Feature Requests

Good day...

Perhaps this is really a technical support request? I'm not sure.

Running Organteq on MacBook Pro.

I'd like to be able to use my iPad in Sidecar mode to control the stops with the iPad touch screen. Sidecar requires me to use the "full screen" button, top left of the Organteq window. In order to "move" Organteq to my iPad, I'm supposed to click and hold the fullscreen button and select "move to iPad." Since there is no full screen option for Organteq in MacOS, I can't move the plugin to the iPad.

Someone might say -"just use screen sharing." That doesn't work because I must use the computer trackpad/mouse to run the stops.

Feature request: Activate "full screen" option on the Organteq User Interface so we Mac users can move the plugin to our iPad and control the software.

Thanks!

Tim

I'd agree with you there, but stops are midi assignable and as such whether it's a stop, coupler, etc, they all have midi learn, so why not consider a more tactile option. Screen sharing is unstable in later OS's and sidecar though a great tool does have some problems, so yes, going full screen would help here for most users.

I have to admit that I feel concerned that Modartt isn't exactly communicating with us or getting involved with us as owners / investors in the software being developed. It's taken some time to get to V1.6.5 and the promise of V2 is still in the ether. I honestly think that devs / owners really should talk to us and get to know our needs better. I've sent emails over for quite some time and to be honest, now just given up.

lew

Hi Lew,
Thanks for your reply. I’m using an old (2001) Lowrey with really bad midi implementation. You’re right, of course. If I had a controller with proper midi implementation I could certainly use the midi learn feature in the Organteq software to run anything. That situation would be ideal. My work-around is putting an iPad on an articulated arm, making it hover in a convenient place to punch stops, tremulant, etc. Seems you know of some issues with Sidecar and screen sharing. I have little experience with Sidecar, so my idea may be a “pipe” dream - pun intended.

Many of us “organists” are the last of a breed, I fear. I suspect there isn’t a lot of financial reward in developing software for such a small group of people. As I’ve begun my journey back into organ playing I find lots of potential hardware and software and lots of slowed down development. The younger folks who are like me, the qualifier here being “moderately talented (read=mediocre),” won’t have the resources to buy a state of the art console and spring for Hauptwerk software and organ plugins. So, we will flail around compromising in hardware and software and be relatively happy/satisfied in our own little room playing mostly for our own amazement. Organteq fills that niche for me; however, we can always hope for more and better at an affordable price.

Best day wishes to you, sir!

Tim

I am not sure that ~40ms delay is "lag" per se. Perhaps it's a side effect of accurately modelling airflow?

I guess neither Pianoteq nor Organteq models the delay of (electro)mechanical linkage, but once a felt hammer inside a piano hits its string(s), the sound begins pretty much instantly, while a organ pipe, even a mathematically modelled one, might need to accumulate some pressure and flow first.

Does anyone here know how long does it take a physical organ pipe to begin speaking, once the valve opens?

So, I write as a fully blind organist and developer. One of the biggest challenges in today's organ software is accessibility for those with sight impairment or sight loss. The issue is more to do with the user interface design and integration of how a screen reader such as VoiceOver for the mac works.

The major developer we all hear of is Hauptwerk by Milan Digital Audio, sadly the developer doesn't wish to redesign nor implement code to allow screen readers to work. It's a sad fact, but one I've had to take on.

So, I took on Organteq as a hopeful challenge. OK, VoiceOver isn't easy to work with at all, but workarounds allow me to use it reasonably well, a lot of midi learn commands, etc but it does for the moment.

I was part of the beta challenge for Sweelinq, an amazing sampler organ. Why do I say it's amazing, this is where Modartt really need to think about the User Interface design and navigation, make it more fluidic and designed for organ consoles where a touch screen UI would be much better served than the current UI, now I've had this described to me and I have to say that in my mind, it's too full of unnecessary items and could be made more user friendly.

