KONZERTHAUS ORGAN

[Gukas Pogosyan]

Hallo everyone! Could somebody direct me to get more information about KONZERTHAUS ORGAN. In VIENA ACADEMY no article about the instrument. All your opinions are welcome. P.S. I'v read several related articles about the organ and now I have much clear understanding. Beat Kaufmann, as always, gives a lot of informations. A special thanks.

[Beat Kaufmann]

Hi Violin

It's me - once more ;-)

What are you interested in?

The Stops you get with the 4 manuals + the pedals?

Maybe you have seen this already: http://www.beat-kaufmann.com/vitutorials/vi-tips--tricks-3/index.php > No 22

It is a possibility to combine and prepare several stops for a fast change while playing the organ.And of course: You can listen to a short example as well.

Further: The Organ can be played very dry as we are used to with VSL-Libraries (without the release tones) so that you are able to put it in nearly every room you like.

That's maybe a difference between other large Organs.

And finally: It is a large Organ. Compared with my baroque organ from PMI it is a bit a slowly "lady" which isn't as agil as the PMI Organ.

But even if I didn't ever play a real Organ of that size (Konzerthaus) I believe that large organs also gives the feeling of large while playing them.

Nevertheless, the Konzerthaus-Organ is able to play smaller (baroque) pieces as well: 

http://www.vsl.co.at/Player2.aspx?Lang=13&DemoId=4980

Best

Beat

[Gukas Pogosyan]

Thanks Beat! I'm learning.

[William]

This is the best organ I've ever used in samples - it is perfect.   It is huge with the most massive sound you could ever find including thunderous 32 foot Bombard pipes.  Also, many fantastic, softer, more subtle and beautiful stops.  All pipes are sampled as well as all the most used combinations and registrations.  I like also the way by switching on release samples, it is instantly in the Vienna Konzerthaus with no added reverb (since it had to be recorded there of course) and if you switch them off, you can place it in any other audio setting. 

[wwzeitler]

As an organist I'm not content with the 'most used registrations' that you normally get with a virtual pipe organ. After all, Bach got in trouble with his employers for using 'strange registrations', and the student (me) is not above the master (Bach)!

There are other organ libraries, but they have their problems: notably the PMI is a lovely but small baroque instrument (but you do get to control individual stops if you want), and the NDB (Notre Dame de Budapest) is a lovely large romantic instrument for which you get nice combinations, but very few individual stops.

The Konzerthaus organ gives you the best of both worlds--combinations (which reduce polyphony) and individual stops when you want them. It is definitely my 'go to' virtual organ library.

There are a couple observations, however. For one, there is no tremulant. (There are a couple 'celeste' stops, but that is not the same.) I haven't yet tackled simulating tremulant with LFO (low frequency oscilators) in Cubase, but I expect that a passable one is possible.

Also, there are curious discrepancies between the actual software product and its documentation. From the introduction in the Konzerthaus manual we have:

Welcome to the Vienna Symphonic Library’s Konzerthaus Organ. This Collection contains an ample selection (so this is not the complete Konzerthaus organ?) of stops from the organ in the large hall of the Konzerthaus in Vienna, resulting in a virtual instrument featuring three manuals and a pedal (but the software has FOUR manuals and pedal). The Konzerthaus Organ was built in 1913, during the decline of Romanticism and the rise of Historicism, by the renowned brothers Rieger in Silesia. They tried not only to integrate Baroque elements according to Bach and Silbermann, but also to make the instrument as versatile as possible by implementing modern achievements of disposition and intonation. It was the first organ with 5 manuals in the Austrian Empire (does it still have five? Did Vienna sample 4 out of 5 manuals?) and still is the largest one in Austria, comprising 116 voices in five manuals and one pedal.

Aside from minor questions from reading the manual (who reads manuals anyway?), I am really happy with this product. VSL has done it again!

[William]

@wwzeitler said:

As an organist I'm not content with the 'most used registrations' that you normally get with a virtual pipe organ

 

That's why they sampled all the pipes!  Every single pipe so you can do your own registrations. 

Also - if there is no "tremulant" - or tremolo - it is because there is no tremolo on this organ.  Unless someone has information to the contrary I would suggest that is the reason, and an artificial one would be pointless.   

[wwzeitler]

No tremulant, eh? In my career I've played on hundreds of different organs, and except for very small 2-3 rank positif type instruments I have yet to encounter an instrument with no tremulant at all. I find it hard to believe that the 'pride of Austria' is lacking such a basic effect (dating back to the 16th century).

From a technical point of view, I can appreciate how it may be a nasty a problem to synchronize tremulant samples, not to mention that including them would considerably increase the sample set size.

Nevertheless, it is still a lack in the Konzerthaus Organ sample set, and is missed.

[Beat Kaufmann]

Hi

I prepared a Site for the Koncerthaus Organ with all the important facts and some Audio Demos.

There is also an example played with and without the Release Samples.

Have fun

Beat