Topic: Organteq on Lowrey

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4MZZoT3GKweatiNY7

Above is a link to two photos and one 25 second video showing Organteq played on my Dad's Lowrey Aria.  He was very pleased to see how easy it was.  But Organteq was a bit of a sad commentary for him, as he realized how much better Organteq's organ voices are as compared with the pipe organ selections built into this Lowrey - kind of sad that such a fine console is created to play theater organ and schmaltzy-pop tunes from the early part of the 20th century, without a serious attempt to create sounds of a magnificent church or hall organ.

We connected the Lowrey's MIDI Out to the Microsoft surface's MIDI input using a USB MIDI cord.

We connected the Surface's headphone jack to the Lowrey's AUX Input.

"Page 10" of the Aria's options menu on the console deals with MIDI settings - we left the default channel settings for the upper keyboard, lower keyboard, lower keyboard split, and pedals.  I reassigned them where we wanted to within Organteq for the images of the manuals and the pedalboard.

It sounded great!  The Lowrey has a strong speaker set, and my Dad's 8" external powered sub added quite a bit to the bass.

If you have such an instrument available to you, I advise that you check it out - it sounded much better than I thought it would.

- David

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

I'm thrilled it worked!  I'm also glad to know that a Microsoft Surface can handle Organteq. (I'm usually at a desktop but having a portable organ "extension" on a small and light laptop is a great idea to try once!)

I also think your idea to simply change MIDI mapping within Organteq was also really wise: my experience with organ consoles and MIDI has taught me that if you can do it without changing anything, do it without changing anything.

I need to try Organteq on larger speakers with a subwoofer.  I'm very curious how it feels and sounds in a larger environment (I bet it does really well).  By the same token, I should try Pianoteq in a large hall too once.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xHiPcCsm29R12HX4eXd4J
Pianoteq Pro & Organteq 2
Steinways, Grotrian, Steingraeber, Bechstein, Petrof, Blüthner, K2, Karsten, & Kremsegg
Casio GP300

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

tmyoung wrote:

I need to try Organteq on larger speakers with a subwoofer.  I'm very curious how it feels and sounds in a larger environment (I bet it does really well).  By the same token, I should try Pianoteq in a large hall too once.

I just listened to my rendering (from a MIDI file) of the first Bach Schubler Chorales on Organteq on my hifi setup with a 15" Velodyne powered subwoofer going down as low as 15 Hz and I can guarantee floor shaking bass even with the 16' stops on Organteq...

I'm not sure a 32' is really needed, especially since the latency grows rapidly for very low notes. Lots of (simulated) air to move! 

Here is the (compressed) audio file:  https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...hetAuf.mp3

If I didn't know, I could have sworn this was a CD version of a real organ!

Last edited by Gilles (08-01-2020 19:16)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Gilles wrote:
tmyoung wrote:

I need to try Organteq on larger speakers with a subwoofer.  I'm very curious how it feels and sounds in a larger environment (I bet it does really well).  By the same token, I should try Pianoteq in a large hall too once.

I just listened to my rendering (from a MIDI file) of the first Bach Schubler Chorales on Organteq on my hifi setup with a 15" Velodyne powered subwoofer going down as low as 15 Hz and I can guarantee floor shaking bass even with the 16' stops on Organteq...

I'm not sure a 32' is really needed, especially since the latency grows rapidly for very low notes. Lots of (simulated) air to move! 

A 32 'pipe necessarily has more inertia than a bass guitar string, but we have all the same, just in France more than 165 instruments with such pipes, (see http://orgue.free.fr/32.html).
That said, wonderful organists have chosen to record on instruments limited to 16 ' pipes.
(see work for complete organ JS Bach by André Isoir, on the Grenzing Organ of the abbey church of Saint Cyprien in Perigord (France)
It should however be noted that even in this example, it is important to reproduce well the resonance frequencies of the church, which ultimately acts as a resonance box for the instrument.
In this example, these resonances start well below 10hz, with notable peaks between 12 and 40hz.
They justify (in my opinion) fully (at home) the use of very low down speakers,
- On the condition of benefiting from (outside) distant neighbors and (at home) understanding relatives ...
The tactile effect of these very low frequencies (unfortunately unavailable with headphones) largely contributes to the atmosphere provided by this instrument.
- ideally, not to be underestimated in future developments of organteq ...

