Topic by coignard

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Topic: Romantic Rühlmann I (St Johannes - Wolfen - 1898)

So I've been living in Wolfen for a while now, right next to the Johanneskirche, and naturally got curious about the organ sitting there. Turns out it's a Wilhelm Rühlmann senior instrument from 1898 (op. 204), and I decided to try recreating a replica of it in Organteq 2.

Spent January talking with local cantors and voicers familiar with the Rühlmann tradition, managed to get some recordings of individual stops which helped massively with recreating the sound. The interesting bit about Rühlmann organs from this period: they're late-Romantic but with a very specific character. Sharp strings that cut through and color the Principal 8', flutes that are quite powerful without any spitting sounds, and principals that sing with minimal chiff. The second manual isn't some weak afterthought either as it's a proper additive partner to the Hauptwerk, even on smaller instruments.

Original tuning was Parisian pitch with equal temperament. The current organ stands around 440 Hz now, but I've used 435 in the preset since that's historically accurate.

https://i.ibb.co/dJwHQr4L/Orgelprospekt.png

Overall, it was interesting to work specifically with local organs (most of which are by Rühlmann by the way). His work somewhat resembles Cavaillé-Coll. One local organ in Bobbau was actually built after Rühlmann studied with Cavaillé-Coll, which explains his love for using French stops instead of those typical in German Baroque, for instance. The replica turned out quite convincing. Not perfect itself, but perfectly playable.

I've uploaded the preset to FXP Corner along with a three keyboards mapping file that matches the actual organ's compass:

Manual I & II: C-f³ (54 keys each)
Pedal: C-d¹ (27 keys)

Preset itself:
https://forum.modartt.com/file/6dov4p5s

Keyboard mapping:
https://github.com/coignard/organteq-st...boards.otm

René Coignard

Reply by andrei

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Re: Romantic Rühlmann I (St Johannes - Wolfen - 1898)

coignard wrote:

Spent January talking with local cantors and voicers familiar with the Rühlmann tradition, managed to get some recordings of individual stops which helped massively with recreating the sound. 
....
I've uploaded the preset to FXP Corner along with a three keyboards mapping file that matches the actual organ's compass ...

René Coignard

Thank you very much! I have downloaded and installed the beautiful preset you created. Very useful for the community!

Reply by andrei

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Re: Romantic Rühlmann I (St Johannes - Wolfen - 1898)

coignard wrote:

I've uploaded the preset to FXP Corner along with a three keyboards mapping file that matches the actual organ's compass

René Coignard

Congratulations for your creation.
I have downloaded the fxp file of your preset and I moved it in the folder

~/Library/Application Support/Modartt/Organteq/Presets/My Presets

(under MacOS). Organteq found it and I was immediately able to test it.
But there are two things I don't understand:

First: how should I use the file with the keyboard mapping? How should I import this file in Organteq?
Second: apparently the expression pedal actions are not configured in the preset. Probably it is easy to do it manually by assigning an expression pedal to (the stops of) each manual. The crescendo pedal is apparently already configured.

Many thanks for your enthusiasm  and generosity !
Do you know if Modartt will release in the near future a new version of Organteq with new presets?
Kind regards, Andrei

Reply by andrei

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Re: Romantic Rühlmann I (St Johannes - Wolfen - 1898)

andrei wrote:
coignard wrote:

I've uploaded the preset to FXP Corner along with a three keyboards mapping file that matches the actual organ's compass

René Coignard

First: how should I use the file with the keyboard mapping? How should I import this file in Organteq?
Andrei

I think I found myself the answer to my first question: I have just downloaded the file Three keyboards.otm, I renamed it into  Three keyboards-Rühlmann.otm,  and put it in the folder:

~/Library/Application Support/Modartt/Organteq/MidiMappings

It now appears in the menu with the list of keyboard mappings.
Thank you!

Kind regards,

Reply by coignard

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Re: Romantic Rühlmann I (St Johannes - Wolfen - 1898)

andrei wrote:

Second: apparently the expression pedal actions are not configured in the preset. Probably it is easy to do it manually by assigning an expression pedal to (the stops of) each manual. The crescendo pedal is apparently already configured.

Hey Andrei,

About the expression pedals: they're not configured simply because this particular organ doesn't have them, at least I haven't found any mention of them in the organ's specifications. But you can always set them up yourself on the "Expression" tab in Organteq if you need them.

Same thing with the crescendo pedal actually. The real organ doesn't have one either. I only configured it to match my other presets since I use crescendo pedal automation tracks in Cubase for some of my pieces.

As for Modartt's plans for new Organteq versions and presets: unfortunately I don't have any information about that. I'm curious about it too, though I doubt they have much planned since Organteq, sadly, isn't as successful as Pianoteq. Underrated, in my opinion.

René Coignard