Aeolian-Skinner from Sonus Paradisi forthcomming

Question, will the "announcement" be made here before the Forum closes for the Holidays or will it be made on an alternate site? Then there is the dongle update issue to make it work.

Rgds,
Ed

Question, will the "announcement" be made here before the Forum closes for the Holidays or will it be made on an alternate site? Then there is the dongle update issue to make it work.

The release is imminent and will thus happen before the forum closes for the holiday break.

Immanent is great. Thanks for the good word.

Rgds,
Ed

Good news!

I have the pleasure to introduce the Aeolian-Skinner, op. 1301 sample set for Hauptwerk. The organ was built in 1956-1957 and it is installed in the First Covenant church in Oakland, California (USA). An example of the late American Classic organ design, installed in a typically dry American acoustics.

The original instrument consists of 3 manuals and a pedal, alltogether 45 sounding stops.

Jake from Custom Hauptwerk Organs has prepared an extension for the Oakland sample-set in the building style of Aeolian Skinner. It features an additional 30 stops and a Solo division (4 manuals, 75 speaking stops in total).

The sample set can be used in Hauptwerk version 4.2 and higher, the Advanced version is necessary due to the size of the virtual instrument. It is available in a surround (6-channels) format. The two front direct channels can be used alone to form a semi-dry variant of the sample set.

The sample set is encrypted, hence no use outside Hauptwerk is possible. The listening position of the surround variant can be varied via a built-in mixer. The result is achieved by blending the direct and diffuse virtual pipes in any desired ratio.

More details, including the specification and audio demo samples of the instrument may be found on the Sonus Paradisi web pages: http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/major-european-schools/aeolian-skinner-virtual-organ.html

I thought it would be fun to be the first to comment on this set, though I just have the demo version for now, and have only been laying it for half an hour, so my opinion has to be preliminary. I'm about to take a break for lunch and have another listen later, because I can hardly believe the sounds are as beautiful as my ears keep telling me they are!

The way in which G Donald Harrison made E M Skinner organs more versatile seems to have been by retaining the beauty of the flute stops and strings, whilst adding brighter reeds and mixtures. The specification of this organ is very clever indeed, and I would expect the complete instrument to be suitable for a wide range of repertoire.

Just one note bothers me . . . on the (Swell) Gedact, the F an octave and a fourth above middle C speaks in a rather curious way – the initial attack gives way to a sustained sound which is much quieter. It will be interesting to know whether other forum members hear the same; if so, perhaps that pipe could be re-voiced?

Overall my feeling is that this is an exceptional organ, sampled in a way which preserves its outstanding qualities; and the price, for a set with surround capabilities, seems very reasonable indeed. Congratulations to all concerned!

BOTHER - PLAYING it for half an hour . ! .

Having download problems with both Google Chrome and Safari. Could someone please inform me of the entries needed to connect and use Filezilla or some other download service? Thank you.

Thankfully today is a work-at-home day due to snow and ice and I've been able to try the demo. Love it, take my money please.

Having download problems with both Google Chrome and Safari. Could someone please inform me of the entries needed to connect and use Filezilla or some other download service? Thank you.

You are probably best off to order the DVD (Media) The (5) files are quite large and unless you have a very fast Internet connection, there is a possibility for accumulating errors. BTW, the media has to be ordered separately from the download version. Cost for the DVD's is approx $38 USD.

Rgds,
Ed

Thanks Ed

John

You are probably best off to order the DVD (Media)

The sample set is disctributed on a high speed USB stick, this explains the higer prices of the installation media for this sample set.

For those who asked about the dongle update: the server automatically sends an e-mail to MDA at the moment when the order is processed on my side. This process is entirely automatic and also the responses of MDA have always been handled smoothly. Of course, there is the time shift between Europe and USA, so, when we are sleeping or off the office on either side of the Ocean, there may be some delays.

The sample set is distributed on a high speed USB stick, this explains the higer prices of the installation media for this sample set.

Excellent. That's the best method.

For those who asked about the dongle update: the server automatically sends an e-mail to MDA at the moment when the order is processed on my side. This process is entirely automatic and also the responses of MDA have always been handled smoothly.

The wait was very short.

Rgds,
Ed

In case this helps anyone else: I loaded all front direct and rear 16-bit samples with all releases and other options set to default in about 8GB. I have 12GB RAM total (will be upgrading soon.)

Besides loving the sound, which of course, is the most important, I love the console graphics. Great job!

Hello,

As Jiri already announced, there is a 75 stop extension available for the newly released Aeolian-Skinner sample-set. Building the extension was relatively quick given the high quality of the samples in the original sample-set.

The extension is being offered at an introductory price of US $49. Please email me using customhworgans[at]gmail[dot]com to order the extension.

Thanks, and best regards,

Jake