Topic: Feature requests
To begin, the results and possibilities Organteq offers are excellent, and the product is already providing options and control that don’t seem to exist in other organ software (alone being able to reverse coupler direction is something I desperately want on the American organs I play but is only really done in older German tracker organs that are physically coupled). I also hope that the product continues to move towards allowing hobbyists and professionals to build and customize their own virtual organ stops, divisionals, and designs, which—like Pianoteq does for pianos—seems to be the direction this is headed, which is really cool and exciting!
A few small feature requests or improvements that I’ve noticed over the past few days of working with Organteq (I know some of these are already being discussed in other threads, and this list doesn’t begin to cover what’s amazing or already working beautifully in Organteq):
1. Allow more than 10 stops to each manual/divisional
2. Allow more thumb and toe pistons (most organs have 5-6 pistons per manual for that manual only)
3. Allow more combination pistons total (especially for the sequential piston function, since 10 isn’t enough for longer concert works and most sequential systems that I’ve used are either 2-power limited—to 256 or 1024—or infinite)
4. Add more swell/expression pedals (I love that you can have the full organ under expression, which is a failing of real-world organs, but there are times where different expression levels on different manuals/divisionals is very helpful and typical)
5. Add a selector for programming multiple crescendos (on the large organs near my home, there are often selection pistons marked A, B, or C that choose between three different crescendos programmed into the console, which is extremely useful especially if the number of ranks/stops increases in Organteq in the future)
6. Add at least one 32’ stop to the organ (a “Contra Bourdon” or extended Subprincipal would blend well—in my opinion—with the current stop list without overwhelming the current full organ tone and while offering greater registration flexibility and range)
7. Add the ability to design custom stops (I’m guessing this is already coming in the future based on how the stop selector screen is designed and it would be fantastic to start building our own virtual organs like we already can with our virtual pianos in Pianoteq)
8. Add the ability to switch the interface between the names and manual order used in American, English, French, Italian, and German organs (obviously this is a lot of UI work but it wouldn’t change as much about the engine because most differences between organ traditional are in the names and positioning of different console elements not in actual differences between how the modern organs actually work—usually)
9. Remove or add the ability to turn off duplicate pipes—if they’re already in use (on most organs I use, a single stop from a different divisional can be added to another manual with the parenthetical that it’s from a different divisional—currently Organteq duplicates and overdubs pipes which wouldn’t really happen on a pipe organ organ and may be draining processor power on full organ with all couplers)
10. Add unison decouplers and more transposition options and more couplers overall (most large organs have dozens of couplers)
11. Add floating divisionals as the stop list increases (not needed now, but if the stop list passes 40-50 stops or if we can make our own stop designs, floating divisionals will be very helpful)
12. Add some percussion stops like a Zimbelsterne, Carillon, or Tubular Bells/Chimes (we have this exact functionality for free in Pianoteq with the old historical instruments pack—I suspect we could integrate or duplicate this in Organteq since it seems to be the same basic engine, and many organs in America and Britain have a variety of percussion stops in both theatre and church/cathedral organs)
13. Add the ability to choose and simulate tracker actions versus electric actions and electropneumatic actions (simulating old tracker actions will add different key-sounds, timing/delay, control, and even touch sensitivity—again, it's no small amount of work but something cool for the future)
Pianoteq Studio & Organteq
Casio GP300 & Custom organ console
