Last day of intro sale for Northrop Aeolian-Skinner!

Hi friends,

Today is the last day for the intro price to the Northrop Aeolian-Skinner - after today it rises from $499 to $549USD

We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive responses to this instrument, and thank all of you who have purchased a copy - full licenses and demos as well.

Order your copy here:

http://www.evensongmusic.net/?product=1 ... -892-a-b-c

Kind regards,

Jonathan,

I am one of the overwhelming positive response to this organ. It is one of the best Hauptwerk organs that my neighbours have listened to .... albeit my 2 week trial ends tomorrow.

Let me first mention the really good things about this organ.

1. The keyboards are a full 61 notes.
2. Some of the solo/orchestral stops are the best I have heard eg. French horn, English horn, Tuba Mirabilis (should be called Tuba Miraculous), Aetherial Celeste, Cornopean, Oboe, French trumpet, Clarinet and Orchestral Oboe. My apologies to any beautiful stops I have omitted.
3. The bass is the best I have heard or seen .... 4 x 32' pedal stops, 12 x 16' pedal stop. This is fantastic!! Another 8 x 16' stops on the keyboards.
4. The crescendo is so practically balanced. Although editting it is tricky because I can't see how to get back to the default.

The organ comes in 4 channels. I usually look for 6 but these 4 are enough.

But there are a few small negatives.
Let me start with the Simple Jamb, which is what I always use. Although the organ is encrypted the ODF is not which means I can edit it. Why did I do this? Each keyboard has screen stops in bright colours, which change when the stop is engaged ... except the Great keyboard where the stops stay red with an added white border. This is so simple to change since I only had to adjust ONE PIcture (actually one for each of the 3 pages). It took less than 5 minutes.
I would also change all the CAPITAL LETTERS on the Simple screen stops. Changing the font is also very easy in this sample.

One very creative feature is the way the volume slider for each of the 4 keyboards sits horizontal above each keyboard stops. This is very neat and takes up very little screen footprint. But why are they all green? I didn't do it, but it would not take much to make these the same colour as the keyboard stops.

The controls page (page 4) has screen sliders for Front / Rear perspective adjustment. Unusually these are not attached to MIDI so they can't be linked to my usual perspective slider knobs.

There is something unusal in this organ about the couplers.The Simple Screen has 36 couplers.I don't use screen couplers. I have set coupler switches which work exactly the same for all organs .... except this organ. Some of the couplers can only be operated from the screen. ie the screen coupler overrides the native Hauptwerk couplers. Why do this? 4 of these couplers sit (hidden) amongst the keyboard stops. I can't see why these 4 stops have been isolated from the other 32 couplers.Why? There are 4 blank coupler spots left on the screen.

Lastly the stops on the Simple Screen seemed to be arranged almost randomly within each keyboard. This is so with each keyboard. eg. The Swell, this is how the stops are arranged on the screen ... 8, 4, 8, 16, 8, 8, V. V, 2, 4, 22/3, 4, 8, 4 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 16, 8, 16, 8 & 4.

Also 2 of the Great stops sit offset below the Solo stops. Why are they not in the Great columns? There is room.

I like symmetry. The Swell Tremolo sits on top right, the Solo and Choir Tremolo sit on top left, Why?

There are 3 CHIMES stops. The pedal chimes sits bottom right. The Solo Chimes sits above the bottom left. The Great Chimes is one of the 2 Great stops offset below the Solo stops.

I need a bit more time to work out 2 switches on the Simple Screen ... "ALL PSTNS NEXT" and "ALL SWELLS TO SWELL". The third switch in this group swaps the Great and the Choir keyboard. Interesting but is it useful?

All up one of the best Hauptwerk organs I have fiddled with. The price, even today, is a bit out of my range. I thank Jonathan for the last 2 weeks.

Stephen
Australia

Jonathan,

But there are a few small negatives.
Let me start with the Simple Jamb, which is what I always use. Although the organ is encrypted the ODF is not which means I can edit it. Why did I do this? Each keyboard has screen stops in bright colours, which change when the stop is engaged ... except the Great keyboard where the stops stay red with an added white border. This is so simple to change since I only had to adjust ONE PIcture (actually one for each of the 3 pages). It took less than 5 minutes.
I would also change all the CAPITAL LETTERS on the Simple screen stops. Changing the font is also very easy in this sample.

