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The best quality sample sets for this moment...

Existing and forthcoming Hauptwerk instruments, recommendations, ...
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Montre64

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The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostTue May 15, 2012 9:49 am

Hi everyone.

The true is, that for many sample sets is very possible, to make a mistake with guessing "what is real".
Of course, different people have more or less sensitive ear.

We know, that the technology is going forward very fast, so the quality of sample sets is still growing up.
IMO there are still many older set, which are very nice, but in your opinion at this moment, which sample sets (baroque, romantic, universal) are the best about sound quality?

Regards.
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mdyde

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostTue May 15, 2012 11:44 am

(Topic moved here.)
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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1961TC4ME

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostTue May 15, 2012 12:59 pm

Wow, that's a tough one to answer and I'm sure this question could open the can of worms. :P Where does a person begin?

Of all the sets I've heard as of late, the one that really jumped out at me the most is probably Zwolle. Very realistic sounding set with much definition and clarity to it's sound. If I were sitting there with my eyes closed, I would swear I was listening to the real thing.

Other sets in no particular order but which have also impressed me: Hereford, it has a very nice pleasant sitting in choir stall with the pipes above you sound. St. Max, bigger cathedralish ambience with excellent tone and clarity. Menesterol, again very nice clarity and ambience. Smecno is very nice with much clarity and nice ambience. A few sets from OAM I've heard are very good. I actually still get a kick out of the Pipe Loops CC Madeleine. Salisbury sounds really nice, and the E.M. Skinner still holds it's ground quite well in my opinion.

There's probably quite a few more I could mention, but I have no time with them to offer a fair opinion. All of the above have a very clear sound without much if any noise (hiss) or any type of muted sound to them. I listen for clarity and sharpness of the recording, I also pay attention and listen for a non synthetic (un-natural sound), these all seem to do very well to my ears.

My 2 cents worth.

Marc
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bourdon

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostTue May 15, 2012 1:28 pm

Technical progress certainly makes us benefit of more and more finely and precisely recorded ( and larger) sample sets. And it seems this will go on and on.
It is nether the less clear that the " art of recording and of sampling", i.e. mere human and artistic skill, will remain very important.
I would also like to point out that many "older" sample sets have quite well "survived" and stand well the comparison with newer ones ( although they have not been re-recorded ) : for example ( and this is a non limitative list) : Rheinhardstgrimma, Zwolle ( for this remarkable set, I don't remember wether V2 is re-recorded or not, but V1 was already excellent) , AIx en provence, Grosshartsmanndorf, 1720 Bosch Schnitger, etc...

As for the newer sample sets, I would just like to point out the recording of Menesterol which offers -more or less -the choice between the sound" from the organ bench" ( moist) and the sound "in the nave" ( surround). IMO, it would be very good to be offered such a possibility for any new sample sets in the future .
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micdev

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostTue May 15, 2012 1:40 pm

Impossible to say since there are a lot of subjective factors that will dictate our choice.

Where we were raised, the musical environment will be the first factor I think; while we have nice English sample sets available, I personally don't get excited about them because I never heard a real Willis, on the other hand, while I was a teen, I had a few records where I discovered the Cavaillé-Coll sound... so I love a nice CC sample set.

With time, I learned to love the OAM sample set... not used to historical temperament, at first I didn't like it the way pieces sounded... being used to Equal 440, my ears often "twisted"... now I can't get enough of it; my music (cd/streaming) collection now has a ton of music recorded on historical instruments with "beautiful temperament". In Quebec city we havea nice little 1 manual organ, built according to the specification of the original organ (early 18th century). I don't recall its temperament, but I just love it and go to ever concert held there now.

There are some sets that I own that I like more or less... then a professional organist comes to my place and play it, registering with beautiful tones, playing with the right articulation and suddenly discover an incredible instrument. Some instruments/sample sets are harder to play, to make it sound nice... dryer instruments are harder to play, so amateur will usually like wetter one since it covers the lack or incorrect articulation, little mistakes etc.

Best sound, quality, realism is quite relative I think; in the early 2000' while I was hanging on some photography forum, we were discussing pixels, contrast, speed, saturation... forgetting the basic of any good photography...a good subject and a good technique.

For us using Hauptwerk, we should enjoy more what we have, what we like personally instead of searching for THE sample set, getting more speakers, more powerful computer... simply enjoy what we have and try to expand our musical horizon... Hauptwerk is a beautiful "travel machine", where we can experiment various aesthetic, era and repertoire.

Because of my musical culture, environment and personal curiosity, I probably have preferences that can be quite different than yours.

Another 2 cents worth :lol:
François
Best regards
François

Virtually sharing my enthusiasm and experience with you
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Montre64

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostFri May 18, 2012 6:33 am

I think, that there might be three categories for sample set quality:

- "concert acoustic"
- "practice organ" - sound near console
- dry (especially for natural ambient )

That's great simplification.

Imagine, how powerful PC we will need for upcoming hq sets.
I'm wondering what else we can expect from HW and sample sets vendors - I'm talking about "realistic features".


All best!
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John Murdoch

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostFri May 18, 2012 10:11 am

I agree with François--

The "best" sample set is the one you're making music with. It may be the best combination of hardware (computer, console, audio gear); software (Hauptwerk version/license, audio interface); wetware ("the problem exists between organ bench and manuals"); and budget.

(Although, I confess--I have a CD burned with every Menesterol MP3 file on Contrebombarde that I play in my car.)

John
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1961TC4ME

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Re: The best quality sample sets for this moment...

PostFri May 18, 2012 10:19 am

That or it's simply the one that makes you the most happy. Audio set-up has a LOT to do with it as I recently learned. I have sets I was really impressed with and others not so much. My new audio arrnagement made a substantial improvement in all, and now it's much tougher to decide which I like best. It's now more what mood I'm in and what I'm interested in playing at the moment. Yet another very cool thing about HW. :D

Marc

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