Palace of Arts Budapest Pipe Organ Samples
From Inspired Acoustics Knowledge Base
Palace of Arts Budapest (PAB) Pipe Organ Samples is a fully playable, freely configurable, intuitively manageable and MIDI-controllable virtual pipe organ developed by Inspired Acoustics.
With more than 20,000 individual sound samples, it captures with complete authenticity every sonic nuance of the 92-stop 134-rank Pécsi-Mühleisen symphonic pipe organ of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, located in the heart of Europe’s renowned cultural center, the Palace of Arts – Budapest, Hungary[1].
Palace of Arts Budapest Pipe Organ Samples has unique controls identical to the original pipe organ in both operation and appearance. It runs within the Hauptwerk virtual pipe organ software, and is available for both PC and Macintosh computer operating systems.
As an exact reproduction of the stage console, the virtual pipe organ has 92 stops (controlling a total of 134 ranks of pipes), 5 manuals (each with 61 keys), pedalboard (32 keys), 2 sweller pedals, 2 tremulants (tremolos), a freely programmable 61-stage crescendo wheel with two different and independent program slots, a custom combination action to store different registrations and many other features.
Video screen capture performance of Joseph Felice playing his own adaptation of Sergei Rachmaninov's transcription of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee
Joseph Felice performs J.S. Bach's Trio Sonata No. 4. using PAB Extended Edition with IA Temperaments Pack 1, Bach's scale.
Rob Stefanussen plays D. German on PAB
Rob Stefanussen plays J.C. Kellner on PAB
Contents |
Versions and editions
Editions
There are five editions of PAB at different price points.
| edition | stops | acoustics | release date | price | link |
| Extended Edition | all 92 | concert hall and CSA cathedral acoustics | May 1, 2009 | $999 USD (download) $1199 USD (box) | IA website |
| Professional Edition | all 92 | concert hall | November 30, 2008 | $799 USD (download) $899 USD (box) | IA website |
| Medium Edition | 45 stops | concert hall and CSA cathedral acoustics | February 3, 2009 | $399 USD (download) $499 USD (box) | IA website |
| Essential Edition | 23 stops | concert hall | January 22, 2009 | $199 USD (download) | IA website |
| Small Edition | 15 stops | concert hall | January 22, 2009 | $129 USD (download) | IA website |
| Trial Edition | 15 stops | concert hall | January 22, 2009 | free | IA website |
The Medium Edition comes with 3 types of acoustics: the original concert hall acoustics, the sCSA (shorter reverb) cathedral acoustics and the CSA acoustics (longer reverb) a free downloadable add-on.
Version history
- 2008 November 30 - PAB Professional Edition v1.0 was released (shipping started on 18, December 2008)
- 2008 December 20 - PAB Professional Edition v1.1 update was released
- 2009 January 3 - PAB Professional Edition v1.11 hotfix
- 2009 March 2 - PAB Professional Edition v1.12 hotfix
- 2009 May 1 - PAB Professional Edition v1.0 was released
Licenses
There are 3 main types of licenses for PAB:
- Personal (end-user) license
- Institutional, Classroom and Worship license
- Commercial license
Personal licenses are allowed to any end-users for personal use on one computer at a time. All other licenses allow the following: use by more than one person at a time; installation to public spaces; use for professional and commercial purposes; use in public performance such as commercial concerts or in broadcast, professional recordings, audiovisual releases or movie scores without further royalties for the sounds themselves.
The organ
The Hungarian symphonic concert hall organ of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest is one of Europe's newest and most prestigious instruments. It was jointly built in 2006 by two companies, the Hungarian Pécsi Orgonaépítő Manufaktúra, and the German Werkstätte für Orgelbau Mühleisen. The building process was monitored by a team of international concert organists and organ experts: Professor István Baróti, titular organist of Hungary's largest cathedral, leading the design of the instrument's disposition (stoplist and other sonic characteristics), with advisory roles provided by organbuilder Konrad Mühleisen and internationally acclaimed Hungarian organist László Fassang. The hugely versatile instrument, with its wide range of stops and timbral nuance, permits the authentic performance of organ literature from the Renaissance to the Avant-garde without compromise, and is well-suited to all repertoire with organ and orchestra. Uniquely -- and for the first time in history -- this instrumental masterpiece was built and installed simultaneously during the actual construction of the concert hall itself. The instrument may be played from two complete and independent consoles, each with 5 manuals of 61 notes, 32-key pedalboard, 92 stops, controlling 6804 pipes. The upper (gallery) console is mechanical (tracker action, built into the organ's mighty case), and the lower (stage) console is electrical, and can be located anywhere on the concert hall stage.
