FAQ / Support

If the instrument is located in Italy, you need to contact the nearest service centre; you can find it by consulting this map Assistenza – Viscount (viscountinstruments.it)
If the instrument is located abroad, please refer to your dealer. If this is not possible, contact the Support Service at: service@viscount.it. Please remember to include in the fault report:

• the instrument model;
• the serial number;
• date of purchase (possibly also the purchase document);
• as much information as possible about the fault;
• photos, audio and video if possible.

If you are an unofficial service center, and you have been brought a Viscount instrument, contact service@viscount.it, taking care to include all the useful information.
If your instrument is located in the United States, please contact service@viscount-organs.com directly.
If your instrument is under warranty, do not attempt to repair it yourself or with the help of an unauthorized technician: unauthorized attempts at repair can make you lose your warranty claim.

For the instruments in production, all available documentation can be found in the “Support” tab in our website: www.viscountinstruments.com
For the discontinued instruments send an e-mail to service@viscount.it

All Viscount instruments currently in production are equipped with MIDI ports. The MIDI protocol is a globally shared standard, but keep in mind some details:

1. All Viscount instruments currently in production are equipped with MIDI ports. The MIDI protocol is a globally shared standard, but keep in mind some details: PCs are not normally equipped with a MIDI port, so you need external sound cards or MIDI – USB interfaces to connect your Viscount instrument to a PC. However, check the instrument specifications: some of our products transmit MIDI data directly via USB port.
2. Some instruments may only support transmission or reception only, or use MIDI ports other than the standard 5-pin port.
3. The MIDI communication protocol is based on 16 channels. To ensure communication between MIDI devices it is necessary that the communication takes place on the same channels. To find out which MIDI channels an instrument communicates on, contact the manufacturer.
4. Some MIDI messages are standard, such as basic Control Changes, while other MIDI messages are not standard (such as System Exclusive or Sysex) and therefore will not be automatically read correctly by the receiving device.
5. Recording a MIDI track does not mean recording the sound of the instrument; a MIDI track is instead a sort of “electronic score” of what has been played on the instrument. In other words, it contains only information about the pressed notes and all the other controls used (for example Preset / registers enabled and disabled, swell box movements etc.). It is not possible to record the internal sound of the instrument via MIDI.

Viscount does not make quotes on second-hand instruments. For purchase we recommend to contact one of our dealers. Also remember that buying a second-hand instrument from a private individual means probably buying an instrument out of its warranty period. Therefore, the repair of a second-hand instrument on which a dealer has not offered specific warranty is at the customer expense.

Before you get in touch with a service center, you should always make a backup of your settings, followed by a “Factory Settings” to bring the instrument back to factory settings. You can find instructions about this procedure in the user manual.

If the instrument is still covered by warranty, the repair will be free of charge. In this case do not attempt to repair it yourself or with the help of an unauthorized technician: this can make you lose the right to warranty.
In addition, if the damage results from incorrect use of the instrument (for example, falling or intentional damage), if it is due to external circumstances (damage due to lightning, rain, damage caused by third parties), the repair operation is not covered by warranty.
If your instrument is out of warranty, you will be required to pay for the reparation. The costs of intervention depend on the necessary spare parts and the cost of labour.

If your instrument is connected to one or more external speakers, it is very likely that you are having a ground loop. This is a phenomenon created when the instrument and the external case have two different ground references, or if there are other devices connected to the instrument or simply to the same electrical outlet. Here some tips for easily solving the problem:

• Connect the instrument and speakers to the same electrical outlet.
• Disconnect any other devices, such as PCs, MIDI interfaces, tablets, etc.
• Switch off headlights, air conditioners and other consumer appliances. If possible, connect the instrument and speakers to a different electrical outlet.
• Use the “ground lift” function (if available) on the speaker.
• Use a DI between instrument and speakers.

PhysisPlus technology calculates in real-time the physics of a flue, reed or bourdon pipe. The result is a living organ, changing in real time, resembling the organ you prefer, or creating a new sound.

A sampled sound will always sound the same forever. It is like a photograph that is taken at a given time. As beautiful as it can be, a photograph will never change. In audio terms it means that a sampled pipe cannot be fine tuned to shape its character, cannot react to the other pipes in the same organ, nor can it be adapted to different musical pieces.

No, the hardware used for Physis Plus is different, as is the operation. So the new software would not run on the old hardware.

