Concert Series 

The Concert Series is the result of many years of sample set development. Created from from several hundred different recorded stops and many thousands of individual pipe recordings taken over the last two decades, stops have been chosen from the best examples available in each instrument. 

Whilst the various models are ostensibly English Romantic in nature by design as a result of the source material, they also lean towards the American Classic style as developed by Skinner along with a few distinct nods in the direction of other European tonal schools.

Whilst there has been no specific aim to produce instruments that are by a distinct builder, a considerable amount of material by specific builders is included in the series. Like any pipe organ builder, my "house" style is an amalgamation of many different tonal schools. Because the source material is from many different builders the end results are a similar amalgamation of English voicing styles.

All of the instruments in the initial release are created using close recorded, dry samples. This provides the most flexible approach. Instruments can be used in larger spaces with existing room reverberation or can be enhanced by additional reverberation - either hardware or software based. The considerable developments with convolution reverberation over the last few years means that many end users run sophisticated acoustic modifying facilities already. The addition of in-built convolution reverberation for Hauptwerk V etc. extends this facility further.

Depending on demand and feedback as to what the most popular settings of convolution reverberation which suit the majority might be, the sets may also be released as wet versions.

Below are some of the major features of the new Concert Series:

10 DIFFERENT MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM
There are ten different specifications to choose from ranging from typical small church instruments up to those of concert hall or cathedral size.
SAMPLES SELECTED FROM OVER 20 PIPE ORGANS
Our thousands of stop samples have been recorded from over 20 UK pipe organs. Whilst each organ is unique, all of the instruments have a tonal character which is an unmistakably English sound. 
EACH STOP INDEPENDENTLY GENERATED
Throughout the sets offered, there is no extension or duplexing and each stop is different from any other even though the name may be identical. Every note of each stop has been sampled several times and the best notes chosen. However, it is not always possible to use all of a stop for many reasons and where this is the case, "bad" notes have been replaced by the closest match. In some cases complete stops may have been created from two or more ranks to obtain the best result. 
MINIMAL OR NO NOISE REDUCTION
Any form of NR will have a retrograde result when applied so where possible, we avoid the use of noise reduction. However, in the cases where some form of noise reduction is unavoidable, this is applied minimally through several stages in order to retain attack and release characteristics accurately. 
CLOSE RECORDED DRY SAMPLES
With Over 30 years experience of sampling sound, experience has shown that for maximum realism, close up dry samples are essential. Since samples are recorded in the same way for each organ, they are consistent. Because there is no ambient building noise, it is possible to create new, natural sounding stops through filtering and pitch alteration. Samples act like individual pipes within a given space which allows stops or parts of stops to be mixed with real pipes in hybrid installations or to develop their sound in the space of the building as a real pipe organ would. Where convolution reverberation is used, the results are consistent throughout the instrument. 
INDIVIDUAL MIXTURE STOPS
Our mixtures are made up of independent ranks which means that the composition and break points of the mixture stops can be designed from scratch. Individual note tuning or slight detuning for authenticity becomes possible. This is not possible with conventionally sampled mixtures.
CUSTOM DESIGNED ORGANS
Because of the unique way in which we record and process our stop samples, it is possible to create virtually any specification. From the many stops available, bespoke instruments can be created to fit in with existing consoles or with hybrid pipe / pipeless organs as well as mixtures with different compositions and ranks. 
ECONOMICAL UPGRADES AND ALTERATIONS
Each set in the series uses the same source stop ranks so that the stops on the smallest model are the same as the equivalent stops on larger models. However, larger models have more stops and in each model there is are slight alterations to the overall balance of the stops (via the Organ Definition File). This means that customers who have purchased a certain size instrument can downgrade to a smaller instrument for practice or load a larger instrument in the series. When it comes to upgrading to a larger instrument, the upgrade path requires only the addition of the additional ranks of the larger model together with a larger ODF. Likewise, it is a relatively simple task to replace one stop with a different one or with a better example in the future. Therefore upgrading and alterations are very economical. 
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