See the Robert Morton Page for more midi relay informaiton
The new electronic relay system is built around the Artisan uMidi Controllers and offers many advantages over the previous diode Keyer system that was installed. Some of these advantages include all switching, couplers and combination functions are done in software, versatile combination system and simple, plain English programming.
The system is divided into two section, the Console Electronics and the Pipe Ranks Electronics. The Console electronic include INPUT cards, uMidi Controllers and OUTPUT cards, or RANK Driver Cards.
The Input Cards are connected to the manuals, pedal and stop switch's. A single wire from each key switch is connected to it's corresponding location on the input card. First C on the keyboard to the First C or Input 1 on the input card and so on. Each input card will handle up to 64 inputs.
The uMidi Controllers contain the software that takes the input information and sends it the proper location down stream, Combination Actions, Couplers and Rank Drivers.
The photo on the left is of the uMidi Controllers, Input Cards installed in the three manual Robert Morton console. The input cards are the newer Artisan cards that have Ribbon Cable interface cards installed in place of the screw terminals. The three cards on the left are the keyboard
In the care of a pipe organ, tuning the pipes requires two people, a key holder at the console and a person tuning the pipes. Finding a Key Holder is not always easy. To resolve this issue, a Remote Control Tuning system was designed.
The system consist of two parts, a control card that connects to one of the HV64 Manual Input cards, in this case the Solo Manual and a small Control Switch Box that selects one of six octaves and Notes C to B. Connecting the two is a single CAT-5 network cable.
Installation of the Control Card is quite simple, connect to the HV64 card, connect Power and Ground wire and plug in the CAT5 cable. The card can be left connected to the Input Card, so there is no need to remove after tuning.
To operate the system, tune on the Stop Tab of the rank to be tuned, select the First Octave on the Control Box and the Note to tune. It's that simple! The system has proved to be a great time save and great for doing "Touch Up" tuning.
The second half of the system, the part that controls the pipes, percussions and Toy Counter are mounted on a single board. There are two parts to each set of controlling circuits, the uMidi Controller and the Rank Driver Card. The uMidi controller contains the software for each pitch that set of pipe will play at. For example, the Tibia controller contains the software for the Tibia to play at 16', 8', 5 1/3', 4', 2 2/3', and 1 1/3'.
The following is from the program file and will give an idea of the simple programming text. In addition to the Tibia functions, the ON OFF Tremolo commands have been added to the Tibia controller card.
;DEFINES RANK DRIVER FOR THE TIBIA
*umidi_module ;Module #6
*rank_driver *rank=tibia *bits=1,73
*output_bit (maintrem) *bit=75
*output_bit (solotrem) *bit=76
*output_bit (tibiatrem) *bit=77
*output_bit (voxtrem) *bit=78
*relay (ptibia_8) *div=pedal *rank=tibia
*relay (atibia_8) *div=accomp *rank=tibia
*relay (atibia_4) *div=accomp *rank=tibia *offset=12
*relay (stibia_16) *div=solo *rank=tibia *offset=-12
*relay (stibia_8) *div=solo *rank=tibia
*relay (stibia_5_13) *div=solo *rank=tibia *offset=7
*relay (stibia_4) *div=solo *rank=tibia *offset=12
*relay (stibia_2_23) *div=solo *rank=tibia *offset=19
*relay (stibia_2) *div=solo *rank=tibia *offset=24
This panel contains the uMidi Controllers and Rank Driver cards for the VDO, VDO Celeste, Trumpet, Flute, Tibia, Clarinet, Vox Humana, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Chrysoglott and the Toy Counter.
New Output Driver Card
In an effort to make the installation more compact, new 2.5" x 8" Rank Driver cards were designed to be used in place of the larger Artisan driver cards. One of the major departures from the Artisan cards is the use of plug in connectors in place of the screw terminal blocks. Connecter blocks are Wire Punch Down, this type of connection is fast and and well proven. A 61 note cable can be connected in less than 30 minutes. Another other unique feature, is a 5 volt voltage regulator built into each card. The regulator converts the organ D.C. voltage down to 5 volts which is used for the driver card controlling circuits and for powering the uMidi Controller.
A new LED Light Bar has been developed to simplify both key contact and Stop Key adjustment and can be used for both first and second touch aliment. The LED Light Bar can be used as a stand alone strip or mount on the Artisan HV-64P Input cards. Two versions have been designed, one with two 34 wire ribbon cable and the other with In-Line Header Strips for plug-in .100" spacing connectors.
The Punch Down system uses a simple hand tool to punch the wires in place. This is a well proven system that has been in use by the telephone companies for several decades. It is a fast no-solider method of terminating a cable that requires no stripping of the wire before it's punched in place. A 61 note cable can be punched downed in about 30 minutes.
The Midi Ranger is a Midi to RS-422 converter assembly that is designed for installations where the pipe chamber or midi devices are remotely located. Midi cables should not be any longer than thirty feet because of possible data lose, the Midi Ranger overcomes this by using the RS-422 technology that allows cable lengths of up to 2000 ft. Two units are required, one at the sending end and one at the receiving end. A single CAT-5 cable is required to provide full duplex, send and receive data transfer.
The Input Card Connector adaptor, Driver Card and the Midi Ranger cards are available from DesignTech Systems, Inc.
Additional information and pricing is available by emailing info@flighttech.com or calling 630-324-8199
For more information on the Artisan uMidi control system. 
Last Updated: 05/18/2011