Aristide Cavaille-Coll is considered by many to be the greatest organ builder of the 19th century because he combined both science and art to make his instruments. He built up over 600 (including home) organs!
The organ of the St. Etienne Abbey in Caen has 3 manuals and 50 stops.
In the sample set there are 5 stops artificially added (derived from other stops): twice Nasard, Tierce, Plein Jeu and Contrebombarde32.
The disposition offers enormous possibilities:
All three manuals have reeds.
There are many solo stops (e.g. twice a Cornet, a lot of reeds, but you can also use a Nasard or Tierce for that), the shrill Cromorne is very beautiful. For solo, you can complete the Trumpet8 with a Prestant4, Cornet, but also with another trumpet.
On each manual are warm strings (combine with e.g. UndaMaris8, CorDeNuit8 or VoixCeleste8 gives sultry sound).
There are beautiful full Principals in all lengths (16, 8, 4, 2).
On each manual are warm flutes.
Each manual has one or two 16 stops to create a 'heavy sound'.
You can with this organ in all directions: a heavy 'French sound' with 16 foot stops, but also play a clear duo with only a Bourdon8 and Doublette2.
The '32 foot lovers' can enjoy, there are two on the pedal: a Bourdon and Contrebombarde.
Sonus Paradisi made samples on two distances: close to the organ and at greater distance.
The Surround version of this sample set contains both samples types, the standard version contains only the direct samples.
The direct (close) samples have the disadvantage that the 'cathedral feeling' (large reverberation) for a large part is lost, the big advantage is that the whole sound is very detailed.
The samples also contain almost no noise
CD recording of an organ are often done in the same way (nearby and far), the direct sound and the indirect sounds are then mixed in the studio.
I suspect that other sample set manufacturers, in this way make their samples (mixing near / far recordings).
Sonus Paradisi has chosen to make different samples for both recordings (Surround).
This has several advantages:
You can perform the direct and indirect samples samples through different speakers (Surround).
You can choose for yourself an ideal direct / indirect balance.
As a (big) disadvantage:
This takes twice as much memory and CPU.
With 8GB of RAM you have the following options:
Load all stops with only direct samples (standard Wet) in 16-bit, some in 24-bit.
Load all stops with only indirect samples (Rear from surround version) in 16-bit, some in 24-bit.
Load all stops with 'direct' (Front) and 'indirect' (Rear) in 14-bit.
Load only stops for 2 manuals and pedal with 'direct' (Front) in 16-bit and 'indirect' (Rear) in 14-bit (see below).
You can hear a good difference between G.O., Recit and Positif, the Positif sounds closer (as expected).
The samples are direct, this is excellent for study purposes.
In organs with a lot of reverb your mistakes are fairly hidden.
The Recit has a beautiful Tremulant, also the tremulant engine is good to hear (this is not always the case for other sample sets).
It is too bad that I don't hear the sound of the organ engine.
Personally, I think it is extra realistic if you hear the organ engine (with ambient sounds) in the background.
The stops page is easily to read and simple to operate because of the functional division.
For people with two touch screens is a pity that there is no separate registration screen for 'left' and 'right'.
The 'foot pistons' (bottom buttons) seem more difficult than they actually are. See explanation below.
I keep repeating it each review: pity that there is no button to switch on/off easily the key-sounds and wind engine.
Later on I saw on the voicing page that it is possible to change the volume of the key-sounds.
This sample set has also a voicing page to adjust the brightness of each stop (works also for Hauptwerk Basic).
When you put the slider higher, the tone becomes sharper, when you put the slider lower, the tone becomes darker.
I don't use that feature because I want a result that is as much realistic as possible.
You can see the filling of the 'air tanks' on the wind system page (only functional for Hauptwerk Advanced).
The requirements for this sample set are substantially: Minimal 6 GB for the standard Wet version, and the twice for the Surround version.
Take into account that the Surround version reaches the 'polyphony limit' twice as fast.
But with version 3.30 of Hauptwerk is my processor quite well, even with strong registrations.
A three-manual-console is not necessarily needed because you can easily couple (via the Couplers) the Recit to Positif or G.O..
When you search for a big French organ, I can recommend this sample set if you have enough RAM memory, it is a nice organ, it is versatile, suitable for study and technical of good quality.
Take, however, the Surround version, so you can supplement (when you prefer) the small acoustics of the standard version with the reverberation of the Surround version.
With a price of about E 520,- for 55 stops, this is a sample set in the middle price range.
Surround version in 8 GB RAM I have 8 GB, I loaded the Surround version with:
Key, draw stop and other sounds: 14-bit, first loop, compressed, multiple releases
Rear: 14-bit, first loop, compressed, multiple releases
Front Pedal: 14-bit, first loop, compressed, multiple releases
Front GO, Recit en Positief: 16-bit, first loop, compressed, multiple releases
2 Pedal stops (of 11): Don't load
13 other stops (of 44): Don't load
Explanation 'foot pistons'
Orage
A Thunder or a Drum - draws the lowest semitones in Pedal to sound simultaneously, giving strong storm-like subsonic beating effect.
Tir. G.O.
Coupler G.O.- Ped
P.
Coupler Positif - Ped
R.
Coupler Recit - Ped
Oves G.O.
Octave coupler G.O.
R.
Octave coupler Recit
Aches Ped.
Push when you want to use the Jeux de combinaison of Pedal
Aches G.O.
Push when you want to use the Jeux de combinaison of G.O.
P.
Push when you want to use the Jeux de combinaison of Positif.
R.
Push when you want to use the Jeux de combinaison of Recit.
Cop.G.O.
Should be on when you want to use the G.O. (I don't understand the benefit)
