Organ Tips

The convolution engine in Hauptwerk can provide nice enhancement to older wet/surround sample sets, especially when the recorded tremulants are missing. The Hauptwerk tremulant model sounds a hundred percent more convincing when IR reverb is applied to the artificial tremulant. Continue reading →

Christoph Schmitz created very useful extension pack for Smecno.
It can be obtained from his webpage.

6-channel surround sample sets sometimes raise many questions. Some users are concerned about RAM consumption (yes, 6-channel surround uses about 3x more RAM than a conventional stereo sample set). Some are concerned about the "best" listening scenario while using the 6-channels, some express hesitations about the acoustical principles of the 6-channel surround, fearing that blending too many channels together will harm the resulting sound. Well, how to use the 6-channel surround sample sets? Continue reading →

Hauptwerk forum offers a nice explanation of the functions of the many various pedals of the Cavaille-Coll organ.

Christoph Schmitz kindly added portrait screens to the Santanyi sample set. Continue reading →

Well, difficult job. I cannot say I am an expert on these questions, but I have some limited experience. Here some generic suggestions when placing a virtual organ into a real church. Continue reading →

All of the Spanish organ music from the Baroque and Classical periods can be played perfectly on both instruments (with the exception of a few Soler pieces that have such a large keyboard range that they cannot be played on any historical Spanish organ). But the most striking characteristic of these two instruments is Continue reading →

Every registration given here, no matter how obvious, can actually be found in historical sources, unless otherwise indicated by the use of a qualifier such as "presumably" or "probably." Continue reading →

Patrick Larhant kindly supplied the registration tips for the early French repertoir. His treatise is available in PDF and contains practical stop lists for various kinds of French compositions, optimized for the St. Maximin organ. Download PDF: Registrations_classiques_2

The organs built by Cavaillé-Coll had a divided windchest for the foundation and combination voices. We have the advantage in knowing that César Franck was thorough in writing the registration cues, however one can be fooled without the understanding of the actual instrument. Continue reading →