Wurlitzer 32 foot Diaphones

Video of a rare set (one of only two made) of Wurlitzer "Trap Door" Diaphone pipes. Each pipe plays two notes. The lowest pipe is over 32 feet tall and plays at 16 cycles per second.

[@joshs4594]

I've heard pipes like these in person and let me tell you that you really have to be there to grasp the power of it.

[@mencken8]

This is a good point. It doesn’t matter what is being used to listen to a YT video, it won’t accurately reproduce these tones.

[@alexanderkupke920]

@@mencken8 I wonder which part has the most detrimental effect on the recording. The very likely tiny microphone in the camera (or mobile phone), a very likely existing filter in the camera cutting out low frequencies to reduce noise from handling the device. Any other electronics following. The most likely used compression to safe the video, any editing done to it, more electronics and software,KZbin compression, the hardware and speakers it is played back on... Oh wow, looking at it like that good audio at all seems to come quite close to a miracle.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

@@mencken8 Yes, and it's not just the NOTE but the POWER behind it. You can actually feel your chest vibrate. I remember when I heard the 32's (not a diaphone, I think, but probably either a bourdon or more likely a large diapason) play at the Spreckels outdoor organ in San Diego, I thought a helicopter had suddenly appeared overhead! I literally looked all over the sky for the helicopter before realizing it was the organ!

[@stevenholton438]

@@andrewbarrett1537 Very much like a normal night in my bedroom.

[@byteme0000]

It can be bowel-loosening.

[@jonnda]

I think I finally got my subwoofer to stop whistling due to air leaking. Thanks for the low sounds 😊

[@virtualpoboy]

shot surrounds will do that....you can fix it with a kit!

[@jonnda]

@@virtualpoboy No, it wasn't the surrounds. It was the mounting grommets for the grill kit, followed by air leaks in the plate amplifier. www.parts-express.com/Speaker-Grill-Frame-Kit-260-346

[@andrewhall2554]

This is the first time I have ever seen this on an organ stop. It is like opening a key on a woodwind instrument to raise the pitch. Clearly an effective way to save space and materials at the price of slower reponse.

[@kevinking8303]

They actually respond quite quickly, it's amazing in person.

[@KSL1972LLC]

I'd heard about these Wurlitzer Diaphone ranks before. Nice to see footage of one in operation. Diaphone stops have few equals as far as tone, with the exception of a vintage wood E.M. Skinner Bombard on high wind pressure.

[@kansasthunderman1]

Most diaphone pipes were industrial air horns used as fog signals. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco had two of them.

[@V.G.F.]

So terrifying yet so beautiful at the same time, “Bittersweet”

[@oludotunjohnshowemimo434]

They are magnificent big reeds with their very deep notes.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

I guess you have to be careful which notes you play in combination or in rapid succession when using this stop. Probably not an issue with the usual use of the pedal division for bass accompaniment, but could become a problem when you have a pedal solo (although this seems to be uncommon in theater organ music, it does come up occasionally, like some of what Tony Thomas plays).

[@chazjeep]

Nice demo of those. Somewhere I read those were one of only two sets made by Wurlitzer, and were both installed in United Artist Theatres.

[@kevinking8303]

Wurlitzer only built two sets like this (6 pipe-trap door) They built many full 12 pipe sets.

[@Marshall7302]

.... fascinating... considering there were only 2 made... it must have been a space issue... making a smaller offset that doubles as another offset... is incredibly genius. As a diaphone guy... this must be tedious to keep in tune i would imagine. But lots of fun to feel and watch. Wow.

[@timothytikker3834]

Polyphone pipes! I never knew that Wurlitzer had ever done that.

[@truefilm6991]

Awesome! So there are six pipes, each playing two notes a half step apart = one octave. Of course they sound ugly when heard standing closely. They must sound earth shattering in context with other pipes providing the overones and faster response. I love these crazy old Rube Goldberg style machines!