One very creative feature is the way the volume slider for each of the 4 keyboards sits horizontal above each keyboard stops. This is very neat and takes up very little screen footprint. But why are they all green? I didn't do it, but it would not take much to make these the same colour as the keyboard stops.

The controls page (page 4) has screen sliders for Front / Rear perspective adjustment. Unusually these are not attached to MIDI so they can't be linked to my usual perspective slider knobs.

There is something unusal in this organ about the couplers.The Simple Screen has 36 couplers.I don't use screen couplers. I have set coupler switches which work exactly the same for all organs .... except this organ. Some of the couplers can only be operated from the screen. ie the screen coupler overrides the native Hauptwerk couplers. Why do this? 4 of these couplers sit (hidden) amongst the keyboard stops. I can't see why these 4 stops have been isolated from the other 32 couplers.Why? There are 4 blank coupler spots left on the screen.

Lastly the stops on the Simple Screen seemed to be arranged almost randomly within each keyboard. This is so with each keyboard. eg. The Swell, this is how the stops are arranged on the screen ... 8, 4, 8, 16, 8, 8, V. V, 2, 4, 22/3, 4, 8, 4 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 16, 8, 16, 8 & 4.

Also 2 of the Great stops sit offset below the Solo stops. Why are they not in the Great columns? There is room.

I like symmetry. The Swell Tremolo sits on top right, the Solo and Choir Tremolo sit on top left, Why?

There are 3 CHIMES stops. The pedal chimes sits bottom right. The Solo Chimes sits above the bottom left. The Great Chimes is one of the 2 Great stops offset below the Solo stops.

I need a bit more time to work out 2 switches on the Simple Screen ... "ALL PSTNS NEXT" and "ALL SWELLS TO SWELL". The third switch in this group swaps the Great and the Choir keyboard. Interesting but is it useful?

All up one of the best Hauptwerk organs I have fiddled with. The price, even today, is a bit out of my range. I thank Jonathan for the last 2 weeks.

Stephen
Australia

Thanks for your feedback.

I have to say, a lot of these "negatives" are simply differences of opinion.... not saying they aren't valid, but I guarantee if we changed some of them, we'd get people complaining that they didn't like THAT [chuckle]

A couple of caveats:
This sample set is supposed to be as exact of a copy of the "real thing" as possible so students can set registrations and practice when the (busy!) hall is not available. Because of that, it includes some features that are on the real instrument so that they can be duplicated for practice. It's not practical to support 2 different definition files (one for the HW community at large, one for the University) so you all get the same one. Example - there is an "all pistons next" and an "all swells to swell" on the real organ as well as a CH>GT manual swap.

GT simple screen stops - honestly, we didn't like the color differences when trying to do red vs. vibrant red... (pink?).

Couplers only shown on the Simple screens - the photorealistic screens mimic the organ controls - anything added and not really in the spec is only on the simple screens.

Stop layout on the simple screens - we laid it out in a way that was logical to us - again, no matter what we do someone will want it differently.

There is nothing in the coding for the tuning or perspective sliders that prevents them from being click-assigned - I do have a ticket in to see if there is a specific place to click.

Kind regards,

Jonasthan,

Sorry I got a bit carried away. My review was meant to be positive. Some samples have encoded ODF files which means I am stuck with whatever comes.

The great advantage of your sample is that the ODF is editable. This is a great advantage. I set out some of the changes I would make. Some very simply.

You are right this can be a matter of taste. But that's what makes your sample such an advantage.
I have many. many organs ready to go. I always use a simple screen and I like them to be laid out fairly similarly. Your sample set enables me to do this. Other sample sets don't.

A great sample set. A wonderful organ.
Thank you

Stephen

PS. I have tried again to find a MIDI link for the perspective controls, and a couple of other controls, without success. I also can't find them in the ODF.