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Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

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zurek

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Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostSat Sep 29, 2018 2:48 am

I have the pleasure to introduce a sample set of Munetaka Yokota organ. The organ was commissioned by Chico State University (California) for its centennial anniversary. The organ was built between 1984-1990 in the style of Gottfried Silbermann. The special and unique feature of the instrument is the way it was built - on the site and using the local materials and the local craftsmen. For example, the metal for the pipes of the organ was cast from lead reclaimed from spent bullets from the Los Angeles Police Department gun range. Also, the organbuilder recruited volunteers from the student body and community as his assistants and trained them in the handcraft techniques of the early 18th century as a part of their college curriculum.

The original instrument consists of 2 manuals and a pedal, alltogether 37 sounding stops. The organ's disposition is influenced largely by the style of Gottfried Silbermann, but given its installation and use in a modern American university, there are additional features as well that come from later organ building. These include the undulating "Unda maris" celeste stop on the Oberwerk, the fact that Oberwerk is enclosed in a Swell box, and a normal set of unison couplers (beyond what Silbermann usually built). The organ's two trumpet stops are also in different national styles: German (Hauptwerk) and French (Oberwerk). Two different Zimbelsterns, a Vogelsang, and a mechanical Glockenspiel provide a full bevy of "toy stops." The Cornet has a device to disable/enable the middle C, thus allowing for a French or a Spanish compass.

The sample set can be used in Hauptwerk version 4 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 front-direct channels can be used alone to form a semi-dry variant of the sample set, especially when releases truncated in Hauptwerk.

The sample set is offered in a plain wave format, no encryption.A demo sample set is available for free download from the web pages.

More details, including the specification and audio demo samples of the instrument may be found on the Sonus Paradisi web pages.
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz
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adri

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostSat Sep 29, 2018 11:19 am

The demo set has the following stops:

1. Manual (HW) C–a3
Octav Principal (facade) 8'
Viol di Gamba 8'
Octava 4'
Spitzfloete 4'
Octava 2'
Cymbel III 1 1/3'

2. Manual (OW, enclosed) C–a3
Gedackt 8'
Rohrfloete 4'
Nasat 3'
Octava 2'
Tertia 1 3/5'
Quinta 1 1/3'

No pedal stops

download link: http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/u-s-a/yokota-centennial-organ-of-chico-state-university/chico-yokota-virtual-organ-model.html
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adri

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Re: can a reverb edition be added to a sample set offering?

PostMon Oct 01, 2018 1:08 pm

Question to Jiri:

On another forum people are wondering myself included, that the majority of your offerings have been rather dry organs, with no more than 2 sec. of reverb, and now some are even posting these organs with added reverb on CBB.

The general consensus seems that the majority of HW users prefer wetter instruments than these dry offerigns of the last years.

One person said that perhaps these are the only instruments you have access to. Perhaps this is true.

So, an idea was offered by another, and I join in this suggestion, that you could hopefully add a dry set with reverb added, that we could chose to turn off at the push of a button, or load as a different version of the same organ.

I urge all those who read this to add your voice here. Would you like this?


I know, I know, know, know: it won 't exactly sound like the original organ. But even some builders wished they had more reverb to voice their organ in. So, since is this virtual land, an organ cannot be exactly like the original, so can we have some leeway to make a few alterations (it's already done with added couplers, expanded compasses, and even with added stops), and/or offer added reverb?

I also know that many already use their own reverb plug-in, and they therefore prefer the sets dry.

But hopefully both camps, both sides of the coin, can be addressed.

My 2 cents.
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zurek

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostMon Oct 01, 2018 1:21 pm

I am adding an expanded answer to the user who wrote to me this opinion privately:
Adding pre-processed digital reverb to the samples themselves goes totally against the idea of sampling. And, it also goes against the idea of having the instruments played in their original acoustics! For me, personally, this is against the philosophy of Hauptwerk.

Of course, I am not against using the samples with more (or less) reverb, but there are other software tools for that. To name just the simplest example, a lot of sound cards (even the cheapest) allow for adding some reverb to the audio stream. Even adding a little reverb to the sample set which seems dry, adds a lot of reverb to it, because it adds reverb not only to the sustaining portion of the sample, but also the release tails of the organ.

Furthermore, it is long-term promised functionality of Hauptwerk to allow adding reverb to the audio-channels. So, this sounds more as a plea to the Hauptwerk creators, rather than to those who create the sample sets. (If I were the creator of Hauptwerk, I would perhaps not even program a proprietary reverb, I would simply allow external effects to be applied, since there is plenty of reverb plugins on the market, including free alternatives.)
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz
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162_Ranks

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostMon Oct 01, 2018 6:21 pm

This is a fantastic practice instrument, thanks Jiri!!!