On speakers, I did in recent days with Organteq a test with old hi-fi equipment very heteroclyte downstream of my DAC Aun S6.
I used all around my Casio GP500 keyboard, simultaneously the following 3 systems: (all the speakers being placed less than 80cm from the player, to benefit from a proximity effect).
** Yahama A-500 amplifier 2x85w rms on 2 Triangle Maestro ES speakers, 2 Bass-reflex channels (including 16cm boomer) 91db / 1w / 1m (55-20000hz +/- 3db) +
on sub output, Bass box Triangle Meteor 0.5 bass reflex speaker of 28cm on dedicated amplifier of 300w rms (28-160hz +/- 3db)
** Pioneer A-119 amplifier 2x30w rms on 2 "vintage" Cabasse Sloop M4 speakers (output 94db / w / m) 3-way with 30cm boomers unfortunately for bass, in closed box. (60-20000hz +/- 3db)
** Sony 2x70w rms digital amplifier (CMT-HX70BTR) 2-way bass reflex with 13cm fiberglass boomers +
   MartinLogan Grotto-i bass-reflex bass box (25.4cm boomer) on dedicated 300w rms amplifier (22-120hz +/- 3db)
NB: a second MartinLogan Grotto-i subwoofer (with its dedicated 300w rms amp) will soon reinforce these basses a little.
A Behringer parametric ultra curve equalizer, installed on the Yahama amplifier is not yet configured
to try to balance these heterogeneous sound sources a little better.
Below 28hz, the sound level drops here too quickly (compared to a good headset) and with a significantly higher level of distortion.
(tested on a DAW organteq 1.0 with pipe organs from the Halion 4 library, only below 32hz notes, because organteq is much better)
The interest of the fundamentals of notes lower than 32hz is naturally mainly tactile, contributing to the atmosphere of a church or a cathedral.
Very low frequencies of resonances of the building (for example 7hz, 13 and 19hz) in Saint Sernin are also interesting to reproduce this atmosphere,
with the proviso of not generating the higher resonances and parasitic frequencies which one unfortunately unfortunately easily meets in an ordinary room ...
I think that a box with a driver of 38 to 48 cm in a well tuned column would be ideally preferable compared to my current old equipment
(in the absence of drivers of 80 cm in diameter "more" bulky and very expensive, although much less than a cathedral and its acoustic organ) ...

Bruno

Last edited by bm (10-01-2020 09:47)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Bruno, as you know, the low C on the Organteq pedal has a strong 32 Hz fundamental. I’m not against adding a 32’ stop going down to 16 Hz to Organteq but it would be inaudible or create distortion with most speakers or headphones. My Velodyne sub has a 250 watts amplifier and is servo controlled, so there is almost no distortion and it also has a limiter to prevent overload (which would be to loud for a home). Something like that would surely be needed.

By the way, I play Organteq using AKG K 702 headphones that don't go very low (but have a nice detailed soundscape) and playing back the rendering on my hifi setup sounded completely different. Much more bass, so the playback equipment should also influence the pedal registration.

I heard the air moving feeling a 32’ stop can produce inside a large cathedral, quite effective, but it needs such a large space to develop. In a smaller church, it might be ineffective. In the home it would only rattle things…

Large Catholic cathedrals in France (and in Québec) have such pipes but not so much, I think, in Lutherian countries that have smaller churches in general. Also I think the 32’ being slow cannot really work well with Baroque music where the pedal part is as important as the rest and can move very fast such as in this Schubler Chorale. Of course it’s different for more symphonic organ music or slow improvisations.

I remember singing the Fauré Requiem standing very close to the church organ and trying to belt out my A while the pedal was playing a low D (with 16’ pipes, I checked) and feeling in my flesh what intermodulation distortion is…

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Gilles, for the 16 'stops limit you are certainly right for the baroque music (which I also particularly appreciate).
Interesting also this remark of impact of the differences of religious cults on the scale of the instruments.

