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Salisbury Willis Volume 1 Released

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B. Milan

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Salisbury Willis Volume 1 Released

PostFri Dec 18, 2009 10:49 pm

Dear all,

We are very excited to offer the first public demos for the Father Willis organ at Salisbury Cathedral.

Willis-and-Pulpit.jpg


Before you jump to click the MP3 links, please first turn in a circle 3x and say to yourself, "these are betas, these are betas, these are betas" !!

The demos are showing the instrument in a still somewhat early stage before final release. Currently the wind model is not ready (so all US users can now have an idea of what to expect without the wind model enabled) due to this you will not hear the normal wind fluctuations or wind sag, so it is somewhat straight forward.

Unfortunately, despite our hopes of having volume 1 ready by the end of 2009, that doesn't look like it is going to be possible, I do apologize for the slight delay for those of you who have anxiously been awaiting this sets release. But we do plan to have it available next month, so please don't lose all hope!

All samples were done in 32 bit 96kHz and will be converted to 24 bit 48kHz for the final release. Multiple releases for all ranks (short, medium, and long) were recorded, as well as separate long tremmed releases for the ranks recorded with tremulant (which gives a nice undulating effect during the release not possible with the normal long releases).

For us this has been the most ideal organ for recording due to many factors including the location of the cathedral (remote from outside noises) the seemingly non-existant blower which is encased in a concrete enclosure away from the organ, and the position of the organ cases. The demos below do feature some background noise as a separate sample, this is from normal ambience within the cathedral and some slight wind leakage.
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Editions

We will have several editions of the Willis available when the entire project is completed. Extra special discounts will be available for those who order both the initial Wet Edition and then order the Surround Edition once available.

Wet Edition

To begin with we are offering the usual wet version similar to all of our other wet sets. This will be available in 3 separate volumes each volume building on the previous and volume 3 will be the complete instrument. This allows users to play with the beautiful full sound and original acoustics out of the box without the extra memory, configuration, and processor overheads created by surround versions.

Surround Edition

We will also have a surround edition available featuring the ability to customize the wet/surround balance ratio and overall presence of the instrument. This will be due out in 2010 and will be offered in 3 volumes similar to the Wet Edition specs.

Dry Edition

Lastly a dry version is planned for. More details will follow in the future for this version.

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Original Sampled Tremulants (OST)

The Willis will feature original sampled tremulants first introduced by MDA for Hauptwerk in the Vox Humana stops of the Metz and the Hinsz.

The entire Solo division was recorded with and without tremulants activated, then every reed stop for all divisions on trem were sampled with this technique and lastly the Vox Angelica was also recorded in this way. With the OST method the results are nothing short of miraculous!

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Beta Demos

We are fortunate to have the talent of Salisbury's organist, Daniel Cook, to perform the first beta demos for us.

Here they are:

Guilmant - Lift up your heads

Bach - In Dulci (from the Little Organ Book)

Bach - In Dulci Jubilo

Bairstow Evening Song (featuring the historic bell tower!)

Daniel Cook - Improvisation

I will post more demos here soon to show off the variety of stops even further for Volume 1.

Bravo Daniel!

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Specification

The Organ of Salisbury Cathedral - Volume 1 - 28 Stops
Willis 1876, 1934, 1969, Harrison and Harrison 1976, 2006


Great Organ (unenclosed)

1. Double Open Diapason 16
2. Open Diapason No 1 8
3. Open Diapason No 2 8
4. Stopped Diapason 8
5. Claribel Flute 8
6. Principal No 1 4
7. Fifteenth 2
8. Mixture 15,17,19,22 IV
9. Trumpet 8
I Swell to Great 16’
II Swell to Great
III Swell to Great 4’
IV Choir to Great 16’
V Choir to Great
VI Choir to Great 4’
VII Solo to Great 16’
VIII Solo to Great
IX Solo to Great 4’


Swell Organ (enclosed)

10. Open Diapason 8
11. Viola da Gamba 8
12. Vox Angelica 8
13. Lieblich Gedackt 8
14. Octave 4
15. Super Octave 2
16. Mixture 17,19,22 III
17. Hautboy 8
X Tremolo
18. Contra Fagotto 16
19. Trompette 8
20. Clarion 4
XI Octave
XII Sub Octave
XIII Unison Off
XIV Solo to Swell



Choir Organ (unenclosed)

