List of stops
To pull out or push in a stop, just touch it on your device's screen. The graphic will indicate if the stop is pushed in or pulled out. Remember, pushed-in stops are silent, pulled-out stops will make sounds when you play keys. You can also program the pistons at the bottom of the screen to pull out a number of stops and couplers at the same time.
The organ's Great division has a single single reed voice, the rather lovely Oboe, and is otherwise smooth, soft and warm. The three Principal stops are 'Open Diapason' (classic full-length, unstopped flue pipes), together forming the "Great Diapason Chorus", which is simply the most church organy of all sounds.
GREAT DIVISION STOPS
Principal 8'
Principal 4'
Principal 2'
Recorder 8'
Oboe 8'
The Swell division contains a "Stopped Diapason Chorus" at 8' 4' and 2', to complement the Open Diapason Principals on the Great. A Stopped Diapason is a half-length, capped organ pipe that speaks an octave lower than expected due to interesting physics, and sound hollow and flutey.
The Swell division is otherwise very reedy and harmonically rich, and may be controlled ('swelled') by an Expression pedal, Mod Wheel or Volume control
SWELL DIVISION STOPS
Stopped Diapason 8'
Stopped Diapason 4'
Stopped Diapason 2'
Bass Clarinet 8'
Clarinet 4'
Cor Anglais 2'
Vox Soprano 8'
Vox Celeste 8'
Viola 8'
Trumpet 2 2/3'
The Trumpet is tuned to the exact third harmonic of the 8' pipes, adding a bite to chords that is spectacular, partly due to its dissonance with the equal-tempered octave fifths - the third harmonic in Pythagorean tuning is exactly at the octave plus a fifth, not *quite* so in equal temperament.
The Pedal division is typical of a small chapel organ, and offers just two contrasting tones
PEDAL DIVISION STOPS
Gedeckt 16'
Bassoon 16'
The Bassoon is harmonically very rich, the Gedeckt much more subtle, and is modelled on a Stopped Diapason. Both of these voices have an artificially suppressed fundamental in the lowest octave, to avoid ultra-low frequency sounds eating up all the dynamic range of your device. The fundamental of the lowest C on the organ pedals is around 32Hz, far below what can be reproduced by most speakers, so we have chosen to suppress the fundamental's amplitude, which is still bone-shaking on big speakers but still leaves some dynamic range for the upper harmonics.
A note on the Swell's 'Celeste' voice. A Celeste stop on an organ is designed to be a close match to one or more other stops in the organ, but is deliberately tuned slightly sharp. But not just arbitrarily sharp - each pipe is tuned very, very carefully. The intention is for the mismatch in pipe tuning to give a sonically pleasing beat frequency when the Celeste is employed simultaneously with another voice. The beats are designed to be somewhat slower on lower notes, somewhat faster on higher notes, so that playing large chords spread across the compass of the organ leads to huge, dynamic shifting as the beats slide around and phase shift with respect to each other.
The combination of Celeste plus Soprano gives the most prominent beating, and actually sounds quite electronic and synthetic. Which is a bit jarring until you listen to a church organ Celeste, and realize that they also sound identically electronic and synthetic! A gorgeous stop, and the Celeste will 'Celeste' (yes, it's a verb too!) successfully against Soprano, Bass Clarinet or Viola from the Swell division.
The organ's Great division has a single single reed voice, the rather lovely Oboe, and is otherwise smooth, soft and warm. The three Principal stops are 'Open Diapason' (classic full-length, unstopped flue pipes), together forming the "Great Diapason Chorus", which is simply the most church organy of all sounds.
GREAT DIVISION STOPS
Principal 8'
Principal 4'
Principal 2'
Recorder 8'
Oboe 8'
The Swell division contains a "Stopped Diapason Chorus" at 8' 4' and 2', to complement the Open Diapason Principals on the Great. A Stopped Diapason is a half-length, capped organ pipe that speaks an octave lower than expected due to interesting physics, and sound hollow and flutey.
The Swell division is otherwise very reedy and harmonically rich, and may be controlled ('swelled') by an Expression pedal, Mod Wheel or Volume control
SWELL DIVISION STOPS
Stopped Diapason 8'
Stopped Diapason 4'
Stopped Diapason 2'
Bass Clarinet 8'
Clarinet 4'
Cor Anglais 2'
Vox Soprano 8'
Vox Celeste 8'
Viola 8'
Trumpet 2 2/3'
The Trumpet is tuned to the exact third harmonic of the 8' pipes, adding a bite to chords that is spectacular, partly due to its dissonance with the equal-tempered octave fifths - the third harmonic in Pythagorean tuning is exactly at the octave plus a fifth, not *quite* so in equal temperament.
The Pedal division is typical of a small chapel organ, and offers just two contrasting tones
PEDAL DIVISION STOPS
Gedeckt 16'
Bassoon 16'
The Bassoon is harmonically very rich, the Gedeckt much more subtle, and is modelled on a Stopped Diapason. Both of these voices have an artificially suppressed fundamental in the lowest octave, to avoid ultra-low frequency sounds eating up all the dynamic range of your device. The fundamental of the lowest C on the organ pedals is around 32Hz, far below what can be reproduced by most speakers, so we have chosen to suppress the fundamental's amplitude, which is still bone-shaking on big speakers but still leaves some dynamic range for the upper harmonics.
