The Remote Registrator

[davidh]

It is never easy to perform on an unfamiliar instrument. Hazards abound, as a recitalist discovered in the middle of a tricky pedal passage when he realised that the pedal-board was two notes short, and another when a Bombarde stop knob turned out to be a dummy added to the stop-jamb by an organist with delusions of grandeur. Registration is perhaps the biggest problem. With the exception perhaps of French Baroque organs, stop labels tell you very little about what sounds to expect. Even 8’ open diapasons are quite unpredictable, and a stop which sounds well at middle C may be dominating or apologetic in the bass range, and sweet or shrill in the treble. The Remote Registrator is designed as an efficient and economical aid to organists.

 

To use the RR you need a computer, preferably a laptop, with an internet connnection, and a microphone.

 

The first step is to provide a profile of your usual instrument. The RR can download specifications from the NPOR, but you may also be asked to provide some additional information. The second step is to set up the microphone in a suitable position, and to play an arpeggio on each of the stops. This must be done three times for enclosed divisions, with the box closed, half-open and fully open. A cheap microphone will be sufficient to measure the relative loudness of each of the stops throughout its compass, but a better microphone will also allow the analysis of tone quality. Additionally you may note the position of the stop knobs on the jambs, and RR will assist you by fitting the specification to one of its own standard templates, leaving you only to note any exceptions. You are encouraged to upload the specification to the online RR database, but this is not obligatory.

 

Next you note the stop combinations that you use on your own instrument, perhaps under such general headings as “plenum”, but better in a catalogue of your repertoire where you store the registrations that you use for each piece that you play.

 

You are then ready to benefit from RRs resources. If you are invited to play at another venue, check to see if it has an RR profile, and if anyone has noted the registrations that they have used for the pieces that you are to play. At the minimum you can download the NPOR specification, but the more information that has been stored the more helpful the guidance from RR will be. You might even ask someone at the venue to use a microphone so that the sounds of that instrument can be added to its profile.

 

RR will then provide you with suggested registrations, commenting on likely problems. Of course you will probably wish to improve on these basic suggestions, and when you have made your final decisions you may store your registrations for the guidance of others.

 

RR uses artificial intelligence techniques which enable it to “learn” from feedback and to improve its suggestions.

 

The software will be made available at a very reasonable price to encourage its wide-spread use; the more people who file profiles the more useful it will become.

 

Paolo Fril, head of marketing.

[Vox Humana]

Fantastic news! Definitely a must-have. Any chance of a remote player plug-in?

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

Is there a clergy version to allow remote changes to over-loud/over-soft registrations?

[Pierre Lauwers]

:lol:

 

Pierre

[contrabordun]

Is there a clergy version to allow remote changes to over-loud/over-soft registrations?

Only if we get one that allows remote changes to over-long and/or over-repetitive and/or content-free sermons (present company excepted, natch)