Latest from Lavender Audio

[David Butcher]

Hello all,

As promised a little while ago, I can now let you know about a new sample set I've been working on. It's an English romantic organ dating from 1901, details of which can be found here ...

http://www.lavenderaudio.co.uk/oic/

There will be a total of three sample sets based on this instrument, as described here ...

http://www.lavenderaudio.co.uk/oic/hwss/

I've also put together some demos to give you an idea of how it will sound ...

http://www.lavenderaudio.co.uk/oic/demos/

I'm hoping that it will be ready by around the middle of this year.

All the best,
David

[dhm]

David - Thank you. This will be a very useful addition to the HW library.
Just one request, if I may: you said you might add a 32ft reed by repitching the Trombone samples; would you also consider giving us a "real" 32ft flue, rather than just a Resultant?

In anticipation,

Douglas.

[martinus]

Hello David,

Good to hear about the new sample set.
Put me down for one!

All the best

Martinus C van Herk

[David Butcher]

Hello Douglas,

would you also consider giving us a "real" 32ft flue, rather than just a Resultant?

I'm hoping that will be possible. The organ where I have agreement in principle to sample the Tuba also has a big 32' Open Wood that is full length to bottom F (it quints below that). I'll certainly sample the lowest 7 notes and then look to repitch to come up with a full octave to match the existing 16' Open at Haverhill.

The only snag might be the rather prominent wind noise on the organ - not too much of a problem on a loud Tuba but maybe more so on the 32 foot pipes. Hopefully denoising and filtering will give an acceptable result.

David

[Neil Odlin]

As someone who lived in Haverhill for a couple of years, I find this an exciting prospect, in fact I discovered Hauptwerk whilst I lived there, so rather fitting!!!

Neil

[jkaczmarek]

Nice demos!!! Any idea what the price might be?

Thanks,
Joe

[David Butcher]

Nice demos!!! Any idea what the price might be?

Thanks Joe ... it's too early to be able to give pricing for this set, but I'm determined to make it as affordable as possible.

David

[Fazioli]

This is the organ I waited for a long time, I already have the other 3 samplesets and they are of a very high quality..

I like the almost dry acoustic, it gives the possibility to ad reverb and has the full sound of a wet sampleset if used without any reverb.

Well done, can't wait!

[Lougheed]

David,

Thanks for the demos. I've added RSS ambience from the Rodgers console, and it is a wonderful sound. Yet another organ to be interested in!

Lawrence

[jds]

This looks and sounds like a great sample set for the Hauptwerk library. I enjoyed the demos.

Please price for your US friends.

David

[chorn]

David

Can you can do magic? If so, for the extended version, how about adding any/all of: Great - (quiet) 16'; Choir - 2' flute, and (to be drawn with a soft 8' flute to make a sound for soloing) a nazard and/or sesquialtera?

[David Butcher]

Can you can do magic? If so, for the extended version, how about adding any/all of: Great - (quiet) 16'; Choir - 2' flute, and (to be drawn with a soft 8' flute to make a sound for soloing) a nazard and/or sesquialtera?

Thanks for those thoughts ... the specification of the extended version is still rather up in the air. As well as the Tuba and 32' reed and flue, I had planned to use the Swell Geigen Principal 4' to provide a 2' Fifteenth on the Choir - I've tried this with the Choir flutes and diapason and it sounds good. The Choir Viol di Gamba is a very nice stop and it would make sense to try a viol celeste by repitching that rank.

To answer your suggestions - there is already a 2' flute on the Swell which works well in combination with the Swell Stopped Diapason. The Choir could be used to accompany that combination.
A soft 16' on the Great ... well, the Swell Bourdon is probably a good candidate. Would it be sufficient to have that available to couple, or would you need to have it separately available on the Great ?

Regarding the Sesquialtera - probably the most difficult of the lot ! Possible, yes (and probably best placed on the Swell), but I wonder how it would sit on this sort of instrument ? Considering that brings me to the biggest question - when planning an extended version of an existing instrument, how much respect should be paid to the style of the original organ ?
For example, if you were to go back about 30 or 40 years, you could easily find organs from this sort of period being rebuilt with neo-baroque positive divisions, to say nothing of the revoicing of the existing pipework .. all following the fashion of the day.
Of course, today we are far more conservative (for the most part !) and tend to value what we have and any additions tend to be more in keeping with the original pipework.

Should the same rules apply when doing the same with a virtual organ - or is it a case of anything goes ? I really don't know the answer to that - all thoughts welcome !

David

[fourniture_iv]

David -

Please hurry! If you wait too long the Bush dollar will be worth nothing and I'll have to send you payment in specie. :-)

Thanks in advance for all the work. The demos sound great.

[dhm]

David,

Am I right in thinking there are two Celeste ranks in the Swell - one tuned flat, one sharp? And would they both work with the Viole d'Orchestre?
Just curious, since you don't normally find both side by side.

Douglas.

[chorn]

A soft 16' on the Great ... well, the Swell Bourdon is probably a good candidate. Would it be sufficient to have that available to couple, or would you need to have it separately available on the Great ?

When you say coupling from the Swell, you mean exactly that? - ie just couple Swell to Great? What I was thinking of was, for instance, getting a 16'+8'+4'+2' sound on the Great, independent of the Swell stops drawn (where there might be a contrasting sound, eg Swell 16'+8'+4' reeds + mixture).

... when planning an extended version of an existing instrument, how much respect should be paid to the style of the original organ ? For example ... go back about 30 or 40 years ... Of course, today we ... tend to value what we have ... additions ... more in keeping with the original pipework.

Should the same rules apply when doing the same with a virtual organ - or is it a case of anything goes ? I really don't know the answer to that - all thoughts welcome !

All thoughts welcome, eh? --- Well, my view, FWIW, is that the first - but NOT the only - aim ought to be do do a sympathetic extension in keeping with the original pipework. Once the main aim's achieved, it is (IMHO) reasonable to consider going a little way into "alien territory" if this works well. That's just an attempt to be pragmatic about the uses people will find for virtual organs. Perhaps, in principle, there could be either two versions of an extended organ (with and without the aliens) or just one version that might have some of its stops in a distinctive colour to show that they don't truly belong but permit a different kind of use of the organ(?) ... Like having some curry spices next to your herbs, even if you mainly wanted to cook European style food.