MIDI Organ module

[sarqoz]

I'm looking on some advice how to get a good church/pipe organ sound at home.

I'm living between two worlds a bit: during the last years I studied jazz, but I come from the classical repertoire, graduating from the local school of music at church organ. I have owned some classic organs (mainly ancient Viscounts) but I never had the time or money to invest in a good classic setup at home. With the dawn of my jazz interest I settled on a Clavia Nord C1 organ and I'm working on a full pedal board to work with it.

For some time now I have a renewed interest in playing classical music and I already made contact with an organ teacher to get my hands on a pipe organ again.

For practising I would like to have a decent pipe organ sound at home too. Does anybody has some ideas how to accomplish this via MIDI, using my Nord C1 and pedal as controllers?


I know that Clavia now produces the C2 organ which has a pipe organ on board, but I don't like it. I also know that there are some very good PC based sound libraries, but I don't want to click the mouse for the stops to engage - or build another MIDI controller to control that.

A nice MIDI organ sound module with decent baroque-era-oriented stops would be great!

Thanks!

[arie v]

Hi,

From your post it is hard to figure out what exactly you want, your budget or how high your standards are. It would also be helpful if you stated where you are from, as certain products are more available in various parts of the world.

New modules can be had from Viscount and Content. The Viscount is impressive, but only puts out 12 stops, is very configurable. Perhaps works best as an augmentation to an existing MIDI equipped organ. It is rather expensive as well. The Content organ has more stops, but in general does not sound as good.

If you are looking for a stand alone module with stop controls on it, you will find precious little If you don't mind used, there are Ahlborn Archive modules out there and the model 201 is fairly baroque. There is an alternate sample set of a Silbermann organ for these modules if interested in a more complete stand alone organ of 20 stops.

What basically killed the module market is the virtual PC organ. You can now get these programs and sample sets that work with a touch sensitive screen, so mouse clicking is no longer needed.

Have you actually heard and seen the Nord C2? Before writing a product off, you should see it and hear it in person. It may very well not be the best out there, but it may do what you want it to do.

If you are interested in baroque historical organs, I would suggest you look into the Hauptwerk virtual PC organ. There are oodles of sample sets to choose from now, some of them really excellent.

AV

[j reimer]

Hi,
You could also investigate jOrgan and GrandOrgue.
These free computer programs are capable of delivering excellent sounds.
If you are computer-literate but cash-strapped, you may find them just what you want.

John Reimer

[jbird604]

The Content 220 module would be worth checking out. I used it for a while to augment a small organ at church. It has some pretty decent sounds and is sort of baroque-ish, I suppose. Not a lot of stops, but the basic necessities for a practice organ.

It probably sold for close to $2000 (US) a few years back, but you might find a used one really cheap now, since the market for them has shrunk so much (as Arie explained above).

[sarqoz]

The Content 220 module would be worth checking out. I used it for a while to augment a small organ at church. It has some pretty decent sounds and is sort of baroque-ish, I suppose. Not a lot of stops, but the basic necessities for a practice organ.

That sounds exactly like the thing I want.:-) It's nice to have a 16" pedal reed in there.

It more or less has the same stops as the church organ I used to play: http://www.organumfrisicum.nl/Bezorg...BBaerdt%5D.htm

Sadly many churches are being closed down over here, merging many small church communities into larger ones, rendering some quite beautiful instruments jobless. It has led to a lively second hand pipe organ market.

[ggoodesa]

Hi,

I second John's suggestion of using your computer with GrandOrgue or jOrgan. There is a very nice free Baroque sample set recently made available for GrandOrgue - See http://www.organforum.com/forums/sho...-MyOrgan-Users for more information.

The cost is just the downloads of the software and the time to get things up and running (assuming you have a MIDI to Computer cable). If you want more control over the samples and have a budget - go with Hauptwerk.

If you need help with this just let us know. We're very willing to help.

GrahamG

[myorgan]

What about the Ahlborn or Allen modules? I've yet to hear my Allen Ensemble II module as I'm missing the power wire for my MIDI card.:-( I'm still looking for one so I can plug it directly into the +/-15 power supply of my console (or is it +/-5 power supply?).

[jbird604]

Michael,
What wire are you missing? Maybe I can help. BTW, I finally have a lead for you on fixing that MOS board, if you haven't done it already. Email me for more info.

[sarqoz]

OK, I've done the unthinkable (well, at least for me it was).

I installed the test version of Hauptwerk3 with some free organs and hooked up the Nord and the midized pedal board. I like it! And man, that sounds good!

At first I was a bit hesitant to use the mouse to registrate, but this isn't so bad after all when one programs some standard settings under the preset "knobs".

I'll tinker with my setup some more and build a proper console-style bench for my organ to sit on - that'll fit the pedal board - for ease of setting up and breaking down my home setup (every thursday I use the Nord in my band).

I will also try some other programs: jOrgan, GrandOrgue etc. To buy the basic or advanced version of Hauptwerk is not cheap and a decent sound library adds to that, plus you need quite a heavy spec PC to make it work, which I don't have at this moment. But what I've heard from Hauptwerk by now convinced me very, very much. Even the sound library that comes with the free version (St. Anne's - Moseley) sounds quite good and many people mention that this gets even better with good commercially available libraries.

[radagast]

Allen and Rodgers both have MIDI organ expanders with many individual stops as well as ensemble or chorus sounds.

[arie v]

Bill,

The problem with the Allen and Rodgers modules is that they are essentially GS/GM Midi modules. Which means they are not really voicable, and there are no stop controls. In other words they need to be run from a MIDI setup that sends patch commands. Really they are only useful as additions to full fledged organ consoles. With organs coming more and more with these same built-in sounds, my guess is that both Allen and Rodgers modules will be the last of their kind. Already, more and more are using Hauptwerk or jOrgan to augment existing organs with organ sounds. The Rodgers module is the same as a Roland module with extra organ sounds, and the Rodgers module costs more the twice the price.

My guess is that few of these expanders are sold anymore these days.

AV