Organ matters - Organs matter!

I thought it very amusing, especially being from the sound industry!

Bricks on CD players, they be selling directional speaker cable next!! AGH!

Marc

A very interesting link, and it seems to me that the organ in most parts is misunderstood, I wonder why!?

And also the demise of organs in the parts of the world these posts are coming from seems to me due to lack of organists.

Both of the statements above have many questions attached to them! I may digress at a later date, but time to go out now unfortunately.

Thanks for the link

Absolutely ace!

I know how that chap feels, especially when what you have been building night after night suddenly starts to work

I suspect some funamental break down in leadership has happened at this church, it seems to me to be a shear act of vandalism.

I'm sure there is more than meets the eye! There has to be!

Hi David

I have mentioned this range before, but worth a look

http://www.amina.co.uk/product_aiwx.html

The are not budget, but also not Quad money (however totally different technology)

What a bargain!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PIPE-ORGAN-/230542366617?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35ad655799

If  I had the room, I would bid!

Dear Tony

Very enjoyable, thankyou for posting these; a good sounding instrument and very proficient playing

Best Regards
Marc

Hi David

The Korg tuner looks interesting, as we have a trade account with Korg UK, I will see if I can get one.

The major problem is not tuning the organ but keeping it in tune once done, I think I need to get a thermometer! I intend to have a comprehensive tuning session at the weekend with the aid of an assistant (my wife!) , we will see how things progress after that

Marc

Hi Tony,

Yes I apologise for the cutting off of the end of the track, I was just getting to grips with my new recording software and unfortunately am still getting to grips with it. I have recently purchased a Marantz PMD661 portable SD card recorder, which is a great piece of kit and have decided now to record in a high bit rate MP3 format instead of trying to convert WAV to MP3, so hopefully some more professional tracks will appear.

I am currently, and understandably, having tuning issues with the organ now that the winter months are upon us. The room that it is located in is only quite small and therefore there can be quite a change in temperature when the central heating is on or off. Has anyone any advice as to what I should try and aim for with regards to tuning, do I leave the heating off in that room and have to wear many layers (a bit like our church!) or should I keep the room a constant temperature with the heating on all the time?

The Holdtich dulciana seems to be most affected, probably due to its high lead content, I may be facing an impossible battle?

I have heard recommended that the organ should be tuned when the temperature of the room is at its most ambient, and for church organs this is expected at the time of the service, however as this is a practice organ it is getting a lot more use and the organ can be used morning, noon and night

Many thanks
Marc

Very special indeed and quite compact are there any pictures of this organ?

Marc

Thanks all for the interest in this project

I must admit that I am a complete novice, however enthusiastic, when it comes to organ construction and I am learning along the way. I recently was advised to use Tallow within my wood pipes for correct sealing, thank you David Cooper

Here are some updates from the website

http://thecavendishorgan.webs.com/apps/blog/

I have uploaded a couple of recordings which you will find in the sounds section. I think the small space which the organ occupies may have caused a few problems with certain notes and harmonics, but interesting anyway. The room is approx 11ft x 13ft. Please note that my playing is as good as my organ construction, not up to much yet!

The full organ does sound quite good (recording yet to be uploaded), the 2 2/3 and 2 foot stops add vivacity!

Marc

David is completely correct with his comment that showing more people the majesty and magnificence of the organ generates enthusiasm.

Fundamentally, in this current day and age, the showing of organs to the unconverted (I mean in a non religious manner) is getting increasingly more and more difficult because the masses choose not to go to the buildings containing these wonderful instruments, i.e. church. We can discuss until the cows come home about the demise of congregations, but fundamentally the organ needs to be made aware of outside of its normal home.

I would love to see city councils take redundant organs and put them into city or town council buildings. The Victorians used to build halls for meetings, which would normally contain pipe organs; Manchester Town hall has a very significant Cavaillé-Coll, somewhat unused unfortunately. I know this is obviously a crazy idea and the finance department would frown upon such frivolous things, however not such a crazy idea when it comes to the survival of the pipe organ.

The pipe organ's repertoire is so vast that it is not limited to the classical greats, but is also capable of show casing modern pieces, for example

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKgOZX3DcU

To the aficionado this would not be top of the list of musical choices, but to the unconverted it would ignite a spark and a connection between modern day life and the pipe organ.

I know that many see the pipe organ purely in the context of religious worship in a holy place, however it is multitalented and I believe it can draw people's enthusiasm from outside the normal religious environment if given a chance.