If you observe the console view of Sweelinq, to anyone who's tried this out, it loads as a touch screen compatible user interface where the stops are laid out intelligently, pistons, etc are in a logical position, etc. It would be more beneficial for Organteq to move to something near to this, but with further resources suited to organteq.

I can successfully navigate Sweelinq, there are some missing elements and functions I'd need which aren't there, but overall, the beta is actually quite nice, yes it went official and as a subscription model, that I do have a real problem with, but oh well, but that said, if Organteq could be more of a direct Touch based or stop gallery based environment, then, with the right support, etc, VoiceOver could work efficiently and give blind organists a really unique toolkit.

Yes, Organteq is a stunner of an instrument in it's current development, but this is in it's own respect, a somewhat limited instrument.

I'd like to see the following achieved with V2, yes I've sent over some communications with Niclas, an amazing chap, I think he's become fed up lol. but so you understand what a blind organist needs from this software, here's my perspective of what I class, the ideal or dream organ console software instrument...

1: Stop gallery based UI rather than an organ console view - this gives just what's needed for stops, pistons, couplers, indicators for midi send / receive, indicators for crescendo / swell / expression pedals, Menus which can be easily navigated, relying purely on the os's menu bar as an example to access voicing tools, effect windows, tuning windows, etc, a bit more intensive than what we have now - opening floating windows that a screen reader can interact with and keyboard navigate around the windows to edit / control data.
2: It would be nice to have a 4th manual for Solo.
3: Expand on the voice palette so that rather than 10 stops per division, we could create consoles with upto 25 stops per division, so you could have 14 stops for pedal as an example, 21 for the great, 19 for the swell, 16 for the choir, if a solo manual was included, then unique stops for the solo division.
4: 32' stops for the pedal division. Sweelinq gives 2 32' stops which you can feel and hear, blending with 16' stops to give that warmth, that heart fluttering sound and feel.
5: Expand on the coupler fnctions and include controls with midi assignments for SET, Divisional Set, Divisional Cancel, etc.
6: Expand the expression pedal count, at present there is crescendo and a single expression which can group up to 4 divisions, ideally we should have a crescendo and max 3 or 4 expression pedal inputs directly assignable as some european / american spec organ consoles contain several expression pedals.
7: Expand the Crescendo trigger point range from 11 to a higher figure not only to support further stops, but to give a smoother blend when creating custom crescendo settings for a given preset.
8:  A Voicing System which would provide us the ability to self voice unique pipe ranks / instruments, etc
9: If we could change how Organteq works with piston memories and give users the same experience of that of physical digital or installed church organs where divisional pistons are available for each manual and a set of general pistons taking control of the entire divisions list, it would allow a user to have more flexibility rather than having to scroll through general piston banks which can be tiring. The current UI for a blind user doesn't tell me what bank I'm in, I'm having to manually count the pistons to then know if I've moved to the next group or bank. It's a confusing and tiring method but I can put up with it lol.
10" some of us have discussed in the past, expanding this organ so it has different console builds and different stop lists, examples being English, French, German, Italian, etc, working on organs past and present to model them. I'd recommend a Genius in organ voicing for organteq, Kerry Beaumont, a highly skilled UK master of the organ, a digital voicing genius for Organnery as an example, etc, If Modartt would reach out to him, then we'd have some unique and specialist organ designs and stop galleries we want to use every day.

I seriously see Organteq becoming a professional system if we can develop it, support it, etc. If Modartt would consider having some of us on board for beta test / development, I've already offered my skills, etc but it's a "we'll be in touch " which is fine. DEV's have a lot to keep close to their chests and that's good with us, but we want to see organteq become a serious power house for an instrument, like pianoteq has become Pianoteq is my go-to instrument these days and my piano sample libraries never get used, maybe one if there's a particular need.

If organteq could be redesigned, made more of a natural stop gallery based interface with functions and menus above, couplers within the stop galleries and pistons within easy reach, a piston sequencer or if we stick to what we have, perhaps make it more  easy to work with and expand the general pistons per group, etc, then a console could be made to perform as we'd really need it.

I hope this helps.

Lew