☕ I HEAR my organ for the FIRST time | DRAIN PIPES inside?! | My Hauptwerk Setup
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- čas přidán 29. 07. 2021
- In this video we take a listen to the original sounds that my 1990s Viscount organ makes once Hauptwerk is taken away and switched off.
Quite a difference!
We also have a look inside my console at how the console is put together...YIKES!!!
As you'll see, there is endless fun to be had with my Hauptwerk setup!
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#richardmcveigh #beautyinsound - Hudba
Richard, those "drain pipes" you showed in the video are actually ports for the low frequency drivers in the organ, that is assuming that the back panel is in place creating an enclosure. Think of speaker enclosures that are ported for extended low frequencies.
Right, " Helmholtz resonators".
I have a 1990's Allen organ as my original instrument, and the sounds the Viscount produces remind me very much of that organ. As Graham said, sound reproduction has come a LONG way in 30 years!
I have an Allen that’s a bit older than that, but the internal sounds sound much better than this
For a 1990 organ, the sound quality is quite nice. I’m impressed
I agree- in a good space, thatwould be nice especially for the 90s. Rodgers were still mostly analog at that time
Another fire alarm enthusiast that likes organs 😁
@@Organham4903 lol wouldn't you know! I suppose we were both once freaked out by loud sounds. I figured I would meet one soon. I've been playing organ for 4 years or so now. A fire alarm installation technician for five.
@@ncalarms6022 that’s so cool
Just so you know, FATAC is better now
I love it! It sounds so fun!!
Very reminiscent of my 2 manual Viscount Domus 1232 around 30 years old. As you say, a joy to have in the home ever since it arrived
Nothing like really showing how far the synthesis of organ sounds has come! I well remember when electronic organs sounded like that but it was all that was available so we thought it was tremendous ... how little did we know, ;)
MIDI was widely available by 1984. 16-bit sampled synthesisers were available in the 1990s - including ones that had multiple samples (different pitches) per note in the sample, so not entirely surprised that this has the sound it does. Still sounds electronically produced, no doubt due to the nature of loudspeaker physics. In the '90s the ability to electronically compensate for loudspeaker phase distortions was in its infancy, with technology to do that (the Sonic Maximiser primarily) only newly on the market, patented, and very expensive.
In the original output of this audio, each organ division was 100% left OR right (I think swell was left, choir was right etc). It made listening through headphones unbearable! I can see why it would work through a speaker setup, but through the headphone output?? 🤯
Great to see this. I ve just sold the same Viscount organ as bought a haupwerk.
Fun! Ready for the buyer :-)
I always found the old digital organ sounds charming
Thank goodness the technology gets better and better. Oh yes tremulents do have a place in the 22st century. Thanks Richard it was fun to 👂
It really makes you appreciate the advance in digital tech when you hear the sounds that the actual organ makes. The Haupwerk sets are so much better.
Just dust the interior with a turkey feather and vac out! Then push it back against the wall. Leave what’s in there to the electronic wizz-kids! Your skill is round the front!
Hear Hear! A good gentle vac accompanied by turkey feather should create a variation ...
John - true true true. Although the geek in me is intrigued to know what’s going on behind the scenes!
Interesting tour of stops of the original Viscount organ. At first, I thought some of them sounded 'electronic-y' on their own, but it sounded more realistic when you played some music. Sounds nice, generally. Digital technology has come a long way since the 90s.
You have a beautiful organ!!!
I do like it - a lot!! I’ll be terribly sad to see it go 😢
@@beautyinsound oh your selling it?? What will you get ?
YES!!!!!!!
Hauptwerk also has the "Auto Pedal" function. It's labelled as "P. Bass" in the coupler mini control panel for each division. As a pianist who only recently got into organ, I find this quite useful.
I also use it on my chamber organ when accompanying hymns for a real congregation. It’s jolly useful!
