St. Pons en Thomieres, Orgue Micot

St. Pons-de-Thomières, Micot Organ (1771)

 

The organ was constructed by Jean-Baptiste Micot (1712-1784), aided by his son Jean-Baptiste Micot Junior (1740-1815). This instrument belongs to the best preserved organs of acclaimed French organbuilding family.

The organ is located above the main altar of the church on its west side, since the church has lost its original Romanesque shape in the Hugenot wars when the eastern choir was destroyed. When the church was restored in 1711, its traditional liturgical orientation was reversed and the new high altar now occupies the west end of the church, together with the organ.

The old Roman Catholic bishopric merged into the diocese of Montpellier after 1801, and the place lost its importance and most of its funds. As a consequence of poverty, the church and the organ was spared from most innovations of 19th and 20th centuries, so that it could be handed to us in almost intact form.

The organ was altered a little by Clavel in 1830 when the descant of Vox humana was renewed, and then by Puget in 1870 who changed the pitch, but respected the original layout and stop list.

In 1980-1982 Bartélemy and Paul Manuel Formentelli provided the restoration of the instrument to its original state. The care of the organ is now entrusted to Michel Formentelli, who did a major overhaul in 2008, which is well documented on the web pages of the St. Pons organ.

Thanks to the restoration, the organ has the typical sound of an 18th century French instrument and all the French repertoire of the time can be performed in the appropriate style on this organ.

Special thanks for the magnificent help from the members of the Association Jean Ribot des Amis de l'Orgue during the recording and for their patience with the sample set - the recording was done in 2014!

 

Features

Resolution and Encryption

The samples are offered in 48kHz/24bit resolution. The multiple releases have three levels: short, mid and long. Hauptwerk v.5 and higher supported. The sample set is encrypted, dongle protected.

Reverb time

The reverb time is ca. 4 seconds.

Keyboards, pedalboard

The original compass of the keyboards is 50 keys (C, D-d3); lowest C# missing, added in the sample set. The original compass of the pedal division is 24 keys (C, D-c1), extended to f1 in the sample set.

Tremulants

Almost all ranks were recorded with the Tremblant Doux for the most convincing tremulant behavior. The ranks are marked "tremmed" in the rank description. The Tremblant Fort is made using the Hauptwerk tremulant model.

  • 16-bit, other settings default: 16.2 GB
  • 20-bit, other settings default: 26.0 GB (recommended)
  • 24-bit, other settings default: 30.7 GB

RAM consumption: 2-channel (front-direct solo for a semi-dry experience)

  • 16-bit, other settings default: 5.8 GB
  • 20-bit, other settings default: 9.1 GB
  • 24-bit, other settings default: 10.6 GB

Screen resolution 1280x1024 px or more. Polyphony of 4500 voices recommended for the full suround. Polyphony of 2500 simultaneous pipes recommended for use of the wet sample set.

Surround format

The sample set is offered in the Surround variant (6 channels). In addition to the usual 4-channel surround, there are two more alternative front channels. In total, there are 4 front audio channels and 2 rear channels. The two pairs of the front ranks feature two different recording positions: direct (near to the pipes) and diffuse (distant from the instrument). These two pairs of the front ranks can either be mixed together freely to achieve any listening position between the two extremes, or used separately - depending on the prefererences of the user. A dedicated "mixing desk" is available in Hauptwerk to mix the sound to the desired level (see screenshots).

1. Positif C–d3
Bourdon 8'
Prestant 4'
Doublette 2'
Fourniture III
Cymbale II
Flute 4'-8'
Nazard 2 2/3'
Tierce 1 3/5'
Larigot 1 1/3'
Cromorne 8'
   
   
   
   
   
2. Grand Orgue C–d3
Bourdon-Montre  16'
Montre 8'
Bourdon 8'
Prestant 4'
Doublette 2'
Fourniture IV
Cymbale III
Nazard 2 2/3'
Quarte de Nazard  2'
Tierce 1 3/5'
Grand Cornet V
Trompette 8'
Clairon 4'
Voix Humaine 8'
   
3. Récit c1d3
Cornet V
Trompette 8'
   
Pedal C–c1 (f1 ext.)  
Flute 8'
Flute 4'
Trompette 8'
Clairon 4'
Bourdon-Montre  16'
   
   
Bourdon-Montre 16' in the pedal is a virtual transmission from GO, not present on the original organ. This virtually added stop can be found only on the Simple jamb.

Couplers:

  • Pos/G.O. 8';

Accessories:

  • Tremblant Doux, Tremblant Fort.

 

Screenshots

 

 

Console view:

This is the general console view. It serves to define the keyboard MIDI inputs for all the divisions. The active part of this view are the manuals, the pedal, and the stops. Specifying the MIDI inputs is done by right-clicking on the desired manual or pedal.

The drawstops can be engaged/disengaged by clicking/touching them. By right-clicking, MIDI switch can be attached to any of them.

 

 

Mixer view:

The virtual listening position is adjusted here. Dragging the sliders downwards means to come closer to the pipes (more direct sound), dragging them up means going away from the organ into the church nave.

The mixer settings can be stored, retrieved, reset. 3 different mixer settings can be stored/recalled any time.

The switch on the right makes the selection for the tremulant between the sampled tremulant and artificial (Hauptwerk model) tremulant possible.

The blower switch should be always on. When off, the wind to the organ will stop and there will be no sound.

 

 

Left+Right Jambs view:

for dual touch screens, split jambs were created. They allow for portrait or landscape orientation, according to the orientation of the touch screens.

All the stops and other controls of the organ can be found here. Physical pistons or MIDI switches can be assigned to a virtual button on screen by right-clicking the button.

 

 

Left + Right Jambs Vertical view:

the dual stop jambs offer vertical (portrait) orientation as an alternative.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Jamb:

simplified version of a single jamb to allow for more readable version of the stop names on small LCD touch screens.

 

Simple Jamb (Portrait)

An alternative simple jamb for portrait orientated screens.

 

 

  1. St. Pons, Orgue Micot, Surround

    Surround variant. Sample set is encrypted, dongle protected. Minimum Hauptwerk version: 5. (Also works in all higher versions.)
    Price: Excl. Tax: €230.00 Incl. Tax *: €278.30 Excl. Tax

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