News:

If you have difficulty registering for an account on the forum please email antespam@gmail.com. In the question regarding the composer use just the surname, not including forenames Charles-Marie.

Main Menu

Re-housed, restored organ replaces a dying toaster...

Started by KB7DQH, December 20, 2010, 08:26:28 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

KB7DQH

QuoteThis Christmas

season, the rich sounds of a pipe organ will resonate for the first time through the sanctuary at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

After months of preparation, the grand new instrument — complete with 917 pipes and a host of updates — is set to pump some major forte moments into Covenant's Christmas services.

"I'm just thrilled with it," says Sonja Tonnesen, organist for Covenant Presbyterian. "I feel like we've been really blessed with this new instrument — really blessed by the Lord."

QuoteThe new instrument, a refurbished 1981 Shantz pipe organ, replaces the church's old malfunctioning electronic organ, says the Rev. Chip Vining, Covenant's pastor.

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20101219/articles/12191001&tc=yahoo?p=1&tc=pg

Just in time for Christmas... ;D

Eric
KB7DQH

The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

David Pinnegar

Dear Eric

Thanks for posting this. It's interesting to see the way in which the pendulum might be swinging away from the electronics.

Whilst having been a terrible apparent threat to pipe organs in the 1980s and 1990s, perhaps they have kept the spirit of organ music alive and in their inadequacies been inspirations towards the pipe organs that are starting to replace them.

Best wishes

David P

KB7DQH

#2
Time for a new board ??? ;D 8)
Or even category ;)
Eric
KB7DQH
The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

KB7DQH

Follows is a link to a Tampa Bay, Florida news article about a church whose pipe organ's current installation has reached 30 years of service, and is planning concerts and inviting the public to celebrate.  They purchased the  instrument to replace an "aging electronic" :o

QuoteThe church has always been big on music.

"The electronic organ was not good enough for the kind of music we were doing,"

And So, another example...http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2011/jan/09/lp-church-celebrating-its-pipe-organ/

Eric
KB7DQH
The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

David Pinnegar

Hi!

I'm sure that current Hauptwerk and other electronic installations won't be celebrating their 30ths!

However, for the inspiration that electronics can give towards installing pipe organs, this is why I'm not embarrassed to promote electronic discussions on this forum.

Best wishes

David P

KB7DQH

Electronics, especially systems like Hauptwerk... can be a cost-effective solution for novice organists,
for without organists the pipe organ becomes just an expensive assembly of wood and metal........

Such an installation temporarily substituted for the Willis at Salisbury Cathedral during its restoration,
probably the first time this had been done.  For the most part it was a success, most folks couldn't tell the difference, depending on where you sat.  With a "hired" amplifier and speaker array and the temporary nature of the installation meant the "virtual" instrument could not perfectly duplicate
the pipe organ but kept the services serviced until the servicing of the Willis was complete ;D

The use of the Hauptwerk-based virtual organ did allow for experimentation with different dry samples played into the live acoustic that pipe organs work in so beautifully, and thus it was possible to see what someone else's organ would sound like had it been installed there instead 8)
(Well, within the limitations of the electroacoustic transducers available anyway ;)

With reasonable care a PC should last through about three Microsoft OS generations before total electrical failure... At least the machine I am using now is nearing its first decade of operation and still thundering along on a diet of Windows 98SE!  The Electronics in a computer aren't really the "failure point" but good ol' Moore's Law, pushing for the "need" for more memory, CPU speed, etc...
This machine just doesn't have the resources to run Hauptwerk... much less hold a sample set that could be remotely playable... My Hewlett-Packard HP-11C scientific calculator is on its third set of batteries, given to me in 1985 as a High-School graduation gift... and otherwise still functions as it did when I opened the box.   I have a functioning radio set built during World War Two... But when it quits, that's it... If I could locate functional replacement components (like Valves) then it may live on, but...... technology being technology, I have several other devices which perform the same function, "better,  cheaper" (and for certain smaller and lighter ;D 

Until the "audio food chain" can be built "an order of magnitude" better in terms of its ability to accurately produce the sound that goes into a microphone,  for an "authentic" performance the pipe organ will win hands down for performance in a large acoustic.   

The great majority of churches within a 10 mile radius of "right here" would have difficulty holding more than 100 persons (legally) within their "worship space" and a great deal of these are built with inexpensive, non-reverberant interiors, and the benefit of a pipe organ would not fully be realized, and likely could be served adequately with a reasonable electronic instrument...

That is, if the congregation wishes to be served a musical diet of "tradition" versus "contemporary"... and are willing to deal with the cost of replacing the electronic instrument with
a pipe instrument versus installing an appropriate pipe instrument to begin with... 

Especially as the number of "worship units" in a given geographical area appears to be on the decline in "most places"  opportunities abound for the rehousing of instruments not currently in use, by those who wish to use them.  The age-old problem of "distribution"... getting stuff from where it is not needed to places where it is...

Eric
KB7DQH

The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."

David Pinnegar

Quote from: KB7DQH on January 09, 2011, 07:59:55 PMdifference, depending on where you sat.  With a "hired" amplifier and speaker array and the temporary nature of the installation meant the "virtual" instrument could not perfectly duplicate the pipe organ but kept the services serviced until the servicing of the Willis was complete ;D

Until the "audio food chain" can be built "an order of magnitude" better in terms of its ability to accurately produce the sound that goes into a microphone,  for an "authentic" performance the pipe organ will win hands down for performance in a large acoustic.

It's probably very very good indeed that people use speaker installations intended for discos and raves for electronic organs as the electronic instruments won't have that realism about them and thus congregations will be happy to have forked out significantly on a pipe instrument. Of course there are reasons of longevity and technological simplicity and ease of maintenance that make pipe organs better value in the long term.

However, there are ways of achieving much closer realism which I do not discuss publicly as the electronic manufacturers should not be given free reign on a plate to score up electronic victories over pipe organs on trophy hunters' score-boards.

If anyone does want to install temporary speakers for a valid purpose then I'm happy to advise and provide equipment, and I guarantee realism.

I have also developed a thin multichannel speaker with electrostatic accuracy which can be mounted in the frame just behind display pipes without requiring disturbance to pipe-work where a pipe-instrument is being mothballed for preservation to a future date.

For domestic Hauptwerk installations I have just surprised myself with an interesting design that I'd normally not look at. I have been looking at vintage Tannoy units on account of their spectacular reputation and having been impressed by them in my teens. Upon trying a Tannoy 12 inch unit on hi-fi, with the recent Mozart fortnight on Radio 3 there has been lots of opera and female voices through the unit scream. So I have removed the dustcap on a DAP audio 15 inch unit and mounted a 1 inch tweeter at the back through the hole. The hole develops into a cut top of a drinks bottle mounted as a gentle horn within the voice coil area. Wired with a gentle crossover between the two units, the effect is significantly good with an adequate and gently natural treble put with the sort of bass which should satisfy everyone's 16ft stops if not lower at domestic listening levels.

Best wishes

David P

KB7DQH

Another one 8) 8) 8)

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20110219/ARTICLES/110219834/1151?p=1&tc=pg

Quote
A little more than a year ago, Covenant Presbyterian Church was faced with a providential decision. The church's aging electronic organ was obsolete, and it was difficult to locate parts for repair. At about the same time, Fairfield United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Ala., announced it was closing its doors and was looking for a good home for its 1981 Schantz Pipe Organ.

Eric
KB7DQH

The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."