Styles are meant to adapt your organ to different reference musical styles, such as Romantic, Baroque, etc. To do so, they follow the general taste of the historical times and the reference country of your organ. Pipe sets are deeply fine-tuned to adapt to the pipes built by a certain organ builder or to the pipes of a specific church. This can only be obtained with the flexibility of our patented Physis+ technology which consists of physical models precisely creatied by Deep Learning techniques. Factory Pipe sets are designed according to the concept of style, but every Physis+ organ has free user slots for adding additional Pipe sets. These can be created by the user by customizing an existing Pipe set or downloaded from our website or the Physis+ App (coming soon).

• Modern
• Baroque
• Symphonic
• Romantic
• English Cathedral

(Please note: the number of Factory Pipe sets depends on your organ model and can vary from 3 to 5).

Yes! All changes you will apply to your voices are saved in the current Pipe set. If you wish to leave the factory Pipe set intact you can duplicate one of them in your free user slots, and modify it from there so you can return to the factory default whenever you wish. All Pipe sets can be modified, both the factory ones and the user ones.

You can download the Pipe sets from the dedicated website or the Physis+ App (under construction). Loading the Pipeset to your organ is very simple: you can copy the downloaded file to a USB stick, plug the stick to the organ and navigate the Menu to PIPESET → INSTALL. All the operations for assigning voices to the organ stops are performed automatically by the software. Pipe Sets can be loaded to the free user slots available.

Yes, the Physis+ Editor allows to edit Volume and Pitch note by note for each stop.

The available temperaments are:

• Equal
• Kirnberger II
• Werkmeister III
• Pythagorean
• Meantone 3#
• Vallotti
• Chaumont
• Kellner 1975
• Kirnberger III
• Werkmeister IV
• Werkmeister V
• Silbermann
• Meantone 3b
• Meantone pure minor third
• Zarlino
• Sauver 1
• Sauver 2
• Barca
• Neidhardt II

In addition 4 user temperaments are available that can be created by the user directly on the organ or the Physis+ Editor.

Yes, the new reverb algorithms simulate the ambience with a finer grain and a better spatial reproduction. The reverb is true-stereo, and considers the position of the pipes in the windchest to provide a better spatial sensation.

In addition to the reverb type selection and the dry/wet level, the new reverb offers a Early Reflections level and a Reverb Tail level, to adjust the sound to the user needs.

Digital amplifiers have many advantages over traditional amplifiers. First of all they are more linear and provide a clearer sound. Furthermore, they are much more efficient, meaning that they require much less power for the same sound intensity level of a traditional amplifier, and they dissipate less heat.

Yes, the feeling has improved and there are 4 presets, depending on the touch you want.

Tracker noise is a new adjustable keyboard feature. Antique mechanical organs often produce a typical mechanical noise. The tracker noise makes it possible to reproduce that noise produced by the key as it is pressed while playing a real organ.

We avoided overly large screens that would change the classic organ aesthetic line. Our screen is essentially intuitive and functional.

The Editor provides an easy and convenient way to edit the organ. Furthermore, it provides functionalities that are not available from the organ such as: note-by-note pitch and volume adjustment, complex audio output setup, routing, subwoofer configuration, etc.

Windows, Mac OS, iPad

Check that you have not selected a temperament other than Equal. More information about temperaments can be found in the user manual. Also check that the ENSEMBLE parameter is not set to very high values. This can also make your instrument result “out of tune”.

If the stop turns on, but the register does not sound, this may have been mistakenly set to “Local Off”. Read the “Local Off” section in the user manual for more information.

Since the steps of the Crescendo are programmable, it is possible that one of them has been programmed incorrectly. Reset to factory settings (see “factory settings” chapter in the user manual). It is also possible that the pedal is not calibrated.

This is the normal operation of the instrument.

The button A.P. has two possible operations, depending on the models. The Automatic Pedal function allows to play the pedal registers by a manual. The “Piano Automatico a Pedale” function selects the pedal registers based on the registration of the other manuals. For more information see the user manual.

Viscount produces a line of speakers designed specifically for organs. However, the audio outputs of the instrument can be connected to any active speaker that has a jack connector.

This is normal and is not a defect. The “oscillating” registers typically start at C of the second octave because in the lowest octave the beat would give an unpleasant pitch uncertainty effect and that would prevail over the pleasantness of the oscillation.

Make sure you have selected one of the 4 “user” styles of the organ. The first four organ styles, marked with a padlock in the display menu, are not editable.

