Dear fellow Hauptwerk users:
When I heard about the Freiberg organ, I was naturally deeply interested and excited about the prospect of this sample set coming out. Jiri had, for me at least, finally chosen an organ that truly got my imaginations flowing.
Hence, I posted all kinds of information about the organ. Here was a pipe dream almost becoming true: a significant historical organ, with three desirable 16' stops in the manuals, including a reed, an 8' principal and good plenum on the second manual, a 32' gravissimo subbas in the pedal, two (!) quintadena stops, two tierces, two 2-2/3' stops, a viola di gamba, two cornets decomposé, and even a Cornett, plus a nice reed on the 2nd manual; in short: a well disposed organ with lots of registration possibilities suitable for equally lots of suitable music, including and especially J.S. Bach. This organ has 32 stops on 2-manuals/ped. That's fantastic.
When, however, I listened to the early musical demos posted on Jiri's website, I was deeply concerned, as the bad metallic effects of only 2, instead of the now usual at least 3 samples per note was clearly audible.
I felt that Jiri had missed the chance to turn this great historic organ into something great, by shortcutting on the samples per note. I knew that if this was not changed, I would not buy the set. It bothered me a lot. An evaporated dream?
So, when Jiri told us that he went back to Freiberg and recorded yet another set of (short) releases to add to the set, I was happy and thought to myself: this organ may yet turn out to be a great sample set. So I waited.
When Jiri made the demo CD available, I ordered it right away, having nothing to loose. He graciously sent it to me free of charge. The sample demos with only a few stops (I hope next time he will demo like Brett did with Kampen) convinced me sufficiently that this set was not only technically good and musically satisfying, but I also didn't hear any more of those metallic sounds on fast notes, staccatos, etc. All seemed to be well.
Thus, after playing the demo to death, I was ready to order, which I did. My choice was the wet direct/diffuse set, which I felt was musically the best choice and also the "best bang for the buck", to use an American colloquial expression, as you receive two different sets for the price of one.
Yesterday, the 2 sample sets arrived, and I only had time to install the Wet Diffuse set (went flawlessly from 2DVDs per set), which I liked best from the demo, and then started testing it out. That was around 4pm. After a brief intermission (I had to play a real [but not nearly as nice] pipe organ in church and was away for about 2-1/2 hours), I came back to the virtual organ and played my heart out well into the wee hours of the morning (1:30AM!), trying out all kinds of registrations, works by Bach and others, and simply loving it. Endless registration possibilities.
I think you will not be disappointed by this set. If you like Bach, this is a no-brainer. In the price comparison department, it's quite a steal (remember you get two sets if you order the wet organ) and I wholeheartedly endorse this sample set, even though I may have been critical of Jiri's work and choices of organs in the past (esp. Zwolle).
This great organ by Silbermann is not only a winner as far as historical organs are concerned, but is also a winner as a sample set.
And, as far as sample sets are concerned, different sample set producers use different approaches. This is not a bad thing. Creativity and inventiveness an even competition can be and often is good, even if sample set producers don't necessarily always see eye to eye on matters of sampling, virtual console layout, choice of organs, extensions offered, etc.
Now, some of you may ask: Well, Adri, we know that you are critical, outspoken and a purist, so don't you have anything negative to say about the Freiberg set?
Not so far; also too early to tell. It just sounds good, and is musically pleasing. Perhaps I will stumble upon a badly sampled pipe here and there, but there is no sample set, even those costing far more in comparison, that are perfect either. My Metz has issues and so does my Vollenhove, even though they are generally hailed as excellent sets.
I only find the two Trompete stops (HW and PED) a bit too loud and blaring. Not sure if that is caused by either personal dislike, insufficient restoration of these stops, or my ignorance of Silbermann trumpet sound.
I need to find out more, and of course, I have the option of "revoicing" them (i.e. toning them down).
Offering an organ in 4 modes (dry, wet direct, wet diffuse and surround) may seem like overkill to some (it kind of does to me), but to others it is a welcome innovation. I personally felt from the demo that the wet surroudn version of this set sounded less transparent, but I can't judge for real as I don't have the full set). I am not so much in favor of dry sets to which people add whatever reverb they like as it divorces an organ from its original voicing per room. It kind of goes against my purism, i guess.
Jiri's virtual consoles are less authentic than e.g. OAM's and Brett's, but I guess for touch screen monitors a lot better to hit correctly, as the diffrent colored stop labels (helpful!) are much larger. I find it also easier to use with a mouse. I think this approach is more user friendly, although I also love the authentic look of other sets. There are arguments for both approaches, and luckily doesn't affect playing! -:)
So, I feel that we have a winner here, and the future of Hauptwerk as far as future planned sample sets by different sample set producers looks very interesting indeed. Let's encourage the sample set producers to give us the best technology and sampling methodologies for the lowest possible prices!
But one thing is clear: we must find a way to grow the HW community, otherwise, especially in this slow economy, things will be difficult for all of us. I am in the process of drafting a proposal on this issue and will post on the Forum soon in a separate posting.
The end
(sorry it was a long one).
P.S. look for registration demo samples on contrebombarde concert hall of this Freiberg set soon.
(now really the end?)
(no, time to make and post those samples!)
(more work? Oh no!)
