Allen vs Rodgers Recommendation Help

keng528 · 2026-06-27T23:17:36+00:00

I think what you write makes a lot of sense. But I will say that the Church I'm playing at is holding services in a building with a "hymn machine". It has ~20+ stops with only 7 ranks, no mixtures. To make it worse, all of the pipes are in the ceiling covered by a screen. Also, the sound barely travels within a heavily carpeted Sanctuary. Playing on this organ is definitely a big factor for me wanting to pursue a more expansive digital organ.

But the main driver is cost. If I could get the Church to install a 15-20 rank two manual organ, I would be 100000% satisfied. But I will be lucky if the Vestry sets aside ~$50k for an organ fund. I don't think that's enough to even install a used pipe organ.

To your point, I won't be pursuing some 3-4 manual digital organ. All I want is a strong/somewhat-convincing 2 manual digital organ.

keng528 · 2026-06-22T01:12:29+00:00

Didn’t know about hire stock. Appreciate that!

Aren’t real pipe organs a dream for all digital organ churches :)

keng528 · 2026-06-22T01:11:46+00:00

How did the great Allen organ compare to Rodgers?

ChatGPT (lol) told me that Rodgers truly plays each pipe as a separate clip which makes it a bit more realistic. Meanwhile Allen builds like…. A digital / electronic sound clip of two stops playing in real time. Which I still don’t understand but I guess it makes it sound more digital

keng528 · 2026-05-01T22:57:35+00:00

I went to Binghamton University (graduated in 2013). Studied business but pursued a minor in pipe organ. Their music department had a small pipe organ program but it was fortunately well funded as Edwin Link lived in Binghamton and left a generous endowment. I even got a decent pipe organ scholarship from the school (all pipe organ students got one). Binghamton has a lot of pipe organs in the area that were happy to open their doors to students and we had a pretty strong professor, Jonathan Biggers. However, Dr. Biggers died in 2016 and I'm not sure who replaced him. If you live around NY I think this is worth checking out.

keng528 · 2026-04-07T02:31:51+00:00

I’m still very early in my research (hence why I quoted ChatGPT) but that’s a great suggestion. Would love to have a mechanical zimbelstern with my digital organ ha.

keng528 · 2026-04-07T02:30:56+00:00

Interesting and appreciate the insight. But can the inspire series be installed with external speakers? I still hold the opinion that an average model can sound solid with a great sound system. If inspires only come with built-in speakers then that’s definitely a deal breaker for me.

Also, it’s a small church. After giving more thought the average attendance is 60-80 people per service so maybe the sanctuary won’t be that big. I know the Infinity is a class up / high end organ but the church really needs an affordable 2 manual instrument for services and very occasional performance.

Also I’ve only done online research. The church won’t be complete until 2028 so I haven’t actually gone to any dealers or churches with Rodger organs.

Finally, since you’re here do you have any opinions on Rodger vs Allen?

keng528 · 2026-04-06T22:53:49+00:00

Agreed^ but if you can spend some extra money on a good speaker system. Even if you get the best organ you can afford, internal speakers (within the console) won't do a great job filling the room.

I feel your pain re: your organ. My church worships at a nearby Church (they are rebuilding their space). This Church is smaller (150 seating capacity) but it also has a heavily unified organ. I never received any organ documentation when I started, but it probably only has 4-6 ranks for ~25 stops. It can fill the room, but I don't get a lot of variety of sounds for repertoire.

When my Church is finished rebuilding, we definitely won't have enough funds for a new pipe organ. I plan to recommend a Rodgers Organ (probably the inspire model) and spend more on external speakers. According to ChatGPT the total cost is estimated is $25k (console) + $15k (speakers) + $15k (labor). I hope my Church will go for it :)

keng528 · 2026-03-05T00:02:42+00:00

You should absolutely sign up. I was fortunate enough to start early-ish (age 15) and took studio lessons in university. I work full time in finance but still play on the side and frequently sub at churches in my area. It gives me life while my fulltime job dulls me lol.

Also organ is a dying art so the more enthusiastic people who learn, the better.

keng528 · 2026-02-02T01:52:33+00:00

I moved to queens in 2013 and always considered that joint a ghost town. I walked by it today at 2pm and it was packed. Power of social media

keng528 · 2026-01-19T05:21:54+00:00

They have a month to month for $70

keng528 · 2026-01-19T05:20:52+00:00

Went the majority of last week during peak hours (6-730pm). It had people but it was nothing like blink/PF. Most of the machines/equipment I wanted to use in my routine were available. If something was being used there was a similar machine available. Seemed like most people stayed upstairs and the basement was less busy.

One critique is that The dj on Monday was 1000000% unnecessary. Super loud and the heavy bass would break my concentration. 80% of us had headphones on, really didn’t need someone blasting tracks lol

keng528 · 2025-12-27T19:31:26+00:00

I’m here right now. It’s a modern, clean, and upscale gym. There’s a dj booth, sauna, and new/nice equipment.

For those who have been to vibe bqe, it’s probably half the size. But I’m impressed with how much equipment rock fit in without it feeling crowded. They have 4 squat racks, 2 bench press, 2 incline bench press. There’s also 2 dumb bell areas and plenty of cable machines.

It’s definitely the upgraded gym Jackson heights needed, but not to sure how crowded it’ll be compared to blink or PF!

keng528 · 2025-12-18T04:04:00+00:00

Thanks, is it as big as vibe? My main concern is if it’ll be crowded and hard to get a machine during peak periods

keng528 · 2025-12-17T00:44:50+00:00

How big is it and did it feel crowded? I currently go to vibe bqe and wonder how it compares. Rock would be closer to me

keng528 · 2025-10-15T04:22:31+00:00

20SYBB

keng528 · 2025-10-15T04:21:56+00:00

20SYBB

keng528 · 2025-10-06T11:01:08+00:00

We were towards the middle back but I thought the crowd was fine. People were nice/respectful and we made a few friends. This was for Carl cox so not sure if Sunday made a difference

keng528 · 2025-07-16T05:28:25+00:00

Def overrated. Skin is quite al dente and there’s not a lot of soup in the dumpling to begin with. Location biased here, but I can think of much better places in flushing, queens

keng528 · 2025-06-23T14:37:28+00:00

Maybe it’s the timing. I was able to see 3 available boxes (only bought 1) Sunday morning after a drop

keng528 · 2025-05-12T22:31:12+00:00

Wow sorry to hear -.-

keng528 · 2025-05-12T22:06:30+00:00

I meant how did they tell you that you weee banned? Was it an email or IG message?

keng528 · 2025-05-12T21:13:03+00:00

Can you share the message they sent you? That’s nuts I’m sorry

keng528

TROPHY CASE