@@beautyinsound I'd love to see and know the specifications of your chamber organ - it sounds interesting - is it also Hauptwerk?
Great video Richard! Just imagine what a sonic delight has been waiting at the audio outputs all the time you've been using it as a Hauptwerk Organ via MIDI. We could have had "Praise my soul the king of Heaven" on a glockenspiel or tubular bells. I'm disappointed now .
I was expecting worse at the beginning of the video. In the words of Paul Daniels - "You'll like this, but not a lot."
Interesting!
I know this was from a few years ago, but this is my 1st time seeing it. I played for a number of years at a local church here in North Carolina with the 2 manual version of that beast. Inside, it looked almost like yours. The big problem with these instruments is that apparently, that's my guess, they didn't put enough bits in the samples. Playing one or two stops together, sounded, well, not bad. But start adding stops and all that happens is it increases the, I'll call it mush. You can't hear individual stops once you have a few playing. It just gets louder and maybe brassier. I own an Allen Theatre Organ from the same time period, that has dual voicing, theater and classical. It beat rings around the Viscount. I think Allen did it right. Even with 4 or 5 stops drawn, you could still hear the addition of an additional stop. BTW, the contacts on the Viscount, mostly the pedal, were horrible. All in all, your video brought back some memories of the years I spent playing that thing. Thanks.
My organ is an Ahlborn SL300, from the same years as your Viscount, but the electronics look slightly more advanced. I have intervened on all the circuit boards and after repairig the CPU board, visited the Ahlborn factory in Rimini, Italy. I still use the original sounds, mixed/overlayed with the modern synthesised sounds through a cross-over/fader on the two sources.
Great sounds from a 90's instrument. I found your channel after searching for virtual pipe organs. I'm trying to find the cheapest way to make a home practice instrument. Also looking around for my church. I had the unfortunate experience of having to play a 1973 Yamaha Electone last weekend, at one of their chapels. haha. It needs to be replaced 😉
Turns on ‘90s sounds: “ah! Turn it off!!! Never again!!!” 😂
🤣 To be fair I love the sounds of the 80s and 90s. Tracks that use epic Synth are brilliant to me
@@beautyinsound I have been thoroughly enjoying your channel and taking your hauptwerk experiences as lessons/inspiration. I’m nearly finished with 2 builds, one of which really resonated as it was a 90’s console, but no longer made sound so I gutted it. It’s now a 4 manual instrument with twin touchscreens covering where the pull stops once lived. Building another from an old console as a host with full custom oak woodwork and 3 manuals, 9 channels of audio, also dual touch - targeting “v1” launch for Easter 🙂. So again, thank you 🙏
A cork from a nice bottle of red to hold the music stand forward…🍷😉
So much fun!! (And I love how much fun you had with this!!) - amazingly in recent years I increasingly appreciate the thought that went into tone generation. Hauptwerk is stunningly complex but stands on the shoulders of what went on here. I’m also amazed how “empty” compared to my 1979s completely analogous toaster yours is. (The advances of integrated circuits!) Well done!!! I also can’t believe you never heard the original sounds before!!! Lol!!! Thanks for sharing this!!! 😊
It’s true, I’ve never even bothered to listen to the original organ tones of the Viscount before because I bought it as a Hauptwerk interface. I heard it only briefly through it’s own speakers when I bought it, but the speakers didn’t really work very well so it wasn’t even worth listening to. I bought it on the chance that the MIDI in/out still worked (the seller didn’t know!). It’s the best purchase I’ve ever made 🥰
Should Richard sample it?
The advances are definitely noticeable. I turned my Baldwin analog organ from 1979 into a GrandOrgue console, which involved me ripping out almost all of the old circuitry that pretty much filled the entire organ and replacing it with a single tiny circuit board. That one did, in fact, have some computer circuitry in it, even though the tone generation was completely analog.
Very interesting. Sounds much like my Rogers 945 from 1992. I should have kept it as it had midi.
I think tha addition of a new 'presence' stop to create 'atmosphere' will make a huge overall change. And if that 'presence' can be varied in intensity that would be wonderful. It's just the dry sound of the electronic organ which sticks it in the theatre domain.
Holy Molly and Crikey. I hope that the elder Viscount console goes to a good home.
But we must make way for the new BiS VC custom H&H console.
As was previously mentioned, those drain pipes are ports for the speakers, but you have to have the back on the organ for them to work. Also, it doesn't look like the organ's speakers are connected. Looking back there, it looks very simple to me - but then my organ is a Rodgers 3-manual from 1983, and it is entirely analogue except for the z80 based computer that operates it. It has three 6'x4' wooden panels that pull out, each of which is fully populated with circuit boards. This organ is positively spartan by comparison.
I have a close relative of this, a rather extravagantly named "Grand Opera", the last in this series of instruments. It was destined for an Arabian palace which took so long to build that the organ technology was obsolete. I bought it as a 5yr old instrument unused, still in its packing cases and it's never let me down in over 15yrs. However the sound was always rather disappointing so it has been modified to work through a 12 channel mixing desk 6 mono amplifiers and 7 speaker cabinets and the ears of someone who received training as an organ voicer (mine). Whilst never truly authentic, there are some real shockers in there if you listen closely, the ensemble is remarkably convincing and an FRCO friend of mine commented that while it will never sound like the real thing, it is a musical instrument in its own right. Hauptwerk still beckons, probably later this year.
Festival Hall comparison.... how naughty!
Loved this! Yes the DRAIN PIPES for when the organ is in a flood (lol)! THe old sounds are very dated (Hauptwerk SO much better).
It's like the curate's egg: good in parts.
How did I miss this?
Not sure!
It sounds quite alright for it’s age.
I have a Viscount Chorale 8 (discontinued model; about 4 years old). The voicing parameters are pretty flexible but some of the stuff you played here sounds exactly like mine...for example, the swell chimes or some of that specific 'chiff' especially noticeable with flute stops. I spent a considerable amount of time adjusting the settings and volumes of individual stops, etc. until I got a decent sound out of it but to me it only sounds good if you really crank up the reverb. I'm actually considering switching to Hauptwerk in the nearby future; I was actually going to ask if your stops/pistons/toe studs/swell pedals also send midi signals or did you have to get those rerouted/wired?
Everything on the console works in Hauptwerk without any fiddling around with wires - all buttons and stops send a MIDI signal luckily. It’s actually very straightforward....
Quick question, have you ever played/used the Gabler Organ from Basilika St. Martin in Weingarten yet? I’m not sure if it has been sampled on the channel yet.
I think I suggested this ….. :)
Very interesting video. In the 90's, as you have said that organ would have been the bee's knees for home organs and it wouldn't really be fair to compare its sound to HW standards of today. Despite its modular construction some areas did look a bit like a rat's nest! I expect at the time it would have partly been using CMOS or TTL or possibly programmable logic. It just goes to show the massive leaps forward semiconductor technology, especially CPU and memory has made in the last couple of decades. All I can say is what a blessing Hauptwerk is. What will HW look like in a decade at the current rate of progress? Finally, it would be interesting to find out a bit more about the electronics of the Viscount.
I agree with what has been said, the insulating tape must stay!
Rat’s nest 😂
A common term amongst electricians for less than neat wiring 🌞
It’ll be interesting to see what Viscount themselves say about it when to come to service it, and what they do to the internals of the organ. I’m fascinated to see how Organ technology will progress in the future, and this is one of the main reasons why I’m so keen to invest into it at this early stage of ‘home’ organs 😊
It's so funny, I have a viscount recitative. It's so similar in much parts. These orange KG-Rubes are bass reflex tubes. Normally, the speakers are closed in the back and the enclosed space builds a bass reflex system. Viscount sampling in that time was 8Bit sampling. It's better to hear with digital reverb. Are the stops midified originally from viscount? At my old viscount recitative they aren't.
