Favorite disposition?

I am currently building a two-manual Hauptwerk organ. Partly for cost purposes, but mainly for focusing my attention, I want to purchase just one organ sample set (must be wet!). Probably later I'll add more, but I want to focus on just one now. I would love it if anyone here would post their favorite organ disposition. If I can get a few opinions, I'll explore them in depth and make my choice. Thank you!

If cost is your main concern, I would suggest you look at the free sample set based on the Rotterdam sample set offered by Sonus Paradisi. I have this sample set myself and could consider it almost as a stand-alone organ. I also own (free again) an extended version of this organ. The hope by the sample set producer is that you will like it so much that you will by the complete sample set.

You should also have a look at these:

http://www.piotrgrabowski.pl

All of the samplesets are free, but Piotr is happy about a donation.

+1 on Piotr's work, Lipiny is an especially fine 2 manual practice instrument.

SP's Menesterol instrument is inexpensive and also a good practice instrument

http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/e ... model.html

I agree with much of what has been said here. Piotr's organs are very fine, and I am particularly impressed by the Długa Kościelna and the St. John Cantius. If you were looking to buy one, I would say it depends on what kind of repertoire you are thinking of playing. In particular, I think baroque works are best on a baroque organ, and romantic works on a romantic organ. I feel that repertoire from other eras tends to be more forgiving as to which organ they can be played on. I purchased MDA's St. Georgenkirche and St. Eucaire to play baroque and romantic pieces on respectively. I've tried going the other way (romantic on baroque and vice versa), but I'm not usually satisfied with the result.

Some modern organs (such as the Cantius) try to have the best of both worlds by blending baroque and romantic stops, which I think is a good compromise. If you think going this route is a good option, I could recommend the "Essential" or "Medium" of the Palace of Arts Budapest organ. I think this organ is perhaps the best currently available for blending baroque and romantic stops, but note that it is a pretty "dry" organ.

I personally prefer the dry end of the spectrum better as I feel that most "wet" sample sets are too diffuse sounding, and most "dry" sets are wet enough to get a feel for the acoustics without sacrificing note clarity. I also feel it has a pretty neutral personality, but that may be a good thing for an organ that is meant to play anything. If you really must have a wet organ, the St. Eucaire has both wet and dry samples, and though I'm not as pleased with baroque pieces played on it as on the St. Georgenkirche, it still does a pretty good job.

Thank you! That is exactly the sort of thing I am looking for. I will examine all of these organs in detail. I'm not terribly concerned about cost, as for now I'm buying just one. I'd rather pay for a great disposition than get something mediocre for free.

My (current) all round / “general purpose” favourite is Lavender Audio’s Armley Schulze 32 Stop Sample Set. Although this is a three manual set, it can work well on two manuals and pedals using the couplers to access the choir division or using HW’s floating divisions. There’s a good demonstration instrument available which gives the flavour of the instrument and the acoustic. It’s a bold and bright sound capable of playing a wide range of the repertoire, with a good selection of tonal colours. (http://www.lavenderaudio.co.uk/)

For baroque music I like the Sonus Paradisi Freiberg Petrikirche Silbermann sample set and the Organ Art Media 1687 Arp Schnitger Organ, Steinkirchen organ. Both of these are two manual instruments and are beautiful to play. (http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/ and http://www.organartmedia.com/)

For French music, I really like the St. Eucaire Metz Cavaillé-Coll from Milan Digital. Although this is quite a small French instrument it produces wonderful sounds and is very effective when playing romantic French pieces – it can, of course, play many other styles of music, but with a particular accent. (https://www.milandigitalaudio.com/)

Sonus Paradisi’s Velesovo sample set and their Rotterdam - Laurenskerk Transeptorgel set are also well worth looking at.

Others have mentioned the work of Piotr Grabowski – The sample sets from Cracov, St John Cantius and Melcer Chamber Music Hall are very fine instruments. (http://www.piotrgrabowski.pl/) and well worth considering (and making a donation if you decide to use them).

Iain

I have a number of sample sets, and enjoy playing on them. However, if I could only have one, it would be Rotterdam. My primary interests are Bach and 20th century French. This is a very versatile instrument that never gets tiring to play. Just my 2 cents.

-Jerry

I have many sample sets now, but at the moment my favorite allrounder is Goerlitz (http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/t ... orgel.html), even though I have the medium version only. The organ combines a rich, almost universal disposition with a transparent, detailed sound and impressive acoustics.

Assuming you want to have an allround sample set, the Rotterdam Main organ (http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/t ... organ.html) is a worthy alternative, this sample set is praised by many. It has many special stops, but string stops are underrepresented in this organ.

However, the RAM requirements for these two organs are huge. You'll need about 16GB of RAM for the stereo versions only, 32GB for surround, and 64-128GB for surround with highest quality settings.

I don't have the Armley Schulze, but judging from the demo it sounds promising. It "lacks" some higher pitched stops (2' and mutations) but otherwise I estimate it can do well as an allrounder. The RAM requirements are a bit less severe. Only the medium version is available at the moment, the full version is to be released soon.

Very soon to be released is the Metzler organ of Poblet, Spain (http://www.organartmedia.com/en/metzler/159.html). Sound demo's on the Contrebombarde site are very promising. The disposition looks very versatile. RAM requirements are promised to be amazingly low.

There is a tremendous range of sample sets, but I think most of the others are more specific to a certain style.

Wow, thank you all for your detailed responses! This will keep me busy for a while. I appreciate the time you all took to respond to my question.

Tim

[mdyde]

[Topic moved here.]

Tim,

Since Goerlitz has been mentioned, I want to point out something about that set. First it's a gorgeous instrument, the room is very live, and the sound is spectacular. If you load it in six channel audio (or four, for that matter) you can position your "ears" closer to the pipework for a more direct sound using the mixer controls. From a player's perspective, this enables you to manage articulations to a much finer degree. If you are playing romantic German stuff, this is an instrument to consider. It's also perfect for Bach. And lots of fun to play.

The Rotterdam main organ would still be my first choice if I could only have one. But remember, it's only my opinion!

Best to you!

-Jerry

You really need to have a look at AVO (Augustines Virtual Organs). There are many fine organs there at very reasonable prices*, even more reasonable now with the holiday sale. Additionally, there are many free large organs available as well!

*(most are under 100 Euro, some as low as 30 Euro)

~Scott

Well, I think in this case quality and costs are correlated. AVO is working very hard to make the Hungarian organ landscape accessible to us, but given the free sets and the sound demo's I think there is a quite noticeable difference in quality. So I think the more expensive sets of e.g. Sonus Paradisi and Organ Art Media are very much worth the money.

You really need to have a look at AVO (Augustines Virtual Organs). There are many fine organs there at very reasonable prices*, even more reasonable now with the holiday sale. Additionally, there are many free large organs available as well!

*(most are under 100 Euro, some as low as 30 Euro)

~Scott

+1
The new Rieger-Esztergom sounds beautiful! Listen to the demos.

Danny B.