The 32 'stops will effectively generate a very low frequency fundamental which is difficult to reproduce with clean sound using standard audio equipment. (headphones as speaker). My current MartinLogan grotto i sub is also servo controlled (unlike the Triangle sub which will probably be discontinued next week with a second sub grotto i) After further testing this evening, I identified the sound level not to be exceeded to avoid too audible distortion below 40hz. At this too low level, it will not be possible (even with 2 grotto i or equivalent sub) to produce a sound level (mainly tactile objective) comparable to the resonances of a real organ in interaction with the structure of the building. a church or a cathedral below 18hz (even soon with almost 1300w rms in a music room of 35m2), you are probably also right about the current impossibility of simulating the tactile impression of a great volume of  (non virtual) air in a small room, too bad ...

Thus, virtual stops of 32 ' (and even 16') can therefore only be partially appreciated (for the interaction of harmonics) with unfortunatly , at home, a feel like "reduction" of the fundamentale sound level / tactile level, compared to a real acoustic instrument)

Organteq 16' stops: Short "After glow" Genesis excerpt: 
(Bass with addition of a lower octave: [Organteq 16' flute stop] : mid 24-36)
https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...0stops.mp3

Halion6 (Absolute4) 32' stops + Organteq 16' stops: Short "After glow" Genesis excerpt: 
(Bass with addition  [Organteq 16' flute stop] of a lower octave : mid 24-36
                  + addition  [Halion6 équiv. 32' flute stop] of a more lower octave : mid 12-24)
https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...0stops.mp3

(The adjustment of the bass is of course here very approximate and deliberately caricatural.)

Bruno

Last edited by bm (13-01-2020 07:24)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Bruno, I've been searching in my CD collection for good examples of 32' stop use and the best one I found is the ending of Saturn from the Planets by Holst in a very well recorded 1987 version featuring the OSM under Charles Dutoit. My Velodyne sub really moves the air along with the floor with this sequence of the lowest organ pedal notes: first E then D then C at 16 Hz !

Try this out for yourself if you want: https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?file=EDC.mp3

Funny thing is the Saint Eustache church where it was recorded has an organ with only 16' pipes...I suppose these notes were recorded somewhere else.

If you use Audacity to display the spectrum at various spots in this clip you will see the very strong 16 Hz fundamental peak. At the end there are even strong 7 Hz and 9 Hz peaks maybe coming from standing waves in the church...

Last edited by Gilles (14-01-2020 23:31)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Thank you Gilles for this recording.

With this Saturn by the composer Holst // Montreal symphonic orchestra Charles Dutoit // that I did not know before, it is not good to age ...
2011 link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sbnsLmwlbc
It seems indeed difficult that the organ used comes from the church of St Eustache in Quebec: https://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/orgue...ache.html, it "maybe" could have come from the new organ (1989) St Eustache in Paris with its 8000 pipes including several 32 ' pipes: https://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/orgue...ml#English however, there is at least one passage (at 8' 4 " ) where a clear resonance at 8hz can make imagine a pipe of 64 '. (even if it is more probably a resonance of the structure of the building). More certainly, here the recording of C of fundamental 8hz of the 64 'pipe (actual size) of the organ of the Sydney townhall
link: https://www.sydneyorgan.com/STH64.mp3 naturally much more interesting for its harmonics.

(cf organ spec: http://cdn.sydneytownhall.com.au/media/...s_000.pdf)

In the immediate future, an organ of 8000 pipes in tutti mode would certainly pose to Organteq "some" fan problems,
not for the organ blower, but to cool the many cpu-cores necessary ...
Fortunately, we can have fun with Organteq without thinking as big. ,
even if, in the absence of "Saturn" final C pipes,
going to the configuration of Saint Sernin [=name of a small Saturn: "saturnin" transformed into old southern French] Cavaillé-Coll organ , (for all the types of its stops) , would be, one day ?, for Organteq, a good idea.

Bruno

Last edited by bm (17-01-2020 15:36)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

I didn't know about 64' stops...Tried it with my 15" sub and I only get motor engine-like harmonics, no moving air impression. So much for that!

I bought the Holst CD right away when it came out in 1987. So shortly after the beginning of the CD era, it was something of a demo record in a way: Huge dynamics and full frequency response, as if the Decca engineers were keen to get away at last from the limitations of vinyl. There are places in this recording where the organ pedal is played along with a huge bass drum kick and the entire orchestra tutti that is almost frightening when listening with a moderately high volume. Too high and you can grill smaller woofers with long excursions (that happened to me).

The laws of physics are inflexible: to move a lot of air, you need a large loudspeaker...


