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Jensen Connoisseur 3/27 Demo
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Jensen Connoisseur 3/27 Demo
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Jensen Connoisseur 3/27 Demo
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Jensen Connoisseur 3/27 Demo Here are some short demo's showing the sounds of the various ranks of the Connoisseur Theatre Organ from Neil Jensen. The organ is now playing through a different setup than the one described before. The Hauptwerk v3.0 output groups are set as follows: All MAIN ranks are routed through an output group of 12 speakers located at the left and middle of the wall. All the SOLO ranks go to an output group of 8 speakers located to the right of the room. All ranks with extensions to 16' pitches are sent to a subwoofer for full bass. As it happens, my organ room is really too small to hear the MAIN/SOLO separated to the left and right. . . I can't get the microphones positioned to bring this out. The mikes are a bit too close for that. One of the things that does come through well here, I feel, is the clarity provided by having multiple speaker output groups. Also, I discovered that my speakers tend to have too much treble output. So the organ in these these latest recordings has the treble lowered with HW3 voicing for all ranks. The result, I feel, is a much nicer sound, which, by the way, does not loose the brightness of reeds and strings. The music
pieces are very short (one time through) and represent the
current sound of this organ. I do hear the need for some further
"touch-up" voicing here and there, but basically the sound is
quite good, in my opinion! For clarity's sake, there is very
little reverb added in the room. |
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Jensen Connoisseur 3/27 Demo Part 1
- 26.1 MB This three part demo shows the sounds of the various ranks of the Connoisseur Theatre Organ from Neil Jensen. This organ has a brighter sound, to my ears, than the MasterWorks. It "feels" better to me when playing faster type music, while the Milan organ is the one I choose for smoother, slower pieces. This may all be just a feature of the way I have equipment arranged. Though this organ is almost the same size as the MasterWorks, it is running through only about half the number of speakers. Even so, the sound is terrific! (IMHO) The computer involved is mentioned below as #3. There are two groups of eight speakers each, and then two groups of two speakers each. Also there is a SUBWOOFER pair and the REVERBERATION output pair. One group of eight are all M-Audio (5"). The other group of eight are all KRK (5"). These two groups take the bulk of the ranks; there are eleven ranks per group. The two groups of two take a few "lesser" ranks, such as the MUSETTE or KINURA, and also take the bottom octave of many other ranks (for the added clarity). Demo Part 1 is a run through of the various ranks on the organ, demoed individually. Part 2 and Part 3 demo some of the Combination registrations I have tweaked to my satisfaction. I don't perform for others, so I have never "perfected" any of these little pieces I like to play. If I make mistakes, it doesn't matter much to me. Here, I want to show the sound of the instruments. I think my playing is at least adequate for that. And, I will be getting better the more I work (play) at it. In case you can't make out what I'm saying, the pieces I've tried to play are: "Anniversary Waltz," "The Gypsy's Warning," "Whispering Hope," "Tennessee Waltz," "Side by Side," "Blue Moon," "Take Good Care of Yourself," "Whispering," "So What's New?," "My Blue Heaven," "Japanese Sandman," "The Sheik of Araby," and "The Crusader's Hymn."
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Milan MasterWorks 3/31 Demo Part 1 - 18.7 MB This four part demo shows the sounds of the various ranks of the MasterWorks Theatre Organ from Brett Milan. I've enjoyed playing this time so much that I really lost myself in it again and ended up with a file so large that I needed to break it down into the four shown above. Part 1 and about half of Part 2 show off the various ranks mostly individually. Then I started going through the combinations and just played whatever came to mind. . . mostly improvising with no particular tune in mind, though a few do creep in here and there. Parts 3 and 4 continue the demos of the combinations, mostly without narration to interrupt the flow of music. Whether you can stand my type of playing or not, the four parts do give a good idea of the sound of this TO when output through the eight speakers per group setup. I find the result very satisfying! What a beautiful sample set Brett has provided for us!!! I wish I could do the same thing now with the 3/27 TO from Neil Jensen. That organ is dongle-locked on a different computer which limits the output group setup unfortunately. Maybe I can work something out in the future(?).
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St. Georges
Casavant Demo Part 1 - 16.5 MB This demo shows the sounds of the various ranks of the St. Georges Casavant Organ from Exemplum Organum. This HW2 version is a very beautiful instrument to play. It has a wonderful sort of mellow sound I love. The organ is playing through the same MacPro system as the Litomysl described below. I guess I enjoyed the sound so much that I got carried away and ended up with a huge 270 MB .wav file. So when converting to mp3 format, I split the demo into three separate ones. Part 1 and Part 2 are similar to the other demos in that I narrate my way through the various stops. Part 1 gets to the stops on the SWELL manual. Part 2 takes it through the rest of the swell and CHOIR. In Part 3, since this organ comes with 15 very fine preset combinations, I decided to demo many of them. I can really hear the increased clarity of the sound due to this particular speaker output grouping. What a wonder it is that Martin Dyde has build all these options into the HW2 software! This particular organ is one that I can easily forget about time and just play and play. . .
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Father Willis Demo
- 34.2 MB In this demo there is no performance of actual music, I'm trying to show the sounds of the various ranks of the Willis Concert Organ from Silver Octopus. This organ is playing through the Athlon 4200+ computer with 2 x M-Audio 1010LT cards. The output group set up involves three groups of four speakers each (in Tone Matching Mode 1) plus a fourth two speaker output group (in the Cycle within octave, ranks and octaves). This 36-rank straight organ could certainly use more output groups, but when I bought the sample set, I had only the 4200+ and so the Willis got Dongle-locked to this computer. The 4200+ can't be expanded further; it only has two PCI slots. I can't move the sample set to the MacPro since I can't run two different dongles on the same computer. Never the less, the Willis sounds quite good. The reverb is the same as on the Litomysl, for comparison purposes. One drawback I hear when listening through headphones to this recording is that the same notes, say a middle C, of all ranks going through a given 4-speaker group come from the same location (speaker). I hear a loss of the movement of sounds of pipes that shows up well in the Litomysl recording. And, by the way, the clicking you may hear to the right in the recordings comes from my mouse hitting the organ console when I change registrations. The MacPro has no touch screen and the Athlon needs the mouse since the Willis is difficult to use with touch screens.
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Litomysl (Dry) Demo
- 27.7 MB Here is a demo that it is hoped will show some of the added clarity that is present when using multiple speakers. In fact, unlike the demos below, this time around, I'm using four audio output groups with eight speakers each, plus two additional groups of two speakers each. The result, at least live, is noticeably cleaner sound. And, I do hear the difference coming through in this recording. It's especially obvious to me with single ranks playing chords or just a few ranks together. For example, the TRUMPETs have a better sound since typically just about every pipe is coming through a different speaker. It is when things build up to many ranks that I hear a bit less reality on the recording. Also, my mikes don't pick up all the fullness of the low pedal as well as I would like. Then too, my registrations sometimes were sort of "hit or miss" and could use some improvement, I feel. In this demo I haven't played any real music to speak of, I'm just trying to show off the sounds of the various ranks when amplified this way. Info on the output grouping for Hauptwerk 2 can be found on the Crumhorn Labs (Hauptwerk) Forum where I did describe the setup in some detail. The Lexicon 400 setting is: #25 Wide Studio, predelay 12 ms, decay 2.135 sec, size 20 m.
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The point of this recording is to demo some of the sounds from three of the four TO's I have. First a bit of the MasterWorks 3/31 from Milan Digital. Next a short demo of the Connoisseur from Keymedia. And third a short demo of the MidiTzer 260SP. This is followed with a few demo's of the sounds of combining the organs. And, finally, a somewhat blunder-filled rendition of "Back Home In Indiana." All three TO's together for this piece give far more pedal than I would normally use. I'll have to try this one again with my usual registration. I have done a fair amount of voicing on the MasterWorks by now. I like its sound very much. The MasterWorks is being output to 40 speakers (not counting the reverb and subwoofer channels). I've done no voicing on the 3/19 Connoisseur as yet because when it gets expanded to 3/27 all the voicing would need to be done again. It sounds a bit rough around the edges so far perhaps (but very fine). The Connoisseur is being output to 20 speakers (not counting the reverb and subwoofer channels). The MidiTzer is running to a single stereo channel. It's sound is not bad this way, but I'm sure that if it were to be sent to multi-speakers it would be much better. The Lexicon 400
is set to: #25 |
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This recording shows what the Symphonic Choirs program sounds like as well as the Grand Carillon, along with the two major theatre organs. The Choirs program turns out to be very difficult to record without distortion. There is virtually none in the live sound, but I guess my microphones, plus the conversion to mp3 format adds a bit of overdriven sound especially from the alto and tenor groups. But the sound still does demo how fine the choir can sound. Actually, I only use one 8' Accomp. stop on the carillon and one 16' on the pedal, but it adds a sound that is unique to it. After recording a few comments, I've played my version of the song "The Pleasures of Love" which I first heard sung in the original French. I've always considered this one of the most beautiful of melodies. Elvis Presley's version is called "I Can't Help Falling In Loving With You." His version does change the melody some in a way I don't feel is an improvement. The Lexicon 400
is set to: #1 |
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This is a very short version of a piano march by E.T. Paul played on the Grand Carillon only. The Lexicon 400
is set to: #1 |
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Here we have a very large demo file! With narrative I go through all 15 of the General Pistons on the Milan MasterWorks theatre organ. I have played a bit on each manual to show how the combinations sound with my setup. The mp3 is about 15 minutes long. I have left it as 256 K bits/sec. for as good a sound as possible. The original .wav file is about 160 MB. You will notice quite a large dynamic range from piston #1 to #15. The expression pedal is open all the way throughout this demo. The multiple speaker approach provides a pretty clean sound. I do wish I had a bigger room since I'd like the softer sounds to come through a bit louder, but if I set things up that way, then the full organ sounds are just too loud. So there is always that compromise for me. I think this theatre organ just sounds fabulous!!! The Lexicon 400 is set to: #22 |
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Download >>> The LEXICON 400 PART #2 - 27.5 MB
The Lexicon 400 reverb has 25 surround sound settings. These two
narrated mp3 files offer short demo's of the sounds of each as
they are produced in my organ room. The Milan Theatre Organ
(MW-31) is used for the demo's. I didn't take time to adjust
each to the organ as I progressed through the 25, so some sounds
could certainly be improved upon. I think that what's recorded
does give a good enough example of the Lexicon that anyone who
might be interested in getting one will be helped in deciding
about that. |
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Comments:
August 1, 2007: Jim Reid's Virtual Pipe Organ Page
September 20, 2007:
September 16, 2007:
September 16, 2007:
September 15, 2007:
September 14, 2007:
July 30, 2007:
July 29, 2007:
July 26, 2007:
July 25, 2007: The Sample Sets Used:
The HW2 MasterWorks 3/31 Theatre Organ from Milan Digital Audio. The Organ Hardware:
Computer #1: Gateway - Athlon 4200+ - 3 GB RAM - 2 x M-Audio
1010LT sound cards. |
| Four-Computer Organ Photos (files added 7-25-2007) |
Click to Expand | Size (MB) |
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The organ case from the left. |
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2.14 |
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The organ case from the far right. The large RTR speakers (24" woofers) face forward. They are my SUBWOOFER channel |
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2.14 |
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The front organ case. |
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2.23 |
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A view of the top-right of the organ case. The top four KRK right-side speakers are shown. |
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1.85 |
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Another view of the top-right of the organ case. The top four KRK right-side speakers are shown. |
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1.84 |
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A view across the top of the organ case. The top four KRK speakers are removed from the left and right in this photo. |
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1.79 |
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A view of the top-left of the organ case. The top four KRK left-side speakers are shown. |
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1.86 |
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The front of the organ case with the panels removed showing the placement of the speakers used for Computer #1 and for half of the MasterWorks outputs and about half of the Connoisseur outs. Six speakers for the Rodgers Organ outputs are also in there. |
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2.15 |
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A speaker stack for computers #2 & #3 at the right of the case. There are 14 speakers in the stack. The same at the left side. |
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The lower part of the speaker stack for computers #2 & #3 at the right of the case. |
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1.76 |
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The rear of my Rodgers console showing the four computers and the reverb subwoofers. |
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2.15 |
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Computer #1 running the Grand Carillon and Computer #2 running the MasterWorks TO. |
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2.15 |
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Computer #2 running the Connoisseur TO. |
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Computer #3 and 4 running the Connoisseur and the MidiTzer TO's and the Symphonic Choirs program. |
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The two MOTU units. The Lexicon 400 reverb unit. The first two of three 8-stereo channel mixers are used to mix various reverb outputs for the Lexicon. The third mixer is the entry to the SUBWOOFER channels. |
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Additional equipment with an isolated, filtered AC power supply at the bottom. |
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2.11 |
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The mixers for that are used by the MasterWorks, the Carillon, the Choirs, and the four Ahlborn units. |
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2.30 |
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The amps driven by the group of mixers. |
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Ah, what a big tangle of wires! |
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2.21 |
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Ditto! |
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2.23 |
