64' Tromba in Nurnberg?

[smilingvox]

Well, the Midmer-Losh in Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, has a 64' stop whose lowest 22 notes consist of flue pipes, with the rest being reed pipes. But the flue pipes are voiced to make them sound more "reedy" (so that the transition cannot be heard).

Could it be that the 64' flue stop at St. Lorenz is voiced in a similar fashion?

First of all, the "64' Tromba" is really the addition of a 21 1/3' to the 32' Prinzipalbass, so the two stops together form a resultant.

And.....

Even if flue pipes were made for a 64' octave, the notes would be so deep, one really wouldn't be able to distinguish whether or not the tone is reedy.

[acc]

Yes, but in the Midmer-Losh, the transition occurs at the second A, i.e. at a pipe length of ca. 19'. And the fact that the Tromba at St. Lorenz is really a quint stop even makes the actual pipes three times smaller. So we're already pretty far from a 64' pipe size, and the matter of voicing becomes meaningful (at least for the notes that are not too close to bottom C).

Has anybody already been in Nuremberg and heard how this stop (or, rather, stop combination 32'+21'1/3) actually sounds?

(Another question is whether a 64' flue is really that indistinguishable from a 64' reed. When the frequency gets so low that you can distinguish individual "beats", I'd say that one goes "wowowowowowo..." and the other "tumptumptumptumptump...".)

[pcnd5584]

Kinda unrelated to the subject of 64' ranks, but since we have been mentioning mutations, I encountered a strange one on a 1949 Möller: 5 1/3 Quint in the pedal division. There are ample 16's (5 to be exact) and drawing the 5 1/3 didn't really do much for me, so I avoided the stop completely.

Has anyone else encountered this particular mutation, and for what purpose would this particular rank be used for or with?

Yes - on my own church organ. In this case, it is derived from the Pedal Bourdon.

It is about as useful as a chocloate teapot....

[Corno Dolce]

Lets see now if I can add a little twist to this conundrum of 5-1/3':

First off: A Chocolate Teapot...

Secondly: I have a notion only that a properly voiced and utilized 5-1/3' is supposed to reinforce the 8' tone. I'll gladly accept correction if this is a false premise.

Getting back to 64' Tromba: Could it be to taunt and vex stoplist nomenclature fanatics everywhere?
Cheers,

CD

[Soubasse]

Don't why it's only just occured to me, but serious Hammond players would know all about 5-1/3 because it's in common usage on their famous drawbars. And in this instance, it works very well (even though technically it's misplaced since they put it between the 16' and the 8', not the 8' and the 4'). Maybe the builder who placed the 5 1/3 rank wanted to replicate "Whiter Shade of Pale" or Booker T or something!

[acc]

(even though technically it's misplaced since they put it between the 16' and the 8', not the 8' and the 4'). Maybe the builder who placed the 5 1/3 rank wanted to

...tell players to use it with the 16' rather than with the 8'?

[Soubasse]

^^