New Live Skinner HW2 Demos

[B. Milan]

David Lines has performed some new live demos for the E.M. Skinner in HW2 and will be recording more in the near future. Please visit our Listening Room for the Skinner organ at http://www.milandigitalaudio.com/skinnerdemos.htm to hear some very nice playing and softer registrations of the Skinner virtual organ.

I will try to get the registrations put up in the near future as well.

Vierne Symphonie No. 1 is in the works amongst other new demos!

Thank you to David Lines for the generous demos and wonderful playing! We look forward to more demos soon!

[Lougheed]

Thanks, Brett (and David). The demos sound wonderful. Great to have softer demos. This organ sounds very natural to me. I like it!

Lawrence

[jwillans]

Thanks Brett and David. Beautiful organ and recordings, I can't wait to receive my copy of the sample set. I'd be very interested in seeing the registrations, in my setup I have no choir manual - listening to those demos I wonder what wonderful stops I'm missing!

James

[B. Milan]

Two new Vierne demos are available for download of the Skinner performed by David Lines. Movements III and V of Vierne Symphonie 1.

Enjoy!

[B. Milan]

I'm pleased to announce two more new live Skinner mp3 demos, this time performed by organist Jerry Martin! First is the Widor 5th Symphonie Mvt. I, then an Improvisation by Mr. Martin which showcases many of the solo stops quite nicely on the Skinner.

These were recorded live in one take with no editing or processing of any kind with the exception of transfer from the HW2 recorded .wav to MP3 format.

Also please note that these demos were all played on a PC with 3 GB of RAM and lossless compression used for all stops loaded. The Widor is especially intreresting as it is an excellent example to show the release handling of HW2 during much of the fast passage work.

Thank you Jerry for your wonderful demos and exceptional playing.

http://www.milanaudio.com/hw2demos/skin ... t1-hw2.mp3

http://www.milanaudio.com/hw2demos/skin ... jm-hw2.mp3

Enjoy the new demos!

[Aart Saly]

I'm sorry Brett, but I disagree with you on improved release handling. The only realistic moment I discovered is the final release. That's really stunning (also is the sound of the full organ)

But especially the introduction bars and the fast whirlwind part (Recit 16-4' vs. Positif 8'8') sounds like it was recorded in a tin can or a metallic room.

This is what I experienced myself also while trying around with the trial version of HW2. To experiment with samples with a long release I used the trial sample set of Zlata Koruna. While playing, it almost never gives me the feeling that I'm part of the reverberant space.

So, it seems that final chords sounds just fine with all release samples engaged, but to me playing with cutted release parts and using an external reverb gives a much more natural surrounding sound for (fast) moving passages.

Please believe me: this is not specially against the Skinner organ, I have almost the same critics while listening to the demos of the Big Cavaille Coll.

I'm wondering: Am I the only person who is annoyed by this?[/b]

[jfziehlke]

Brett Milan:

These were recorded live in one take with no editing or processing of any kind with the exception of transfer from the HW2 recorded .wav to MP3 format.

If the .wav files still exist, would it be possible to obtain a copy? I personally think it would be a very good thing if demos were generally available as .wav files as well as .mp3's. It is well worth the overhead. Jiri Zurek's Santanyi demos in .wav format are absolutely spectacular.

Jerry

[B. Milan]

Hello Aart,

They must have some amazing tin cans over in the Netherlands!

Seriously though, you have to realize that it is nearly impossible using ONE release sample per note to achieve the most realistic results. The Skinner was recorded in 2004 at which time only one main release was recorded from the main sustaining pipe sound. Had I known at the time multiple releases could be stored and played back according the the note length then I would have recorded short releases from EACH NOTE. The fact is that this is MUCH improved over HW 1. I'd like for you to compare this to the same piece played in v. 1 however, I am not sure that this is possible since the Widor performance was not recorded to MIDI as far as I know. Using wet sample sets is always tricky to get all details to be perfect. Remember, these are virtual organs, not the real thing, so there will always be some aspects of a "non-real" organ. Sampling is always a compromise and you have to keep this in mind. Perhaps we should offer REAL pipe organs that you can buy for your home, then everyone will be happy (and broke). But then everything would be perfect. ;)

In some forth coming projects multiple release recordings are planned for each note. The trade off here is that more memory will be required. If you prefer artificial reverberation, then I am sure you can find one of the many dry sample sets to suit your taste.

I'm afriad we cannot please everyone all of the time. Even with our dry sets, including the WurliTzer I have complaints that peolpe cannot get the right reverb to simulate the sound that we have gotten. I am sorry, but I cannot make everything perfect for everyone.

[B. Milan]

And yet some more lovely demos by Mr. David Lines. Please see the Skinner demo page for 5 newly added tracks. My favorite can be heard here:

http://www.milanaudio.com/hw2demos/skin ... ai-hw2.mp3

Thanks David!