I realize I'm digging up an old post here, but I wanted to register my appreciation of this sample set which I discovered last Friday. (I hope to be able to follow up this post with a proper appreciation after Christmas if Santa is kind.)
I read the comments above with interest and whilst they're true, I feel they miss the point somewhat. The Giubiasco set offers all the resources required (a "nightingale" stop perhaps notwithstanding) to faithfully perform (conceivably) any Italian repertoire from 1450 to the present day.
The organ has the complete, small-scaled principal chorus to form the ripieno. The reeds are of the softly-voiced
tromboncino-type, perfectly appropriate for Cavazzoni, Frescobaldi, et al. The full complement of flutes on the main manual for
piano playing and the Voce Umana (for the 3-time movements in Frescobaldi) complete everything required for the performance of the baroque.
But there is more! Folk imply that it is of limited disposition, but an instrument of this size would have been the biggest in Italy in 1650! Two divisions! Pedal stops at all ordinary pitches - with a reed! A free reed and wide-scaled mutations. It takes the "complete" baroque instrument and adds to it all that is required by the Italian music of the next three centuries!
I am an irregular visitor to these forums, so my knowledge of what's available for Hauptwerk these days is very outdated, but I am unaware of any other Italianate set which offers the same resources and certainly not offered
pro bono. This then is a valuable and important gift from Piotr to the Hauptwerk community and I wanted to offer my personal thanks for it.
Because of it's attractive character, captured beautifully, the Guibiasco set has displaced three of my existing sample sets, Brescia, Gapinge (Torenkerk) and Menesterol.
It replaces Brescia, because, though modern, Giubiasco has both the disposition and character for early Italian music. It replaces Gapinge, because the Giubiasco Positiv can easily be used a a chamber instrument by itself and replaces Menesterol, because the sharp, clear principal chorus (which I usually employed for the performance of Bach) of that instrument, is more than matched by the clarity and immediacy of the Guibiasco plenum.
Congratulations, Sir, on your worthy achievement, and thank you for making this instrument available to us all. You will always have one appreciative listener here.