When I first glanced at the title of this thread I read "Virtual Pope Android App"!

hartleymartin

sounds interesting. let us know how it works out. i have downloaded Hauptwerk, and yes, it is amazing what you can put on your computer. i am planning to get Hauptwerk soon.

Hauptwerk is an awesome program. I have used it for 3 years now. I have 2 five manual organs, and several 3 and 2. Sounds so much better than the digital at church. I rarely practice in the church anymore. The only thing to be aware about Hauptwerk is, if you do desire to use organs like the 5 manual, 4, or anything with lots of pipes, you are going to have to do some work and either get a very good powerful pc, or build one. I built mine, using the latest intel chips, and it wasn't cheap, but so worth it. I have even hooked it up once at a church that was an acoustic nightmare and the pastor absolutely loved it, and asked if I could put such a setup into his church. If you ever want to get into Hauptwerk and need any help or have questions, feel free to email me.

Yes. I use Hauptwerk with a Roland C-30 harpsichord with a small german positiv that is a free sample set from Hauptwerk (this is all using the free version), it adds nicely to the two organ stops - a flute and a Principal 8 and 4 - already on the harpsichord for continuo use. Runs on a standard MAC AIR. Also use Hauptwerk harpsichords - downloaded it initially to compare the Roland Flemish harpsichord and French harpsichord samples to what Hauptwerk offers.

Here we are again!
First we had organs

Then we had gadgets that were similar to organs in some superficial ways and we called them electric organs (and who would have said that these weren't, actually, organs?).

Then we had some enchanting technological gadgets that were similar to organs in some superficial ways and we called them digital organs (impressive! no?) and who would have said that these items weren't, actually, organs?

(What a knack for self deception we have acquired!)

Now we have taxed our credulity even more with new gadgets that are similar to organs in some superficial ways and we call them virtual organs (also impressive! No?)
and who will say that these items aren't, actually, organs?

We still have organs, of course, but to express unmistakably one's meaning he is wise to offer the qualifier 'pipe'. Otherwise he might be thought to be referring to another sort of 'organ' than AN ORGAN.

Who, on showing a good copy of a Rembrandt on one's wall would be ashamed NOT to offer the admission that, of course, it is a very fine copy and perhaps point out wherein it was masterfully done and wherein it was obviously the work of a good copyist.

Not so with organs. If we can tell people that the fake sounds like a real one and have them believe it the prouder we are. Perpetration of fraud is not frowned upon. Still, though, an organ is an organ, and something that resembles it by technological wizardry may be guiltlessly and without shame passed off as AN ORGAN. Even many organists participate in this fraudulent charade. After all, they can get much more noise for far less money and convince themselves that, well, it sounds like a real organ. But it doesn't, and if they heard AN ORGAN often enough they would be reminded that it doesn't.

An organ is an organ is an organ.
Then there are sets of tuned buzzers available in varying degrees of sophistication.
One of these is not an organ is not an organ is not an organ.

Francis -
I surprise myself AND most of my friends by using the computer even as elementarily as I do. We would all be more civil and civilised (perhaps) if we spoke by the tele-phone or wrote letters. But we have gotten into this lazy habit which enlarges our worlds. At least no one is calling his computer anything other than what it is. Yes, as you point out, the realities with which many of our colleagues contend often gives them little choice other than to use something other than AN ORGAN. At least we should have the intellectual honesty NOT EVER to call something that isn't an organ AN ORGAN. I am sure that many here may disagree with me, but I can imagine us having, in practice, a church music equivalent of the Academie Francaise which would require us all to use truth in advertising with the language we use. If I myself had only a not organ to play, I would call it just that, and all would have no doubt that it wasn't AN ORGAN, but a fake - no matter how technologically sophisticated a fake it was.

MJO, not everyone is as fortunate or blessed, as you must have been in life, that you everywhere you go, you have a pipe organ. If that has been the case for you, I congratulate you. That is not the case for most of us. Most Catholic Churches that I know of and have experienced, either do not have the money to purchase and/or upkeep the maintenance of a pipe organ, or flat out do not care, and will not purchase one. It is in those instances that alternatives have had to be implemented. You may not like or appreciate that, and that's fine. Than don't play in a church with a digital, and be done with it. For those of us that realize that even getting sacred music into the church (i.e. tomboysuze's bad experience), has been a difficult process, you can just imagine what trying to get a "real" organ into the church. Uphill battle.

With that being said, you may not like the alternatives, and again, that's your opinion, but I for one, am very glad that they do offer alternatives for us poor folk down here who can't afford to have access to one. If things like Hauptwerk don't interest you, than there is nothing to see here. I dont' think we need to get into another debate about what is "real" and "fake". I am pretty sure we all can figure that one out for ourselves.

Back to the original question... Yes, I downloaded that app over a year ago, and use it to find pitch once in awhile for a motet or chant. I'm not sure what else you would really want to do with it.

In an ideal world, all would have pipe organs. I am fortunate enough to have one, as well as a digital at home. Not all are so blessed, and I am well aware of the disordered priorities in Catholic parishes. One very fine priest I know said, "it's for God, so it should be the best." I like that attitude, but it seems to have died out years ago in the contemporary American church.

As I've said before, and I think it bears repeating, nearly every parish I know (even the Catholic ones) with a pipe organ has, if you ask most any member, the BEST pipe organ. They are all incredibly proud of their instrument, whether it be a brand new 60 rank Fisk or a 3 rank Moeller Artiste from the 50s.

