The Allen Organ Company builds classical digital and combination digital and pipe organs, as well as digital theatre organs. Its factory is located in Macungie in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
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The company was formed in 1937 by Jerome Markowitz. The company has installed electronic instruments worldwide since 1939. In 1961 the company went public.[1] Inspired by the Hammond organ, Jerome Markowitz was determined to build a better electronic organ. Over the years, he built many home and church organs, and in 1971 the company introduced the world's first consumer-product digital musical instrument ; in 2004, the Smithsonian Institution recognized the significance of this technology by acquiring the first Allen digital organ for its collection.[2]
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 CD 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.
The Heritage organ line incorporates this technology into custom designed instruments.[3]