No Stops
XVI Octave
XVII Sub Octave
XVIII Unison Off
XIX Swell to Choir 16’
XX Swell to Choir
XXI Swell to Choir 4’
XXII Solo to Choir 16’
XXIII Solo to Choir
XXIV Solo to Choir 4’
XXV Great Reeds on Choir


Solo Organ (enclosed)

21. Flûte Harmonique 8
22. Flûte Harmonique 4
23. Clarinet 8
Tremulant
XXVIII Solo Octave
XXIX Solo Sub Octave
XXX Solo Unison Off
XXXI Great to Solo
XXXII Great Reeds on Solo


Pedal Organ (unenclosed)

24. Double Open Diapason 32
25. Open Bass 16
26. Open Diapason (from 1) 16
27. Bourdon 16
28. Octave 8
29. Ophicleide 16
XXXIII Solo to Pedal
XXXIV Solo to Pedal 4’
XXXV Swell to Pedal
XXXVI Swell to Pedal 4’
XXXVII Great to Pedal
XXXVIII Great to Pedal 4’
XXXIX Choir to Pedal
XXXX Choir to Pedal 4’


There will also be of course a variety of combination pistons, these will be finalized in the near future. We've decided to implement nearly all of the instrument's couplers for Volume 1 so that users are able to learn the configuration right away and not have to relearn a new scheme for each additional volume, we hope you agree with this idea! Therefore the Choir couplers are available despite there not being any Choir stops included for Volume 1. However those with 4 manuals may still use that extra manual via coupling to the Choir from other divisions. This should be a most useful feature we believe.

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We hope you enjoy the demos, we look forward to bringing this wonderful organ to everyone very soon. Thanks to everyone for their support along the way and we would also like to thank Daniel Cook, David Halls and the other members at Salisbury who agreed to allow this venture to become a (virtual) reality!
Brett Milan
Owner
MILAN DIGITAL AUDIO
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 12:02 am

Thank You Brett.
Thank you Daniel
This is so, so exciting!!!
A month can pass very quickly.
..... and Bairstow's Evening Song is very beautiful.

Cooky
Last edited by Cooky on Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 12:21 am

Since I have a month to wait for Salisbury, I can practice Evening Song, and use my imagination.
The manuscript can be downloaded here:

https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... onNumber=1

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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 1:10 am

Brett, thanks for this update! I've been checking the forum often in anticipation of these demos and information.
Rob Stefanussen
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 2:11 am

Hi Brett,

This is fantastic, thanks for the update, specs and demo's (well played Daniel). Can't wait for the release. :D
Cheers,

David Russell
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 8:24 am

Excellent Brett!! I have been waiting for this post and have not been disappointed!
The spec of vol 1 is excellent ( I like the couplers) and the ultimate option of wet/dry/surround is very appealing.
The initial beta mp3s show a directness to the sound that was perhaps a little lacking in some previous MDA releases, I like this too.

But - what's the deal with the bell tower - will I still have to get on the bus to Salisbury to hear them??

I look forward to more demos - just remember - sleep bad, coffee good!!
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 9:10 am

Thanks, Brett. These beta recordings are very, very promising indeed. Counting the days...

One thing: will the pricing of all volumes and versions be announced at the same time as Volume 1 is released?
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 9:46 am

What a sound....
If this is beta... what will be the final sound :shock:

I look forward to the next demos :D

Please... give us more ....


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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 11:53 am

Awesome! These two demos conjure up the "English Cathedral" atmosphere perfectly - the first as if preparing for Evensong in the Quire, the second perhaps for a big service in the Nave. Wonderfully imaginative playing from DC on the instrument which he plays every day.

Windows Media Player refused to play these clips on my 32-bit Vista laptop and quoted error message C00D11B1 - the first time I've noticed this problem on this machine. WMP Help suggests the following:
"You are trying to play an MP3 file that contains compressed ID3 headers. The ID3 header is a portion of the file that stores the song's album information (for example, the song name, artist name, album name, and genre). This information is sometimes called a "tag." To fix the problem, make a copy of the file and then use a non-Microsoft ID3 tag editing program to remove or reset the file's ID3 headers. After you remove the ID3 headers, Windows Media Player should be able to play the MP3 file." But it played normally on my HW PC running 64-bit XP. Any suggestions?
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 2:03 pm

Thanks for all the compliments!

Here are 3 more recordings by Daniel Cook, this time with original organ tuning. I've also copied these demos to the initial post of this thread to keep them in one area.

Guilmant - Lift up your heads

Bach - In Dulci (From the Little Organ Book)

Bach - In Dulci Jubilo
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 2:10 pm

But - what's the deal with the bell tower - will I still have to get on the bus to Salisbury to hear them??


