Daniel James
o_0
Out
The Ultimate Cinematic Organ – Available Now!
- Thread starter Spitfire Team
- Start date
Mark Schmieder
Senior Member
I only found out about this due to visiting SonicState just now. Wonder why we didn't get emails? I probably missed the thread due to its title, which didn't exactly pull me in (I didn't notice it was Spitfire, and "Cinematic" usually turns me away).
I am surprised by this release as well, due to the lovely Union Chapel Organ, which I own and use.
Size-wise, the compressed disc space of VSL Konzerthaus Organ with its expansion is 16 GB.
I'm going to see if I can easily compare the stops available on these two organs, as even VSL's isn't as comprehensive as I'd like. Union Chapel Organ has a nice interface compared to most organ libraries, so I expect this one will similarly be pretty user-friendly.
Looking forward to hearing audio examples, but it's a busy day and I haven't booted up my studio yet for the day. Good price too, but home buying kind of puts a dent in non-essentials (wait, isn't an organ library essential?
).
I am surprised by this release as well, due to the lovely Union Chapel Organ, which I own and use.
Size-wise, the compressed disc space of VSL Konzerthaus Organ with its expansion is 16 GB.
I'm going to see if I can easily compare the stops available on these two organs, as even VSL's isn't as comprehensive as I'd like. Union Chapel Organ has a nice interface compared to most organ libraries, so I expect this one will similarly be pretty user-friendly.
Looking forward to hearing audio examples, but it's a busy day and I haven't booted up my studio yet for the day. Good price too, but home buying kind of puts a dent in non-essentials (wait, isn't an organ library essential?
).
Calazzus
Member
I only found out about this due to visiting SonicState just now. Wonder why we didn't get emails? I probably missed the thread due to its title, which didn't exactly pull me in (I didn't notice it was Spitfire, and "Cinematic" usually turns me away).
I am surprised by this release as well, due to the lovely Union Chapel Organ, which I own and use.
Size-wise, the compressed disc space of VSL Konzerthaus Organ with its expansion is 16 GB.
I'm going to see if I can easily compare the stops available on these two organs, as even VSL's isn't as comprehensive as I'd like. Union Chapel Organ has a nice interface compared to most organ libraries, so I expect this one will similarly be pretty user-friendly.
Looking forward to hearing audio examples, but it's a busy day and I haven't booted up my studio yet for the day. Good price too, but home buying kind of puts a dent in non-essentials (wait, isn't an organ library essential?
I was just going to ask about the Union chapel organ library. Since you have both, can you let us know how Union chapel organ stacks up versus symphonic organ?
Mark Schmieder
Senior Member
I do not have Symphonic, and sadly will probably have to pass on the pre-sale as I am desperately trying to get together enough money for a down-payment on a house, and I live in the most expensive area of the world (San Francisco Bay Area).
I can only compare at the higher-end (most organ libraries aren't all that extensive) to our local vendor's library for the Lake Merritt organ in Oakland CA (Soundiron Lakeside Organ), and VSL Konzerthaus, Sonokinetic's Toccata (a brighter sound as I recall), plus Garritan's suite.
Spitfire's Union Chapel Organ has been my second choice below VSL Konzerthaus, and was only not my top rating because of fewer stops and registers. But this more extensive new offering might well end up placing top-of-list, once I get around to it. Especially if recorded well. VSL's isn't dry but Konzerthaus is a good space and not muddy or boomy like a lot of cathedrals.
I can only compare at the higher-end (most organ libraries aren't all that extensive) to our local vendor's library for the Lake Merritt organ in Oakland CA (Soundiron Lakeside Organ), and VSL Konzerthaus, Sonokinetic's Toccata (a brighter sound as I recall), plus Garritan's suite.
Spitfire's Union Chapel Organ has been my second choice below VSL Konzerthaus, and was only not my top rating because of fewer stops and registers. But this more extensive new offering might well end up placing top-of-list, once I get around to it. Especially if recorded well. VSL's isn't dry but Konzerthaus is a good space and not muddy or boomy like a lot of cathedrals.
Mark Schmieder
Senior Member
I can't tell much from those audio demos, as the organ is buried, except for the opening to the third one, where it sounds fairly reverby to me (and a bit cold). I downloaded the user manual though, and studied it to see if there is direct control of stops, as the list of presets is "creative" stuff vs. straightforward registers and manuals.
Page 31 of the user manual (Appendix C1) lists the divisions and stop actions, and then has a grid of x's for which preset manual combinations include it, so I have a feeling there is no way to just use this library as a direct organ interface and build your own presets. I may be misinterpreting what I'm seeing, but it appears to be purposed towards pre-named mixtures, but switching via key action may help it to behave more like a standard organ that simply has fixed registrations that aren't editable.
I am hoping to hear more audio demos later on. With this many stops, it would be good to hear a broader range. It's good that the appendix shows the stop lengths, as this helps give an idea of the overall timbral and dynamic range.
The interface has some similarities to the 8 GB (compressed) Union Chapel Organ library, but that one (quite recent as it was end of 2018) has direct organ stop selectors. I can't quite tell if that's true of Symphonic Organ (does the Key Action column refer to note numbers?), and whether any combination of on/off can be selected (as with Union Chapel Organ). The eDNA part is similar, but I never use that so can't comment on whether the approach is identical between these two libraries.
Union Chapel, as one would expect from a smaller chapel organ, only has around 24 unique stops, and most of them are on the "softer" side. The range of stops in Symphonic Organ seems to be more diverse, and perhaps even more so than VSL Konzerthaus Organ, so I really feel we need more detailed audio demos that perhaps run through all the stops.
But I think this library is intended to be used more as a preset engine for preconceived cinematic type organ sounds, so maybe I'm just missing the point as I go straight for the stops and registrations any time I look at an organ.
Page 31 of the user manual (Appendix C1) lists the divisions and stop actions, and then has a grid of x's for which preset manual combinations include it, so I have a feeling there is no way to just use this library as a direct organ interface and build your own presets. I may be misinterpreting what I'm seeing, but it appears to be purposed towards pre-named mixtures, but switching via key action may help it to behave more like a standard organ that simply has fixed registrations that aren't editable.
I am hoping to hear more audio demos later on. With this many stops, it would be good to hear a broader range. It's good that the appendix shows the stop lengths, as this helps give an idea of the overall timbral and dynamic range.
The interface has some similarities to the 8 GB (compressed) Union Chapel Organ library, but that one (quite recent as it was end of 2018) has direct organ stop selectors. I can't quite tell if that's true of Symphonic Organ (does the Key Action column refer to note numbers?), and whether any combination of on/off can be selected (as with Union Chapel Organ). The eDNA part is similar, but I never use that so can't comment on whether the approach is identical between these two libraries.
Union Chapel, as one would expect from a smaller chapel organ, only has around 24 unique stops, and most of them are on the "softer" side. The range of stops in Symphonic Organ seems to be more diverse, and perhaps even more so than VSL Konzerthaus Organ, so I really feel we need more detailed audio demos that perhaps run through all the stops.
But I think this library is intended to be used more as a preset engine for preconceived cinematic type organ sounds, so maybe I'm just missing the point as I go straight for the stops and registrations any time I look at an organ.
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I don't have it, but that's my understanding too - it looks like you wouldn't get the individual control which UCO gives you on that, albeit smaller, instrument.
In the interview with Andy Richards (which I found fascinating as a history of the Eighties classics he was involved in) they talk about "curating" the mixes of stops available:
