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And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

Existing and forthcoming Hauptwerk instruments, recommendations, ...
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Jordan312

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And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 11:06 am

http://www.organexpressions.com/

The Regal Chorus: a new offering from Organ Expressions
Not your typical Hauptwerk organ. The Regal Chorus is an addition for an existing organ. Whether you play an analog, digital or pipe instrument, you can add The Regal Chorus (if your console provides a MIDI output.) The Regal Chorus adds to an existing instrument to provide 36 more ranks of reed voices and percussions to give more color to your music.

The Motivation:
We were getting several requests from various organists, some Hauptwerk users and other who were yet to experience the virtual organ world, who wanted to add ranks to their existing service instruments in churches, but didn't want to spend the money necessary to acquire one of the all-in-one voices in a box devices. They didn't want the whole organ, just more options for their existing organs. Knowing that most service instruments would already have diapasons, flutes and strings but would often lack variety or boldness in the options for reeds, we began to develop the Regal Chorus.

The Approach:
Since Organ Expressions is focused on capturing the middle American service organs for Hauptwerk, we began with our existing inventory of reed ranks. We determined that many of these voices had good promise, but more colors were needed. So we began a three year search for reed voices that would add various hues to our collection. We did not create a spreadsheet of categories, but rather collected the ranks that had the most musical character, (which is a much slower approach.) More choices were rejected than were accepted.

The Builders:
Nine different American builders were used to create the Regal Chorus. These includes the refined voices of a 1969 Schantz, the sweet voices of a 1922 Kilgen and Sons, the proud voices of a 1949 Moller, the mellow voices of a 1982 Reuter, the brash voices of a 1957 Wicks, the theatrical voices of a 1925 Robert Morton, the gentle voices of a 1929 Hinners and the robust voices of a 1935 Aeolian Skinner. Of these nine companies only three are still in operation, but each had their own character or "take" on these "colors". Although they are all cousins in the reed family, they are very much individuals that speak to the music's options with an honest clarity and vibrancy.

REGAL CHORUS is available as a download, via DVDrom or USB jumpdrive.
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johnh

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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 11:41 am

Did you mean to type "Chrysoglott" or is "chystleglott" one of those alternate spellings that crop up in the organ world?

Looks like an interesting project, I know one organist that may be interested!

---john.
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 11:49 am

johnh wrote:I know one organist that may be interested!


Make that two. 8) :)

Rgds,
Ed
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 1:20 pm

A LaunchPad or the Behringer Touch TC64 look to be perfect to control the stops, etc.

I would position the L/P or TC64 180 degrees around from normal (upside down). That puts the round (in the case of the L/P's) or oval (in the case of the TC 64' at the bottom and along the left side. The 8 buttons along the bottom would the 1 - 8 thumb pistons, and along the left side for the 1 - 4 pedal pistons, the Set and GC.

The left most 2 vertical rows of square buttons (starting one row down from the top) for the 10 pedal stops and the manual to pedal coupler The next (left to right) square buttons for the manual stops, and the far right row of square buttons for the remaining (trem, Octave 4 and sub octave etc) buttons. Top horizontal row could be for the percussions.

A nice "feature" of the TC 64 is that none of the buttons have any label (marking) on them. Even tho the buttons are oval shaped, you could still use a (1/2" or 3/8") round label on them.

The only issue with the TC 64 is that by turnin g in upside down, the USB B connector would be at the bottom. You could use a 90 degree USB connector and fashion a spacer for the USB cable, not a deal breaker.

The USB connector for the LaunchPad would be a the bottom left corner. The issue with the L/P is that the round buttons are (pre) labeled altho using an Exacto blade and some fine grit sand paper can effectively erase those labels.

http://www.organexpressions.com/images/ ... enshot.jpg[/

Picture this TC 64 upside down.
Image

I believe the seller is still accepting $35 (each) Make Offers.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172151820775?ul_noapp=true

So for not much $$$, you would have lighted / colored stop and piston control for this add-on/stand alone reed division. Thinking a Mac Mini would do the job, maybe even a little overkill. :roll:

This concept from Gary could be made into a neat add-on module for any organ (pipe or electronic) with limited reed voices. Just an idea for someone (else) to follow.

Rgds,
Ed
Last edited by engrssc on Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 4:26 pm

What a good idea! Reeds do so much to define the character of an organ, and of any piece of music. I've been reading Albert Schweitzer's book on Bach, and was interested to learn that he (Bach) had no objection to an organ having as many reed stops as the builder chose to provide - so I'm sure he'd have approved of this collection!

Is the Tremolo sampled or generated in software? If the latter, can it be adjusted for speed an depth as is usually the case with HW4 sample sets? These two factors can make a tremendous difference to the character of a reed stop. Thanks.
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Jordan312

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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 4:36 pm

johnh wrote:Did you mean to type "Chrysoglott" or is "chystleglott" one of those alternate spellings that crop up in the organ world?


Yes, Chrysoglott, I type all my own work. It is a very nice one too.
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Jordan312

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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 4:39 pm

Is the Tremolo sampled or generated in software? If the latter, can it be adjusted for speed an depth as is usually the case with HW4 sample sets? These two factors can make a tremendous difference to the character of a reed stop. Thanks.


The Regal Chorus uses the HW4 generated tremolo, because we wanted to be able to adjust the trem to the need of the music.
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 5:18 pm

A full Schnarlwerk! WANT.

How much ram does it consume? The website doesn't say.
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 5:47 pm

murph wrote:A full Schnarlwerk! WANT.

How much ram does it consume? The website doesn't say.


about 1.1 gig
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostMon Apr 03, 2017 5:57 pm

Cheers!
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostTue Apr 04, 2017 5:14 am

I'm glad it has a software tremolo – that suits my way of working.

(1) Could you confirm that tremolo speed and depth are adjustable via Hauptwerk's voicing controls?

(2) Do adjustments work “globally”, or can these levels be set for each stop?

Many thanks.
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Jordan312

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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostTue Apr 04, 2017 4:01 pm

organsRgreat wrote:I'm glad it has a software tremolo – that suits my way of working.

(1) Could you confirm that tremolo speed and depth are adjustable via Hauptwerk's voicing controls?

(2) Do adjustments work “globally”, or can these levels be set for each stop?

Many thanks.


yes - go to organ settings / tremulant rate / slide left or right for a global adjustment.
under organ settings / voicing controls you can change the sensitivity of rate, pitch and brightness of individual ranks (for advanced HW)
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostTue Apr 04, 2017 4:46 pm

Thanks - order placed :)
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Re: And now something completely different! REGAL CHORUS

PostFri Oct 13, 2017 11:34 am

After several edits the corrected Regal Chorus is again available for purchase and download from Organ Expressions.

A creative collection of American made reed stops to complement your pipe or digital instrument. Samples from EM Skinner, Schantz, Kilgen, Moller, Hinners, Reuter, and Estey. Also includes chimes, hand bells, and other percussions.
http://organexpressions.com/samples_regal_chorus.htm

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