[@mattrost2574]

I'd love to see these in action when the organist is doing a quick, toe-tapping musical number!

[@jeffjensen27]

Absolutely Stunning Piece Of Hand 🤚 Craftsman Ship Building Those 32’ aren’t Big Enough Try listening 👂 to the 64’ Stop 🛑 at the Mid Meir Losh Pipe Organ in Atlantic NJ.

[@lordmelbury116]

I have wondered over the years if bass pipes that can play two or three notes is an idea worth developing for when space is tight?

[@paulh5293]

John Compton, well known organ builder of London, did this a lot. He called them "Polyphones" and they were generally a horizontal flue pipe (like a Bourdon or wood Open Diapason) with a number of valves to lengthen or shorten the pipe. Only one note could be played at once and in many cases there were only say six distinct notes for an octave instead of 12, but when you're talking bottom octave of a 32ft flue rank it's very hard to distinguish between individual notes - it's more the perception than the pitch. Still, saves a vast amount of space and cost. There is a superb one at Bridlington Priory in the UK.

[@wizardofodds8239]

I was struck with awe when I "heard" 32 ft. Diaphones at Pizza and Pipes restaurants. I say "heard" because, in addition to the tone, I felt the rumble in my chest when the lowest octave notes were played. FEEL the sound as well as hear it. I wonder if an electronic speaker can reproduce that low a cycle.

[@user-jx3jp3gb4x]

yes, a speaker can indeed reproduce those massive low frequencies. Ironically, the pipe organ at Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral had 32 foot pipes but since the cathedral was mostly glass, the low frequencies were disappointing so, the Hazel Wright organ was retrofitted with a number of Electro-Voice W30 subwoofer speakers which are 30 inch speakers in huge cabinets, built to assist with the low rumble and helped congregants to "feel" the notes as well as hear them. Ironic isn't it that the phenomenal low sounds that pipe organs are known for were reproduced with an electronic device. I have heard many pipe organs in my day, and I can tell you that the low frequencies heard in the Chrystal Cathedral from the Hazel Wright organ were stunningly emotional for me.

[@KingdaToro]

Subwoofers can go down to 16 Hz (the lowest note in a 32 ft) with significant difficulty. Below 20 Hz the excursion (distance the speaker cone travels) needed for the sound to remain audible starts getting extremely high. There is a specialized type of subwoofer that can do 0-20 Hz effortlessly. It's called a rotary woofer. Instead of the voice coil driving a traditional speaker cone, it drives a mechanism that controls the pitch of the blades of a spinning fan. As the pitch of the audio signal gets lower, the fan makes more revolutions per cycle, moving more and more air. Its excursion effectively increases as the pitch of the sound decreases, so it stays audible all the way down. Feed a traditional subwoofer DC (0 Hz) and the cone will move in or out and stay there doing nothing. Feed DC to a rotary woofer, the blades will pitch one way or the other and stay there, so the fan will continuously pressurize or depressurize the room. That's effectively infinite excursion. They also have the advantage of needing very little amplifier power, as the energy for moving the air and making the sound comes from the fan motor. A rotary woofer could not only reproduce the bottom end of a 32 foot or 64 foot rank effortlessly, you could fake a 128, 256, or even 512 foot stop with one.

[@bilbobaggins138]

@@KingdaToro I by accident stumbled upon yoyouur comment. I've been looking for a subwoofer that can go down to 8 hz. Can you tell me more for example where you can buy such things?

[@KingdaToro]

@@bilbobaggins138 Only a rotary woofer, as I described, can reach that low and still be audible/perceptible. I can just about guarantee you can't afford one. The price tag for one is in the five figure range, and that's not including installation.

[@bilbobaggins138]

@@KingdaToro Oh.. Well that's a shame. Maybe some day haha. I'm guessing they take up a lot of space as well?

[@garfixit]

Very cool

[@cornwalldragon4617]

These seem slow when the trap door on the pipes open and closes. How fast can that whole rank play?

