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Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

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zurek

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Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostTue Sep 07, 2021 2:33 am

Today, I wish to introduce a very special Sample Set for the Hauptwerk software. It is the virtual model of the Schnitger organ in Lüdingworth (Germany). It is one of the most famous North German organs from the early period, preserving much of the renaissance sound of the earlier instrument by Antonius Wilde. Perhaps it is the most suitable sample set for the renaissance organ music (such is the opinion my German tester). The origin of the organ goes back to the 16th century, its present shape was finished by Schnitger in 1683. The organ was carefuly restored by J. Ahrend in 1982. The organ is kept maintained perfectly. I am grateful to the representatives of the Lüdingworth church who helped to make this dream possible.

The instrument consists of 3 manuals and a pedal, alltogether 36 sounding stops. The stop list is representative for the North German organbuilding school as are also the tonal colors of the pipes. Schnitger added the Pedal division and the Positif, while Hauptwerk and Brustwerk pipework was reused from the Wilde instrument and adjusted. The instrument sounds wild and piercing in the rather dry acoustics of the Lüdingworth church.

The sample set can be used in Hauptwerk version 4 and higher (including Hauptwerk 5 or Hauptwerk 6), the Advanced version is necessary due to the size of the virtual instrument. It is available in a surround 6-channel variant. The direct audio perspective was captured near to the pipes. The diffuse audio perspective was recorded in the church nave, and the rear channels were captured with microphones pointing to the opposite side of the church, capturing the church response to the organ sound. The listening position can be varied via a built-in mixer. The result is achieved by blending the direct and diffuse and rear virtual pipes in any desired ratio. The sample set is offered in plain wave format, no dongle encryption was used.

More details, including the specification and audio demo samples of the instrument may be found on the Sonus Paradisi web pages.

There is a free sample set derived from the Lüdingworth virtual organ. Download, install and play for free of charge. As always, this demo sample set is a complete small instrument with 10 stops, including all the tremulant samples and all the audio perspectives (6 channels).
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz
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StephenM

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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostTue Sep 07, 2021 10:26 pm

Zurek,
Thank you for another organ of character.
Perhaps you make some comments about the pitch and temperament of this organ.
The original pitch seems to be 469.4, very high.
The temperament seems to be 0 +18 -7 +9 -13 +4 +20 -3 +14 -10 +7 -15.
This make an Ab chord ridiculously out of tune! (-15, +9 and +20)
Concerning the lower octave. You mention that in the original several notes are missing. You have nicely added these in with a switch.
Without the switch ..Gb sounds a D, Ab an E, and E a C.

A little strange?

Again, thanks for your hard work. Here in Sydney (Australia) we are not allowed to leave our houses. This morning you have taken me to North Germany!!

Stephen
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostTue Sep 07, 2021 10:45 pm

The organ has meantone temperament, typical in the 17th century. Nobody would expect to play a key with more than 2 flats or 3 sharps. A flat was right out.

There was no A 440 standard pitch, and many organs of that time are pitched higher than we use today.

Good news is you can change the base pitch and temperament to whatever is available in Hauptwerk. You should enable higher definition pitch shifting for this organ if you do that.

Please see the comments near the bottom of the History tab for this organ on SP's web site.

The short octave in the bass (missing sharps used for lowest naturals) was also common.
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zurek

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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostWed Sep 08, 2021 12:02 am

Hello,
Yes! With Hauptwerk, we conquer the borders of countries and we can travel even in lockdown. That is beautiful.

I love your reaction to the sample set! Discovering the various extraordinary phenomena of historical organs - that is the paedagogical side of Hauptwerk! I am happy that you have just learned something about old organs with my Lüdingworth! This is exactly why I am putting so much effort to Sonus Paradisi for the past almost 20 years! It is a fantastic educational tool for organists from various cultures. Marvelous achievement of Hauptwerk!

With the meantone tuning, some keys seem unusable, but wait! Some common keys are far more beautiful thanks to the same phenomenon! Play in F, play in D, play in G and you will hear the pure beauty of the organ sound - because in this way, also the aliquotes match with the keys! And the sour keys (used carefully on expressive spots of the composition) did sometimes serve to the composers to express deep negative emotions, such as sorrow, horror, disgust etc.

The original compass of the organ is typical for the period: read some articles on the "short octave" phenomenon. The original pedal layout is typical Schnitger.

Pitch of organs was very variable, a "standard" pitch is rather modern concept (by the way, the "standard" being changed over time anyway - is it 438, 440 or 442?). Many historical instruments are pitched higher, one or even two semitones above the 440, if I am correct, this was sometimes called the "Chorton" - indeed, perhaps one of the "standards" of those times! And some organs - for example French baroque organs - are often pitched considerable lower than 440. Think about the additional kilograms of tin and other precious metal needed to manufacture the necessarily longer pipes to get the deep pitch!

I have one instrument, the Krzeszow sample set, where the organbuilder knew about variable standards of the coeval music, and therefore he made one of the keyboards transposable by two semitones, so that the organist could adapt to the lower "Kammerton" when accompanying an orchestra. See the Krzeszow sample set, it is instructive, too!
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz
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StephenM

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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostWed Sep 08, 2021 2:21 am

Thx.
Beautiful.

Stephen
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostSat Sep 11, 2021 1:55 pm

Jiri wrote "Dedicated mixer switch in Hauptwerk allows for the expanded chromatic compass to 54 (f3) keys virtualy."

How can I do this?
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostSat Sep 11, 2021 3:37 pm

vpo-organist wrote:Jiri wrote "Dedicated mixer switch in Hauptwerk allows for the expanded chromatic compass to 54 (f3) keys virtualy."

How can I do this?


Probably the Compass selector extended on the mixer tab. I'm going by the Pictures section on the SP web page for this organ.
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostSat Sep 11, 2021 3:42 pm

Ah easy. Thanks :-)
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostTue Sep 28, 2021 7:08 pm

Thank you Jiri for producing such a wonderful sample set!

I’ve been spending many happy hours rediscovering the North German repertoire, and it’s been amazing how well ‘unplayable’ Buxtehude Präludium work in meantone with the short octave and ‘missing’ bass notes in the pedal, even to the point where the instrument teaches you (or rather suggests) which notes must be transmitted incorrectly.

Greetings from a far-away Melbourne,
Tom
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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostTue Oct 12, 2021 9:13 am

Jiri Zurek surprises me (us?) again with a landmark Northern German baroque organ. This time it's the famous instrument at Lüdingworth. I know this organ from cd's and from a live concert (Ton Koopman playing Buxtehude). I can only say that Jiri and his team have captured this organ in a very faithful manner. The acoustics are exactly as I remember them: dry (it's a small church with lots of wood), but somehow it works wonders for the instrument. Everyone should take a listen to the marvellous pedal Trombone 16' (Posaune) - "hearing is believing". It's the most wonderful Posaune that Arp Schnitger ever built. Bye bye, I'm off to the organ bench!
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Unda Maris

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Re: Lüdingworth sample set by Sonus Paradisi

PostThu Dec 09, 2021 6:24 pm

I have now installed the demo set from Lüdingworth. The sound is fantastic! However, I am a bit disappointed with the static wind supply, which the original does not have like this. In the past few years I have been able to play the original instrument several times because it is only a few miles from where I live. With the virtual copy, I would have liked much more liveliness, just as it was implemented virtually with the Zwolle SampleSet.

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