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Best Organ library for standard repertoire

Bollen said:
That is my usual method, no organist near me, but plenty of scores! Also, I'm more of a 'contemporary' composer. Church people don't get me... :grin:
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Well, I have been a church musician over 30 years - and I write stuff that might not go well in church, too..... :dancer:
 
Michaelt said:
What, did you think Dupré op. 7 was too much of a breeze?
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Hahaha!

It’s actually in homage to Dupré - a nod to his op. 36 Ab P+F (and a nod to the wild Toccata by Durufle). I’m more into writing miniatures - this is the longest organ work I’ve done. This is rendered on Hauptwerk using the Metz Mutin/Cavaille-Coll, and I just love the authentic French romantic sounds.❤️
 
I may be late but I like to point you to the fact that there is no "organ specific" music. Depending on the era you have bright shining organs (Bach -> Silbermann), a complete different voicing in the mid to late 19th century (Widor, Viernes -> Cavaillé-Coll). Then there are some organs in the UK with a rather special sound ... A Organ is voiced for the purpose and the room it is located in, that's another variable to think of. The RAH is very different to a cathedral, soundwise (reverb length!).
Just listen to organ music of the centuries, you'll find something that you like. Check out what organ was used (the era is more important than the builder) and find something similar as a sample set. I would like to have control over every stop but if you can get away with curated presets, go ahead.
 
Michaelt said:
Hmm. I can think of plenty of "church" people who remain abreast of the contemporary reptoire, and who are often the ones pushing it forward themselves, but fair enough....
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I was just kidding, I've met a handful in my life and they were all jazzers or avant-gardists, so yeah, it's a myth.
giwro said:
Actually, if you want a decent set of samples, low cost.... it does rely on some preset combinations, but I think the sampling is very well done: https://www.xsample.de/xsample_concert_organ.htm
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Ah! Xsamples yes. I have quite a few of their libraries and they're hidden gems in some cases. Unfortunately presets are the very opposite of what I'm looking for. I want to study the instrument, so I need to be able to try what the "flute" or "clarinet" does. How does pipe X in combination with other X sound like, etc.
giwro said:
Well, I have been a church musician over 30 years - and I write stuff that might not go well in church, too..... :dancer:
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G Minor??? You use keys??? That is so passé... Kidding of course, nice piece, loved the first part!
Manontroppo said:
I may be late but I like to point you to the fact that there is no "organ specific" music
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I think you misunderstood my intention. I want to learn to write specifically for organ at some point. Consequently, I'm looking for a library that would allow me to study the instrument, within reason, and learn its quirks, possibilities and limitations. Thus, be able to write scores meant for performing "specifically" on organ. I'm not trying to imitate other organ music, I want to write my own style, but idiomatically or should I say, technically for organ.
Jeremy Spencer said:
Was looking through the Best Service 2 for 1 sale and saw this...
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Hard to tell... Hmmm..! Will use their test service...
 
It is a fair point though that studying the organ's limitations/quirks/possibilities can be difficult given the individuality of each instrument. Even something as simple as range is not a given, due to certain regional or era-specific differences in manual/pedal compass, although that specifically is not something that is likely to trip you up.

I really do think a close reading of scores for the instrument would be best, in addition to listening to several different performances of those pieces just to get an idea of how much variation there might be with regard to registration and of course the character of the instrument. If you were then to write something for real performance and wanted to ensure idiomatic playability, you could consult with an organist (on here, even, if you don't know any in person).

Learning any instrument via VIs is a bit dodgy to me, and with one as heterogenous as the pipe organ, yeah....

By the way, regarding the Notre Dame de Budapest library just linked: this was a Giga library, cut down in content and function for Kontakt. It is not the easiest thing to set up properly, especially for a novice to the instrument. It does sound great though, and Inspired Acoustics has a number of fine Hauptwerk sample sets.
 
Jeremy Spencer said:
Was looking through the Best Service 2 for 1 sale and saw this...

https://www.bestservice.com/organum_venezia.html
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This is a relatively light weight instrument -- about half the number of stops that Fredonia and O:Forbes offer, and nothing in the way of bells and whistles. Also, it's for the Best Service Engine player, which hasn't been updated in a long time. Some users don't mind that, others complain about it.
 
Michaelt said:
Learning any instrument via VIs is a bit dodgy to me, and with one as heterogenous as the pipe organ, yeah....
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Tell me about it... Fortunately I have many instruments here at home, but an organ is out of the question!
 
For someone who does not know how to play a pipe organ and will be using it for added color to orchestral/cinematic/pop tracks, would you all say the RAH would be perfectly fine? I looked at the VSL Great Rieger and all of the options therein almost gave me a panic attack!
 
MorphineNoir said:
For someone who does not know how to play a pipe organ and will be using it for added color to orchestral/cinematic/pop tracks, would you all say the RAH would be perfectly fine? I looked at the VSL Great Rieger and all of the options therein almost gave me a panic attack!
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The VSL Rieger might look a bit daunting, but I think that is a big reason why this organ in fact turns out to be so usable.

The interface has a lot more controls on it for using it like an actual organ. I find it so much easier to use than other Kontakt organs I have as a result.

Trust me, the organ has adopted useful concepts that are still not in use in modern software (but should be!), so any software organ that tries to replicate even half of these feature is going to end up easier to use as an organ. And the VSL achieves this quite well, it is the first software organ where I feel at home with the features like on a real organ. They even added an "all stops off" control after user feedback... a must for any real organ, and is missed in almost all Kontakt organs.
 
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markleake said:
The VSL Rieger might look a bit daunting, but I think that is a big reason why this organ if fact turns out to be so usable.

The interface has a lot more controls on it for using it like an actual organ. I find it so much easier to use than other Kontakt organs I have as a result.

Trust me, the organ has adopted useful concepts that are still not in use in modern software (but should be!), so any software organ that tries to replicate even half of these feature is going to end up easier to use as an organ. And the VSL achieves this quite well, it is the first software organ where I feel at home with the features like on a real organ. They even added an "all stops off" control after user feedback... a must for any real organ, and is missed in almost all Kontakt organs.
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What would "all stops off" be used for?
 
On organs with electrical stop/piston action it's called "general cancel." It's just a quick way to turn everything off. Useful to have even in VI form if you have a lot of stops to work with.
 
markleake said:


Edit: On some organs this piston is labelled as "0".
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Hahah.

I was at an organ concert, the opening piece was a big romantic French toccata/carillon thingie… at the end, the organist hit the “tutti” preset, which brings on all of the stops and couplers.. “everything including the kitchen sink”…. She finished, hit the cancel piston (all stops off) and swiveled around to take a bow…

The next piece was a lovely soft scherzo by Durufle… and she sat down to play. Unfortunately, the cancel piston on EM Skinner organs does not reverse the tutti, only the hand-drawn stops. I sat 5 rows back silently willing her to see the glowing red light that indicates an active tutti, but to no avail.

HONK!

I think half the room had to change their underwear… :rofl:
 
MorphineNoir said:
Oh will check it out right now - thanks
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If you happen to own the Kontakt (Full version) Factory Library, it has some stock organs including VSL legacy Konzerthaus Organ. Very capable.

I created my own organ instruments using all the above with Crucible, adding some Cinesample Brass and Monster Low Winds for some oomph!

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