physis organs website

[Organ Matters]

I still have the same complaint with digitals ... the chorus reeds are usually too thin and very "electronic" sounding ... one can duplicate flues endlessly, but no speaker or amplifier can duplicate that real reed pipe vibrating and coupling with the building in which it resides.

Hi!

Well actually I can do that and demonstrated how to the EOCS http://www.eocs.org.uk last Saturday

I have a Tuba that sounds fat and fog-hornish just like a Harrison and Harrison and French reeds which bite as they should . . .

Needless to say, such techniques should not be widely available to the commercial manufacturers but I am happy to advise appropriate projects confidentially.

Best wishes

David P

[Bruce]

You're absolutely right, Nick , and thank you

The pipe organ I play at the church does not have one single nicked pipe whatsoever. This translates into a very natural sound along with all the characteristics of the air entering the pipe, which is never quite the same for each key suppression. There are lots of "mechanical" sounds ... it's a very chiffy organ ... and I love it for that quality.

In defense of the digitals though, they are improving every year ... still for some the only alternative due to space constrictions and/or budget concerns. I would rather see a "normal" digital installed in a church as opposed to a simple portable keyboard.

My main complaint on the demos for the digitals is their incessant use of extraordinarily long reverb times. Relatively few churches (at least here in the US) have reverberant buildings - many, like mine, are completely devoid of any acoustics ... the sound stops before I lift my hands of the keyboard in my church .

Just a point of interest. On the Content digital organs, this reverberation is fully adjustable to the organist's taste, and is probably on other makes. As my Father says, 'the main stop of the organ is the building'. This feature is very useful for acoustically 'dead' buildings.