A note on the Swell's 'Celeste' voice. A Celeste stop on an organ is designed to be a close match to one or more other stops in the organ, but is deliberately tuned slightly sharp. But not just arbitrarily sharp - each pipe is tuned very, very carefully. The intention is for the mismatch in pipe tuning to give a sonically pleasing beat frequency when the Celeste is employed simultaneously with another voice. The beats are designed to be somewhat slower on lower notes, somewhat faster on higher notes, so that playing large chords spread across the compass of the organ leads to huge, dynamic shifting as the beats slide around and phase shift with respect to each other.
The combination of Celeste plus Soprano gives the most prominent beating, and actually sounds quite electronic and synthetic. Which is a bit jarring until you listen to a church organ Celeste, and realize that they also sound identically electronic and synthetic! A gorgeous stop, and the Celeste will 'Celeste' (yes, it's a verb too!) successfully against Soprano, Bass Clarinet or Viola from the Swell division.
Couplers
The couplers have one job - they allow you to play more keys than you have fingers or feet, making the organ louder and more dramatic by doubling or quadrupling up the notes you are playing across the same division or into different divisions. On a church organ, couplers are a wonder to behold - keys on the manuals appear to play themselves, like a player piano, as the player's hands are somewhere completely different on the instrument. But ultimately, adding volume and richness is the couplers' job - pull out the couplers and things get even louder, like having a 20, 30 or 40-fingered player.
The couplers on Victorian Chapel Organ are
SWELL TO GREAT
With this coupler engaged, everything you play on the Great keyboard is sent through to the Swell division. This coupler is ubiquitous, essential for playing Swell voices when only a single keyboard is attached to your device, and is available on every church organ I have ever seen.
SUB OCTAVE
With this coupler engaged, everything you play on the Great keyboard is doubled up, an octave down, on the Great division. The increase in volume can be profound! The duplicated keys are not sent to Swell, so the bass reinforcement is from the smoother, warmer ranks of the Great division.
AUTO PEDAL
This is more complicated than it appears. Engaging AUTO PEDAL sends the lowest note being played on the Great to the Pedal division, but only if the lowest note being played was the lowest note at the moment it was played. As an example, pull out just the 4' Principal, pull out AUTO PEDAL and pull out the 16' Gedeckt. Now play a low C on the Great. You can hear the giant bass of the Gedeckt as well as the 2 octaves higher tone of the 4' Principal. Hold that, and an octave up, play a C major chord. The bass note emitted from the pedals stays as the low C you first hit. Lift off the low C, and the pedal note disappears altogether. There is no annoying 'pedal bounce' up to the root note that your right hand is playing. This allows you to articulate clear movement on a bass line with your left hand, whilst holding down a sequence block chords with your right, confident that the pedal tone will not arbitraily bounce up an octave. When played carefully, the pedal does exactly what you would expect, and can sound convincingly like an independent pedalboard being played.
Of course, if you stop playing the left hand pedal line and move play a new chord up top, the root note of that chord WILL be reflected on the pedal. So, the rule - if, as you play a note on the Great keyboard, and if it is the lowest note being played, it will be issued to the pedals as well. I do hope that's clear ...
Next up - our excellent programmable pistons
The couplers on Victorian Chapel Organ are
SWELL TO GREAT
With this coupler engaged, everything you play on the Great keyboard is sent through to the Swell division. This coupler is ubiquitous, essential for playing Swell voices when only a single keyboard is attached to your device, and is available on every church organ I have ever seen.
SUB OCTAVE
With this coupler engaged, everything you play on the Great keyboard is doubled up, an octave down, on the Great division. The increase in volume can be profound! The duplicated keys are not sent to Swell, so the bass reinforcement is from the smoother, warmer ranks of the Great division.
AUTO PEDAL
This is more complicated than it appears. Engaging AUTO PEDAL sends the lowest note being played on the Great to the Pedal division, but only if the lowest note being played was the lowest note at the moment it was played. As an example, pull out just the 4' Principal, pull out AUTO PEDAL and pull out the 16' Gedeckt. Now play a low C on the Great. You can hear the giant bass of the Gedeckt as well as the 2 octaves higher tone of the 4' Principal. Hold that, and an octave up, play a C major chord. The bass note emitted from the pedals stays as the low C you first hit. Lift off the low C, and the pedal note disappears altogether. There is no annoying 'pedal bounce' up to the root note that your right hand is playing. This allows you to articulate clear movement on a bass line with your left hand, whilst holding down a sequence block chords with your right, confident that the pedal tone will not arbitraily bounce up an octave. When played carefully, the pedal does exactly what you would expect, and can sound convincingly like an independent pedalboard being played.
Of course, if you stop playing the left hand pedal line and move play a new chord up top, the root note of that chord WILL be reflected on the pedal. So, the rule - if, as you play a note on the Great keyboard, and if it is the lowest note being played, it will be issued to the pedals as well. I do hope that's clear ...
Next up - our excellent programmable pistons
