Greetings, all!
First, Jan, it is only faintly, rarely apparent that English is any kind of a mild stretch for you. I have usually chosen to communicate with Prof. Maier and others (such as jpc) in German, partly out of respect but also for the “exercise” that I need. I appreciate your (and for that matter, others’) very successful efforts in English. And thank you for the note that I just saw concerning “anticipative Fx processing.” I will need to learn about this when I can get back to the organ.
As I recall, the last time I actually measured polyphony I was still running the 1010LT sound card. The selection of buffer size 768 was necessary in order to avoid the crackling I was sometimes hearing at buffer size 512 with the polyphony I wanted for larger sample sets. After I installed the RME card, I was pleased with the improvement in sound quality but never really thought about a possible increase in speed, so I conservatively set the buffer size for the new card above 512, at the next higher RME level (1024). I am happy to now learn that that was not necessary. I should take the time to remeasure polyphony and make correctly informed adjustments, but I have too much fun playing. And Ladegast/Wernigerode arrives in a couple of weeks!
The ARC2 guide does indeed show and recommend patterns of tightly spaced measurements. In my review, above, I was trying to express my satisfaction—even relief—at the great success I have obtained using a different approach to the distribution of microphone locations for measurement. In doing so, I was (i) definitely looking forward to “audience” situations, with listeners seated throughout the room, while (ii) still emphasizing the player’s position. However, my compromise actually avoided taking measurements in most of the room. The compromise also included the fact that all measurements were made at the same height, the height of the organist’s ears. While I can indeed make and apply alternative correction files that would rigorously represent the organist’s position—or for that matter, the seats at the other end of the room—I do not now perceive enough need to justify the effort. I have walked slowly throughout the room, sitting in places, while my daughter played static chords. Interestingly, the presence and nature of bass sound was essentially unchanged at any location, aside from the fact that the TOTAL sound level decreased more than I expected towards the far corner of the room (not an ARC issue). I did occasionally perceive subtle positional variations in narrow ranges of higher frequencies (in treble range/harmonics). I do not know how to differentiate the origin of these variations as being either from interference and/or reflections: the north wall of the room is dominated by a large window that contains a set of blinds between the inner and outer panes of glass, but there is no external drapery that covers the window space; the higher-frequency oddities were all in general proximity to this large glass surface. I did encounter one location of significant audio interference, where midrange sounds summed abnormally over a broad frequency range: standing at the back side of the organ console, facing the organist’s position (see photos). This was the only strikingly abnormal listening experience I encountered. However, it is a spatially small, non-listening position relatively close to the speakers, at roughly 45° to both speaker towers, and does not affect my observation that there is “no bad seat in the house.”
The following photos are in a way premature. I have been expecting to “Post Photos” once I am substantially finished with my bi-decade DIY organ, and with the installation of the last toe pistons last weekend, that is certainly getting close. I still need to replace the speaker grille cloths, which are showing signs of age.
In each of the two living rooms that this console has known under my ownership, it has faced away from the wall. I suppose, Doug, that this may complicate comparisons to other set-ups, although it adds realism to a limited number of sample sets such as Rabstejn nad Strelou, one of two Sonus paradisi sets originating from locations that roughly straddle one of my ancestral homes.
First photo, taken from front doorway.
The room is not grand in scale. It is 16.7 feet from the hallway opening (between the pillars at the left of the photo) to the fireplace situated between built-in symmetric white cabinetry units at the far end of the room. The back wall of the cabinetry is about 2.3 feet further, and the hallway to which the room is largely open is 4 feet wide. The maximum length measurement therefore adds to 23 feet. The room is 13ft 10in wide. In this photo, on the far left you can see the subwoofer on the bottom, with Advent and AR speakers stacked above. There are very successful acoustic spacers between them: a thick mouse pad under the AR speaker, and between the subwoofer and the Advent I have placed a double-layer of foam padding that originally served as cylindrical cushioning on the uprights of the outdoor swing set when my kids were little. The other Advent and AR speakers are stacked on a cabinet that is remarkably similar in height to the subwoofer, partly because the subwoofer stands on a plank supported by acoustic “needle” feet. The computer tower stands on another elevated plank next to the console. I have sometimes thought of moving the computer further away from the sub, but....
Second photo, taken from leaning back into the built-in cabinetry on the right of the fireplace, northwest corner; wall dominated by the window is on the left.
You should envision a MIDLINE that extends directly across the room leftward from the middle of the organ console. Measurements 1 through 3 were taken above the “front” (player’s) edge of the organ bench. Measurements 4 and 5 were taken directly above the “back” corners of the organ console. Measurments 6 through 8 were taken along a line perpendicular to the MIDLINE, crossing the MIDLINE about 38 inches from the back of the organ console. Measurement 6 was taken above the intersection of the two lines, 7 was over the perpendicular line above the edge of the carpet (i.e., at the hallway junction), and 8 was over the same perpendicular line at the same distance from the MIDLINE as 7 but in the opposite direction from 6. Measurements 9 and 10 were taken above points that were about 38 inches further from the back of the console (total about 76 inches from the console) at the intersection of lines that extended directly from the sides of the console; in other words, positions 9 and 10 made a rectangle with the back of the console at console width and about 76 inches in length. I hope this makes it easier to understand that most of the room was NOT involved in the sampling.
By the way, if you look closely at the second photo, you can see evidence of the fact that I had to cut and re-engineer the bottom of the console because it is narrower than AGO pedalboards. Of course, neither of these photos reveals the 4M monster lurking on the other side.
I hope this helps. Again, thanks for your help and support.
Don
P.S. Pat – Sorry, I can’t suggest anything about your observing “Host” instead of an actual latency measurement, other than the simple guess is that something about your VST connection prevents HW from completing its calculation.