Here is a reference to another CD featuring a Cavaillé-Coll organ in Paris with well recorded 32' stops:
https://www.discogs.com/fr/Maurice-Duru...se/1021163


EDIT: Just checked the 64' stop example in Audacity and it's only harmonics. Nothing below 20 Hz. I guess it was filtered...or maybe it was designed to have only harmonics.

Last edited by Gilles (17-01-2020 19:10)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Gilles wrote:

I didn't know about 64' stops...Tried it with my 15" sub and I only get motor engine-like harmonics, no moving air impression. So much for that!

In fact it seems to be worse, closer to the pipe,
cf 1rst C (8hz) video on Sydney Contra trombone real 64' wooden pipe: http://www.ohta.org.au/images/STH/64'STH.mp4
(blower problem ? and surely a very bad recording that y tried to remaster a bit in a new ptq mp3 shared file
adding a track with 2 pass of a 120db/octave filter at 12hz to rise lowers fundamental notes + the original non-filtred recording at a lower level)
For Sydney town hall, see also in this picture 32' size above the console: http://www.ohta.org.au/confs/Sydney/Syd...wnHall.jpg
and the organ composition: http://www.ohta.org.au/confs/Sydney/SYD...HALL.html.

For speakers reproduction of lower notes, i will add tomorow a complementary sub (MartinLogan Grotto-i) the same as the 1rst i already get.
With a total of 3 sub so a total of 1629.2 cm2  <=> 45.55cm diam = 17.7 ' speaker (at low level only to limit distortion).
Waiting Modartt build a day ?, a 32' flute stop, i add with a DAW to organteq a Halion 6 organ flute pipe (actived only with a pedal),
in order to add notes from A-2 @ 13.7Hz) to B-1 with my piano keyboard.
NB: it is important to note that human ear can perceive (not only tactil effect) frequency as low as 5hz, if the level is loud enough.
cf link https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00743497/document

Bruno

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

I know of six organs with true 64' pipes.  There are a number of "resultant" 64' (when you play both a 32' + 21 1/3' stop), but the only "true" 64' are the full ranks (12 pipes) of the Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ (mentioned above) and the Boardwalk Hall Organ in Atlantic City New Jersey.  The Conference Center Organ in Salt Lake City has two partial sets of 64' pipes (G#-A-A#-B, 4 pipes each), and Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, the First United Methodist Church in Wichita Falls, and the Church of St. John the Divine in Houston each have 3 64' pipes (A-A#-B).

The Boardwalk Organ also has the only true 42 2/3' which creates the effect of a 128' resultant, but no true 128' pipes have ever been made.  Most of the organs listed above also have an unusually large selection of 32' stops.  Also, all the true 64' are reed stops which means they're extremely loud, I don't know of any flue stops of true 64' length.

Here's a link with more, including audio samples of the 64' scales in Sydney and Atlantic City.  The Sydney sample is filtered--based on what I saw of the spectrum profile in Adobe Audition, but the Atlantic City doesn't seem to be filtered, so Bruno and Gilles...enjoy!

https://www.die-orgelseite.de/kurioses_e.htm

https://www.die-orgelseite.de/audio/atl...y_64ft.mp3

I don't really know the playback quality of those, since my studio setup is only really reliable down to 50-60hz.  Maybe we need to design inexpensive "wall transducer microphones" to deliberately vibrate our studios and neighborhoods for 32' and 64' pipes. 

Also, in speaking recently with one of the organists at Temple Square (where the Conference Center Organ is located), he told me that they can't use any of the 64' stops or the 32' diaphone in anything they broadcast (they can only use those stops in recitals), because of something to do with the audio compression hardware used to capture for broadcast (and I suspect the sheer SPL of 64' reeds in general): so I don't know if there are any extant recordings of those partial reed stops or any of the other true 64' pipes, but I'll ask around.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xHiPcCsm29R12HX4eXd4J
Pianoteq Pro & Organteq 2
Steinways, Grotrian, Steingraeber, Bechstein, Petrof, Blüthner, K2, Karsten, & Kremsegg
Casio GP300

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

tmyoung wrote:

Here's a link with more, including audio samples of the 64' scales in Sydney and Atlantic City.  The Sydney sample is filtered--based on what I saw of the spectrum profile in Adobe Audition, but the Atlantic City doesn't seem to be filtered, so Bruno and Gilles...enjoy!

