Ranks or Stops

[APipeOrganist]

Hi all,
I was reading some American organ specifications yesterday, and I noticed that they were exclusively listing ranks rather than speaking stops. Why is this? I would have thought it would be more useful to know at a glance how many stops there are rather than ranks, as the rank count also includes the individual ranks in Mixtures, which is not really that useful. Is it just a nomenclature and convention or is there some other need for a rank count?

[crapwonk]

If you are just displaying one number, the rank count can be more useful and honest about the size of the organ. Some organs can have a large stop count, but are highly unified. The same rank can appear on multiple manuals and pedal are multiple pitches.

[APipeOrganist]

Wouldn't it just be easier to list "speaking stops", which is like a rank count as it discounts extended stops, but counts mixtures as one stop rather than their component ranks?

[Leisesturm]

Wouldn't it just be easier to list "speaking stops", which is like a rank count as it discounts extended stops, but counts mixtures as one stop rather than their component ranks?

It isn't a matter of 'easier' or not. Many sources list both! Schoenstein routinely tells you the number of stops in a division and also tells you the number of ranks in the same division. It is information. Different end users need different information. An organ builder will have more interest in knowing how many ranks. An organist on the other hand will likely be more interested in the stoplist.

[toodles]

An extension rank is a speaking stop, as are borrowed (duplexed) stops. Rank count alone, without a stoplist, is not a very useful bit of information, but with the stoplist it tells a lot. The best I've seen is a stoplist with pipe count for each stop, thus a pedal Trumpet 16' (12 pipes) tells the organist that is is borrowed with a 12 note extension. Many builders note their stoplist in this fashion.

[voet]

Personally, I like stop lists that number each rank so you can identify where it comes from. For example, if the pedal stops are comprised of a flute unit and a diapason unit, octave pedal lines are not going to have the same impact. Conversely, if all of the pedal 8 foot and higher pitches are borrowed from the manuals, a Great to Pedal coupler may not be adding anything to your registration.

Some builders are better at borrowing that others. For example, I am not a fan of borrowed mutations, especially third sounding stops. Judicious borrowing can greatly expand flexibility. Conversely, if done poorly, it can be very frustrating.

[Ben Madison]

It depends on what you want to know. The number of stops don’t necessarily tell you how manny ranks because one stop may be controlling a mixture that inflates the rank count independently of stop count. The problem gets worse with unit orchestras because one rank can yield a great number of stops available on other manuals.

So it is best to define a pipe organ by rank count because you can say that some of them belong to mixtes work and stop count can be figured out from their.

stops are just appliances for turning on or off a rank of pipes. This is why stop count does not mean rank count because one stop may control a mixture.