unification

Or unified system. System used in most theatre organs and in some smaller instruments (such as certain mortuary organs made by Seeburg and Operators) whereby the keyboard may be connected to the rank of pipes in several different ways. If the 8′ flute stop is selected, for example, the keyboard is connected to the rank of flute pipes so they play at normal pitch. If the 4′ flute stop is selected, the pipes play an octave higher. If the 16′ flute stop is selected, they play an octave lower. Or, by selecting the 16′, 8′ and 4′ flute stops at the same time, three pipes in the same rank play when each key is played. In contrast, a straight (or non-unified) organ has a separate rank of pipes for each stop. Because each rank of pipes in a unified organ is available at several pitches on several different manuals, a unified organ has fewer ranks of pipes in proportion to the number of stops.