News from Northrop

Hello all,

Not putting in a plug here, just wanted to share this for anyone who missed it. One of the latest sample set releases to the Hauptwerk community was showcased in it's real instrument this past weekend on Pipedreams.

https://www.pipedreams.org/episode/2024 ... m-northrop

I have to say, the instrument is a delight to listen to, especially at the hands of the gifted performers featured in this episode. The many colors and sounds of this instrument are amazing, kind of theater organ sounding at times and then full on church organ and many sounds in between. I would be curious for those who own the set to make some comparisons to the real deal. Enjoy the show!

Regards,

Marc

I’ll add this to the conversation - at the end of my last sampling visit, I recorded a MIDI file from the laptop using the mic setup we had for sampling…. Once the set was done, I also used the same file to play back/record in HW…. You can hear the comparison here: https://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/57796

The public (and private) guesses as to which was “real” and which was HW came out to a 50-50, so I feel like we did a pretty darn good job. We did choose to redo the noise reduction on the solo and swell strings as well as some harmonic flutes and the 2nd and 3rd GT Diapasons, as we felt we’d overdone the reduction and lost too much character from those stops…

Oh, boy it's close!

If I were to make a guess I'd say the first part is the real organ and the second is the HW version. The first recording seems to capture the acoustics of the room just a tad more and the 2 combined (instrument and acoustics) gives an overall slightly more appealing sound to my ears, but again it's so close and either is very nice.

Was I right in my guess?

Marc

Nope.

<chuckle>

First one is HW, second one is the real thing.

But, it's so close, even really good ears have trouble.

Ha! I was going to change my choice as one of the performers in the latest Pipedreams episode did comment that seated at the console the organ isn't as loud nor does he hear all the details as well as those sitting in the auditorium and the second recording does sound a bit quieter with slightly less overall detail. Now that I know which is real and which is Memorex I like the first recording (HW) better. Excellent job of capturing the instrument in it's acoustics, it sounds very much like the Pipedreams program recording!

Marc

Well, the recording I posted was from the exact same location both for "Live" and HW. But, it makes sense that the HW might be a bit clearer - noise reduction has been done, and the blower/ambient room noise is probably a bit lower.

I chose to use the balcony (direct) perspective, as it is the clearest of the two.... the ambient (recorded on the floor at the first crossing about 40-50 feet away from the stage) is more similar to what you will hear from the console.