[@dolofson]

Given the "latency" of the pipes themselves, I don't think that makes a huge difference. Same problem as with bass instruments in general; you can only play so fast before there are just too few periods in a "note" to define an audible pitch, and pipes take a few periods to build resonance as well. So, fast passages need to rely more on overtones - in this case, additional stops, I suppose.

[@cornwalldragon4617]

@@dolofson It just seems if one was playing a passage, something for pedal solo, and needed to go from C to C# that the trap door may slow the C# from sounding.

[@dolofson]

@@cornwalldragon4617 Well, it is significantly slower at closing than opening... Constant delay is one thing (one leans to compensate for it), but that inconsistency does seem like it could get annoying. Some springs or weights might have been in place to even it out a bit, maybe.

[@alexanderkupke920]

@@dolofson I guess those pipes were never ment to be played alone or fast at all. I bet they just add the right amount of "rumble" to anything else played.

[@usgusdus1215]

If 32' are so huge, I can't imagine how big the only two existing 64' stops must be!

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

At a rough guess, approximately 64 feet

[@shiningarmor2838]

What would happen if you played the two notes for a pipe at the same time?

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@UCUPmENM9Hy3smNGcl7ejHCw Why does each pipe play 2 Notes? Is there a tone hole w/ a little valve for it or something?

[@johnnyjames7139]

The pneumatically operated flap shortens the resonator length thereby increasing the pitch.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@johnnyjames7139 So there's an extra valve

[@chadbeverly4926]

Where are the other ones in the rank ? Are these the bottom 12 or is a full 32’ rank ?

[@hereux_official]

@LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER I think you need them in your Museum.

[@williammitchell1864]

Why is there just six pipes? Since there are 32 note pedals, Shouldn't there be at least a total of 32 pipes?

[@xsm5525]

that's what I was wondering too, however it wouldn't need to be 32 pipes! it simply just needs to be an octave (so 12 semitones / 12 pipes) 32 (as in length, foot) just means the tallest (and lowest) pipe within a rank. Oh, just actually read the description, each pipe plays two notes, that'll explain the other 6 then!

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Answer: This is for a theatre pipe organ which does not have separate ranks for the pedal division (although, I'd be surprised if this was available on any of the manuals). Due to theatre organs having larger-compass ranks of pipes than classical organs (where classical organs will have one pipe for every note on the manual and pedal, for example 32 pipes for a pedal stop, one for each pedal key; 61pipes for a manual stop, one for each manual key, etc), there is much "borrowing" of notes from ranks. So the entire diapason rank in this organ, for example, is I think 85 notes plus the lowest 6 "double-duty" diaphones, making a total of (I think) 91 pipes in this "rank". That way, thru electrical unification, the diapason is available at 8' pitch on the manuals (using 61 of the pipes starting at 8' C); 8' pitch on the pedals (using 32 of the same pipes starting at 8' C); 4' pitch on the manuals (using 61 of the pipes overlapping with the 8' octave but also including the top octave of pipes); 16' pitch in the pedals (using 32 of the pipes overlapping with the 8' octave, and including the 16' octave which I think are also diaphones), and 32' pitch in the pedals (also including these 6 'double duty' diaphones). This is not a bunch of ranks of pipes here for all these "stops" relating to the diapason, but rather is one large rank that can be electrically connected to the console in various ways, i. e. "unified". This is why theatre organs and other unified organs (such as some smaller church organs that have a limited amount of unification) have more stoptabs on the console than there are actually ranks of pipes in the organ.

[@williammitchell1864]

How come there's only 6 of the trapdoor diaphones instead of 32 for the 32 pedals on the pedalboard?

[@timothytikker3834]

Because the Diaphone pipes that extend the range upwards from the 32' octave are located elsewhere in this organ.

