A "fairgrounds" instrument???

[KB7DQH]

http://2012expo.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/vox-maristhe-yeosu-expo-sky-tower-pipe-organ-will-be-showed-at-march-23-2/

The most beautiful music at the sea

21 Wednesday Mar 2012


yeosu expo sky tower pipe organ Vox maris

The pipe organ of the Sky Tower which is expected to play the most beautiful music at the sea, will be first played on March 23.

파이프 오르간

The pipe organ is installed on the exterior walls of the Sky Tower. It resembles the shape of the harp. (look at the left!).

It was also recorded in the Guinness World Records on October 21, 2011 for making the loudest sound of the organ. The manufacturer of the pipe organ Hey Orgelbau is a specialized pipe organ builders from Germany. A business manager Thomas Hey said the name of the pipe organ is 'Vox maris' which means 'the sound of the sea' in Latin.

Image

3 melodies will be played on the day of the demonstration. The titles won't be opened until then.  Many people who have been looking forward to listen to the sound of the Vox maris, the sound of the sea will be finally satisfied on the day.

Here is the latest picture of the Sky Tower. You can see the pipe organ on the right side!

스카이타워 전경사진(1).jpg

A video clip of performance by Vox maris has just arrived. Some interviews went on in Korean with Chairman of the Organizing Committee for Yeosu Expo but as you know, "music is the common language of all mankind", may you enjoy

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipViewByVid.do?vid=v0fbdjjJtjtJDIIDEM5E5xV


And from the Hey Orgelbau website...

   
Expo Yeosu Korea

Due to his wealth of experience and competence in organ building, Hey was able to make a name for himself as a builder of exceptional and inspired pipe organs.

It is a great honour and no small challenge to be allowed to create a magnificent and unique pipe organ for the Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea. It is an instrument that seeks to capture the spirit of the world exposition using innovative techniques and fresh, new designs combined with well proven and time tested traditional organ construction.

The eloquence of Musica knows no borders, and so we are always thrilled to walk new paths in organ construction while carrying Wilhelm Hey's heritage into the 21st century. The Expo Organ "pushes the envelope" of physically possible techniques of organ building and will probably be the world's largest musical instrument.

Hey aims to craft pipe organs with an attitude, to set the organist free and inspire the creative process: reaching out and touching people's hearts is the challenge we face, and we strive and are determined to do no less.

Pipe Organ for Yeosu Expo, Korea
Guinness World Records now confirmed: The loudest pipe organ  is the Vox Maris, which produced a reading of 138.4 dbA when it was tested in Urspringen, Germany, on 21 October 2011.
Guinness World Records : loudest pipe organ

Basic specifications of the Vox Maris
      
   range:    32', A - e '' '' ''
   manual:    80 keys
   pedal:    30 keys
   frequencies:    28 - 2640 Hz
   volume:    85 - 138.4 dbA
   wind pressure:    2.000 - 100.000 mmWS
   power supply:    110 KW motor
   construction:    Vox Maris and Carrier Pipe units
   length:    1,70 - 10,00 m
   console:    mobile with wireless control
   expression system:    two tone wheels
   keys:    dynamics & velocity
   connection:    via android application
   world record    the loudest pipe organ
   design:    Prof Seung Pyo Hong
   construction:    Thomas Hey
      
      

Eric
KB7DQH

[AnOrganCornucopia]

Wasn't the Midmer-Losh something like 160db? All the more reason to get it restored so we can hear! Vox Maris sounds like a gentle stop, anyway, not an earthquake...

[KB7DQH]

160dB?  Not quite...  but a news article has recently hit the WWW...

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/36667

Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City is known, perhaps most famously, as the former home of the Miss America pageant. But a lesser-known, musical treasure lives there.  Over decades it has fallen into disrepair.

Within the art-deco walls of Boardwalk Hall stands a presence which feels almost as if it were alive, a pipe organ -- the largest in the world.

The  Midmer-Losh organ is comprised of eight chambers and 33,000 pipes.  It was built into the walls of Boardwalk Hall during the Great Depression. If you walk into the arena and look carefully you can see it's hidden behind ornate grill work.

In a small room near the arena, filled with wood and pipes and other organ pieces, volunteer Buddy Grover is working carefully to restore a brace for the walk-boards that traverse the interior of the instrument.  Buddy is 84-years old and volunteers three days a week. 

"I came here for a tour, cause I like pipe organ music, and I came for the next one, and I gave them another $20, and they said, 'oh, you don't have to do that!' And I came back again, and they put me to work!" said Grover, chuckling.

The work is considerable says Carl Loeser, curator of the organ for Boardwalk Hall.

"The moving parts in these pneumatic mechanisms are almost all made out of leather, and over time it dries out, and dry rots, and just comes apart. So that the equipment just doesn't function any more," said Loeser.

If you listen carefully to the organ as it is played today, you can hear a hissing sound. To learn more, we climb into the sole chamber of this organ that is at all playable: chamber number eight.

"When this is all restored and complete, properly, you should hear virtually no air noise in here. Normally, we wouldn't let anybody hear this, but hopefully, this will further our cause," said Loeser.

As we ascend skinny, ladders and edge across slender walk boards, we see cymbals, snare drums, a Chinese gong that are all connected to the organ -- and of course row upon row of pipes.  One produces a strange beating sound which can't be a musical note.

"Actually, no it's a foundation.  If there were a full chord being played, you wouldn't hear that beating [sound].  It would just make the whole thing sound extremely grand and large." 

The 64-foot-long dulzian pipe looks sort of like a gigantic wooden whistle and was probably crafted from irreplaceable, old-growth sugar pine. There are thousands of wood pipes of various sizes and reed pipes. Among the reeds: is a set  which has been recorded at a deafening 130 decibels.

The mystique of this faded Midmer-Losh organ has attracted visitors from around the world, and during our visit Christian Hoefer, of Cologne, Germany, stopped by with his friend, Marco Stirkat.

"We just got to hear one of the loudest stops, one of the loudest pipes, and its really, its mind-blowing. I knew I was going to be thrilled, but its really, really overwhelming," said Stirkat.

There is also a much smaller theater organ at Boardwalk Hall.  Both instruments need to be refurbished, and it's estimated that between the two it will cost up to $10 million.  So it's now up to a non-profit, the Historic Organ Restoration Committee, to find the money.

"We remain optimistic. But we would expect that this would probably be something like a 10-year project, or a 12-year project, depending on how the funding comes in," said Loeser.

In the meantime, the small crew that's painstakingly restoring one of Atlantic City's hidden treasures will continue: one pipe, one brace, one walk-board at a time.

"I love it, and I hope one day I'll be able to hear it play," said Buddy Grover

;)
Eric
KB7DQH

[AnOrganCornucopia]

Well, I think I know just the thing - to celebrate the completion of the Midmer-Losh organ's restoration, they need to add a new 32-16-8-4 set of Harmonic Trumpets on 150" w.p.! We can't have some blasted calliope trouncing the big'un as the world's loudest musical instrument!  ;D

I am also amused to see the ACCH Kimball being referred to as "much smaller", considering that it is a very large organ in its own right, in a space which I seem to recall reading was bigger than Radio City Music Hall in NYC!  ;D

That Kimball, from what I have heard, is a stunning instrument in its own right, but tends to live a bit under the shadow of its monstrous neighbour. Now that it's all been restored I'd love to hear some recordings made on it...