Only the best samples from Hauptwerk are equivalent to pipe sounds

An organ with pipes would be ideal in the living room; as a professional organ builder I have built many pipe organs. What is missing in the living room is the acoustics. Johannus Orgelbouw in Ede has a pipe organ whose sounds are also stored as samples. The samples and the sounds of the pipes are randomly distributed over the keyboard. Organists are invited to see if they can hear any difference when playing. That has never happened in 15 years; no difference can be heard.

I achieved the same with Samples from Hauptwerk. The Hauptwerk organ is next to my pipe organ, a difference in sound cannot be heard. Hauptwerk is the only system that completely transfers the pipe sounds, with all their properties, to the living room. The acoustics of the church are recorded separately and the reverberation effect on the sounds only arises in the living room, in the same way as in the church. Hauptwerk is a high-quality system that is unmatched by any other system.

There are also simple systems and I often get the question why I don't write about them. That's because a simple system is not able to convey the sounds of pipes as Hauptwerk does perfectly.

Hauptwerk-Organ with Loudspeakers as most important part

The correct place for the loudspeakers is to the left and right of the organist and facing forward. This corresponds to the position of the console in the church in relation to the organ case. The bass reflex loudspeakers have been given a housing adapted by ADAM for optimal reproduction of the pipe sounds. They are visible, but placing them in the organ case would seriously disrupt the high quality. The Loudspeakers are the most important part of a Hauptwerk organ and must meet high requirements.

In my previous organ, built by Noorlander, the bass reflex loudspeakers were placed inside the organ case. The sounds from the open bass ports reflected in the cabinet and caused disturbing noises. A striking lack of craftsmanship from the builder! Hi-Fi specialists place their speakers freely in the room and will never hide them in an enveloping cabinet.

When I placed the speakers outside the cabinet, I already heard a considerable improvement, but the very poor quality also came to light. My request to Noorlander to supply loudspeakers of perfect quality was answered by him with: we don't have them, buy them somewhere else.
That's why I chose Sonarte; Wim de Borst provides the organs with top quality loudspeakers.

Sample makers compare the sounds they recorded from the pipes by listening to them with Reference class speakers. We chose the same loudspeakers for my organ; ADAM S-Series loudspeakers. These are not cheap, but the reproduction of the sounds is unsurpassed and that is noticeable when voicing the samples. Without voicing anything I hear pipe sounds with all the typical details. It is striking how little I have to correct. Even the lowest pedal tones can be heard with a good Gravity, sometimes more tangible than audible.
Because the recordings are digitally stored in the samples, they are converted into audible sounds by a Digital-Analog Converter. We chose the
D-A Converter that meets the highest requirements to exclude any chance of distortion.

For the low tones of the bass sounds, a speaker system has been designed that is inspired by a wooden Subbass pipe. The round low tones are velvety soft, but with a deep intensity. In this way, the Gravity of the bass tones becomes noticeable. Jolanda Zwoferink obtained her PhD for her research into the Gravity of the organ sound for the correct interpretation of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. These sounds are reproduced excellently on my organ.

32 foot foundation
Now that the sample sets have been reinstalled, I can hear the huge difference between the Sonarte organ and the Noorlander organ.
The Sonarte organ sounds like a pipe organ in contrast to the Noorlander organ, because its loudspeakers are cheap reproducers and the resonance frequencies of the mid-high loudspeakers and the subwoofer were not tuned to each other.
The loudspeakers of the Sonarte organ are of the Reference class that can reproduce all the typical properties of the pipe sounds. The fundamentals of the pedal registers sound very deep, eight-foot sounds seem to come from sixteen-foot pipes. I recognize it from pipes I once made with a very wide scale. The Sonarte organ can even reproduce 32 foottones with a perfect Gravity.

Previously I wrote that the wavelength of a 32 foot pipe cannot be reproduced in the living room. That was with the Noorlander organ, but the audio system of the Sonarte organ reproduces the 32 foot tone, as I heard it at its best when playing the Metzler organ of the Münster in Schaffhaussen. A wooden Subbass 32 feet with a deep yet mild fundamental tone, not loud but perceptible, a supporting foundation for the plenum. I now also hear these sounds in my living room.

Sonarte delivered an organ of the highest quality through the perfect Audio installation with Reference class speakers

                           Never skimp on the speakers!

I have described my voicings in a book, because there are many organs where the loudspeakers do not properly reproduce the tones from the samples.
The book Sounds in the Living room will I sent free of charge to anyone who requests it with an e-mail address and postal address (administration).
Because the books are now also requested by users of a Simple System, which can load in a few seconds, I would add that there is no possibility to achieve my results. Quality has its price; a simple system is limited and cannot reproduce these pipe sounds. 

                                   Sonarte has build the ideal organ.  Everyone is welcome to judge for themselves.
                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                        Mail to: John Boersma