love it to bits despite it having quite a few cruddy keys.  I have only ever met one other, at my tuner's piano shop.  He just keeps it under a dusty rag in the corner and says its as crappy as mine lol!  Anyone else found the dulcitone love, or know anything about restoring them?

I just found a nice arrangement of the sugar plum fairy which is totally awesome on the dulcitone!

[hfmadopter]

Ah, so that's what that sound comes from ! Has to be unique these days ? I don't know the first thing about restoring one though, except that I would use Shellac for the finish I imagine.

I almost bought a double manual organ a couple of weeks ago but then I came to my senses. It looked to be in great shape too. After reading online about buttons and switches and contacts on fixer upper organs, I decided to stay away. I always wanted a double manual organ, so I thought anyway.. At least your instrument is all mechanical.

[quantum]

I almost bought a double manual organ a couple of weeks ago but then I came to my senses. It looked to be in great shape too. After reading online about buttons and switches and contacts on fixer upper organs, I decided to stay away. I always wanted a double manual organ, so I thought anyway.. At least your instrument is all mechanical.

Restoring an organ can be very rewarding, especially if you are going to MIDIfy it.  Too many of them are going to the dump because few know what to do with them.  They can be had for very little.  If you go with a brand that had a reputation for quality, you could end up with a very good instrument when fixed up.  Today's virtual organ software is quite amazing. 

[hfmadopter]

Restoring an organ can be very rewarding, especially if you are going to MIDIfy it.  Too many of them are going to the dump because few know what to do with them.  They can be had for very little.  If you go with a brand that had a reputation for quality, you could end up with a very good instrument when fixed up.  Today's virtual organ software is quite amazing. 

I have a pretty full plate as is, I had not thought of MIDI and organs though. I will look into that.

This one was a known brand ( which I can not drag out of my memory cells at the momoent, coffee hasn't kicked in yet !) and looked in really good shape, the sticker on it said $175. Good wood, keys all in tact, lot's of controls, buttons, switches and slides. Pedals all stood tall. My wife brought a bunch of stuff to the Salvation Army and that's where it was at. May well be gone now, it's been close to a month ago at this point. I think the Salvation Army works like a dog pound, no body wants it it goes to sleep !

Will Virtual Organ software work with a digital piano ? It must, maybe with limitations, like three pedal input and such.. Some of my hymns I do on piano would sound great on organ, they belong on organ, IMO. Not to mention Bach.

I watched a video at the time about a guy who got one like it up and running, it was mostly a matter of contact cleaning of the buttons and switches. Another guy had one going well then it blew something so he put it in the garage for another day. That couldn't happen here since my garage was torn down and the area turned into an apartment for rent !

[quantum]

Virtual organ software should be able to work with any MIDI device.  You could play "organ" on your MIDI wind controller if you were so inclined.  The main point is that all devices you are planing to use support MIDI.  As soon as that MIDI is taken care of, you open up a lot of possibilities. 

I've got a 2 manual analog with MIDI running jOrgan.  I like open source stuff, and rather enjoy tinkering with jOrgan.  Of course there is also the commercial software like Hauptwerk if you choose to go that route. 

There are some people in the jOrgan community that have adapted virtual organs to work on single manual, no pedal keyboards.  Have a look at the jOrgan site, and join the mailing list if you are interested.  People there are friendly and willing to help with your setup. 
https://jorgan.sourceforge.net

These two videos demonstrate the possibilities of virtual organs.  This is a real time performance of a pipe organ across the internet.  The performer has MIDI keyboards setup with jOrgan software.  Stop changes made with that little device on the left of the keyboard.  The pipe organ is MIDIfied, also using jOrgan which is receiving the MIDI messages.  Real time stop changes and swell box movements are shown on screen.  The Skype video connection is shown on the other laptop. 

To bring some reverence to the OP, a MIDI dulcitone?  Never heard of one.  Sounds intriguing