The clarity of the samples and (pace the above) the semi-dry acoustic make it perfect for hearing subtle differences in phrasing and the occasional flub.
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Daniel Dries

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 12:51 am

Jiri, please, please keep sampling good instruments in fairly dry acoustics. While the ‘cathedral’ sets are great fun and often thrilling, fairly dry sets are wonderful for long practise sessions. The recent SP Hill and Casavant sets are absolutely superb, and sound very realistic even in a small room. The joy of Hauptwerk is being able to have several wonderful instruments at the touch of a button. The ideal is having a good mix of wet and dry sets loaded, all with their original acoustics.
Thanks,
Daniel
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 2:23 am

I'd like to second the comments of 162 Ranks and Daniel Dries. If an instrument is sampled in over-generous acoustics there's not much which can be done other than to use it as it stands. I have on occasions tried loading an instrument with fully truncated reverb tails then adding a totally new acoustic myself, but the outcome has always been less than satisfactory to me. If a natural acoustic happens to be less wet then the user always has the option via Reaper or similar means to add further reverb to it if desired, with far better results than the former method.

I have recently sold the licences to several sample sets which I have long since stopped using. One reason behind my decision to part with some of these was over-wet acoustics, which I found had limited the sample sets' usefulness to me.

The Chico instrument, to my ears, is an absolute gem. I've only had it for a couple days, but already I've taken great delight in its refinement. Yes, the acoustic is relatively dry, and for my part I've pushed the Rear slider to maximum and moved the direct-diffuse slider about three quarters of the way up to favour the diffuse ranks. I have yet to add any additional reverb, but I always have that option.

IMHO this is another sample set to be highly recommended.

Andrew
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anco111

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 5:10 am

In contrast to the above, I am really looking forward to a new, high quality, 6-channel, sample set recorded in 'cathedral' acoustics.
But I am not a fan of taking an organ/church with dry acoustics and replacing or editing these acoustics, as Adri suggests, but I'd like to keep organs/acoustics as they are.

However, if we look at Adri's comment, we see a desire for high quality 'wet' or 'cathedral' sets.
The source of this question came from the dutch HW-forum.
Adri is a proud Dutchy (as are a lot of other HW users, including me), and although there are some sets of dutch organs, there is not yet a really good sample set available of a beatiful dutch romantic organ.
All the available samplesets of dutch romantic organs are missing a good recording technique (6-channel), no recorded tremulants, or are ridiculously expensive. (or all of the above)

This leaves a lot of dutch HW users in agony, and eagerly looking for the first high-quality, 6-channel, affordable, dutch romantic organ (in the famous dutch 'cathedral' acoustics)!
'Cathedral-like acoustics' don't have to be a problem if HW-users can use a front-direct and a front-wet slider to choose the desired clarity.
In the meantime we are still looking for a way to manipulate existing samplesets to fill our needs..

There you have it, how Adri's question came alive.

(and I know, this is not a discussion about the Yokota organ)
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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 6:19 am

Dear Jiri,

I respect and fully understand your answer.

It was more wishful thinking and a bit of frustration that many great organs that you published have been so dry and stop me from buying them.

I have the same issue with very dry sets from other sample set makers. So this is nothing personal but a general remark.

The Hauptwerkians seem to be of two types:
-Those who prefer drier sets for practicing
And
-Those who prefer wetter sets for enjoyment and improvising.

I belong to the latter camp as an older user.

I truly hope we will have a reverb added to Hauptwerk because then you can apply it at will to any instrument. This would be way more practical.

Also: to anyone: a call for an easy to understand guide to using Reaper and plugins. I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to these things. :-)

Thanks.
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zurek

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 8:26 am

From the perspective of a typical Hauptwerk user, the easiest way to get into Reaper and VST effects (such as reverbs) is use of virtual audio outputs. Instead of routing the audio to real audio outputs of your soundcard, route them into the virtual audio outputs of Reaper! Simply pass the audio stream not to the soundcard, but to the Reaper virtual output. They are called "ReaRoutes" and they appear as additional audio outputs in Hauptwerk after Reaper installation (you must enable ReaRoute installation during the installation process, it is default off, if I remember correctly). Yes, they "look" like traditional ASIO outputs among others in the list of audio outputs in General Settings of Hauptwerk.

And then, if the audio stream from Hauptwerk is sent to ReaRoutes, the Reaper software "hears" the audio sent from Hauptwerk on its tracks (set the input of a track to the corresponding ReaRoute) and you can add any effect to those tracks, such as reverb.

The other method is using Hauptwerk as a VSTi instrument inside Reaper. Indeed, Hauptwerk itself can become an "effect" applied to a Reaper track, along with various other reverb effects or any other effects. For a beginner in Reaper, this way may be less easy to understand and set up, though.
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz
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monorganist

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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 11:14 am

adri wrote:to anyone: a call for an easy to understand guide to using Reaper and plugins. I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to these things. :-)

https://www.hauptwerk.com/news/tutorial ... th-reaper/
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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostTue Oct 02, 2018 12:10 pm

to anyone: a call for an easy to understand guide to using Reaper and plugins. I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to these things. :-)

Also
http://hauptwerk-augustine.info/Reverb-guide/
For Mac users, Audio Hijack may be a good and simple alternative
https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/
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Re: Virtual Instrument of Munetaka Yokota Centennial Organ

PostFri May 29, 2020 11:14 am

It looks as if you can now buy not just the virtual organ, but the real thing too: Current bid $6...


https://krcrtv.com/news/local/chico-sta ... anent-home

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