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Having transitioned my Rock/Pop keyboard setup to VST sounds a year or two ago, including Pianoteq as my main piano, performing concerts locally accompanying a singer and with bands, I started to take turns playing for church services in our village.

I kept my Yamaha CP33 and Hammond XB-2 as the MIDI controller keyboards, which allowed me to use my accustomed Yamaha expression pedal and Hammond Organ expression pedal (with Leslie-speed switch). I use Music Sheets Pro to display charts and scores, auto-scrolling multi-page tunes and controlling Songs and Variations in Gig Performer as VST Host. An old KORG nanoKEY Studio supports live changing of sounds and functions both in Music Sheets Pro, in Gig Performer and in individual VSTs where appropriate, including a note assigned to MIDI Panic for any emergencies! A Behringer FCB1010 with the pedals trimmed off provides foot control of some parameters, in parallel with the nanoKEY Studio, if required.

I use Bome MIDI Translator to change MIDI messages from one source to the MIDI messages required by a target device, although the only use I make of Bome since Microsoft implemented the excellent MIDI 2.0 feature in Windows 11 this year is to change volume control messages from nanoKEY knobs to expression pedal messages.

Although the church has a small pipe organ by Positive built around the start of the twentieth century, this was out of service and church accompaniments were from a Yamaha Clavinova console model, using the piano sounds or one of the two Organ sounds. I hope to use the pipe organ for some showcase simple tunes after the next service visit. The Clavinova’s two organ sounds were very limiting. After thinking of all the options, for example taking my entire rock rig and PA into the church, or buying MIDI controller keyboards and somehow housing them in a wooden console, I realised that I already used old analogue keyboards as controllers. Therefore I could employ a used home organ to provide the MIDI notes and provide a suitable style of console - with enough space and a suitable configuration to house the computer UI peripherals. Pedals were not a great concern, so a 13-note pedal section is sufficient, and Organteq’s Monophonic Couplers give a good result which could be enhanced by use of pedals once I have the necessary technique (I plan a Studio Logic MP177 for practice use). This would be a good-looking console in the church.

Testing Organteq on an aging laptop I found it didn’t handle the full range of Organteq registrations and this – after some help from Modartt – led to my replacing the laptop with an up-to-date NUC15RH minicomputer which is fine, and a touch-screen monitor (and another standard monitor) are ideal for mounting within a suitable console, together with the KORG nanoKEY Studio.

I bought an old Orla GT9000 organ from the excellent ePianos store near me in the UK, who were extremely helpful enabling me to try out the solution when I arrived with all the computer gear, and got involved in this unusual use-case! I just use the MIDI outputs of the two manuals and pedals - I put a MIDI volume pedal (Crumar PU-4) on top of the inbuilt analogue volume pedal, and I fashioned a desk surface with a ledge at the bottom, spaced up from the inbuilt controls, attached by Velcro. On this surface are:

   Left - Screen 1           Gig Performer including the Organteq UI
   Middle - Screen 2               Mobile Sheets Pro
   Right -                        KORG nanoKEY Studio

The nanoKEY Studio controls the Configuration Numbers in Organteq and other parameters for 'on the fly usage during tunes. It also controls Music Sheets Pro scores, and Music Sheets in turn controls Gig Performer Rackspaces/Setlists/Variations giving immediate initial registrations (Combinations in Organteq) on advancing to the next score. It also controls other Gig Performer functions as well as expression for Swell, Great and Choir in Organteq (via the Bome MIDI Translator app).

The technique I use to allow Gig Performer to call up the initial Combination for a tune is to assign a nanoKEY note to the Combination number in Organteq and then set a Gig Performer Widget for that number to control the nanoKEY note. Thus, selecting the Next Score in Mobile Sheets sends a message to Gig Performer to select the Next Song which plays the appropriate note on the nanoKEY and that selects the pre-defined Combination in Organteq. Live changes to the initial selection can be adding whilst playing (Combination, Couplers, Tremulant) on the nanoKEY - if it is desired not to introduce other setups automated from Mobile Sheets Pro once initiated by a control.

A metronome displays in Mobile Sheets. A feature I added recently causes the press of a single MIDI footswitch to bring up the Verse Number on the Mobile Sheets Pro display – this solves a common issue for hymn accompanists, and ensures the hymn finishes at the correct point! It also gives a reminder when a different registration is desired for a particular verse.

The other hymn-accompaniment special feature I use is to tune Organteq to A=392 Hz (i.e. two semitones below 440 Hz) and to include a nanoKEY note which actuates an upwards transposition in Gig Performer of 2 semitones. This is because congregations can rarely reach the high notes of hymns in the key given in hymn books, hence the downward transposition. Indeed, some hymn books commonly give alternative scores in a key 2 semitones lower than the main page. The nanoKEY control restoring the pitch to A=440 enables playing along with recordings of the tune for practice purposes.

When a Voluntary is required, greater use is made of different sounds on each of the two manuals and variations for each section of the piece. I’m currently using the Neo-Baroque organ. The result is meeting with approval from the congregation – and for the largest services, two Yamaha DXR12 speakers are mounted in the Chancel. I monitor the playing on headphones since the keyboard location is to the side of the Nave, and the Vicar has a level control, being in the path the sound takes towards the congregation.

If a piano accompaniment or piece is called for, I move to a Yamaha Clavinova which routes through Gig Performer to the amplification (1 or 2 Yamaha DXR12s placed in the Chancel with the 'FOH' setting. The keyboard playing area is to the side of the Chancel).

Grateful thanks are due to Modartt for the excellent sound we now enjoy, with very little additional expenditure. Also special thanks from me for enabling a very enjoyable and rewarding project to be realised with excellent functionality and a wealth of artistic potential to be exploited into the future!

Images:
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