Are mediocre electronic organs damaging to the reputation of the instrument?

[David Pinnegar]

Hi!

Today I went down to Brighton to an organ recital organised by the Brighton and District Organists Association which was promoted by the Crawley and Horsham District Organists Association.

The organist was great and his programme was varied and would be enjoyable:
TRUMPET TUNE and AIR                                 Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
LEIBSTER JESU, WIR SIND HEIR                        J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD        J.S. Bach (transcr. by Virgil Fox)
ROMANZA                                                                       Richard Purvis
THE DAM BUSTERS' MARCH                    Eric Coates (1886-1957)                                   
ADAGIO in Db                                                        Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
CROWN IMPERIAL MARCH                      William Walton (1902-1983)
ELEGY                                                                    Malcolm Archer (b 1952)
AN IMPROVISATION on a well known hymn tune.
CHORAL DORIEN   &   LITANIES                    Jehan Alain  (1911-1940)   

The instrument was described as:

For those interested, the organ is a very fine (and very authentic sounding) three manual and pedal [Xxxxx] digital organ.

However, it lacked sparkle. It was very good in parts but at times I was wondering if it was far enough towards being an organ rather than a hifi system. The pedal reed was excellent and one was aware of electronic detuning tricks that were really realistic on full organ with regard to upperwork especially, but the Great Trumpet, Swell Cornopean and Choir Tuba had not much individuality and lacked bite. As an imitation of the King of Instruments, the effect lacked "WOW!" . . .

To my mind an instrument worthy of the name of an organ, certainly one capable of such repertoire, should always have that feeling of WOW . . . and if they leave one feeling rather flat and dispassionate, do they usefully promote the organ as an instrument?

Best wishes,

David P.

[AV]

David,

Much of what you say rings true.  Many digital organs, or should I say digital organ installs do not have a "WOW" factor.  Generally this is due to too few audio channels, poor amplification, mediocre speakers, poor placement of speakers, and poor setup and voicing.  To add to the misery of a lot of digital organs, they are put in rooms with unfortunate acoustics.  Even so, if everything lines up right for the digital organ, I find they still fall short of a fine pipe organ.  I believe part of it has to do with the way speakers propagate sound.  It is fundamentally different from air moving through a pipe.

You mention the flue chorus as being quite realistic, but the big manual reeds being uninspired.  This is generally the case with digitals, as speakers tend to compress the sound somewhat, and when you put a fistful  of notes through one speaker such as harmonically rich reeds, there is significant phase summing and cancellations, thus giving a nondescript result with a sonic glare which tells you it is electronic.

I don't know what the state of the electronic organ marketplace is like in the UK, but I do know that in North America, people are more concerned about low price, number of keyboards, number of stops, etc. than in the use of good audio  and good tonal results.

And generally results are mediocre.

Getting back to your post, you don't mention enough facts to know whether what you heard was the organ's fault, the installation, etc.  Was this a recent model?  Was it a permanent installation?  Was the setup designed to sell product?

AV

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

Sadly, this isn't new.  Back in the 1970's I attended the opening recital of a digital organ (I can't remember the make now - and that's not really relevant).  The organist for the occasion, who had been the rep who sold the instrument, had tweaked some settings for the recital (which I think is not really on, as it doesn't give a fair representation of the sound as installed).  The speaker cabinet looked far too small to do a good job - and sounded the same - plus some very noticeable distortion on the swell reeds.  Certainly not an encouragement to buy the brand in question - nor a particularly enjoyable evening.

Every Blessing

Tony