2 manuals, three or four?

I was able to complete the electronics to drive the stop action magnets - somewhat.  The drivers work, but the MIDI logic doesn't.  My adaptation of the Midi-Hardware LED lit switch driver to this structure didn't work.  If I move forward with this, I'll probably do the entire structure - from MIDI to SAM drivers, without a third-party MIDI interface in the middle.

As well, there are only 26 SAMs.  26 tabs is barely adequate for a 2 manual instrument, and will be entirely inadequate for a 3 manual instrument.  So I believe for now I'll abandon using the SAMs in favor of lit rocker tabs.  More on that later.

This weekend, I dropped off the pipe driver parts and electronics with Ryan Ballantyne, and was able to pick up 2 keyboards from him that he wasn't using.  The plan was to put one keyboard onto the two I had, however these keyboards feel WAY better than the plastic Zimmer keyboards that are on the console, so I want to use both of the new keyboards, and 1 or 2 of the zimmer keyboards.

But what would I do with one leftover keyboard?  Should I build a 4 manual console in this tiny shell?

They'll fit, but stoptabs will be another problem.  Options here are the sides (which have room for rows of 8 across) and a box built on the top just below the music desk.  Still working on the design here.

It's amazing what electronics have done to how the organ is built, even pipe organs.  This organ build who knows when, has 3 sets of contacts for the top manual and NINE sets of contacts for the bottom manual.  The contacts are moved in and out of connection with a key bus bar by pallet magnets, and there is a GIANT bundle of wires coming out. 

Fortunately, all of this can be removed, and replaced by scanning electronics which reside at the keyboard, allowing a cable of 4 wires to carry all of the relevant information from the keyboard to the rest of the system.  I forced the contacts in the "ON" position, and wired across 3 in the top manual and 4 or 5 in the bottom manual for redundancy.

It only takes 2-3 hours to wire up the ribbon cables, and results in a fully self-contained keyboard.  No giant cables running from it, and it can easily be unplugged and removed for maintenance or whatever.

Why am I doing this?  My wife wants to know.  Of course, she's amazed any time someone buys my Hauptwerk sample set.  It's a weird and esoteric hobby.  Maybe not as esoteric as something like making your own paper, but it's up there.