Phoenix Organs

[arie v]

Clarion,

If Phoenix is the North American choice for hybridizing pipe organ, maybe you can furnish a list of all the pipe organ builders that use Phoenix for the digital stops. If other pipe builders use them, then there is a level of acceptance in the industry.

As far as I know, Walker Technical is the company most often used by quality builders for electronic stops. Musicom is also used by some well known builders.

Just about every company selling digital church organs have examples of hybrids under their belt.

As for Viscount, their solution is their stop module, the CM-100. It is a very versatile unit, giving a maximum of 12 stops. Very configurable, in choice of stops used (has 180 built-in stops), audio routing (6 output channels), and an editor to voice the unit. I have installed a number of them with success. Very cost effective as well.

A decade ago, many pipe organs had Ahlborn Archive modules added to them, by builders. They are still sought after for this purpose, even though they have been out of production for 5 years now.

As for really cheap solutions, there are the freebie emulators that you can get off the web such as j-Organ, Grand Organ, etc.

In any case, the end result is still whether sufficient and quality audio is used and how well it is integrated with the pipe work.

AV

[Clarion]

If you would like a sampled sound organ, the pricing is in fact more competitive than Phoenix with most Viscount Dealers. http://www.whiteselmusic.com

I really fail to understand the comparison you are attempting to employ when you say "[Viscount] pricing is in fact more competitive than Phoenix". Any similarity whatsoever between a cheap bottom-of-the-line, off-the-shelf, off-the-boat "Galanti Family" contraption; compared to an ever so carefully, personally custom-crafted top-of-line Phoenix, defies immagination!

[Clarion]

As far as I know, Walker Technical is the company most often used . . .

"most often used"? You could say the same thing said about the town hooker.

While "cheap" has been an oft applied attribute associated with her, I can't recall her name ever being associated with "quality"!

[Clarion]

As for Viscount, their solution is their stop module, the CM-100. It is a very versatile unit, giving a maximum of 12 stops. Very configurable, in choice of stops used (has 180 built-in stops), audio routing (6 output channels), and an editor to voice the unit. I have installed a number of them with success. Very cost effective as well.

How do you track tuning with a CM-100??

[arie v]

"most often used"? You could say the same thing said about the town hooker.

While "cheap" has been an oft applied attribute associated with her, I can't recall her name ever being associated with "quality"!

What kind of horse piss you been drinking?

Walker Technical is considered the best solution by pipe builders for digital pedal extensions, and for making hybridizing pipe organs. And their equipment is very expensive compared to most digital organ vendors. They are the unquestioned leader in the field, and have been for the last 15 or more years. M & O also do very fine work, but they are more known for complete digital instruments.

AV

[arie v]

How do you track tuning with a CM-100??

Clarion,

I assume you mean how does it follow tuning when there is a temperature change in the pipes or winding. Very simple, you input a temperature sensor on the appropriate MIDI channel. Pretty much the same way it is done by everybody else in the business.

AV

[Clarion]

Interesting that the vice president of a pipe organ company would choose a Phoenix organ for his own church:

http://phoenixorgans.com/installatio...nstallation=48

And this organ is by no means an economy low-budget organ! It is pretty much a top-of-the-line instrument, somewhat similar to the one currently being installed in St. Michael's Cathedral, although I suspect that the the audio systems of the two organs might be just a tad different.

[Clarion]

Walker Technical is considered the best solution by pipe builders for digital pedal extensions, and for making hybridizing pipe organs. And their equipment is very expensive compared to most digital organ vendors. They are the unquestioned leader in the field . . .

Well, I am now questioning the "unquestioned leader" in the field, so you can no longer use that claim.

While Walker might be doing rather well within a 500 mile radius of their home, there is a much bigger world out there. In the British Isles, where they probably have more pipe organs than all of North America; Phoenix enjoys an envied reputation as the preferred hybridizer of choice. And I've heard such enthusiastically positive reports from British organists in response to Phoenix additions to their organs!

Then there is the matter of voicing and configuration software. While Phoenix routinely supplies their customers with a suite of configuration and voicing software, Walker doesn't! And the reason Walker doesn't provide their customers with config software, is that their "software" is little more than a quick-and-dirty utility that allows Walker to voice the organ, but totally unusable by a customer for fear that the customer might trash the entire organ.

I must say, that I couldn't be more pleased with Phoenix software. No matter what foul things I might do to the organ, it is such a simple matter to go back to a previously saved configuration. And very worst case, where I have totally and irretrievably screwed up, and the organ will no longer work, help is no further away than a simple email to Phoenix; and your config files will arrive by return email. They have all of my original configuration and voicing files on file. Done know about you, but that feature alone would place Phoenix at the very top of my list. And that would not be the first time Phoenix has earned a positon at the very top of my list!

[Abbey]

I was unaware of pipe organ, their technology, but it good source to find the knowledge about pipe organ. I also came to know about the good companies which manufacture pipe organ. There are some information which is not clear like how to configure the software. Some of the point raised like temperature variation, they are very important. These points are always neglected by most of the user and they end up something else which the did not intended for.

[PianOrgan]

I have been "listening" to this thread quite intently, as I am searching for a new organ to replace our 1960's vintage Allen. I am really interested in Phoenix, but have been unable to get some concrete price ranges. I'm looking for something in the two- or three-manual variety, definitely want a 32' Reed in the pedals, and possibly 16' stops in the manuals. In looking at the organs from their website, I have narrowed it down to the PT243, PDL240, and the PD245. Any hints on pricing for these models? And by the way, that 60's Allen is a T-15b.