"Ensemble" Stops

[Mendelssohn]

I'm wondering what other people's thoughts are on "Ensemble" stops being included in electric action instruments. I'm borrowing the term from Kegg Pipe Organ Builders, and they say the following on their website:

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders has recently introduced a new class of pipe
organ stop we call Ensemble. Not stops in the traditional sense,
these stops collect or combine stops from throughout the organ to a new
location for a specific purpose. For example, the Solo Diapason 8' III
found in our instrument at University Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY draws
the Great Principal 8', the Great Octave 4' played down one octave at
8', and the Pedal Diapason played also at 8'. This stop draws 3
diapasons playing at 8' pitch that could not be played together like
this in any other way. In cases such as String Ensemble, Unison
Ensemble and Reed Ensemble, stops are drawn from the entire instrument
and played usually on a 4th manual, without resorting to couplers.
For example, drawing the String Ensemble on the Solo manual will
play all the 8' string stops from every division of the organ providing
a massed string effect frequently played in romantic literature and
worship, while leaving all the string stops to play from their normal
home, in a normal manner.

I've never played an instrument that has one of these, but I could see how they would be useful. I'm sure you could also get carried away with this concept quite easily though. Schoenstein is the only other company that I'm aware of that also currently uses this concept.

Examples that I'm aware of:

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders

University Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY--8' Solo Diapason III (Great)

St. John the Baptist RC Church, Canton, OH--String FF Ensemble, String PP Ensemble, Unison Ensemble, Reed Ensemble (all in Solo)

Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX--8' Solo Diapason IV (Solo)

Schoenstein & Co.

First Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC, Lincoln, NE--8' Clarinetti III (Solo), 8' Tuben III (Ethereal)

[NYCFarmboy]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops

Very good idea! That solves a problem for me actually. I've been wanting to figure out how to get all my strings playable together without having to put EVERY individual string for each tab where I wanted it.

.thus I could just have a "String Ensemble XVI" stoptab which would be all my salicionals and all my dulcianas at 16/8/& 4' plus the two celeste stops at 8' & 4' making a total of 16! Nifty!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the idea as I myself am not a huge fan of couplers in that they draw everything that is "pulled" and I like the idea of just using specific pitches of a specific stop elsewhere, where I want them..rarely everything that is being played on a different division.


This is taking unification to the next level.

[Menschenstimme]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops



I will second that, NYCF! (Or should I say fifth, octave, twelfth, seventeenth and nineteenth that? LOL!)

Mr. Kegg has cleverly implemented a logical evolution of electro-mechanical chest action and solid-state control systems. It would be ideal if Mr. Keggprovides a fact sheet with such instruments outlining exactly which stops these are and exactly what they do. This might make traditionalists more likely to accept and use them. I know that I would feel more comfortable knowing exactly what they are doing rather than just going by what sounds are emanating from the organ. Moreover, this could remain with the organ for visiting and future organists' convenience and enlightenment.

I have a stop on my organ where the the stopkey says Mixture II. It actually draws an independent 1-1/3 Quint along with a 1-foot extension of the 2-foot Principal. Interestingly enough, the 1-1/3 was built by Schopps and voiced by Mr. Kegg when he was working there almost 20 years ago. But what I have here is more of your standard synthetic stop. Mr. Kegg has taken this concept to the next level.

Well done!

[soubasse32]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops



I'm a bit more dubious about the whole thing. [^o)]

Any stop which combines several stops is known as a "collective" stop; this is nothing new. One common example might be a Cornet V; it is a common enough registration which would otherwise require the drawing of five individual stops. The builder has simplified the organist's task by providingone useful drawknob for that purpose.

In the case of an ensemble stop, rather than collecting stops which the organist could have chosen manually, it collects stops of different pitches and plays them all at unison via internal switching.

This sort of stopmight be useful on very rare occasions as a special effect, but it seems a bit gimmicky. Not to mention the fact that any such unitized stopcauses troubleswhen notes drop out (due to octave doublings). You can't get something (extra stops) for nothing! This situation is made more difficult by the fact that(unless they are very familiar with the instrument) most organists won't know which stops are being played, and at which pitch.

I agree with MenchenStimme that it is better for an organist to know exactly what the organ is doing, rather than relying onsome sort ofblack box to do a bunch of stuff. I'd rather have my money go towards a thoughtful, well-appointedorgan spec - if that is the case, such devices would be unneccessary. No organ has ever suffered from the lack of such a device! [:)]

Oh well,extra knobsand pistonsnever fail to impress. [:D]

[Mendelssohn]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops

[quote user="soubasse32"]


Any stop which combines several stops is known as a "collective" stop; this is nothing new. One common example might be a Cornet V; it is a common enough registration which would otherwise require the drawing of five individual stops.

[/quote]

Now that you mention it, I do remember that the organ at the Riverside Church in NYC has a couple of collective Cornets.

I'm kind of in the middle on this issue which is why I brought it up. I can see the usefulness of such stops, but of course many of these same combinations could still be used with couplers. I think the Unison Ensemble seems to be the least justifiable of the examples I listed. I do like the idea of the Solo Diapason stop though, at least in theory.

[Menschenstimme]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops



I agree, SB32; but I still see the value in a collective stop that cannot be "collected" through the use of normal stops and couplers, but only through a "black box." At the same time, I think that for such a stop to be both useful and tasteful that the organist needs to know exactly what it is doing so that they may implement its use in an artistic manner.

Of course, a complete specification is ideal. But my guess is that a collective stop may be had for a few hundred dollars; an amount that would not contribute much toward otherwise making the specification more complete.

An ironic note: Our III/72 at church is so well "spec'd out" that I eschew couplers most of the time and use them more to move things around for more comfortable postures more than for actual coupling. However, I willconfess to coupling the Swell to the Choir to create a secondary Great division, so to speak.

Whatever works--as long as it is tasteful.

[Guest]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops



Maestro Soubasse32,

As long as you're dubious then ok - If you're lugubrious then.......Yikes!  < ; - ?

[mpsnknox]

Re: "Ensemble" Stops

Soubasse32

yes but sometimes the church lacks the space and the money for a more "thorough" stoplist. I belive these compound stops can add greatly to an Organs Versitility.