Do you ever use Pipe Organ in your Compositions?

How often (or ever) do you use pipe organ in your music? :slight_smile:

I have to confess that while I do love using organs, I haven’t invested in a VST or sample library yet for pipe organ (church or cathedral style I mean). I know there is a decent sound (to me at least) preset in Omnisphere, but I know it is not on par with professional sample libraries.

I did LOVE the use of organ in Interstellar by Hans Zimmer, and I know it can really add that larger than life type of sound. But I struggle to find a good way to add it to my orchestral arrangements…how and when does it fit, any advice? :smiley:

I am tagging Adrian Earnshaw @Adrian as he is one of our members that is actually a professional and highly experienced organ player. Hoping you have some pointers Adrian?

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Well, there is the free Leeds Town Hall Organ from Samplephonics, for starters, and the rather inexpensive Lakeside Pipe Organ by Soundiron, but those are pretty limited, compared to the big ones; just a few commonly used combinations of stops.

Either way, I also have Spitfire’s Union Chapel Organ, and was really tempted to grab the new one they released recently - but I can’t even remember if I’ve used an organ in a composition! :smiley: I’ll have to get on that, but I’m not sure where to start, and what to research… Interstellar seems like a good starting point, and there are some organ + orchestra pieces as well. Other ideas?

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Was it a real pipe organ that Davey Jones played in Pirates? I am no expert on organs, you can tell! :stuck_out_tongue:

Honestly, I don’t even know what “stops” are lol

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Thanks for the tag Mikael. I have never really brought the pipe organ into my compositions. I think it is something psychological to keeping my two musical worlds separate. I have, however, done a few sessions as an organist which were kind of interesting to say the least.

To fully use an organ in orchestral or electronic music an understanding of how one works is helpful. What I mean here is to appreciate an organist uses both hands and also both feet whilst playing. It is also not always about being full on loud, although there is nothing wrong with hearing the full power of the organ. I love playing light solos using just an 8’ and 2’ stop or 8’ with a 1 3/5’ in the right hand and a nice 8’ Diapason in the left.

I am happy to share my insights on how to properly voice an organ if anyone is interested. Just post here and that way we can all learn together.

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The pipes look too short and chubby, the steam puffs don’t match the music, and the reverb doesn’t match the space, so… probably not. :wink:

Seriously though, a steam powered demonic organ sounds like an interesting build project… Or, at least, a MIDI controlled air powered one. There are some projects like that out there. :slight_smile:

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Hahahaha, that would be AWESOME…since we both are Swedish perhaps we should push “Wintergatan” to do it! (I am sure you know the artist/engineer phenomenon) :wink:

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I’ve definitely considered building MIDI controlled acoustic instruments of one sort or another (and I did build a synth with three SID chips once), but, too many projects… :slight_smile:

And of course I’m aware of Wintergatan! Been following the build of his second machine for a bit. I suspect he might consider MIDI control cheating, though - but then again, he uses triggers rather than real drums, so I don’t know… :smiley:

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What should I look for in a pipe organ sample library? What are the common pitfalls in sound inconsistency or quality that you have seen?

And how would you personally use a pipe organ in an orchestral composition where it needs to compete with other instrument families. I assume no crazy big god chords would do then, right?

Hi, Nathan Barr’s work on the film “House with the Clocks in the Wall” really shows off the theatre organ he rebuilt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re2018YfPX0&list=PLohYzz4btpaSfPnfNKxQD_RHWnYbcAZUQ&index=33

I can’t find it on youtube, but thought the end credits showed the versatility of the instrument. …and yes, I saw the movie with my kids and enjoyed it.

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I have never used an organ sample library due to being in the fortunate position of having access to a number of different pipe organs where I live. I have however heard demos of several organ libraries. To make an organ sample sound as close to a pipe you need to capture the attack phase. When playing on flute stops you hear a slight chiff on the attack as though someone is blowing into the flute. A lot of samples libraries seem to miss this portion.

To hear some good examples of how an organ can blend with an orchestra or a small ensemble I would suggest having listen on YouTube to Handel’s Organ Concerto. One brilliant recording is this one:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoiXvQhWrKY

A lesser known work is this one by Tournemire https://youtu.be/qVr0if-26uk

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The Kontakt factory library has an amazing organ, and I absolutely love Soundiron’s Lakeside Organ I think it’s called. It’s got such an epic and thick sound.

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I tend to forget using the standard Kontakt library, but you are right, there are a lot of nice instruments in there. Thanks! :slight_smile:

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I just recommended this channel to SpitFireAudio. . . .They have a brand new Library of Pipe Organ… its very cool.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com

The Organ: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/symphonic-organ/

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Yes I saw their video walkthrough on it, I guess it was this that started my interest because I never really used pipe organ in my music before. :stuck_out_tongue:

I just love spitfire audio and their philosophy. This Christian Henson really makes good noise :+1:

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