New Member Diode
Hi everyone,
I have been interested in the music of the pipe organ since my teens - particularly that of the French romantics like Cesar Franck.
About 40 years ago I built a 2 manual electronic organ with a 30 note pedalboard and about 40 stops, but I was never happy with the sound it produced as it was a very poor imitation of the real thing. Consequently I literally gave it away after taking only a few formal lessons and settled for listening to recordings instead.
After trialling the Grandorgue software and some free sample sets I have now regained my former enthusiasm to own and to learn to play a VPO. I have since completed a rudimentary console to approximately AGO specs using 2 stacked midi synths for the manuals, a newly-homebuild 30 note radiating/concave pedalboard, 2 swell pedals, and a touch monitor. I recall that the original 'organ' took about 18 months to complete while the latest VPO version took only a matter of weeks. (Back then there was no internet so there were very limited resources available, and from memory there were over 300 wires to run from each manual to the sound generation hardware, and separate hardware filters were needed for each stop!)
I know that I face an uphill battle to learn to play the organ 'properly' at age 66, and I certainly don't aspire to doing any public performances beyond immediate family and friends, but I have gained considerable satisfaction from my efforts so far - due in no small part to the great sound that a computer-based VPO can produce.
Regards,
Diode
