Pedal Acoustic Bass 32

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

More on the "technology" at http://www.rotarywoofer.com/ - but given the prices I don't think I'll be considering one!

Every Blessing

Tony

[David Pinnegar]

Hi!

They are like a fan with variable pitch helicopter blades. They rotate constantly but the fin angles are varied so that they pull or push air through a hole.

Best wishes

David P

[flared_ophicleide]

I was told that there's a Compton 32' Cube Bass at St. Gregory's Parish, Preston, Lancashire.  When I looked this up, I found a Pendlebury which is no longer there.  Nothing about Compton. 

Any help here?

[Barrie Davis]

There was one at St Oswalds Preston, the organ has now moved on and if you look it up on NPOR it will show you where it went to.

[David Wyld]

Hi!

They are like a fan with variable pitch helicopter blades. They rotate constantly but the fin angles are varied so that they pull or push air through a hole.

Best wishes

David P

From the pricing (as noted by Tony) it appears that one buys a helicopter!   

DW

[David Drinkell]

A question for DW:  one of the better acoustic basses, IMHO, is on the Willis at St. Magnus Cathedral, which I played daily for nine years and still visit when I am in Orkney to see my in-laws (there's even a locked level on the pistons called 'David's Settings').  It used the bourdon to play the fourth below for the top seven notes of the bottom octave and the fifth above for the lower five notes.  Maybe the acoustics helped, too!  Do you still do Willis acoustic basses like that?

[David Wyld]

Hello David,

yes we still do it like that though there have been problems in the past with some solid-state systems which don't make it easy so we have to do a hard-wired 'fudge'.   We've now designed and manufacture our own system so it isn't a problem any longer and we're back to normal.

What is your level number there?  We always leave a setting on level 69 for when we visit - its our experience that players usually start at level 1  or at 255 and work back, so they rarely get to level 69!

Regards,

DW

[JBR]

What is your level number there?  We always leave a setting on level 69 for when we visit - its our experience that players usually start at level 1  or at 255 and work back, so they rarely get to level 69!

Regards,

DW

Good idea!  But why not level 127?

[David Drinkell]

What is your level number there?  We always leave a setting on level 69 for when we visit - its our experience that players usually start at level 1  or at 255 and work back, so they rarely get to level 69!

I can't remember!  I just flick through the settings until I find the right one!  When I was there, there weren't any generals and the pistons were set by switches on frames which slid out behind the stop jambs.  This was handy because one could reset the pistons while playing, and of course there was a neutral position (thus, for example, if one had the Hautboy on the Full Swell setting on 5 and neutral on 4 - Swell to Mixture - pressing 5-4 gave you Swell to Mixture plus Hautboy.  It only works if the pistons are quick!).

Give John McCarron my best and tell him that piston 4 on all manuals wasn't working last August!

[pcnd5584]

The instrument at Wimborne Minster has no 32ft. register at all. It is necessary to resort to subterfuge to obtain any type of 32ft. effect. One such (perhaps surprisingly) was - for a piece which ended quietly in A major - Pedal Bourdon, play low A, and the C# below, with no couplers, and under the Swell strings, box mostly closed. The same was true in B-flat major, except that one would play the D below, and low B-flat.

Another possibility, for rather louder effects, was to use full Swell (without the Mixture), coupled to G.O. 16ft., 8ft. and 4ft. flues (without Open Diapason I), with Pedal full 16ft. and 8ft. flues (coupled), and then play the first few harmonics of 32ft. on the Positive Gedeckt (8ft.), but without Swell to Positive. This worked surprisingly well in C major, E-flat major, F major, G major and A major.

[David Pinnegar]

Using the 6th and 8th partials is genius to create the 32. I always considered 2nd and 3rd partials to be a very muddy sound.

Best wishes

David P

[ajsphead]

And so we rediscover the Compton Harmonics, remembering that there was no hard and fast rule for it's derivation but rather what worked best in the building. Even a Quintathon 16 duplexed at 12 4/5 can work in some acoustics.