NEMESYS MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

Aug 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Zack Price

           
 

Peter Ewers's Symphonic Organ Samples ($179) re-creates the historic sound of the grand pipe organ built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in 1846 for the Saint Madeleine Cathedral in Paris. Rather than providing numerous individual organ-stop sounds, Ewers offers five excellent GigaSampler Instruments that showcase the most common combinations of stops.

The first Instrument, Symphonic Organ Tutti, beautifully captures the full sound of the organ over a 61-note range (C2 to C7) with all stops out. Symphonic Organ Tutti Pedal provides the matching pedal notes with the same powerful all-stops-out sound over a 32-note range (C2 to G4). The Symphonic Organ Fonds 16' 8' 4' Instrument offers a rich yet less-strident combination of low, midrange, and high pipes played in unison. The Symphonic Organ Fonds 8' Instrument produces a velvety, ethereal, flutelike sound through 8-foot pipes. Both Instruments have the same 61-note range as the first patch. The fifth Instrument, Symphonic Organ Pedal 32' 16', offers a thunderous set of deep pedal notes over a 32-note range.

Organically Grown

The samples for the five Instruments were recorded at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate with 20-bit resolution and then dithered down to 16 bits. On average, each note is about 30 seconds long. Because an organ sound does not have a natural decay, each sample was looped. However, it's unlikely that you'll ever perceive the loops during normal playing because the loop lengths are so long.

Each sampled note has a corresponding note-release sample that captures the natural reverberation of that note as it occurs in the Saint Madeleine Cathedral. Those reverb tails last for several seconds, and the combined reverberations build as you play. The release samples provide an amazing realism that you wouldn't be able to duplicate with a dry organ sound processed with a studio reverb.

You can use the modulation wheel to control the amount of audible reverb. Some people might prefer to leave the reverb all the way up, but I like to adjust the reverb according to the piece that I'm playing. For instance, I might dampen the reverb a little bit for pieces that feature rapid note runs or moderately rapid chord changes to prevent the reverb buildup from becoming too thick. On the other hand, I might open up the reverb for slower pieces or selections with simple phrasing in which the reverb buildup is not so likely to be a problem. Ewers suggests keeping the reverb setting at a low level during a performance and then opening it up on the final chord to get its full impact when you release the notes.

In addition, you can disable the reverb completely using MIDI Control Change (CC) message 94 instead of turning down the reverb with the mod wheel. Using the mod wheel to eliminate the reverb does not prevent the Instrument from playing the release samples, even if you don't hear them. By contrast, using MIDI CC 94 to disable the release samples increases polyphony, and it lets you process the sound with an outboard reverb or other processor if you prefer.

Pulling Out the Stops

My only complaint is that the CD's Help file parts of which are written in English by a native German speaker is difficult to understand. Nevertheless, I can live with that shortcoming because the organ samples are truly impressive. They make you feel as though you were actually sitting in a cathedral playing a real pipe organ. I hope Ewers plans to release another volume of this excellent set.

Overall EM Rating (1 through 5): 4.5
NemeSys Music Technology, Inc.; tel. (512) 219-9181; e-mail sales@nemesysmusic.com; Web www.nemesysmusic.com