Topic by mrmjb

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  • mrmjb
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Topic: Shutter noises

When I first started using organteq I thought the noises for stops being pulled out or pushed in were far too loud but then I did some recording on my organ at church and realised they aren't - the console is a long way from the organ itself so the recording with the microphone where the congregation sit rather than where I sit is the first time I've heard it like that.

The noisiest noise on the real organ though is the shutters in the swell cabinet.  That's a noise I don't think I hear on organteq though.  Am I right in thinking that?

Reply by Daniel W

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  • Daniel W
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Re: Shutter noises

mrmjb wrote:

The noisiest noise on the real organ though is the shutters in the swell cabinet.  That's a noise I don't think I hear on organteq though.  Am I right in thinking that?

Yes you are. As of writing this, section 1.1 in the user manual for Organteq 1.6 says "Even the action noises from keys, stops and couplers are modelled" and that seems to be correct, though I'm not sure whether the noises are actually physically modelled or sampled. Maybe someone can fill me in here?

Anyway, in the settings, there is a single slider for "Noises" from the drawknobs, keys, pedals and couplers. The cancel and combination buttons (pistons maybe? - the user manual calls them buttons, though) makes no noises of their own, but will trigger the noises for any drawknobs or couplers involved in that combination.

Regardless of how the noise slider is set, there are no noises for the tremulant drawknobs, the tutti button, the crescendo or expression pedals - not even for the drawknobs of the stops activated by the tutti button or crescendo pedal. These isn't any blower noise either. Perhaps such noises could be supported in some future release?

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Reply by tmyoung

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  • tmyoung
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Re: Shutter noises

Daniel W wrote:

not even for the drawknobs of the stops activated by the tutti button or crescendo pedal.

That is typical of any electronic or electropneumatic organ (the only alternate functionality is the German Rollschweller but I don't believe it makes any either), since the crescendo pedal is talking directly to the combination system's signal controls instead of the downstream physical stop banks.

Otherwise, yes, all the sounds you mention are missing and would ideally be added at some point.

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Reply by Daniel W

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Re: Shutter noises

tmyoung wrote:

That is typical of any electronic or electropneumatic organ...

That's a valid point.

My thinking, if any, was that Organteq currently is inspired by a mechanical organ, and if such an instrument would have those features, they would, somehow, be retrofitted to, and interacting with, the existing mechanics. In reality, I presume, entirely mechanical organs, rarely has a tutti or a crescendo, as they, likely, would be hard to implement.

As organ builders, reasonably, tries to minimize mechanical noises, whether to use them in a VPO, is, I suppose, an artistic choice, for which options might be nice to have.

Out of curiosity, I located two YouTube videos featuring a Rollschweller (I'm drifting OT here, so I'm not posting links, lest anyone would ask me to), and it seems to affect the stop switches, though both the featured organs appears (to me, anyway) to be, at least partly, electromechanical.

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Reply by lewisalexander2020

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  • lewisalexander2020
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Re: Shutter noises

English organs, especially hydraulic / electo-mechanical actions and manual tracker actions you can hear the various actions from the back of the church, to be honest, it's unique, beautiful and captivating. There's something special about hearing an organ's stop changes, sound of the blower, tracker action, valve clicks, etc, just heaven as an organist, you know it's working then. My local church sadly doesn't have any of that, it's a sampled wyvern WPX, you don't get any of the blower sound, stops or key actions, doesn't fill me with that warmth and connection. Using OrganTeq does that for me and I'm happy again

Blind Music Producer, Composer, pianist and Church Organist. Accessibility development specialist for MacOS. Developing a solution for blind organists to have an accessible digital organ solution.