(Do the dishes? Take out the trash? Do the laundry? Vacuum? OK, OK, OK! Stay tuned; no time to play right now, wife is out of town and I have to do it all). :-)
When I heard about the Freiberg organ, I was naturally deeply interested and excited about the prospect of this sample set coming out. Jiri had, for me at least, finally chosen an organ that truly got my imaginations flowing.
Hence, I posted all kinds of information about the organ. Here was a pipe dream almost becoming true: a significant historical organ, with three desirable 16' stops in the manuals, including a reed, an 8' principal and good plenum on the second manual, a 32' gravissimo subbas in the pedal, two (!) quintadena stops, two tierces, two 2-2/3' stops, a viola di gamba, two cornets decomposé, and even a Cornett, plus a nice reed on the 2nd manual; in short: a well disposed organ with lots of registration possibilities suitable for equally lots of suitable music, including and especially J.S. Bach. This organ has 32 stops on 2-manuals/ped. That's fantastic.
When, however, I listened to the early musical demos posted on Jiri's website, I was deeply concerned, as the bad metallic effects of only 2, instead of the now usual at least 3 samples per note was clearly audible.
I felt that Jiri had missed the chance to turn this great historic organ into something great, by shortcutting on the samples per note. I knew that if this was not changed, I would not buy the set. It bothered me a lot. An evaporated dream?
So, when Jiri told us that he went back to Freiberg and recorded yet another set of (short) releases to add to the set, I was happy and thought to myself: this organ may yet turn out to be a great sample set. So I waited.
When Jiri made the demo CD available, I ordered it right away, having nothing to loose. He graciously sent it to me free of charge. The sample demos with only a few stops (I hope next time he will demo like Brett did with Kampen) convinced me sufficiently that this set was not only technically good and musically satisfying, but I also didn't hear any more of those metallic sounds on fast notes, staccatos, etc. All seemed to be well.
Thus, after playing the demo to death, I was ready to order, which I did. My choice was the wet direct/diffuse set, which I felt was musically the best choice and also the "best bang for the buck", to use an American colloquial expression, as you receive two different sets for the price of one.
Yesterday, the 2 sample sets arrived, and I only had time to install the Wet Diffuse set (went flawlessly from 2DVDs per set), which I liked best from the demo, and then started testing it out. That was around 4pm. After a brief intermission (I had to play a real [but not nearly as nice] pipe organ in church and was away for about 2-1/2 hours), I came back to the virtual organ and played my heart out well into the wee hours of the morning (1:30AM!), trying out all kinds of registrations, works by Bach and others, and simply loving it. Endless registration possibilities.
I think you will not be disappointed by this set. If you like Bach, this is a no-brainer. In the price comparison department, it's quite a steal (remember you get two sets if you order the wet organ) and I wholeheartedly endorse this sample set, even though I may have been critical of Jiri's work and choices of organs in the past (esp. Zwolle).
This great organ by Silbermann is not only a winner as far as historical organs are concerned, but is also a winner as a sample set.
And, as far as sample sets are concerned, different sample set producers use different approaches. This is not a bad thing. Creativity and inventiveness an even competition can be and often is good, even if sample set producers don't necessarily always see eye to eye on matters of sampling, virtual console layout, choice of organs, extensions offered, etc.
Now, some of you may ask: Well, Adri, we know that you are critical, outspoken and a purist, so don't you have anything negative to say about the Freiberg set?
Not so far; also too early to tell. It just sounds good, and is musically pleasing. Perhaps I will stumble upon a badly sampled pipe here and there, but there is no sample set, even those costing far more in comparison, that are perfect either. My Metz has issues and so does my Vollenhove, even though they are generally hailed as excellent sets.
I only find the two Trompete stops (HW and PED) a bit too loud and blaring. Not sure if that is caused by either personal dislike, insufficient restoration of these stops, or my ignorance of Silbermann trumpet sound.
I need to find out more, and of course, I have the option of "revoicing" them (i.e. toning them down).
Offering an organ in 4 modes (dry, wet direct, wet diffuse and surround) may seem like overkill to some (it kind of does to me), but to others it is a welcome innovation. I personally felt from the demo that the wet surroudn version of this set sounded less transparent, but I can't judge for real as I don't have the full set). I am not so much in favor of dry sets to which people add whatever reverb they like as it divorces an organ from its original voicing per room. It kind of goes against my purism, i guess.
Jiri's virtual consoles are less authentic than e.g. OAM's and Brett's, but I guess for touch screen monitors a lot better to hit correctly, as the diffrent colored stop labels (helpful!) are much larger. I find it also easier to use with a mouse. I think this approach is more user friendly, although I also love the authentic look of other sets. There are arguments for both approaches, and luckily doesn't affect playing! -:)
So, I feel that we have a winner here, and the future of Hauptwerk as far as future planned sample sets by different sample set producers looks very interesting indeed. Let's encourage the sample set producers to give us the best technology and sampling methodologies for the lowest possible prices!
But one thing is clear: we must find a way to grow the HW community, otherwise, especially in this slow economy, things will be difficult for all of us. I am in the process of drafting a proposal on this issue and will post on the Forum soon in a separate posting.
The end
(sorry it was a long one).
P.S. look for registration demo samples on contrebombarde concert hall of this Freiberg set soon.
(now really the end?)
(no, time to make and post those samples!)
(more work? Oh no!)
(Do the dishes? Take out the trash? Do the laundry? Vacuum? OK, OK, OK! Stay tuned; no time to play right now, wife is out of town and I have to do it all). :-)