Stoplist
| Pedal | I. Grand Orgue | II. Positif expressif | III. Récit expressif | IV. Solo | V. Chamade |
| 1 Majorbass 32' | 30 Montre 16' | 60 Quintatön 16' | 90 Violon 16' | 120 Rohrbourdon 16' | 150 Chamade 16' |
| 2 Soubasse 32' | 31 Principal 8' | 61 Principal 8' | 91 Gedeckt 16' | 121 Principale 8' | 151 Chamade 8' |
| 3 Principalbass 16' | 32 Flu^te harmonique 8' | 62 Cor de nuit 8' | 92 Geigenprincipal 8' | 122 Konzertflöte 8' | 152 Chamade 4' |
| 4 Contrebasse 16' | 33 Gamba 8' | 63 Flu^te traversie`re 8' | 93 Flu^te harmonique 8' | 123 Voce humana 8' | 153 IV+V |
| 5 Violon 16' | 34 Bourdon 8' | 64 Salicional 8' | 94 Gamba 8' | 124 Nasard 5 1/3' | 154 III+V |
| 6 Soubasse 16' | 35 Praestant 4' | 65 Unda maris 8' | 95 Voix céleste 8' | 125 Octave 4' | 155 II+V |
| 7 Grossquinte 10 2/3' | 36 Rohrflöte 4' | 66 Praestant 4' | 96 Aeoline 8' | 126 Tierce 31/5' | 156 I+V |
| 8 Octavbass 8' | 37 Quinte 22/3' | 67 Flu^te conique 4' | 97 Bourdon a` cheminée 8' | 127 Septie`me 2 2/7' | 157 P+V |
| 9 Gedackt 8' | 38 Superoctave 2' | 68 Quinte 22/3' | 98 Violine 4' | 128 Flu^te 2' | 158 IV+IV 4' |
| 10 Cello 8' | 39 Cornet 2-5x 8' | 69 Doublette 2' | 99 Flu^te octaviante 4' | 129 Sesquialtera 2 2/3' + 13/5' | 159 IV+IV 16' |
| 11 Octave 4' | 40 Mixtur 5-7x 22/3' | 70 Terz 13/5' | 100 Nasard 22/3' | 130 Plein jeu 3-5x 2 2/3' | 160 III+III 4' |
| 12 Tibia 4' | 41 Cimbel 4-5x 11/3' | 71 Larigot 11/3' | 101 Octavin 2' | 131 Cor anglais 8' | 161 III+III 16' |
| 13 Tercsept 2x 6 2/5' | 42 Trompete 16' | 72 Piccolo 1' | 102 Tierce 13/5' | 132 Tuba mirabilis 8' | 162 II+II 4' |
| 14 Zinck 3x 5 1/3' | 43 Trompete 8' | 73 Mixtur 4-6x 2' | 103 Progressio 2-4x 2' | 133 Walze | 163 II+II 16' |
| 15 Compensum 7x 2 2/3' | 44 Trompete 4' | 74 Septnone 2x 8/9' + 11/7' | 104 Cymbale 4x 1' | 134 Koppeln aus Walze | 164 I+IV 4' |
| 16 Mixtur 4x 2 2/3' | 45 I+IV m. | 75 Basson 16' | 105 Bombarde 16' | 135 Mixturen aus Walze | 165 I+IV 16' |
| 17 Bombarde 32' | 46 I+IV e. | 76 Dulzian 16' | 106 Basson-Hautbois 8' | 136 Zungen aus Walze | 166 I+III 4' |
| 18 Bombarde 16' | 47 I+III m. | 77 Trompette 8' | 107 Trompette harmonique 8' | 137 P+IV e. | 167 I+III 16' |
| 19 Basson 16' | 48 I+III e. | 78 Cromorne 8' | 108 Voix humaine 8' | 138 P+III e. | 168 I+II 4' |
| 20 Trompete 8' | 49 I+II m. | 79 Clarinette 8' | 109 Clairon harmonique 4' | 139 P+II e. | 169 I+II 16' |
| 21 Clairon 4' | 50 I+II e. | 80 Tremulant II. | 110 Tremulant III. | 140 P+I e. | 170 P+IV 4' |
| 22 P+IV m. | 81 II+III m. | 111 III+IV m. | 171 P+III 4' | ||
| 23 P+III m. | 82 II+III e. | 112 III+IV e. | |||
| 24 P+II m. | 83 II+IV m. | ||||
| 25 P+I m. | 84 II+IV e. | ||||
Notable features
All stops and all notes sampled
All sounds of the pipe organ were recorded entirely at 192 kHz, chromatically. The final sample set has been made available in 48 kHz / 24-bit 2-channel stereo format. Multiple loops were carefully selected for each 12-second sample. Triggered by Hauptwerk to play back randomly, this elaborate looping results in sustained notes of unmatched realism. The loops were calculated in a well-planned way, yielding both shorter and longer loops for each sample. This provides the option for you to control the computer memory (RAM) consumption when loading the organ: by selecting only the first, shorter loops, you will be able to save a significant amount of RAM, thus permitting the loading of more samples (organ stops and their associated ranks) into your computer at one time. The short loops are constructed in such a way as does not impact the overall sound quality. 