Silver Octopus Studios
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Silver Octopus Studios
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Inside the 1855 4 manual 119 stop masterpiece built by "Father" Henry Willis for St. George's Hall, Liverpool - the largest neo-classical building in the world. This instrument set the standard for Romantic Organs for the next century and beyond. The majority of samples for Romantic Organ I and II were taken from this instrument which remains one of the finest concert hall organs ever built. It is undergoing total refurbishment currently and hopefully when completed, this fabulous instrument will once again take centre stage in the world of truly great pipe organs. Welcome to the Silver Octopus Website. Whilst the site is engaged in several other related activities, the primary objective of the site is concerned with Pipe Organ sample libraries for software sample players such as the very specialist Hauptwerk program which can be found at http://www.crumhorn-labs.com. This website will be undergoing some dramatic changes in the next few months and it is hoped that the improvements will be far reaching. Libraries for Gigastudio and Soundfont software etc. which can be used with any of several available working pipe organ console interfaces continue in development by third parties and will be released when they have something to offer above the norm. Current progress with the libraries can be checked out on the news page and elsewhere on the site. Whilst the main aim is to provide sample libraries with the emphasis on the British Romantic Pipe Organ, "instruments" such as church bells together with other schools of organ voicing and design are in the pipeline and are being given serious consideration. The Romantic Organ reached its zenith in Britain in the late 19th. century and the style of voicing and design had far reaching consequences around the world. Composers wrote specifically for its resources and to many, the quintessential sound of the pipe organ is that of large diapason choruses and mixtures coupled to fiery reeds and a thundering bass. For true grandeur of sound, NOTHING beats this overwhelming effect which will even raise the hackles on the most die hard listener - they might just say "eugh" I hate the organ or it may very well make their backbones rattle but notwithstanding, it cannot be ignored. For afficionados, it is often an emotional experience. In addition to church and concert hall organ sample libraries, Future plans include the production of libraries in the above formats covering the Cinema/Theatre Organ, Fairground Organ and Harmonium etc. In the various sections of the website, you will find demos of the organ samples in use, recorded excerpts of famous orchestral pieces created via midi, some of my own original compositions, a photo album of the organ(s) sampled together with pages dealing with subjects of related interest.
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