Yes the Atlantic City one is quite a room shaker! I didn't play it too loud in case the neighbors might think there is an earthquake happening but all fundamentals are reproduced by my sub with a peak around 16-20 Hz. I can almost count the cycles looking at the cone moving at 8 Hz...

Also thanks for the explanation for "resultant" pipes. Our recent Casavant organ in Québec's Palais Montcalm is said to have "32' resultant Bass" but I had only seen 16' pipes there.

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Gilles wrote:
tmyoung wrote:

Here's a link with more, including audio samples of the 64' scales in Sydney and Atlantic City.  The Sydney sample is filtered--based on what I saw of the spectrum profile in Adobe Audition, but the Atlantic City doesn't seem to be filtered, so Bruno and Gilles...enjoy!

Yes the Atlantic City one is quite a room shaker! I didn't play it too loud in case the neighbors might think there is an earthquake happening but all fundamentals are reproduced by my sub with a peak around 16-20 Hz. I can almost count the cycles looking at the cone moving at 8 Hz...
Also thanks for the explanation for "resultant" pipes. Our recent Casavant organ in Québec's Palais Montcalm is said to have "32' resultant Bass" but I had only seen 16' pipes there.

Thank you tmyoung for this illustration of a 64 'pipe from the Atlantic city organ, and Gilles for these additional explanations on Casavant organ and a first return on the result of audio reproduction of extreme low notes of the organ with a 15 'driver active and enslaved.

With this .mp3 file I was able to listen to it at a suitable level [taking advantage of my wife's departure for a few hours in the countryside] ... my Kennerton Thror headphones (alone) just like the 3 subwoofers succeed to down to a balanced sound level up to the A of the lowest octave (13.75hz),
but beyond (G and above) only present "traces" of the lower notes (more or less strong), in particular the C of 8hz, however still weakly "audible" (and / or still a little tactile effect) with strong level (too high level for the other notes of the organ).
To my great surprise, the boxes do not generate too many parasitic vibrations of the furniture and the walls & beams in our upstairs playroom (except if very excessive level anyway generating distortions in particular for one of the 3 sub [Triangle] which is not enslaved, with the risk of destroying the speaker).
Heteroclyte audio configuration (which should remain piano-compatible for me) used here: (sub Triangle Meteor very on the left, 2 Grotto-i subs under the keyboard, Vintage Cabasse Sloop speakers on the right and left of the keyboard, with speakers on top Maestro triangle, and above the keyboard, left and right, 2-way Sony speakers (tweeter dome + 13cm fiberglass boomer) from a Sony mini chain with digital amplifier, old CMT-HX70BTR.
Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/z2hiXyhaerKX7kvZ9

Of course, the audio system allowing to reproduce the lowest notes of the organ and the large pipes remaining to be implemented in Organteq (as we have in Pianoteq the possibility of using 10m long strings) are only ONE of the problems - not the most essential - to submit,
for an even more realistic and complete virtualization of this magnificent instrument.

Bruno

Last edited by bm (19-01-2020 14:57)

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

Wow, tmyoung!  That low bass stuff is crazy!  Makes me think of the times that I have stood across the street from railroad tracks near paper mills in Florida as a General Electric Electro-Motive Diesel engine is doing low-speed pushing and pulling of lines of cars loaded with wet pine logs - slow speed, lots of torque, and chest thumping bass with barely perceptible 'tones'.  My 8" sub connected to my Surface Tablet/Pianoteq/Organteq sound system didn't do it justice, but my shelves shook and my chest vibrated.

By the way, back to the original post idea - I am told that Lowrey is no longer, as of NAMM 2020.  This is heresay to me via my Dad via his distributor-friend.  So, there may be a bunch of Organteq-capable consoles around to pick-up.  :-)

- David

Re: Organteq on Lowrey

I'd heard the same thing that Lowrey is now gone.  I think they stopped production sometime in the past 2 years, and now they're totally out of business.  I haven't heard rumors about whether or not a big liquidation is coming or if they've already been liquidated.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xHiPcCsm29R12HX4eXd4J
Pianoteq Pro & Organteq 2
Steinways, Grotrian, Steingraeber, Bechstein, Petrof, Blüthner, K2, Karsten, & Kremsegg
Casio GP300