56% of the samples have three independent loops markers defined within them, 41% have two, while the remaining 3% have markers ranging from one to eight, according to the complexity of the notes. The samples are in stereo, which means the image of the sound is preserved completely and accurately. This is very useful for those intending to create recordings, since the virtual instrument delivers the appropriate spatial sound image without need of any adjustment — no artificial panning or approximations were used in the creation of the library: what you hear is exactly the same that was captured during the recording sessions. On the other hand, it is also very easy to configure Hauptwerk to direct the sound output into a great number of loudspeakers, reducing the potential for loudspeaker intermodulation distortion. Multiple release samples provide realistic, note-off-triggered pre-recorded reverberation for different lengths of notes. For example, a short note, with sound not fully developed will produce a different reverberation than a long sustained note. This quality is preserved in the sample library by providing multiple release sample layers.
Graphical User Interface
The graphical user interface of this organ is unique in many ways. First of all, dimensional characteristics of the stage console were completely modeled in 3-D, and the interface was implemented in a non-orthogonal, perspective console view that is fully photo-realistic, yet operational at the same time. The graphically represented manual and pedalier keys on the computer screen(s) move while you play, and every corresponding virtual button, toe-stud, pedal and LED readout responds appropriately to your actions. The 1280 x 1024 pixel native resolution of the graphical user interface is optimized for today's common touchscreens. Both multiple- and single-screen operation is possible: the large number of stops can be operated conveniently from a wide choice of interface pages, displayable on multiple touchscreens. Alternately, convenient single screen operation is also provided; although touch screens are highly desirable to realize your performance instructions and stop setups, they are not absolutely required to enjoy capturing the numerous tonal and visual resources of the PAB sampled organ library.
Custom Combination Action
Semi-dry library
Due to the fact that this instrument is located in a concert hall venue rather than a cathedral of multi-second reverberation, the PAB organ sample library is termed 'semi-dry', meaning that it is perfectly applicable for both dry and reverberant places. Unlike other sample sets where church acoustics are fixed to the sound, the samples in PAB ideally work together with any type of reverberation whether it is natural, such as a real installation in an already reverberant space, or in an acoustically dry space that is augmented by third-party reverberation software or hardware; it is you who can choose whether to perform or compose using the original concert hall acoustics or whether to apply additional reverberation to suit your own taste and repertoire being performed.
According to a previous survey on this website, the majority of the answers suggests that the concert hall acoustics of this semi-dry sample set is considered as an advantage by the community of Hauptwerk users, allowing to make use of the installation's natural acoustic environment, or to augment the semi-dry acoustic with third party reverberation software or hardware.