I'm surprised to see perfboard (circuit board with a lot of holes in a square) that is usually a sign of a hand made circuit. It really looks quite well designed for the 1990s. I'd be curious to know what the used value of a 1990s midi organ like this viscount is.
For 1990's digital organ (Viscount), they are number of quite good sounds, others ????. Sounds probably could be better if tweeked with amplifier and biiiiiggg speakers. But nothing comparable to 2021 Hauptwerk. I took my AGO Service Playing certificate in 2010 on a 1997 Rodgers 950 3 manual professionally installed Speakers/crossover + 6 ranks of Fufatti Pipes. in 2000 seat church. That sound I thought was excellent. But Hauptwerk in 2021 is the best!!! Digital Diapason has never sounded as good as the real pipe. As a Texan your commentary is always fun to hear--your words sound more intelligent with a British accent!! Love the dialog: organ is "rather heavy" to move, ""Jolly useful", Holy Moly", "get the Dyson", etc. Appreciate you, Richard. Caroline, too.
This sounds really good for it's age. How much are you looking to selling it for? I am looking for something not too expensive that won't take up too much space but has a decent amount of stops.
used to play on a GEM PLENUM
I've never heard of a drain pipe organ before 🤣
Your organ looks like a larger version of the one I have. Somewhere (can't find it now) I think you said there's a 6 position rotary switch that does nothing. Mine has one that selects the memory level for the combination pistons. Could it be that? As for technology, everything is relative. To me this is relatively modern. Why? Because at church I play a 1983 Norwich electronic organ that isn't even digital!
Slightly scary, but I own a 2019 Viscount Chorum and it is eminently (pun intended) playable with the internal sounds. In thirty years they have come a long way indeed.
I own a Viscount of the same vintage as Richard's instrument but 2 manual. I live in NZ and we just don't have the same choice as even the Australians do let alone those in Europe etc. I want to upgrade to either a Viscount Cantorum Trio (3 manual portable or a Content equivalent. Some online videos and comments of the Chorum have not been enthusiastic (probably poor quality videos) but can I ask you opinion as an owner (ie are you happy with it? It quite an investment here with our General Sales, Tax cost of shipping and low $NZ. I need to get advice from owners etc if I cannot view and try one myself. Thanks Stuart
@@dsmclrn3110 Hello, Stuart. Before recently moving over to Hauptwerk, I very much enjoyed (and still do!) my Viscount Chorum. If you want to hear some recordings, visit my channel and my first five recordings from last year will give you an idea of what is possible! czcams.com/channels/FNkzXKF9XM6-Y51Lk1maBQ.html
@@dsmclrn3110 Yes, I’m happy with it on the whole. No console is luxurious anymore these days, it’s functional but not solid oak. The main attraction was the price and compact size. I demo-ed one first. It came alive when I connected it to my Hifi and put two small bookshelf speakers above. Not everyone will want to, but for the sound samples, it brought them alive. Stop list is good for my two manual organ. Sometimes wish I’d have gone for 3 but space is right. I think, sound wise, they’re about the best out there. I used to use Hauptwerk and whilst it has a huge palette of organs/stops, it sounds like playing/controlling a recording to my ear, I prefer the immediacy of the Viscount for home practice.
- this seems to herald preparations for the exit of the present instrument in anticipation of the new one. I'm sure you must have said so previously - but what is the ETA of the new instrument/console?
November, we hope!
@@caroline.balfour YAY! Hopefully the transition will go smoothly without too large a gap (you must know we're all "mildly addicted" to this wonderful channel! :-)
Perhaps Richard could give us a performance on his continuo instrument in the interim - I'd love to see/hear it !
The wobbly thing on the Great will be a Dulciana Celeste
hi richard, what’s that first piece you played at 16:00?
