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My console design is a little unusual, perhaps. First, I don't have enough room for a separate "piano" setup, plus want to share part of the computer/audio/recording between the piano and organ. ("Piano" is Yamaha S90ES synth -- great piano sounds, good keyboard touch, lots of other features.) So I wanted the organ and synth accessible from the same seat, but each still at comfortable playing heights.

Second, I wanted to prototype a console setup with scrap wood 2x4s and plywood to really get it right -- but my lovely spouse, having seen that my prototypes often remain in that stage for some time before being rebuilt "for real", and noting that this IS the living room (now more media/music room), suggested, very-nicely-but-I-got-the-point, that perhaps I should make it look good from the beginning.

So, I did some "real" woodworking and prototyping in parallel, and thus had to make some fairly major changes along the way, such as making the cutout in the shelf that the synth rests on so that I could easily reach all the pedals, and making the cutout in the back lower support to allow clearance for the shoes.

The top section holds the 3 CMK keyboards and touchscreen monitor. It slides back a few inches toward the wall, and the synth, which is mounted on drawer slides, slides out toward the player enough to reach all controls easily. I use simple wedges to hold the upper shelf and the synth firmly while playing (just pieces of wood with felt to prevent scratching). I mounted the synth pedal on a shaped wood piece covered with felt, and it rests comfortably and firmly in between the gap between two of the organ pedals when I'm playing the synth. The music stand lifts from a slot behind the organ keyboards and mounts into a slot on a long shaped wood holder that I made to slip over the lower organ manual keys (felt again protects the keys) so I can easily see/reach the music when playing the synth. It takes just a few seconds to switch between organ and synth configurations.

It looks a bit awkward, and is not symmetrical so that the keyboard middle Cs would align vertically (may use the synth as a 4th organ manual in the future?); were I to do it again it would look better, but for now it works very well, and there are other projects....

The bench seat, as I mentioned earlier, was purchased and fitted into the overall bench design. It has a 4" vertical adjustment. The hardware it came with is quite substantial and I think it looks pretty good, especially considering the price.

All construction is 3/4" birch plywood edged with birch hardwood, finished with 3-4 coats of hand-rubbed polyurethane and then a light wax coat. The thicker parts are comprised of two plywood sections glued together. All organ keyboard and pedalboard placement locations are in accord with AGO standards

Were I to start from scratch, I'd have the same functionality, but it would look more like there was a real design from the beginning.

Barry Gerken