GrandOrgue with MIDI to Swell/Great/Pedal stops on Allen MDS-6

  • Our church has an Allen MDS-6 organ with stops for MIDI on Great, MIDI on Swell, and MIDI on Pedal. I connected the organ to my laptop and I can successfully use the keyboards and pedals on the Allen organ to play my virtual organ in GrandOrgue - using the laptop's speakers. What I really want to do is play the stops I select in GrandOrgue over the Allen organ's speakers. Is this something GrandOrgue is able to do?

    The Allen MDS-6 has four MIDI ports, In, Out 1, Out 2, and Thru. Out 2 is switched - you have to put down the MIDI to Great/Swell/Pedal stops. The manual, on page 13, says, "Under normal circumstances, MIDI sound modules should be connected to the switched MIDI port labeled MIDI OUT 2... Devices such as MIDI sequencers should be connected to the unswitched MIDI port labeled MIDI OUT 1..."

    https://www.allenorgan.com/www/support/ow…wnersManual.pdf

    In Midi & Audio Settings, on the MIDI Devices tab, I check the box for mio 1 in the MIDI Output Devices box.

    On the Audio/Midi menu, I went to Midi Objects. For the Swell, Great, and Pedal, I went to the Send tab and set Device to mio 1, Events to 9x Note, and the channels to 1, 2, and 3 (to match the channels listed in the Allen manual.)

    With the cables, I've tried various combinations of Out 1, Out 2, and In on the Allen organ to In and Out on the laptop. I can always get GrandOrgue to recognize the manuals and pedals on the Allen organ, but I never get the MIDI on Swell/Great/Pedal stops to play anything from GrandOrgue.

    So is there some quirk to getting this to work? Or am I trying to do something that can't be done?


  • Has the organ an audio input? You need to connect the laptop audio output to the speakers.

    The organ does have stereo RCA audio inputs, but that would just be using the organ as a big amplifier for the external speakers. What I want to do is combine stops from GrandOrgue with stops on the organ using the MIDI on Swell, MIDI on Great, and MIDI on Pedal stops. The alternative is trying to convince those in charge to buy the Allen MDS Expander II or some other similar product.

  • Your computer should do the same as any expander: Receive MIDI events from the organ MIDI out and send the audio signal to any kind of speakers.

    In your case, connect organ MIDI out to MIDI in of your PC and PC midi out to the organ audio in. If the audio in is intented for an expander, it should mix the external audio signal with the organ sound.