The adagio from Widor’s 6th Organ Symphony
@@beautyinsound Thanks! x
Has it got pre-loaded tunes beneath the manuals?
Umm not that I know of! How do I find out? There is a dial on the right hand side near the draw which didn’t seem to do anything...
The dial may have 6 notches to choose the tune and will have a press button adjacent which is just stop/go. You get Wedding march, Jesu joy etc.
Use self-amalgamating tape instead of electrician’s tape. The latter leaves a lot of acidic residues and gums up.
That is not a drain pipe... the back panel of the organ (you have it removed) forms a seal, and creates an enclosure for the speakers, and that pipe creates a vented enclosure for the console speakers.
Also, that organ is really not that old in the world of digitals. My practice organ is an Allen MOS 1 from the mid 1970's, and it works perfectly. This organ compared to my Allen sounds fantastic... add some reverb and it would be awesome.
I added a tad of reverb at the end of the video 😃
Maybe you should do one recital with the original sounds before that organ disappears? 😊
We’ll see about that one...!!!
@@beautyinsound 😂😂😂
Now I’m curious to hear what my internal Johannus sounds are like after playing with Hauptwerk exclusively.
Look forward to that video
Not bad at all, but not as good as Hauptwerk. Anna Lapwood owns a two manual Viscount organ as well. You should check it out, probably it’s newer.Don’t forget to hear Daniel Hyde and Anna on the BBC Proms! Nice video your playing makes the viscount organsound better . I think that stop sounded more like a Clarinet.Cheerio!
That organ was the top of the Viscount range at that time. I played one for 15 years in our local Baptist Church, and the sound delivered by the superb external system was wonderful. The sampled sound voicing was excellent. What you heard was the reproduction of the original pipes recorded - not the acoustic of a church. I find this video rather offensive, as the new recordings that you broadcast rely too heavily on the church sound, not the organ itself. All a bit too muddy at times.
I would suppose that you, and the listeners in your church heard not only the "reproduction of the original pipes recorded" coming through a custom-tailored "superb external system", but also the contributed acoustic of the church - which, as with original pipes, contributes to the over-all reception and experience of the instrument. I seriously doubt that you ever heard the "reproduction of the original pipes recorded" without the acoustic of a church. It has been said that, "the most important stop on an organ is the room". The most pleasant, richest, enjoyable organs I have heard - both small and large - are situated in rooms which contribute a suitable acoustic.
By contrast, I heard a beautiful 3-manual Flentrop instrument (the *actual* sound of pipes - not a " ...recorded reproduction of the original pipes") in a carpeted sanctuary with about 1 second or less of reverb. The organ itself sounded fine. The experience of that instrument was pathetic - sickening, almost to the point of being nauseating. In retrospect, I suppose one could almost describe it as "offensive" - a beautiful instrument - stripped and deprived of its deserved acoustic home. Almost criminal - an instrument as nice as that should not be allowed to be imprisoned in such a toxic and acoustically cancerous room as that.
I would suppose that this video being situated in a non-acoustic living room - as opposed to a large acoustic church with a custom-tailored "superb external system" - may contribute to how "offensive" you find this. But thanks for letting us all know that you were offended - I'm sure that must be important for us all to take note of.
PS - I definitely agree that I have found most of the videos (this channel and others) of the "Nancy" Hauptwerk instrument were way too muddy - almost to the point of a "reverb addiction".
What it cost in 1995 I'm little curious to know!!
probably the equivalent of $50,000-$80,000 in todays money.
Exactly - it would’ve cost a heck of a lot of money in the 90s.
It doesn’t sound that bad at all!
Like an old woman 🤣🤣 I always say that to my students!!
you did not used the reverb
I had a theory about your cipher. I thought I noticed on one of the streams that the stop lights flashed at the same time the note stuck. You probably already know that with MIDI it sends a signal to start a note and another signal to stop the note. If you miss a start you probably don't notice, but if you miss a stop, you get a cipher. It could be a loose wire in the mains cable, or possibly a dirty connection on the MIDI cables. Always a good idea to just reseat any connectors.
