pwhodges

I have processed the above to remove the wow, and made decent fades in and out. Just that makes it a lot more listenable. Note that there is effectively no bass - there is nothing below 50 Hz. https://cassland.org/sounds/Christ Church, Oxford old organ (Paul Morgan)/ Paul

The only solo recording of the old Willis/Harrison organ in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (apart from mine in the British Sound Archive, which even I cannot access) which I have been unable to get a copy of has popped up in the Archive of Recorded Organ Music on YouTube. Played by Paul Morgan while organ scholar there. Carillon - Herbert Murrill Larghetto in F sharp minor - S.S. Wesley Fugue in E flat ("St. Anne") - J.S. Bach Sadly, the transcription has a lot of wow, and the end of the Wesley is missing. (My recordings in the British Sound Archive are of Paul rehearsing for this release, and also some hymn accompaniments he recorded for a missionary to use in his church....) Paul

I note, however, the typical conflation of the organ with "the church organ". Admittedly, for most learners, that is still the most accessible to learn on (though it's now considerably easier to get a similar instrument at home, if there's room - and money - for a simple console), but focussing on one use of the instrument is sad, and could reduce interest from non-religious people. Paul

I'd expect reeds to be much less affected, because the abundant higher harmonics would hide deficiencies in the most affected fundamentals. Paul

The same can happen when you're listening live, of course. And even with a single pedal stop, there will be places where you get cancellation or reinforcement on odd notes (different at each place, so making an "ideal" microphone position hard to achieve - maybe this is a case where multimiking has an advantage over single-point techniques!). In my (non-commercial) organ recordings I've never really bothered about this - and I've not been troubled by the results. Paul

Here is a similar comparison made by an American sample set producer: https://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/57796 Paul

Salisbury used the (unreleased) sample set while the actual organ was out of action (rebuilding the blower room, as I recall); they also used a French sample set for some voluntaries, I think. I never heard or saw any comments on how well it was received. The organist at the time had built a replica of the real console for his home use, and I suppose that got used in the cathedral. Paul

The nearest to a true comparison that I can think of would be to record the organ "live" at the same time and using the same microphones as the recording of the sample set, played back on the same system. This would enable a comparison in which presence and setup of the sampling software was the only variable. Paul

I'm wondering whether MM is even still with us (though he's younger than me)... Anyway, higher up this thread he provided an email address which it might be worth trying: camitch49@yahoo.com Paul

That is taken straight from Peter Williams - who suggests the same treatment for BWV 600. Paul

Publishing the spec is a change of the stated intent, though. Back in April, James wrote (in this post) : "We have decided that it would be preferable for the organ to be heard before any details of the specification is revealed". Paul

Not a hymn book, but I had a book pre-ordered on Amazon for delivery in October. When the due date came, they said it was not available and they could not give me a date. I'd had this on other books and the delivery had then appeared within days. But this time it stayed in this state, and when I realised it was in stock everywhere, and going to the Amazon page for it showed it as available from Amazon, it was clear they were not going to sort it out - so I cancelled the order, and reordered elsewhere (at a higher price, of course...). The idea that this is deliberate because they don't want to fulfil their promise of the lower price seems realistic, I fear. Paul

This might be a clue? https://www.newneuromarketing.com/the-most-overlooked-psychological-factor-in-what-makes-advertising-music-work No explanation here, but other people have noticed something similar: Paul

I have nothing to say that has not already been said; but I would second all of it. Paul

Or use a proper audio interface on Windows. Paul