Many Viscount organs are equipped with orchestral sounds, but not all of them.
Some models have stops dedicated to orchestral sounds. You can change the sound assigned to these controls.
Other models do not have a dedicated control, but it is possible to assign an orchestral voice to a receiver that normally activates a liturgical voice [NB Pipe stop].
To do this you need to access the menu “Orchestra” on the series Chorum / Cantorum and “Alternative Voices” on the Physis series. For more information see the user manual and the “sound arrangement” section of the instrument in question on our website.

This is normal, the instrument works this way to be faithful to the original electromechanical organs.

The instrument faithfully reproduces the method of generating these effects, so they may sound different than the chorus and vibrato that you can generate, for example, through a DAW.

Hold down the Reverb key while switching on.

This is quite normal. For fidelity to the original electromechanical organs, the Legend organs use the mechanism of the “foldback” to generate additional notes for the keys that come out of the normal range of the organ.

Be sure to use an RTS and NOT a TRS pedal. Consult your supplier to learn about pedal polarity. They are RTS for example the Behringer FCV100 and Yamaha FC7. The expression pedal for the liturgical organ Cantorum VI Plus is not compatible with the Legend organs.

The Legend has several jack outputs and an 11 pin output designed specifically for Leslie equipped with 11 pin connector. It is not possible to connect to this rotary speaker socket equipped with a 6 or 9 pin connector: attempting a connection of this type will damage the instrument.

First of all, make sure that an update is necessary: you may already have the latest version on your instrument. Make sure that you have successfully installed the Legend Updater software by following the instructions in the guide. Once you have downloaded the update file from our website, remember to extract the file contained in the package. Unzip it and put it in a folder where you can easily find it.

For fidelity with the original electromechanical organs, it was chosen to maintain this feature on the Legend.

If you turn on the percussion, the last drawbar of the upper manual does not work. This is not a bug, but a feature of the organs to which the Legend is inspired. For fidelity with the original electromechanical organs, it was chosen to maintain this feature on the Legend.

In the original Hammond organs, the frequency and volume of each note was recorded manually and considerable elasticity was allowed in the values. Since Legend organs have the philosophy of imitating electromechanical organs exactly, they also reflect these small irregularities.
However, we recommend that you also check the other parameters of the instrument. For example, if the Rotary simulator is in the “break” position, the horn position still changes the sound, and may attenuate some frequencies and accentuate others.

Legend ’70s features 2 FX1 and FX2 effect processors, 1 reverb and 1 3-band master equalizer. Effects can be configured in series or in parallel and can be addressed to the MAIN L-R output or to the outputs AUX 1 and AUX 2. The reverb and 3-band master equalizer are assigned only to the MAIN L-R output.

Legend ’70s provides for the connection of 1 sustain pedal, 2 switch pedals, 2 continuous pedals and 1 program change pedal. The sustain pedal can be of the switch type, of the half-damper type, or the triple pedal SLP3-D (Studiologic).

Yes, Legend ’70s provides a MIDI OUT, MIDI IN and USB TO DEVICE connector for connection with an external device, such as an expander, another keyboard or a computer. A maximum of two dedicated parts can be configured for each program to external devices, which can be controlled more easily in real-time thanks to the installation of the External module (optional).

Yes, it is necessary to activate the “alternative keyboard” function (alt. Keyb) in all the modules that you intend to control from the external keyboard. The modules in which the “alternative keyboard” function is active are no longer controlled by the local keyboard, even if all panel controls are still working.

Yes, it is necessary to enable the Multi Channel Mode function. In this way, each module can receive events separately on the corresponding MIDI channel.

With this port you can connect the instrument to a PC to transmit MIDI data. You can also stream audio from your PC to the piano, for example as a base. It is NOT possible to transmit audio from piano to PC.

Write an email to service@viscount.it with the error number (for example #16). In the meantime, you can start the piano by holding down the two keys [SONG MODE] + [EDIT]: this will start the piano in normal mode even if the update has been suspended. Read all the instructions on how to proceed with the update in case you are using an Apple operating system and finally try to update your piano again.

If you are using a “physical” MIDI port and not the USB, make sure you have it configured correctly: Set it to “System > Midi settings > Midi communication port.
Also, make sure that transmission and reception are set to the same MIDI channel. By default, the Legend ’70s communicates on channel 1.

Send an e-mail to service@viscount.it including the exact error code and specifying when the error occurred (on power, during update, during use…), we will help you as quick as possible.

This bug has been fixed by an operating system update.

The speed of the Rotary is considered to be a [RATE] parameter, so it is necessary to use a stepless pedal, such as a volume pedal.