And yet, you never hear a peep from people about their digital organ. Doesn't matter if it's the Allen that went in with the building or a half-million dollar Rodgers organ.

"Most Catholic Churches that I know of and have experienced, either do not have the money to purchase and/or upkeep the maintenance of a pipe organ, or flat out do not care, and will not purchase one."

They don't CARE, that's precisely THE PROBLEM! If they don't care about the instrument, they usually don't care about the music, either. You can play rap music (using the "gunshot" stop) for all anyone cares. Sorry, I think Church music is a higher calling than that.

In my last round of job seeking, one rather promising church (although a half-hour-plus drive away) told me in the interview, "No one cares if you can play Frenchy-whatever," in reference to my repertoire specialties. I discerned that this was not the parish for me. Anyone care to guess whether they had a digital or real organ?

I'm not sure where you got the $10k-15k figures from, but I have spent no where near that amount to put together a Hauptwerk setup. It didn't cost $200-300, but no where near $10k. That number is probably if you wanted to customize a very serious setup with organ woodwork and lots of bells and whistles.

Yes, you could probably get a small tracker for $10-15k, but your going to end up spending more than that when all is said and done. I have already been down that road researching all of that before I went to Hauptwerk.

Well those numbers are a little more practical, but still off. If you wanted to build a setup to run a 2 manual organ, you could do it for under 4k for sure.

Putting in a tracker organ in a residence, would run you well over 15k. I throw this out there, there is one on ebay right now, $7,500 or best offer. So let's assume $7,500. Now, who is doing the uninstalling at the church? You, a hired team? or just Joe the janitor? That's going to cost you even if you do it, as you have to have the tools and necessary resources to do the uninstall from the church or place of residence. Transportation of that instrument once it is disassembled. Any modifications necessary to your residence to accomodate the new instrument. Wiring necessary to install the instrument. You are talking at least $10-15 on top of what you are already paying, and that is probably a generous assumption. Unless you are an electrical engineer, tonal/voice specialist for organs, and plenty of hand and working knowledge, it is going to still cost you to place a small tracker in your residence.

Hauptwerk setup:

If all you want is a 2 manual practice instrument, which they have dozens of sample sets with just 2 manuals

computer system off the shelf that could support that $500-1000
hauptwerk program, you could buy just the basic, $249
touchscreen computers (varies, but you can find them on ebay for $200-300) and you only really need one
sample set/s, just bought a nice two manual french organ for $99.00
okay, now to the organ, old allen 301 $500-1000, or even less. No midi? no problem, Hlabs.com has a nice midi interface for like $350 bucks which they will even do the soldering on to the exisiting allen board.

All in all, you are still way under $4k

I had a friend buy a hauptwerk setup for $2,500 delivered from out of state, included delivery, console, pretty good computer setup, and several free sample sets, with a decent sound system. So it is possible to stay under $4k

Now if you want to have all the bells and whisles, yes, you are going to pay more. You get what you pay for. I spent less than a $1,000 on the palace of the arts gravissimo, because they had given me a generous discount for being a church employee. Computer system, I built myself because I have the technical know how to put one together. Which saved me considerable money to make that super computer. Could you do that yourself, sure, it isn't rocket science, and I am happy to help anyone that needs technical advice should they decide they want to try their hand at such a setup. As well there are plenty of helpful hands over at organforum.com

I know your not knocking the Hauptwerk system/setup, but when comparing money to one or the other, Hauptwerk is still going to beat out trying to spend a fortune to add a pipe organ to a residence. There is no comparison.

Oh, and not to mention, if you have a wife, and she isn't too happy about your numerous organs collections, she may not be too pleased with your idea of installing a real pipe organ in your home. Just for the saying, lol :)

I know one thing for sure, if I bring home one more organ, I won't have too worry about a place to stay, because my wife would kick me out of the house haha

I am downloading the new free version of hauptwerk at the moment. Previously, the free trial versions of Hauptwerk had a periodic "ding" sound which would have been far too distracting to make it of any use to me.

My computer isn't particularly powerful though. 1.66 Ghz with 2Gb of ram. Hopefully drawing stops of a small positiv type instrument won't be too taxing on it!

If you are interested in Hauptwerk and virtual organs, then you will be interested in my new book, entitled "All about Hauptwerk - The virtual pipe organ".
It is available now from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kaspencer. In just a few weeks Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble etc. will have it, but it only takes a few days by post from Lulu.
Details and chapter list are also on the Hauptwerk Forum, here: http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14329
I just know you'll love it!
Best wishes,
Kenneth Spencer

Opus 1 looks to be still there.
Also Church Organ By Omenie Limited

Not sure about similar, what features are you looking for? I installed Church Organ Lite from Google Play on a Lenovo tablet running Android 8.1. Not impressed, but there is a Pro version.
I accept that one should be cautious about straying from Google Play - I see that the Opus #! is on a site with "andriod" in its name, so I smell something bad there. The Omenie offerings are mainly for iPad, but some of them say they have Andoid versions so they may be safe.
[UPDATE}Now I get a flash message "Removed from App store" for Omenie as well!

And unstable!

As am I and it crashes alllll the time.

I had been using the free version of hw4 but when I updated os it killed compatibility and then I had to refer to GO. I’ve been very disappointed with it; for me it is unstable and there is substantially more lag (ms) than I had with HW too.

Dual-core mac mini with 16gb ram running Big Sur. (admittedly, an older machine, but still powerful enough for the small chamber organs I try and load, esp. with 16gb ram.)