Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ

Dear forum members,

It is approximately a year back since version 1.0 of the 4-manual Caen extension was released. Based on the feedback received, I believe the project was a success and I am interested in preparing another extension based your input and ideas. The first step is choosing a sample-set to work on and I welcome your suggestions.

Before we proceed with any extension, I will first touch base with the producer of the original sample-set so that they can express their concerns if they have any.

Below is a list of features that would be included for any extension that we work on. However, the original organ will be kept intact which means that it will also be possible to use the organ without the extra features.

1. Extend the pedal range to 32 notes.
2. Extend all the manual ranges to 5 octaves.
3. Add divided pedal (split pedal) with adjustable split point.
4. Add piano pedal (similar to what was added to the 4-manual Caen extension)
5. Add divisional cancels for each division.

One suggestion is to build an extension for the Rotterdam sample-set from Sonus Paradisi. I'm personally particularly interested in extending this instrument. It would include ideas from you, all of the above mentioned features, and also the following features:

6. A 5th keyboard for the chamades such that it is possible to couple the chamades down to any of the other 4 keyboards. In this way it can be used as a floating division, or it can be assigned to a physical keyboard.
7. Add expression to the Borstwerk and possibly also the Rugwerk.
8. Unison off on the Bovenwerk along with relevant octave couplers.
9. A range of additional stops such as:

a) the extension of the Cornet composé on the Bovenwerk with a 1 1/3', 1 1/7', and Piccolo 1'
b) a French-style Basson-hautbois 8' on the Bovenwerk
c) a Chamade 16' on the Chamadewerk over the full keyboard range
d) stopped 16' and 8' pedal ranks
e) additional strings

I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,

Jake

I was thinking about this a few months ago and the two things I came up with were
1) Dom Bedos with a Simple Jamb screen, a 32 note pedal and the 32 foot stop moved to the pedal, and all of the missing C#'s replaced.
2) Making a 3-manual Silberman Freiberg similar to one of his Dresden organs from around the same time period.
... but lately I've been thinking I might rather just wait for a new 6-speaker 'Bach" organ to come out. I would probably hesitate to buy an extension if I thought a similar original organ would be available soon.

Hi Jake, maybe I can support you with a couple of suggestions. First, I think Rotterdam is a very good candidate for your next project. It is a highly acclaimed sample set, quite universal yet with some limitations. My suggestions:

1. Enable duets between the chamades, for example by placing the Orlos on the BrW, Tr. Brillante on the BW, and Tr. Bataille on the RW. Apart from that, you can make the entire chamade division independent, as you suggested

2. Add a Salicional to the BrW. Should combine with the string-like Prestant 4 to create a nice 8/4 string chorus, and with the Gedekt 8 te make up for the "lack" of a Prestant 8 on this division.

3. Complement the BrW principal chorus with a Quint 1 1/3, which will also nicely combine with the BrW flutes.

4. The BW celeste is missing some brightness, it sounds like an Unda Maris. Maybe you can add a brighter, French-style Voix Celeste.

5. On the BW, "8+4+3+tremulant" is an important registration - the Utrecht sample set gives a beautiful example. Unfortunately the Open Fluit 4 and Roerquint 2 2/3 do not have sampled tremulants. Maybe you can find a solution for this, other than using the tremulant model.

6. I agree that it makes sense to extend Cornet composé on the Bovenwerk with a 1 1/3', 1 1/7', and Piccolo 1. It should be easy to complete the series with a 8/9'

7. On the BW, add a Quintadeen 8 to facilitate the famous "Dutch trio" (Vox Humana + Baarpijp + Quintadeen + Tremulant)

8. On the HW, add a Trompet 4' for French Grand Jeu registrations

9. On the HW, complete the principal chorus with a Quint 2 2/3.

10. On the HW, add a low Cornet III (5 1/3', 4', 3 1/5') for typical Dutch forte registrations. It also will enable a French "duo sur les tierces" on the HW and BW. The bass part can be borrowed from the Pedal Cornet III.

11. On the HW, optionally divide the Prestant 16, Trompet 16, Trompet 8, Cornet III and the BW/HW coupler in bass and descant stops (like the Chamades). This allows for all kinds of interesting balances between bass and descant, as sometimes required for Dutch choral music.

12. For the Chamades and the optional Bass/Descant stops, give the option to choose the split point (b0/c1, c/cis, other?)

13. On the RW, add a Bourdon 16 for a bit more foundation

14. On the RW, add a very high-pitched, repeating, brilliant Cymbel. An excellent example can be found on the RW of Zwolle. When you play scales, it gives the impression of small bells ringing all over the place. I think it contains a Tierce rank.

15. It makes perfect sense to enclose the BrW (in real life this is typically done by closing manually a set of doors in front of the pipes). Enclosing the RW is perhaps a bit less realistic on this type of organ.

