Allen Organ Company

The Allen Organ Company builds church organs, home organs and theatre organs. Its factory is located in Macungie, Pennsylvania. The Allen International Sales Headquarters also includes the Jerome Markowitz Memorial Center. It was founded in 1937 at Allentown PA by Jerome Markowitz.

Customers of the Allen Organ Company can choose from an array of sounds. Because of hard chips and computer programming, organs can be programmed to the customer’s taste. If sounds aren’t to a customer’s satisfaction, the organ can be re-tuned or reprogrammed at home by a company representative. Many churches are switching over to computer processed organs, made or inspired by the Allen Organ Company’s models, as opposed to the traditional pipe organs.

Allen Organ Company was founded in 1937 and named after its birthplace, Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company was incorporated in 1945, after interruption by World War II. Since its beginning, Allen has been managed by the same family. Steve Markowitz, the current President, is the son of the founder, Jerome Markowitz.

The company had its first patent in 1938. Allen continued to advance analog tone generation through the 1960s with further patents. In 1971, as the culmination of a collaborative effort with North American Rockwell, Allen introduced the world's first commercially-available digital musical instrument. Allen was responsible for the first three-manual electronic organ and the first electronic drawknob console. The first Allen Digital Organ is now in the Smithsonian Institution.

Allen Organ Company added a manufacturing  branch in England in 1969.


 * 1947: Allen installed the world's first three-manual electronic organ in St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Catasauqua, Pa.
 * 1949: full-range, high-fidelity stereo audio equipment was incorporated in Allen installations.
 * 1950: "Purely Electronic Carillon," "Harp Percussion" and sustain effects were introduced.
 * 1952: "Chromatic Voicing" was introduced.
 * 1953: Manufacturing was relocated to Macungie, Pennsylvania to expand capacity.
 * 1954: Allen built the first four-manual electronic organ.
 * 1955: Allen developed the first electronic 32' stops used with pipe organs.
 * 1958: the TC-1 was the world's first transistor church organ.
 * 1959: Solid State Tone Generation (transistors) replaced vacuum tube oscillators in the entire Allen line.
 * 1960: Allen introduced its patented "Random Motion Electronic", or "Whind".
 * 1963: First European representation established in Zurich, Switzerland.
 * 1969: Allen entered into a joint venture with North American Rockwell for digital sound research and development. The Digital Computer Organ employed LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuits.
 * 1971: Using the technical knowledge co-developed with Rockwell International, in 1971 Allen produced the world's first digital organs. That same year, Sharp introduced its hand-held calculator. Together, these were the world's first two digital consumer products.
 * 2004: Allen's first digital musical instrument became part of Smithsonian's collection of musical instruments.
 * 2010: Allen Organ Company Honored by United States Congress

Quantum lineEdit
The Quantum organ line uses a digital processing technique called the convolution reverb, a technique widely used in both software and hardware musical instruments. In Allen's implementation of the technique, the acoustics of the sampled room become an integral part of the organ's sound. An 8-second stereo convolution reverb requires about 35 billion calculations per second; Allen patented a technique to reduce the computation amount to about 400 million calculations per second. A digital organ that produces Compact Disc quality sound without convolution reverb would require only about 100,000 calculations per second for each sound. Quantum organs include about 4,000 times that capacity to create convolution reverb.

Electric OrgansEdit
The Allen organ is a type of electronic organ that was created in 1937 and 1939. It was the first organ to become available for sale to the public. The Allen organ company was also responsible for creating the first transistorized organ in 1951. In addition to that, a new way of generating sound, by digital waves, for the organ was produced in 1971. This new technology, new at the time, is seen in many organs that are available now.

Allen Organs created a handful of electric pianos in the 1980s. Some are:


 * Electra-Piano
 * Rock-si-cord
 * RMI Keyboard Computer KC-I  and KC-II (These are two of the first polyphonic synthesizers.)

GENISYSEdit
A computer software called GENISYS controls the sound and power panels on the organs. GENISYS is seen as the company’s best for sound quality and tone control. There is a variety of orchestral and organ tones that can be tuned for an individual’s organ. The sound can be modified using a computer program that goes along with the GENISYS interface.

MuseumEdit
The Allen Organ company branch Macungie, Pennsylvania, is now a museum. In the museum, you can look at how an organ is made and the history and take tour of the museum.

From the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, here are the Churches that currently have Allen Organs: (Please note that this is not a complete list)

St. Luke's Catholic Church, 9903 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD - Two Manual Digital Classic Renaissance QUANTUM Allen Organ

Holy Savior Catholic Church, 1705 Philadelphia Avenue, Ocean City, MD - Two Manual Digital Classic Renaissance Allen Organ

St. John Neumann Catholic Church, 11211 Beauchamp Road, Ocean Pines, MD - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ

St. Ann's Catholic Church, 691 Garfield Parkway, Bethany Beach, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ (w/Drawknobs)

St. Edmond's Catholic Church, 409 King Charles Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ

Mary Mother of Peace Catholic Church, 30839 Mount Joy Road, Millsboro, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Renaissance Allen Organ

St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church, 535 Riverside Drive Salisbury, MD - Three Manual Digital Classic Renaissance QUANTUM Allen Organ

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 501 East Chestnut Street, Delmar, MD - Two Manual Digital Classic Protege Allen Organ

St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 109 Dixon Street, Harrington, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ

Holy Angels Catholic Church, 82 Possum Park Road, Newark, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ

Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 12 Winder Road, New Castle, DE - Two Manual Digital Classic Allen Digital Computer Organ

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 345 Bear Christiana Road, Bear, DE - Three Manual Digital Classic Allen Genisys Organ*

St. Joseph Catholic Church, 371 East Main Street, Middletown, DE - Three Manual Digital Classic Renaissance Allen Organ

St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 301 Lock Street, Chesapeake City, MD - Two ManuaDigital Classic Protege Allen Organ

* Contains the Hymn/Performance Player which plays the Organ itself instead of the organ only being played by the real person.