When it happens, there are lots of MIDI messages sent & received resulting in flashing stops and random registrations. Sometimes it’ll cypher on the registration I’m currently using... sometimes it’ll do it on random stops. Once it does it, I often lose the ability to send MIDI signals from my organ meaning I have to restart MIDI from within Hauptwerk. The issue is either:
- The organ
- A dodgy cable
- Audio interface
- Computer (endless reasons, eg conflicting USB)
There is no pattern. Sometimes it’ll do it when I’m not even on the organ but have left it running... it’s like one of the cats has jumped up and walked over the keyboard on tutti. It can be rather alarming!!
@@beautyinsound check for "bugs" - popular legend has it that, in the early years of computers, it was a moth (a.k.a. "bug") that got entrapped in a relay which caused a computer to fail (hence "debugging" the system - Admiral Grace Hopper in the 1940s. while she was working on a Mark II computer at Harvard University)
How long have you had this organ, Richard?
We bought the console in the summer of 2018, the same time Bobbie the cat was born! She had to be locked in the kitchen when the console was delivered as she was a tiny kitten and couldn’t go outside yet!
@@caroline.balfour Thank you!!
😆 The Various Faces of a Confused Richard..!! How many can one see him make?!🤔🤣😂🤣😄😋
Cool video, terrible internal sounds and a good demo on how much technology has evolved!
Child safe? My cat’s favorite place to hide out.
Mine too, often when I’m live!!
I expect people will be laughing at our latest Hauptwerk samples in 26 years from now.
I am very excited about the future of home organs, and it’s one of the reasons I’m investing heavily in my new one 😃
What the?
the organ needs a big service .............
Oh the vacuum, and not the composer. Silly me ...
Vacuum in D
Please put the electric tape back in the proper place. You are taking a great risk in disturbing the balance of the universe.
Good point. I don’t want to be responsible for creating unbalance 🙃
I guess those stops are not sampled or anything? Believe me or not we have these kind of instruments in our churches and ways worse ones …. 😧
No they’re not sampled - they imitate an organ tone as opposed to Hauptwerk which is an actual recording of an organ pipe.
That's not right. They are sampled. But it's 8 bit resolution. I don't know the sampling rate. It's close to that, what an Commodore Amiga computer can do. Today you use compact disk resolution 16bit 44,1kHz sampling rate or better. For example, amplitude resolution in 8bit is 256 steps, in 16bit 64536 steps. A gigantic difference!
ummm .. after hearing the sounds we're accustomed to hearing from this console and artist ... I can at best say ... "flabbergasting" ? It confirms/reminds me why I had absolutely zero interest in ever owning or playing one of these ... The snippets at the end do provide some redeeming value - it's as if I almost hear some reverb/acoustic in there :-)
Richard would have absolutely loved to have this console as a young organist in the 90s as a home practice instrument!
@@caroline.balfour I'm sure he would have! My abilities are considerably less than Richard's - :-). In university, our practice organs were 2-rank/2-manual w/pedal Mollers, on which we practiced *everything*. I'm also a fan of practicing with 4' stops - I would be pleased to have a 2-manual w/pedal pipe instrument with the the upper manual (II) under expression having an 8' Gedeckt and 4' Sptizflote and perhaps a light 8' reed, and an octave coupler, the lower manual (I) having an 8' Gemshorn, an octave coupler, and a II - I coupler, and separate couplers of each manual to pedal with perhaps also a 4' coupler of II to pedal. That would probably serve my practice needs reasonably well - but to actually register and perform I'd prefer to be on a suitable instrument in a suitable room - at least before Hauptwerk - :-)
In the meanwhile - I get to enjoy Richard's phenomenal skills and fantastic Hauptwerk instruments - as well as your lovely singing, and your enchanting family of cats and a new little person! :-)