The Organ at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church

Here are some Pictures of the Organ we installed at the Church Where I am Organist. The console is a Wick from 1955, with new keyboards,stop actions, and coupler switches. We installed this organ three years ago. We initially used the Haverhill organ sample from Lavenderhill Audio. We are using the Hereford Organ from Lavenderhill.

Here is the Church Interior:



Here is a closeup of the console:



Here is your truly at the console:



The speakers are installed on either side of the arch in chambers behind the display pipes.

the console sits so that the player faces the altar.

It looks great. Are you happy with the sound?

How cool it is to be able to change organs (sample sets) as you have done. Can you share some details of the installation/conversion, etc? Looks really good.

Rgds,
Ed

Hi,

We have been very happy with the sound. As you can see the speakers are up high, so that even though they speak directly into the sanctuary, the sound is not direct. We did do some voicing obviously. I have found that the extraordinary tonal variety, and very broad dynamic range, make the sample sets we use very friendly to our Liturgical Style.

To answer the second question,

I had quite a bit of experience with Hauptwerk prior to doing this project. We needed an organ for the new Sanctuary, and what I wanted was just way way too expensive. I suggested to the Rector that we could build our own organ using volunteer labor for a fraction of the cost of a commercial organ, and it would probably sound better. The side benefit is that we can maintain it ourselves, not relying on expensive outside people. I had fifteen volunteers. We started just after Christmas two years ago, and finished up just in time for Easter.

The whole organ, computers and all, is controlled from the console. That is no Computer or monitor in view. They are inside the console. We use the Hereford Organ from Lavender hill Audio as the week to week organ for all services. We use the Binns organ from lavenderhill for students (less re verb) I use the Metz organ for French music. We also have the 61 note Carillon from (pipe loops) I think is who puts it out.

We are using Artisan's Micro Midi System for the midi conversion. It is fully programmable and very versatile. It has been very reliable.

We are using very large speakers and big professional amplifiers. All computer related sub assemblies, i.e. computer, micro midi system, and motu IO device, are powered by an uninterpretable power supply, so power glitches and outages have not been a problem. The console has all new syndyne stop actions. The drawknob heads are from HESCO. They are the flat type, so we can print our own label disks on glossy paper. Thus we can change organs with some ease.

Currently the stops knobs and couplers are labeled for the Hereford organ. When I use the other organs I use blind combinations.

Currently the stops knobs and couplers are labeled for the Hereford organ. When I use the other organs I use blind combinations.

No touch screens, which would probably detract from the view of the console which appears to be a very prominent feature. It certainly looks good from the congregation view point.

We have found the labeling situation to be very similar, that being the drawknobs and couplers are labeled for the "native" installed sample set. The thumb and toe pistons, alone, then control the other organs and hand registration isn't possible. We have the possibility of a somewhat hidden from view (normally) of a 19" touch screen off to the side. This screen would be folded back when not needed but would allow for some limited type of hand registration for other than the native organ if so desired. There doesn't seem to be the perfect answer for this situation at this point. The desire to have multiple sample sets available out weighs the labeling "issue" at least for us.

Thanks for the information. Again, well done, looks great (as it should).

Rgds,
Ed

To bump this post back, that is a gorgeous console. Any updates since the original installation, John?

PS, to anyone thinking the Forum is quiet, I find it kinda neat to go back over some of these older posts. Even after reading them in the past, I always seem to pick up an idea or two on the re-read. Inspiring, too.

Rgds,
Ed

Hi All,

Since the organ was original installed, we have done the following work on it.

1. Installed new syndyne back rail stop switches for the couplers.
2. Installed four new manuals with magnetic switch pistons.
3. Upgraded to Hauptwerk four.
4, Installed Hereford full edition.

Thanks for your interest.

John Durgan

Thanks, John, for the updates. I know it would be a task to do, but I'll ask anyway. Is there a chance you could make a recording (or two) of that beautiful instrument and post it for us? The odds are kinda slim, at least presently, to hear it in person. I didn't check www.contrebombarde.com recently as I had problems with that site earlier. Anyway if it is a problem to record it, I certainly understand. All the best.

Rdgs,
Ed

So here you are in an Episcopal Church no less, deceiving people into thinking your church has a pipe organ. We both know however how much space a pipe organ of that size would take up so you wouldn't fool me.
You did an excellent job. I have told friends from different churches, that digital or Hauptwerk is the way to go unless the congregation has a lot of money. I know one church that could afford a pipe organ of that size, however they donate over $12,000.00 a month to missions and missionaries, which I think is far better.
I really like your idea about the different sound samples. You are a very forward thinking person going the route you have. I seriously think that you should make yourself available to other congregations that are looking at purchasing a new organ. You would steer them in the right direction.
Glen

IMHO, a person who's been there, done that has, by that fact, a believability that goes a long way. One of the issues, however, that I've run into, esp with regards to churches are preconceived notions with regards to organs and the like. Sort of a 'I'm convinced of what I think I know, so don't confuse with the facts' attitude. If now a heavy contributor/donator speaks up, that sometimes works.

