Colin Pykett holds a first class honours degree and a PhD in physics from King's College  London, and is a Fellow of  the Institute of Physics. He was latterly Chief Scientist and Technical Director in a high technology organisation during a career in which he worked in computing, radar, sonar and DSP (digital signal processing) among other topics.  His musical training began at the age of six with the piano and subsequently it took in the oboe and the organ.  He first studied the latter instrument under the late Russell Missin at St Mary's church in Nottingham, and subsequently received tuition from others of similar stature while at university in London. He played the organ regularly in many churches across the country for over forty years. 

Colin has undertaken research in organ topics for several decades, particularly in the physics of sound generation in organ pipes, and he has been recording and analysing their sounds for half a century - he was among the first to 'sample' in high fidelity the sounds of individual pipes in an organ in the 1970s and subject them to computer analysis, initially on a (then) state of the art PDP-11 machine.  As a result he became recognised internationally for his work on electronic tone production, having published his first papers on the subject in 1980.  Subsequently he has investigated responsive mechanical and electric actions for pipe organs from both an experimental and a theoretical standpoint.  By the age of twenty he had designed, made and demonstrated a complete electronic organ and has since made several others, one being the large dual-purpose instrument with both classical and theatre voicing which can be seen and heard on the home page.  His latest digital system is being continually updated and it is described and can be heard on the Prog Organ pages.  More recently he has become well known for his detailed research into engineering aspects of the electric actions invented by Robert Hope-Jones, which overturns much of the received wisdom and misconceptions held widely for over a century.  This work has been cited in New Grove.  All this activity is reflected in over 120 detailed articles on this website (see Complete Articles) and in contributions to public domain print journals over more than four decades (see Other Publications), and it has formed the basis of countless talks and demonstrations given to various audiences over the years.

His advice is frequently sought, particularly in the highly technical field of today's digital organs where he is one of the few able to offer expert but unbiased advice which is completely independent of the industry.  He has also been retained to advise on pipe organs.  In 2007 he was the first recipient of the Arthur le Boutillier Award of the Electronic Organ Constructors' Society "for outstanding service over many years".  He is often approached by journalists seeking an independent view of issues relating to digital and pipe organs, as a consequence of which his work has been cited in major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe.