Continuo Organ

The organ sampled included 8′, 4′, 2′, and Quint stops, featuring all wood pipes.

In the first articulation, “Combined”, these stops can be combined at will via a mixer in the bottom left to any combination desired.

In the second articulation, “Full”, we recorded the natural sound of all 4 stops together. Due to the natural sag in air supply, the tuning and mix is slightly different! This is also less resource intensive to run as only one sampler per note is played.

In the remaining 4 articulations, the stops can be individually played in isolation.

The entire range of the organ was sampled chromatically with 2 takes (RR) per note. This provides a natural, human sound even when playing sequenced MIDI performances.

Each individual stop was recorded separately in this fashion. An additional pass was made with all stops engaged together, to capture the natural blending.

Two types of extra noises were captured: the mechanical noise of the keyboard mechanism in action plus the sound of each note being stopped partway through. When you release a note, this accurate note-release sound will play, adding subtle but remarkable realism to the sound.

The sampled keyboard mechanical sounds can be blended in stronger or weaker as desired.

No tuning or pitch adjustment was done to the samples, they are exactly as recorded. In the tuning & temperaments tab, you can adjust the organ by ear as desired and save your own presets, or start from several quick presets.

3 sets of microphones were used to record the organ at various distances and with various sound qualities. These microphones were hand-chosen for their low noise and high accuracy, over more popular recording mics an order of magnitude or two noisier or higher distortion. In doing so, objectionable post-processing could be completely avoided.

Up close, a classic American mono ribbon mic provides a warm, focused sound to blend in as desired, or in cases of live performance over a mono speaker, where you would like to emulate the direct sound of the instrument in a rich acoustic environment.

For the main mics, a spaced pair of British modern large diaphragm condensers inspired by two of the greatest classic capsule designs in history provide a full but articulate sound, ideal for practicing, solo playing, and all applications.

For the room mics, a distant, wider spaced pair of Australian small diaphragm condensers was chosen to provide a spacious sound suitable for blending the organ with virtual orchestrations using larger ensembles (e.g. with orchestra or a large consort of historical instruments).

Capture was provided by an Antelope Orion Studio Rev. 2017 interface.

Recordings were carefully processed via dynamic, linear phase filters to reduce noise and rumble without negatively affecting the full-bodied sound of the instrument or air.