This goes beyond demo's and other such tactics. Maybe, unfortunately, Hauptwerk hasn't been a 'household name' but seems to be, as I was recently informed to be in a small niche market mostly catering to amateurs and DIY'ers. It's difficult to change that reaction/impression even tho these folks don't really know the whole story. That's not to say that there aren't those folks 'out there' that are, as you stated, forward thinking. Anyone have a different experience?

Nothing at all to be said negatively about some of the more 'simple style' setups that we see and then read of the great enjoyment by owners of such, not to mention how they could "create" and play these magnificent, sometimes world famous organs right there in there homes for a very reasonable amount of funds and time spent. (I know that sentence is too long. ) In addition, I would likewise enjoy seeing and reading more of the experiences such as regarding the H/W organ mentioned here in this posting as well.

BTW, I'm not totally convinced of the value of a demo in the 'prospective church' looking for a new organ. A hastily setup demo with a few speakers, hardly ever in the 'best' locations, may actually be detrimental. Then there's the voicing issue. Not sure how many actually have been present at a demo by Rodgers, Allen and others. I have and must admit, impressive and very professional.

More proper (I believe) is taking the 'organ committee' to an already properly installed H/W organ site and letting them listen, talk to the satisfied H/W folks at that location and generally be able to 'kick the tires'. Yes?

Rgds,
Ed

I read this with great interest in light of some posts I have seen lately suggesting that a VPO is rarely appropriate for a church installation. It is good to see examples of where it has worked out well. It might be useful to others interested in trying it if there were a list of churches with VPO installations that are willing to give a tour to those interested in pursuing that approach in their own churches.

mike

Very true, Mike. But there is an important fact that concerns many would-be church organ purchasers, that being 'Who do we call if we need service?' Esp if, in spite of best building and installation techniques, something goes awry just before an important event.

In spite of my "affection" to H/W, I believe there is another important element that could be very useful. It's called, for lack of a better word - marketing. There are some organizations that we don't read about here that do just that with H/W. It seems, for the most part, these appear to be in Europe.

As with other products, there are within successful organizations many different areas of responsibility such as design/development, manufacturing, installation, sales and service. Maybe there isn't the market potential in the US that is elsewhere, not sure. I certainly hear the praise band verbiage very often which has a counter effect of making some very nice consoles available. But there are churches that would be interested by the fact that they still are listening to a very poor imitation of what could be called organ music. Not sure with who or how we can make a difference in many cases, but we still do try.

Rgds,
Ed

Very true, Mike. But there is an important fact that concerns many would-be church organ purchasers, that being 'Who do we call if we need service?' Esp if, in spite of best building and installation techniques, something goes awry just before an important event.

That is a very real concern of the churches that I have installed HW in. In my own church, I have had a few problems here and there, none of them Hauptwerk problems, but of course the congregation and church council can't distinguish - it's a problem with the organ, so I (and the work I did to get HW setup) get the blame. The other local church I've done hasn't called me once (touch wood); it's just over a year since I did their installation.

The problems I've hit have been: 1 - further component failure of the original console (because, despite numerous visits to remove faulty parts, the vendor couldn't work out how to make the console run out without those parts - took them 14 months to rectify), 2 - despite being told not to leave the computer on (because there was a bug in the M-Audio drivers which caused the external interface to "vanish" after a finite period - memory leak), a visiting organist insisted on leaving it on, then the whole thing stopped dead just before a concert; he then tried to reconfigure Hauptwerk to sort the problem out rather than just rebooting as instructed, which left bits of the organ working, bits not, 3 - a blown fuse inside the console following a power spike which left the organ dead.

Only (2) was a problem relating to the work I'd done, and it was a known issue, the user manual said "don't leave this on for more than 3 hours, and if it stops working, power off and then on again", and has since been rectified by a driver update from M-Audio.

Everything else would have happened whether I'd done the Hauptwerk conversion or not.

But, because of the seemingly bespoke nature of the project, people's faith in HW is not what it could be.

Ironically, I would argue that using a standard computer, operating system, etc, make the whole thing MORE serviceable not less, but that's not how it's perceived.

Hello All,

I was also concerned when we put in this organ about who would keep it up to date and in repair when I am gone (none of us lasts forever). To that end When the organ was assembled, I used a volunteer group of about 15 persons. This group was all ages from teens to retired folks. Throughout the installation, I had classes on how the Micro works, how it was programmed, how the hauptwerk samples are loaded, etc. I have several Computer Gurus who assist with all the programming. I feel fairly confident that we can keep it going.

We never intended to fool anyone into thinking that we had a pipe organ. Anyone with eyes can see we don't. What we of have is a very versatile organ with a lot of tonal resources that can deliver all the repertoire with a very good quality of sound, and also handle very well all the Liturgical music that the Episcopal Liturgy requires.

The best part of all of this is that we did this for a very modest $32,000.00 investment (much less than a commercial instrument of this size.

Did we have to reset some of the levels of various divisions to suit our space and requirements; you bet, but the result is splendid.

John D