Silver Octopus Studios    

ROMANTIC SERIES 30, 32, 36, 48, 64, 80 & 100 STOP LIBRARIES 

The Romantic series of libraries are based on samples taken in the majority, from Father Willis instruments including those in St George's Hall, Liverpool, Huddersfield Town Hall etc. Other stops (or parts of stops) are from various sources including Sweetland /Griffen & Stroud, Nicholson / Kenneth Jones, Almeuza (Pais Basco), as well as organ builders stock from George Sixsmith & Son.

Where possible, Father Willis (FW) pipework has been used as much as possible but it is not always easy to find a stop in complete balance (or indeed, satisfactory working order) on some of the instruments and it has been necessary to substitute carefully matched ranks or parts of ranks in order to provide comprehensive specifications.

At the bottom of the page can be found further details about the instruments used in the sample sets.

DEMOS

The following demos have been recorded directly from Hauptwerk. No alterations have been made via the voicing tools in Hauptwerk. For the wet demos, conventional reverberation has been used as opposed to any specialist convolution reverberation software. Some demos use a slightly stretched temperament as an alternative to the standard A440 Equal Temperament.

1. Cook Fanfare MP3 (Wet) MP3 64, 48,

    Cook Fanfare (Dry) MP3 64 48

2. Bonnet; Elves (Wet) MP3 64, 48 except Orchestral Oboe in one phrase

   Bonnet; Elves (Dry) MP3 As above

3. Javier de SanJose: Qui pascitur inter lilia (Wet) MP3 64, 48, 36 and minus one Celeste on the other lesser spec instruments.

   Javier de SanJose: Qui pascitur inter lilia (Dry) MP3  As above

4. Maleingreau: Toccata from Suite for Organ Dry MP3. 80 Stop and 64 minus the strings etc.

5. ASZ Excert MP3 (Wet) 80 or 100 Stop

6. Prelude in C MP3 (Wet) All Models

7. A Minor Fugue BWV 543 MP3 (Wet) 30 Stop and all larger spec. models

   A Minor Fugue BWV 543 MP3 (Dry) As above

HAUPTWERK III:

THREE MANUAL AND PEDALS 64 SPEAKING STOPS

Single Screen	LH Jamb	RH Jamb

£450.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

THREE MANUAL AND PEDALS 48 SPEAKING STOPS (55 RANKS)

Full Screen	LH Screen	RH Screen

£300.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

36 STOP: 2 MANUAL & PEDAL

Same spec. as above without the Choir division

£250.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

32 STOPS: 3 MANUAL & PEDAL

Console Screen

 

Standard inter-manual and pedal couplers plus Octave, Sub Octaves and Unison Offs.

£200.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

TWO MANUAL AND PEDALS 30 SPEAKING STOPS

£175.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

TWO MANUAL AND PEDALS 25 SPEAKING STOPS

£150.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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HAUPTWERK III:

TWO MANUAL AND PEDALS 20 SPEAKING STOPS

Console Screen

 

£100.00 (inc Post & Packing)

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NEARING COMPLETION

80 STOPS: 4 MANUALS & PEDAL

Full Console	L.H. Jamb	R.H. Jamb

 

Expected Price: £550

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100 STOP: 4 MANUALS & PEDAL

This is pretty much the specification that will form the 100 stop model although the odd stop may be subject to change depending as to how well the divisions work out or as a result of input from potential users.

Expected Price: £650

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HAUPTWERK III:

 PROVISIONAL 125 STOP: 3 MANUALS & PEDAL or 4 MANUALS & PEDAL

This specification is subject to considerable change as the 80 AND 100 stop models are completed. The specification shown below is for 3 manuals and pedal however, it is more than likely that it will follow the same format as the 100 with 5 extra stops per division spread over 4 manuals and pedal.

Expected Price £750

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UPGRADE PATHS

Any purchaser of one of the smaller sets in this series can upgrade to a larger set for the difference in the price between the two plus £10.00 for administration.

CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS

It is also possible to have an instrument based on the series tailored to individual needs. Please contact us for further details. In most cases, the difference in cost is that of the extra stops plus a small fee for the creation of a new ODF / CODM file if it is required.

COUPLERS etc.

A very full selection of couplers is provided for each model. However, in order to keep the aesthetics of some of the consoles within sensible bounds, some couplers and controls may not be shown in the single screen or split screen graphics. They are of course available in the controls screen and can be set up under the combination pistons as desired. Due to the nature of the CODM and the sample sets in general, any extra couplers or controls can be added or subtracted quite easily by adjusting the CODM for individual tastes. Likewise, the layouts or stop nomenclature of each console can be changed in the same way.

ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS USED

The organ at St George's Hall Liverpool is still considered to be one of the finest organs in the world albeit in poor condition but gradually improving as funds become available. Although the pipework has been rescaled at various times over the years, it has always remained 100% Willis.

The organ at Huddersfield Town Hall started life in Wales before moving to Huddersfield and it is difficult to tell what is from the two different Conacher (Con) firms - James or Peter - involved in its history and what is Father Willis. It is still a fine and famous concert organ and was fully rebuilt in 1980 by Harrison and Harrison. Conacher was eventually amalgamated into the Willis company.

Apart from the mixtures which I believe were most likely remodeled from the standard Tierce mixtures to Quint mixtures** at some time, the 1894 Willis is otherwise a tonally untouched instrument in an English country parish church. It is typical of many Father Willis church instruments - sufficient for its purpose but lacking some of the "fancies" of the larger concert instruments.

** The original 17:19:22 became 15:19:22.

The Sweetland / Griffen & Stroud (G&S / SW) instrument also started life in Wales. It is difficult to categorise the pipework as to what is what. Judging by the construction of some of the stops, it is most likely that some of the pipework originated in Germany.

The Conacher (Con) is a very fine (though sadly un-maintained) 3 manual instrument in Derbyshire. The pipework is of superb quality with high tin content by Zimmerman of Paris.

The Almeuza is a 2 manual instrument in Sanguesa (Zangoza), Navarra, Spain built in 1956 for the historic church of Santa Maria. The Basque builder Almeuza has been responsible for work in most of the Spanish instruments both in churches and cathedrals at some time or another and the quality of their pipework is generally good. if there is such a thing as a Spanish Romantic organ then Almeuza can certainly be described as working to this school of voicing.

Finally, one or two stops come from the Kenneth Jones / Nicholson instrument featured in the TRIO series with some revoicing to make them blend in with the other Romantic stops of this series. The remaining pipework samples were recorded directly from the voicing machine using various stock pipework at George Sixsmith & Son organ builders. Some of the pipework sampled is from the former St. Lawrence Jewry Church in London.

Prices for the series are based on the amount of ranks rather than the amount of stops which works out at approxinately £5 per rank.

PLEASE NOTE

The samples are accurately tuned throughout to A440. Users wanting a more natural detuning can adjust this to taste for each stop using the voicing tools included with Hauptwerk. Alternatively, an overall detune either equally or scaled across the stop can be achieved by altering the relevant parameter in each stop via the CODM. There is also the additional possibility of using an alternative temperament such as a stretched one but this will affect all stops equally.

These samples are designed for use in a building with considerable reverberation and distance lends its charm ! Playing these samples without reverberation tends to be quite up front and personal as though sitting in the organ but it is also ideal for practice. No artificial reverb has been added so that users can introduce their own or allow the building in which it is played to take care of this aspect. As and when Hauptwerk IV is released, the software itself will provide convolution reverberation and many other features.

Unlike many of the other libraries available, there is no limitation as to the use of this library in either a domestic situation or in a church or similar building. Users have permission to alter the various parameters of the stops in order to obtain a balance and sound suited to their particular preferences. However, the recording of sounds produced in this library is limited to performances of musical pieces only. It is not permissible to record or re-record individual notes in any way for the purpose of creating a new library or stop.

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Last modified: 04/11/10