Digital Organs — Audio Output Channels (multi-channel instruments)
  • geetees2
    Posts: 1
    I'm trying to get my head around the ways in which various manufacturers arrange their multi-channel speaker outputs. Seems to me that we find at least two schemes...
    1. Architectural (e.g. Baroque 'Werk' principle) - each Division in stereo, plus sub-bass
    2. Tonal (principal, flute, reeds families) - each Family in stereo, plus sub-bass

    Could someone please summarize how the different brands do their outputs?

    Trying to come up with an artistic and practical multi-speaker setup isn't as clear-cut as one might think!
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    You really need to listen to the organs, decide which instruments you prefer and get suggestions from the tonal design person who did the designs that you like on what will work in your building for your musical program.

    To show you how complicated this can be, although you have stated divisions and families in stereo, only one company uses stereo, so unless you are more interested in how it works rather than how it sounds, there's a lot of homework to do and not a lot of information available about the actual tonal production by the different builders - just as it is with pipe builders who have their own techniques that make their organs their own.

    The "tonal" design you have mentioned was common in old analog instruments because that's all that they could do, but not common in most digitals and even pipes today as unification is not often used as indiscriminately as it once was with 60 stops playing 4 ranks of pipes.

    Have the chosen few take you to buildings similar to yours and let you hear what they have done and demonstrate exactly what has been done and what they will do for you and your church.

    Hope that this helps and I can guarantee that the discussion below will be....interesting.
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 537
    Our Allen's outputs are by division, with the swell going to one set of speakers and the great, choir and pedal going to another.

    At a precious church, they had an alhborn galanti with a set of speaker on each side of the loft--the split was a traditional c, c#.
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