Just my thought for the day!

Marc 

I strayed across this video of a 1962 Allen organ and was very impressed, maybe you have seen it?

To me, this is producing as good if not better a sound than some of the modern digital equipment. I know it is hard to tell from an audio recording, but sounds pretty good

here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuVcJAGR4eI&feature=related


Marc

Looks like quite an instrument, wonder what the reserve is?!?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHURCH-PIPE-ORGAN-REBUILT-1986-/150503901201?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item230abb4811

Just a little update on the progress of my house pipe organ

I have now got the 8ft flute (clarabella) and 4ft octave coupler working. The 8ft has all 61 notes, and the 4ft misses the top octave. I should also have within the next two days have the 8ft dulciana, 2 2/3 twelfth and 2ft fifteenth working, the later two being restricted to 37 notes.

I plan to try and add the remaining missng notes for the 2 2/3 and 2ft stops by adding an additional small windchest to the front of the organ (I think it would sound a bit daft only having half the keyboard operating with these stops)

I have scaled back my expectations of the swell, which will now be midified and use an electronic sound source. The two manuals will still be able to be coupled so could be interesting. If I had more space and wasn't so worried about the weight loading on my floor then this would be all pipe, but I dont want to end up in the basement pipes and all!

Once all the great stops are working I will hopefully record some music!

Best Regards

Marc

I am fairly new to world of electronic organs and their reproduction, but I have quite a lot of experience with regards to loudspeakers and audio systems having been working in the commercial and professional audio world for nearly 20 years now.

The major problem in my opinion with a conventional loudspeaker is that it is pistonic and not like an instrument (for example violin or piano string). This in my mind is the first major downfall with regards to trying to reproduce an acoustic instrument like a pipe organ through electronic means and conventional loudspeakers.

The company that I work for has recently built up a relationship with Amina, who make flat panel sound transducers, which are nothing like the conventional piston speaker we all know about (whose design has not fundamentally changed in 80 or 90 years). I have a couple of their sound panels and intend to try them with an electronic organ signal to see how they work. In case you have not heard of the sound panel (pioneered by NXT), it uses a honeycomb structure and an exciter or exciters. It reproduces sound like a violin and is omni directional. The propagation of sound is completely different and the way it interacts with its surroundings is completely different to a normal loudspeaker

One of the downfalls of the panel is its inability to produce bass like a conventional piston loudspeaker, however I am intrigued to see how the remaining frequencies are reproduced and will be letting you know.

For more information on the technology, please see http://www.amina.co.uk

Just thought I would add a new twist to these discussions


Marc

Hi David

Is the Hammond defunked?

The only reason I ask is that I am about to put on ebay a Hammond L122 with Lesley, which does need a little work and I am wondering if these organs fetch any money at all, or am I better off disposing of it?

Surely if it is working a Hammond with a 25 note pedal board would be worth something to someone (I also hope that I do not insult you and your generosity in offering this organ for free!)

The spring reverb has just stopped working on mine and one key has broken away, so maybe I should restore her instead of selling (My wife is reaching her toleration levels with regards to the number of keyed instruments now in our house, so it may be a problem)

A 2 manual + 30 note pedal, pipe organ in the spare room
A L122 Hammond with Lesley in the front room (should be a dining room!)
A Roland RD170 in the lounge
And 6 other keyboards littered around the house
Oh and the garage has another four ranks of pipes taking up the space where her car should go!

Love is strong and forgiving!


Marc

And I thought I was mad with my small home pipe organ, this is quite mad

Shame it is in the USA

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-CHURCH-PIPE-ORGAN-WICKS-DURST-20RANK-1106-PIPES-/330474967710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf1d7d29e

I sometimes think the next house that I buy will be designed around a pipe organ!


Marc

Hi Tony

Many thanks for the information about "Grand Orgue" . I have downloaded it and I have the "Romanswiller, Eglise protestante (Extended)" set working very well with my pedal board. It is nice not to hear the ping of the Hauptwerk demo anymore!, and it runs considerably quieter on my PC than HW ever did. Well worth trying I would say

Many thanks
Marc 

Thanks for all your replys , the two stops are now fully functioning and sounding quite good. I will upload some audio as soon as I can.

I am quite afraid that the current set up may be a bit loud for the room the organ is currently in (very small). I currently have 8ft flute (which is a clarabella) and the octave couple 4ft flute working. I think the 4ft principal plannned is quite unnecessay,  I'm hope my neighbours won't mind!