Hello Iain,

You will have to wait and see!

I look forward to more demos - just remember - sleep bad, coffee good!!


As long as it is Starbucks French Roast then sleep can wait (and it has).

One thing: will the pricing of all volumes and versions be announced at the same time as Volume 1 is released?


Hello Peter,

We will determine this once we release volume 1. Pricing hasn't been finalized yet.

Windows Media Player refused to play these clips on my 32-bit Vista laptop and quoted error message C00D11B1 - the first time I've noticed this problem on this machine. WMP Help suggests the following:
"You are trying to play an MP3 file that contains compressed ID3 headers. The ID3 header is a portion of the file that stores the song's album information (for example, the song name, artist name, album name, and genre). This information is sometimes called a "tag." To fix the problem, make a copy of the file and then use a non-Microsoft ID3 tag editing program to remove or reset the file's ID3 headers. After you remove the ID3 headers, Windows Media Player should be able to play the MP3 file." But it played normally on my HW PC running 64-bit XP. Any suggestions


Hello Douglas,

I am not sure. We used the same program to encode the MP3s that we have always used for all of our other demos throughout the years. Have you ever had problems with the previous demos and their ID3 tags? If not then I suspect a new update to your software may have changed something. Let me know if you can listen to one of the existing demos on the MDA site if you have the same problem. What version of WMA are you running?
Brett Milan
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 2:49 pm

Brett,

It sounds wonderful already. DHM summed it up for me when he wrote:
These two demos conjure up the "English Cathedral" atmosphere perfectly.


The power, depth and refinement in the pedal part that I associate with English cathedrals is all there - and coming to a music room near me soon, I hope. :D
Now, where did I put that subwoofer catalogue?

By the way, the most recent three demos arrived just in time. I had nearly worn out the first two!

Do you have any feedback from Daniel Cook that you could pass on?

Thanks,
Richard
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 5:25 pm

B. Milan wrote:
Windows Media Player refused to play these clips on my 32-bit Vista laptop and quoted error message C00D11B1 - the first time I've noticed this problem on this machine. WMP Help suggests the following:
"You are trying to play an MP3 file that contains compressed ID3 headers. The ID3 header is a portion of the file that stores the song's album information (for example, the song name, artist name, album name, and genre). This information is sometimes called a "tag." To fix the problem, make a copy of the file and then use a non-Microsoft ID3 tag editing program to remove or reset the file's ID3 headers. After you remove the ID3 headers, Windows Media Player should be able to play the MP3 file." But it played normally on my HW PC running 64-bit XP. Any suggestions?


Hello Douglas,

I am not sure. We used the same program to encode the MP3s that we have always used for all of our other demos throughout the years. Have you ever had problems with the previous demos and their ID3 tags? If not then I suspect a new update to your software may have changed something. Let me know if you can listen to one of the existing demos on the MDA site if you have the same problem. What version of WMA are you running?

Hi Brett, I don't recall either (a) having problems with your demos before, or (b) having [knowingly] altered anything in WMP. This is showing as Version 11.0.6002.18111. Don't worry about it - it works OK on the other machine.
Happy Christmas!

Douglas.
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSat Dec 19, 2009 8:11 pm

Hello all,

We've redone the Bairstow and the Improv now with original organ tuning and the results are much nicer and more natural. Since we hadn't yet added the proper tuning settings when temperaments are chosen the original demos were playing at perfect equal temperament which caused a somewhat cold sound, the original tuning now warms it up quite nicely and allows you to hear the organ as it is in real life. The organ is tuned on a monthly basis, so we didn't require any digital tuning of ranks (even reeds which is generally required).

Also the Oboe expression settings were modified for a more realistic simulation of the Swell box.

Please have a listen to these again if you have already heard the originals (just click the original links in the first post of this thread, the demos are now updated, also make sure to refresh your browser cache to get the new files loading). The improv is a completely different piece but it gives a wide variety of registrations still, and this time showing off the Solo 8+4 Flute Harmoniques with tremulant (at my request!)

Thanks to Daniel for redoing these for us!
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Re: Salisbury Willis Volume 1 First Impressions

PostSun Dec 20, 2009 5:35 am

Hi Brett - Marvellous. Were the demos recorded using the wet version of the sample set using the volume 1 specification (apologise if you have already said this and I have over looked it).

Thanks,

James
Last edited by jwillans on Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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