I want to make a drum machine out of a viscount organ

[clean_and_humble]

Hey anyone have any advice on how I should go about doing this
I have this crappy viscount organ taking up space in my live room
I have decided to strip it and use its interesting parts
First thing I am going to use is its loud speaker and the lovely 60s
fabric that covers it .I plan to make a wall mounted loud speaker out of it to hang in my closet area pointed at my make shift oven range plate reverb that is for another post .This post I want to talk about taking the other cool part of this organ
The Drum Machine and Memory button.
So this is the organ



and this is the drum machine I want to take out
and put into a box with a portion of the keys to have the memory button function


Now
How do I do that?
These are the pics i took of the pcb board that are in there



later I will open it up more and take closer pics


Anyone have any suggestions or can point me toward a website of someone who has done something like this?
I would like to just get one octive or even half of that just to have some bass sounds even.Would like to make it pretty samll and compact

1/4" outputs and i guess i will have to have a power supply
which i am not willing to mess with in fear of death
maybe i can make it run on a battery

Help me o geniuses of this board and look past my
ee cummings style of writing and bad spelling thank you

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I've disassembled my fair share of organs over the years (usually just to clean contacts) and would feel safe in saying that getting the drum section out shouldn't be too much of a problem. Most home organs are modular. All the circuits will be connected by quick release molex style plugs. The circuit board for the drum machine will be under the drum machine switches and you should be able to pull that section out (wood faceplate, switches and all).
I would look at what wires are going to the drum circuit board. If you are lucky they will be labeled on the circuit board. My guess is that there will be power connections, output, and some others related to the auto start/stop (starting the drum machine when you hit a key) and the auto bass/chord accompaniment.
Once you find the power supply feed it should be easy enough to measure the voltage.

[clean_and_humble]

Hey Thanks for your reply
I have taken it apart more and here is a picture of the pcb board


and you are right they are just slots that come out easy
Except I can not figure out how the bottom end comes out
do not see any screws


also i would like to get the keys out and cut to just have one octive kinda like this guy did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nrxmlLgo6E

Any ideas?

[clean_and_humble]

I am returning to this dream of making this part of the Viscount Organ into a stand alone drum unit.I got the Idea from this youtube post I never posted it here
So I am doing so today in hopes I can get some more help with this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nrxmlLgo6E

2009 is the year I hope to finish up all of my little DIY Day dreams
and post something on here displaying them all

If anyone can give me any advice on how I can take a few keys from
the organ and rebuild it so the memory button recognizes it and then stick
an output jack and new power supply
This can be done ?
or is it nuts to consider?

Anyone in NY wanna Help me with this ?

[clean_and_humble]

Ok here is an update of photos
I have taken all the parts out of the old Viscount Organ


<b>The Drum Machine</b>

<b>The Back Of Drum Machine</b>

<b>A Circuit Board from Organ</b>

<b>The Power Supply</b>

<b>1/4" jacks </b>


<b>The Keyboard</b>

<b>The Keyboard Controls</b>


So who can tell me how to get this all into a little portable box
With keys on top similar to the Bohm organ add on Build?

note the keyboard controls and rest of the keys I am thinking of doing
a different build for those parts and make a mini keyboard
The Drum Machine I just want to have C to F or maybe Up to B

[signorMars]

what does the underside of the keyboard you want to use look like? you may be able to trace the circuit from each key (just follow it along and right down/draw what the signal goes through) and then use that reference to make a smaller keyboard control PCB to run the drum machine. alternatively, you could figure out which pins going on to the drum machine PCB are carrying the control info and measure the voltages and see what voltages cause what to happen.

[trevord]

I've been thinking of doing something like myself . There was a time the thrift stores around me each had one
Anyway - how about thinking differently...
Instead of modding the existing keyboard circuitry; how about finding where the existing keyboard circuitry finally gets resolved into a single control voltage - then use a midi to cv . That way u can use any midi keyboard to control.
That was my plan... break these monsters into separate boxes - each with control input/output and power supply. Then reduce the IO to standard based IO (MIDI and a small processor if needed).

The end result I was looking for was the same "Look" on the outside with midi input for each sound source.
And midi output for each player input source
I think these things have
1) Keyboards
2) Bass pedals
3) Control pedals
4) Control strips
5) Selection switches

It seemed the whole things could be done with midi to cv/cv to midi
and these things
http://www.audiomulch.com/midipic/

If I see another one (there is always one craigslist free if you pick it up )
I'll get it and start it

[Scodiddly]

It's an organ, meaning full polyphony and therefore no CV type stuff. Basically the same idea as a Farfisa or Vox organ, a tone generator that produces all notes simultaneously and then routes them through the keyboard in bulk. More specifically these usually had 12 oscillators producing the highest octave and then a whole bunch of octave divider circuits to create all the lower notes. The keyboard is essentially just a big mixer to turn each note on or off.

[casey campbell]

you have cool shoes...

[clean_and_humble]

Ha Ha Thanks for noticing my taste in shoes
As far as the keys go
there is a long pcb board connected to the back of the entire keyboard
It would be too long to stick inside the box I want to build
Plus I only want one octave like the Bohm organ add on has
So can I cut the pcb board and would it still work?
How hard would it be to find a different one octave keyboard
that could fit in the top of this ?

I like the idea of making it midi but
I am having a hard enough time finding someone
who can help me simply wire this back together and give it
a power supply and output jack
adding midi seems like a whole nother monster
Yes I used the word nother kill me

So I guess there is no one in NY on here who wants to help me?

[ohmeohmyoh]

I am amazed that someone else had this idea to take the drum machine out of an organ and make it stand alone! I had an old hammond that i pulled the drum machine out of with the same aspirations, but never got very far. While circuit bending it I think I fried some components and it is just collecting dust.

then I found this http://www.flitemedia.com/studio/roland-tr77.php and the layering of different rhythms and mix features blew my idea away :]

Where are you working on this thing; I notice you're in BK as well[/code]

[clean_and_humble]

Hey
I am still looking for some one to help me with this
I am a novice at tweaking things with electronic know how
Anyone out there know of someone in NY would would get a kick
out of making this drum machine happen let me know

I think the hardest part would be the keyboard
everything else seems just like a reassembly
in a new box

[clean_and_humble]

I am revisiting this old project whim
Just alerting the tape op masses because I know you all have
been waiting at the edge of your seats for a shitty organ drum machine
to be be revamped into magic

Anyhow
I am bringing this mess back to the bench to see what happens
if anyone can offer advice or wants to help let me know

[scrotescape]

don't take the thing apart until you've fully reverse engineered and labeled all connections.


determine the ins and outs; power supply voltages and connections, audio out,
there is usually a logic\clocking section and an 'instrument' tone shaper\generator.

[clean_and_humble]

it's a little too late for that now. The thing has been in pieces since this post was put up years ago. The pictures I took here and connector slot size will serve as my only guide in putting this back together to then do as you say and reverse engineer and label. I will also be able to see what needs repair on the existing configuration and then I am going to start the ball rolling again for the best way to rehouse this and if I get the right skills and help along the way perhaps mod and add on. I am gonna make a video of the reassemble at the very least it should be humorous.