Hope you'll find it useful

I really would like to have the possibility to mix the dry version of the Rotterdam with the wet/surround version, with the possibility to choose the amount of volume of each section dry/wet/surround in very similar way of the new 6 channels option offered in the last sets by sonus paradisi.
This will give to the organ an impressive clear sound and improve the use of this organ.

Hello b_physics_guy,

Thanks for your ideas!

1) Dom Bedos with a Simple Jamb screen, a 32 note pedal and the 32 foot stop moved to the pedal, and all of the missing C#'s replaced.

This would be quick to code up.

2) Making a 3-manual Silberman Freiberg similar to one of his Dresden organs from around the same time period.

Interesting idea. I have been thinking about a similar project where we expand Freiberg to match the disposition of the Silberman in the Freiberg Cathedral, Saxony:
http://www.baroquemusic.org/silfrei.html

Hello josq,

Hi Jake, maybe I can support you with a couple of suggestions.

Thank-you for your very thorough proposal for the Rotterdam sample-set! The points you mention enourmously expand the versatility of the organ and most additions would be relatively quick to implement.

Hello mancini,

I really would like to have the possibility to mix the dry version of the Rotterdam with the wet/surround version, with the possibility to choose the amount of volume of each section dry/wet/surround in very similar way of the new 6 channels option offered in the last sets by sonus paradisi.

This is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how many people have the dry and surround versions of the Rotterdam sample-set. I haven't heard the dry Rotterdam sample-set, but from what I understand there is also a huge constrast in tone and reverb between the dry set and the surround set. Consequently, the difference between the mixer's min and max positions would be much larger than for a typical 6-channel configuration.
Having said that, I do have software to setup exactly what you describe, so it would be quick to implement.

Let's wait and see what other suggestions come up, and then I'll compile a list of features for the organ that we end up choosing.

Thanks,

Jake

Hi Jake,
I would like the Dom Bedos simple jamb. I would like it this Friday, please.
Thank you,
James

One of my frustrations with the wonderful Rotterdam organ is that you cannot couple the Bovenwerk (Swell) to the Rugwerk (Positiv) and have the Chamade play from Manual four.

That possibility with the extension of the keyboards and pedalboard would be greatly welcomed by me. And having the Rugwerk made expressive and perhaps a celeste thrown in would be, in my opinion, a wonderful set of extensions for this organ.

Randall

Hello fellow forum members!

It's been a while....but seeing Jake's post , I could not resist
Jake has been doing a number of projects for me and the results are incredible !
He is an absolute genius with respect to odf programming and extending the stop list etc.

kind regards,

mart c van Herk

martinus wrote:Hello fellow forum members!

Jake has been doing a number of projects for me and the results are incredible !

It would be interesting to know several projects Jake has done for fellow hauptwerkians. Perhaps some of us could be interested in getting them also.
Luis

Hello James,

I would like the Dom Bedos simple jamb. I would like it this Friday, please.

Thanks for your interest, but unfortunately I don't see this "forum project" converging by Friday. But I will mark down your preference for the Dom Bedos sample-set.

Hello Randall,

That possibility with the extension of the keyboards and pedalboard would be greatly welcomed by me. And having the Rugwerk made expressive and perhaps a celeste thrown in would be, in my opinion, a wonderful set of extensions for this organ.

Thanks for your feedback, this would be no problem.

Hello Mart,

Jake has been doing a number of projects for me and the results are incredible !

Thanks for your kind words, I appreciate the opportunity to do these projects for you!

Hello Luis,

It would be interesting to know several projects Jake has done for fellow hauptwerkians. Perhaps some of us could be interested in getting them also.

Please feel free to contact me by private message for more details on extensions for specific organs. In order to respect the wishes of all sample-set producers and customers, I would prefer not to list them here.

Thanks, and best regards,

Jake

St Omer?

murph wrote:St Omer?

Thanks for your suggestion, murph! I'm adding it to the list.

So far Rotterdam seems to be the most popular choice. Here is a summary of the sample-sets that have been suggested so far (both on the forum and in private messages) and the number of votes for each one.

Sonus Paradisi: Rotterdam (5 votes)
Sonus Paradisi: Dom Bedos (2 votes)
Sonus Paradisi: Freiberg (2 votes)
Sonus Paradisi: Utrecht (2 votes)
Sonus Paradisi: St. Omer (1 vote)

Of course, further suggestions and votes are welcome!

Best regards,

Jake

Hi Jake,
thanks for the consideration. It would be nice to get St. Omer up to something Mutin-CC would have done to it in 1905 or so.
FWIW, it may not be possible to do anything with the Dom Bedos set. I believe even compass extensions are forbidden by the papal authority.

Hi Jake,

I would also like to cast a vote for the St. Omer. Such a beautiful set, yet limited, it shouldn't take much to make it great!

~Scott

My vote is for Rotterdam.