On the one hand the organ is an instrument that is hard to come by due to its cost and size. On the other hand “having unrestricted access to an instrument if not owning one is critical to being a successful musician” (Hauptwerk, Intro video). Hauptwerk sees it as its mission to bridge this gap, not only by providing the musician with ‘his’ instrument but also by offering the opportunity to play virtually on some of the most famous and historic pipe organs in the world, promising a “completely realistic playing experience” (Milan homepage, About us). Borrowing from Mozart, Hauptwerk is praised as “king of all virtual instruments”, offering “worlds beyond digital” (Hauptwerk, main page). “Concert organists, students, church organists, studio musicians and Hollywood film composers” and other professionals utilize this sampler for their work (Milan homepage, About us).
Hauptwerk highlights that “room acoustics are a critical component of any organ’s overall sound” and claims to deliver “amazingly realistic sound” by using special sampling techniques (Hauptwerk, Intro video). The sound of a specific pipe organ, the 1738 Müller organ in the St. Bavokerk in Haarlem for example, can be realistically reproduced by utilizing recordings taken from real instruments, acknowledging the idiosyncrasies of each organ as well as the acoustic features of the location where it resides. “We believe that listening to a recording made with such a "virtual organ" in decent conditions can be really close to listening to the recordings of the original instrument” it is said on the Sonus Paradisi homepage (Sonus Paradisi, Basic info). This has been corroborated by several users such as Randall Mullin, who wrote an extensive report on his ‘Hauptwerk experience’: “Hauptwerk is not merely a practice organ substitute. The recordings made by performers on these "organs", called "sample sets" (a "sample" being a recording of one note), are very difficult to distinguish from recordings of the actual instruments” (Mullin, p. 2).
Although there are considerable differences in quality and complexity of sample sets produced by different companies and the three different Hauptwerk editions currently available (free, basic, advanced), the main argument for this claim of sound fidelity is put forward in terms of ‘wet’ sampling. ‘Dry’ samples are short recordings of only the pure tone without any ambient sound and can be used for performances in spaces with adequate reverberation. In contrast, wet sampling takes the whole instrument and its interactions with the room into account, creating much more nuanced results. In addition, Hauptwerk uses so called chromatic pipe recordings. That means that the sound of each and every pipe is recorded, allowing the realistic reproduction of all the nuances and character of any given rank. Every played note draws on a separate sample.
- If you want to read about sound fidelity in the case of a home pipe organ, click here.
- You can also read about criticism on the genius of Bach or about the history of the orchestra pit in the opera.