[@williammitchell1864]

@@timothytikker3834 Ok. I started to say

[@williammitchell1864]

@@timothytikker3834 I thought they would extend downward from those pipes shown, in length.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@timothytikker3834 Diaphone is a Diapason

[@y11971alex]

Wouldn't this imply also two beaters per pipe?

[@kevinking8303]

One beater per pipe. The resonator has enough "draw" to pull the pipe into pitch.

[@stevelee3264]

That's slicker than pig snot! Eliminates a whole octave.

[@organist1982]

Well, it eliminates 6 pipes. Each pipe produces two notes a half-step apart to make an entire chromatic octave.

[@BuzzLightyear66]

What is the main purpose for these?

[@danielmkubacki]

What instrument is this part of?

[@kevinking8303]

This is the 4 manual, 42 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ installed at Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley CA. It was restored, installed and is owned by the NorCal chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society.

[@OrgelkidsUSA]

Field trip!

[@ataricom]

@@kevinking8303 I read this in Michael Barone's voice

[@bradycall1889]

The low E is, unfortunately, distorted on this organ stop.

[@paulsmith5398]

Nice, but no sound 🤔😔.

[@alteisenfahrer]

which organ? Where?

[@kevinking8303]

Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley CA . NorCal TOS Wurlitzer

[@chadbeverly4926]

Wow

[@johnw2026]

So low pitched my phone can barely register ..

[@Engineer9736]

Lmao a phone is a joke regarding such frequencies. Even for a proper hifi set such low frequency is an effort. You only hear higher harmonics through your phone speaker.

[@bilbobaggins138]

Most high end hifi kits can't produce these low sounds

[@zimnaya]

These must cost an unbelievable amount to construct and voice, and personally I have to ask myself, "À quoi ça sert…?" because really the sounds are very unmusical.

[@kevinking8303]

They do sound rather "unmusical" up close. Mainly because you hear all the mechanical action, but not "the tone" You need massive space for the frequency wave to develop. So the real thundering effect only happens at a distance, out in the auditorium. At that point they shake your very guts.

[@markcooke729]

I think any 32" reed sounds unmusical, but these stops aren't designed to be solo stops. When they're added to the ensemble as a climax, their power and use is unquestionable - as long as they've been in the hands of a skilled voicer!

[@bilbobaggins138]

Also these pipes are never played on them own. They are combined with other pipes. If you get to hear them in person you will know how important they are for the instrument as a whole.

[@fromanabe8639]

That's an awful lot of wood for practically no sound at all. What's the point? And I am a pipe-organ aficionado.

[@kevinking8303]

It is nearly impossible to record the sound at that frequency. Impossible on a cell phone camera. You have to experience them live. They shake the building and make quite a roar!

[@andrewgohring7625]

"aficionado"-----------> doesn't know what 32 foot ranks are... wtf LOL

[@RiccardoP1983]

Useless registers to make ugly notes, what a waste of money.

[@kevinking8303]

Likely you haven't experienced instruments like this in person. Yes, these pipes were costly to build. That's why there were very few sets built in the 1920s, even fewer these days. However, to those who understand their musical purpose, they were seen as worthwhile in spite of the extreme nature. Organists from around the world have played this instrument and raved over the dynamic range of it and the value of this particular stop.

[@joshs4594]

"Useless"? "Ugly"? Hardly. When you hear these in conjunction with the rest of the organ pipes you'd immediately understand that they are as important as the rest of them. They don't call the pipe organ the "King of Instruments" for nothing. I suggest that you find a place that has a large one and sample them out for yourself.

[@mashy712]

It’s technically the subwoofer version of the pipe organ and it serves a very important feature. It’s what helps makes you feel it’s roar and power.

[@davef.2811]

Back in that day and time, sub-woofers (electric drivers) were non-existent.

[@dolofson]

Well, I don't normally listen to my subwoofer on its own either, but it was certainly not a waste of money!

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

There is a lot of work in those pipes to produce farts in the wind.

[@c-historia]

wow