Noordwolde

Noordwolde, Huis - Freytag - Lohman Organ

The church of St. Sebastian in Noordwolde is known to have had an organ as early as the sixteenth century, but nothing is known about its layout. In 1621, an extensive restoration of the church took place, including the organ. When a new tower was built in 1639 the space between the nave and the tower was used for the organ's bellows - which are still found there today.

In 1658, a new organ was built by Hendrik Huis, who reused a lot of the old pipes. The organ then had 3 manuals and 27 stops. Arp Schnitger himself performed maintenance tasks of this organ in 1695.

In 1802, Heinrich Hermann Freytag rebuilt the organ, reusing most of the older material, resulting in an instrument with 2 manuals, pedal and 20 stops.

In 1833, Antoni Lohman performed a further rebuild of the instrument. Three stops were replaced, the instrument was revoiced, and the tuning changed. For the next 170 years, the organ was not subject to any major alteration.

In 2004-2006 the organ was restored by the Mense Ruiter company, retaining its 1833 state. It is a truly historical instrument with most of its pipework dating back centuries. Its character is created by a rich principal chorus, a wide variety of flutes, a Vox Humana enclosed in a wooden box, a 19th-century Viola da Gamba (a string stop), and a wooden hammer "Schel" to give the signal to the calcant. The Basuin 16´ is believed to be the oldest surviving sixteen-foot pedal reed stop in the world. The temperament is slightly unequal, reconstructed after the Lohman's pattern.

Further reading:

Organ of Noordwolde - an extensive article compiled by Dr. Adrian de Groot

Web of the organ: http://orgelnoordwoldegroningen.nl/

 

Features

The samples are offered in 48kHz/24bit resolution. The multiple releases have three levels: short, mid and long. Hauptwerk v4.2 and higher supported. The sample set is offered in plain wave format.

Reverb time

The reverb time is ca. 2 seconds.

Keyboards, pedalboard

The original compass of the keyboards is 51 keys (C, d3), extended in Hauptwerk to f3 via a dedicated mixer switch. The original compass of the pedal division is 27 keys (C-d1), extended to f1 in the sample set.

Tremulants

All ranks were recorded with the Tremulant for the most convincing tremulant behavior. The ranks are marked "tremmed" in the rank description.

Requirements

RAM consumption: 8-channel surround

16-bit, other settings default: 18 GB

20-bit, other settings default: 29 GB (recommended)

24-bit, other settings default: 34 GB

Screen resolution 1280x1024 px or more.

Polyphony of 6000 voices recommended for the full suround (3000 pipes minimum).

Surround format

The sample set is offered in the Surround variant (8 channels). There are direct channels, featuring the sound of the organ immediately in front of the organ case. The diffuse perspective captured the sound in the church, further from the organ. The distant channels were captured even further from the organ. The rear perspectives is designed for the rear speakers of the audio setup. The perspectives can be mixed together freely to achieve any virtual listening position, 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.

Hoofdwerk C-d3 [-f3]    Rugwerk C-d3 [-f3]     Pedaal C-d1 [-f1]     
Praestant 8′
Roerfluit 8′
Viola di Gamba 8′    
Octaaf 4′
Fluit 4′
Fluit 2′
Mixtuur III-VI
Trompet 8′
 
Holpijp 8′
Praestant 4′
Roerfluit 4′
Octaaf 2′
Speelfluit 2′
Flageolet 1′
Vox Humana 8′        

 
Bourdon 16′ (1802)
Praestant 8′
Octaaf 4′
Bazuin 16′
Cornet 4′


 


Couplers:

  • RP/HWbass, RP/HW descant, HW/P. More couplers may be achieved through the Hauptwerk Master Couplers.

Accessories:

  • Tremulant for the whole organ.

 

 

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, and the pedal. Specifying the MIDI inputs is done by right-clicking on the desired manual or pedal.

 

 

 

Mixer view:

The virtual listening position is adjusted here. Dragging the sliders downwards means to mute the mic perspective, dragging them up is making it louder. The mixer settings can be stored, retrieved, reset. 3 different mixer settings can be stored/recalled any time. The switches on the right bottom make:
1.) the selection for the tremulant between the sampled tremulant and artificial (Hauptwerk model) tremulant possible.
2.) The blower switch should be always on. When off, the wind to the organ will stop and there will be no sound.
3.) The compass selector allows to play either the original organ compass, or the extended one.
4.) Pipe coupling serves to adjust the amount of "chorus effect". Higher slider position gives more overall mistuning to the organ pipes, possibly giving rich and tasteful organ sound. Lowest position of the slider offers the organ perfectly in tune instead (especially when combined with Hauptwerk Temperament charts).
5.) Pipe detune - sets the overall mistuning o pipes. In the minimum position, the organ is exactly in tune (when some Hauptwerk temperament chart is used).
6.) Mixtures fine tuning: toggle between the recorded natural mixture sound which is usually somewhat beating, and perfectly tuned mixtures.

 

 

 

 

Stops view:

All stops of the instrument can be accessed from a single screen. Each stop can be MIDI-learned by right click.

 

 

 

 

Left+Right Jambs view:

All the stops and other controls of the organ can be found also here. The layout for dual touch screens. The design allows for portrait or landscape orientation, according to the orientation of the touch screens.

 

 

 

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. There are two variants: landscape and portrait. All the stops of the organ can be found here. Physical pistons or draw stops can be assigned to a virtual button on screen by right-clicking on the button.

 

  1. Noordwolde Sample Set, vol.0

    Noordwolde Sample Set, vol. 0. Surround, 8-channels. Minimum Hauptwerk version: 4.2. (Also works in all higher versions.) No encryption. Free volume, 8 stops.
    Price: Excl. Tax: €0.00 Incl. Tax *: €0.00 Excl. Tax

    Detail & order

  2. Noordwolde Sample Set, vol.1

    Noordwolde Sample Set, vol. 1. Surround, 8-channels. Minimum Hauptwerk version: 4.2. (Also works in all higher versions.) No encryption. Together with vol.0 forms a complete set.
    Price: Excl. Tax: €160.00 Incl. Tax *: €193.60 Excl. Tax

    Detail & order