Programmable crescendo wheel with multiple programs
Optional organ engine noise
The organ engine in Palace of Arts Budapest Pipe Organ Samples is an optional noise source that you can enable or disable according to your preference. For the benefit of recording engineers, an extremely high-quality pipe organ recording is made possible, since extraneous noise from the organ's various mechanical and electrical workings are completely removed from the sample library. For those performers who seek to capture every last characteristic nuance of sound of the real instrument in operation, one has the option to engage the whir of the organ engines/blowers, also enabling the sounds of the mechanical action's hardware when changing stop combinations.
Other features
The button named 'Zungen' (German-speak for 'Reeds') allows users to temporarily disable or re-enable all reed stops from any combination currently in use. This is a very useful feature of large organs and can be used in many situations when reeds need to be removed or re-engaged during live performance; it is otherwise nearly impossible for the organist to quickly -- but temporarily -- silence them via pressing numerous stops by hand, while leaving the foundation and mutation stop choices intact during a live performance.
User manual
The User Manual for PAB Pipe Organ Samples guides the reader through the fascinating history and details of the magnificent Pécsi-Mühleisen instrumental masterpiece, unveils features of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, contains an explanation of stop names available on this organ, lists more than 80 different historical tunings, and provides tips and hints on how to use the library to its best advantage. In yet another first, the User Manual introduces a Guide to Room Acoustics, focusing on pipe organs, written by Csaba Huszty exclusively for PAB Pipe Organ Samples in a comprehensive yet easily readable form.
Reception and Users
The PAB organ library was first announced in the Hauptwerk Forums before its official announcement in the press, where it produced a significantly high number of forum thread visitors in a very short time. Some forum users suspected that such a library with its innovations was "too good to be true," and even suggested that the library is not existing or is a hoax [1]. The library was announced with a group buy. In the introduction period the forum members were looking for more audio demos than were available. Demos were produced and added to the website later within the group buy period, including a live-performed orchestral piece recorded exclusively for merging its sounds with those of the PAB organ.
According to a previous survey on this website, a notable interest was showed in PAB for academic, worship and commercial use as well, besides personal usage.
Notable uses and users
On 28 November 2008, two days before the official launch of PAB, The Queensland Orchestra with 102 musicians conducted by Muhai Tang performed the famous Sunrise sequence of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathusra at the Brisbane City Hall, Australia but without the pipe organ. The exclusive custom performance was recorded dry by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Acoustics of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall and the pipe organ were subsequently added to the recording; such a recording demonstrates the wide possibilities of use of PAB even with a real orchestra. Since the music was once a movie score itself in Stanley Kubrik's 2001, A Space Odyssey (1967), movie score capabilities were also proven.
Among the first ten customers of PAB was a European music conservatory for a 2009 performance hall installation.
User reviews
User reviews of the PAB sample set
Requirements
Although it is believed the PAB sampled organ requires an exceptionally capable computer to render the maximum potential performance from the library, there are many documented examples showing highly acceptable performance with less than cutting-edge, state-of-the-art computers in the Hauptwerk Forums[2]. One such example garnered the highest visitation activity ever -- over 462 views and 23 comments -- in only the first five days -- in the Contrebombarde Concert Hall website, cited in reference #3.
Creation process of the library
Preparations and recording
Preparations for recording PAB included initiation and implementation of a broader cooperation between Entel/Inspired Acoustics and the Palace of Arts – Budapest concert hall personnel. Nearly two years of preparation, organization and planning took place before the actual recording could start. The recording effort itself started in September 2007, more than a year after the official opening of the Palace of Arts. Even the regular cleaning/maintenance of the concert hall had to be rescheduled to allow the privilege of continuous recording by Inspired Acoustics personnel. Preparations included a custom acoustic setup of the hall, involving repositioning the 40-ton stage canopy and the 10-ton reverberation chamber doors along with all curtains to a location the creators specifically desired. The first session took about 47 hours, continuously, allowing the digital recording process to capture a completely consistent spatial image of the organ. An unprecedented 640 GB of sample data with the exact same equipment and recording setup was acquired.
High Definition Sampling (HDS): Recording of this instrument was conducted following thorough acoustic measurements in the concert hall. All pipes were recorded with the same recording equipment, under the same acoustic and physical conditions, entirely in 192 kHz / 24-bit format. Advanced Pipe Organ Measurements (APM): Inspired Acoustics' APM technology was developed to measure inner sound properties and characteristics of the pipe organ. APM is used to capture the sound characteristics of swellboxes, case behavior and actual equipment setup accurately. Real pipes behave differently in terms of sound buildup, and it is not possible to accurately determine the correct timing of the sample playback start-of-note without due care. Synchronized Sampling Technology (SST): Inspired Acoustics' SST is a technology developed to record an instrument so that note starts are sample accurate, meaning that both the sound buildup and the delay introduced by the distance of each pipes are flawlessly preserved.
Post processing
Extensive post production activities started parallel with the recordings and the creation of the complete library, which all together, has taken more than 12,000 working man-hours. The same multi-stage post processing technique was employed to reduce extraneous noise (of the engines/blowers, as well as ambient noise from the hall's ventilation system, and occasional street/airplane noises coming from outside the hall) of the samples and prepare them for the library, and each sample was processed individually, one-by-one with customized parameters.
People and equipment
At least 10 people were involved in the creation of the library, with more than another 20 helping and supporting it somehow, including concert organists, organ professors and the organ builders. The library was created in the cooperation implemented between the Palace of Arts, Budapest and Entel/Inspired Acoustics. We hope it sets the benchmark of quality for future virtual pipe organ libraries to come.
Statistics of the library
The Professional Edition of PAB contains approximately 20,000 individual sound samples, more than 8,000 discrete image files and an Organ Definition File (ODF) with over 3 million lines of computer code. The ODF file alone takes 11,477 pages to print (at the font size of 11 with line spacing 1.0), and it is equivalent to the size and information content of 40 university text books.
References
- ↑ Hauptwerk Forums Access date: 2008-11-29
- ↑ Hauptwerk Forums - 74 stops loaded in 4 GB of RAM Access date: 2008-12-31
User Demos on Contrebombarde.com
Palace of Arts Budapest Pipe Organ Samples users contributed many of their own demos on the Conctrebombarde Concert Hall website.
Professional Edition
- 6 March 2010 - Prélude sur l'Introït de l' Épiphanie - Contributor: Fazioli, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 15 December 2009 - Variations sur un Noël Angevin - Contributor: Randall_Mullin, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 14 December 2009 - Stille Nacht - arrangement of Ferenc Gergely - Contributor: Cantor, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 1 December 2009 - Go, Tell It on the Mountain - Contributor: stefanussen, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 30 November 2009 - Toccata Nervosa - Good King Wenceslas - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 9 November 2009 - Praeludium und Fuge "Christ lag in Todesbanden" - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 6 November 2009 - Naïades (Pièces de Fantaisie) - Contributor: Randall_Mullin, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 28 October 2009 - Prelude and Fugue in F# Minor - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 26 October 2009 - I Saw Three Ships - Contributor: stefanussen, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 11 October 2009 - Trumpet Tune in 7 - Contributor: Randall_Mullin, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 28 September 2009 - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Contributor: stefanussen, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 25 September 2009 - Es ist Ein Ros' - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 12 September 2009 - L'Annunciation - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 7 September 2009 - Grand Choeur Dialogue - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 7 September 2009 - Adagio - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 1 September 2009 - Lobe den Herrn - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 1 September 2009 - Allein Gott in der Höh sie Ehr - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 30 August 2009 - Trumpet Tune in D (excerpt) - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 26 August 2009 - Mach Hoch die tür - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
- 26 August 2009 - Prelude and Fugue in Eb - Contributor: giwro, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Pro
Medium Edition
- 19 February 2009 - Rondo "Alla Turca" - Contributor: jcfelice88keys, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Medium
- 13 February 2009 - Flight of the Bumblebee - Contributor: jcfelice88keys, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Medium
- 28 January 2009 - Flight of the Bumblebee - Contributor: jcfelice88keys, organ: Palace of Arts Budapest Medium
