It is interesting. When preparing the v 1.0 of the ODF for the Zutphen Surround sample set, I decided to set the internal Hauptwerk brilliance settings to -1.4 dB for the Direct samples, and -2.5 for the Diffuse and Rear samples. This decision was due to the fact, that on all my testing setup, the sample set appeared to be shrilling too much. On headphones, as well as on several different speaker groups. Adjusting the Hauptwerk equalizer resulted to balanced and coherent sound to my ears. None of my beta testers protested, on the contrary, after I made this adjustment, one of them replied with an enthusiastic comment. I was sure that this settings is the correct settings to make the sample set the most fitting the "spirit" of the original organ.
Nevertheless, it was reported to me, that several users on the Dutch Hauptwerk forum expressed their criticism, now I can read it also here: that the virtual organ lacked the clarity. Well, it is certainly not true on each of my Hauptwerk setups for my ears or for the ears of my beta-testers. However, well, it is probably time to re-consider the topic, based on the criticism of the several users.
I prepared the ODF v. 1.1 where the brilliance settings is -0.3 for the direct and -0.6 for the diffuse and rear channels. It still leaves some headroom against shrilling, and certainly the brilliance is close to the default value. The update can be downloaded from the
Sonus Paradisi web.
The pitch deviation of the samples was adjusted and left within the +-5 cent range in the original version, although this creates room for audibly mistuned samples here and there - however, many users argue that this improves the realism of the virtual organ. However, those who like to play the organ very well in tune, can use any of the Temperament charts. The Zutphen temperament is similar to Valotti-Young. Nevertheless, I have added a special Temperament chart to the 1.1 update called "Zupthen Baderorgel" which is the temperament read from the samples (derived as weighted mean values of the cent deviation for each key of the organ). It can be used instead of the Original Organ Tuning. Please remember to set the Random Tuning Error (Organ Settings) to some minimal or 0 value.