Zwolle Schnitger Organ Model - screenshots, specifications

Features

The sample sets are available in Hauptwerk format. Hauptwerk v. 2 and higher supported. There are three very different sample sets derived from the audio material recorded in Zwolle. The samples are available in 24bits/48kHz resolution, in plain wave format (no dongle protection).

Zwolle Dry - no reverberation included. Mono, close-up-recorded samples were used, panned with the native Hauptwerk pipe positioning function. You will have to add your own reverb to get the "wet" organ sound. In this way you can move the instrument virtually into any desired environment (small church, large cathedral, concert hall...). Remember to adjust voicing to achieve well balanced organ sound matching different environments.

Zwolle Wet - original reverberation icluded. O.R.T.F. Stereo recording technique was used to capture the sound of the instrument. The microphone pair was placed about 10 meters in front of the organ. Multiple releases supported for each sample. The reverberation time is about 5 seconds. There are two native release samples for each pipe (staccato, legato).

Zwolle Surround - while the traditional wet sample sets are composed of samples with 2 channels (left, right), the surround recording uses 4 independent channels for each virtual pipe (for each sample). Imagine standing in the church heading the organ. You hear the organ in front of you, but you also hear the reverberation of the church which is all around you, comming to your ears from all the directions. This is how the surround sample set is formed. The sound of the organ is captured by the "front" microphones, the church response by the "rear" microphones. 4 channels are extracted from the recording. Two channels are used to supply the sound of the organ for the front speakers, while the 2 other channels offer the diffused (reflected) sound comming to you from the church. You can use these two channels to feed your surround (rear) speakers. In this way, the realism of the reproduction is greately increased, since you may feel as being "inside" the sound field, experiencing not only left-right dimension of the sound, but also the front-back dimension. You hear the sound of the organ, but also the sound which returns to you from the church nave, all in perfect synchronization and localization. Please note, that at least 4 speakers are needed to reproduce the multi-channel audio. Remember to set up the Hauptwerk audio outputs well to accomodate the four channels. The ranks which are designed for the rear channels are marked with the word "rear".

Zwolle for Hauptwerk 1 - the wet version of the sample set is available in the older Hauptwerk format. The samples of the Zwolle Wet were downsampled to 16bit/44.1kHz for use with the Hauptwerk 1 or MyOrgan. The sample set requires 6 GB of HDD space and can be loaded to 4.148 GB of RAM using the memory compression.

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Requirements

• Screen resolution of 1200x1024 px at least.
• 3 GB of RAM - precisely 2.041 MB of RAM is needed for the Zwolle Dry, loaded in 16-bit, memory compression.
• 4 GB or RAM - precisely 3.06 MB of RAM is needed for the Zwolle Wet, if loaded in 14 bits, first loop only and only default release sample (multirelease disabled).
• 6 GB or RAM - precisely 4.812 MB of RAM for the Zwolle Wet, loaded in 14-bits, memory compression, full multiple releases, all loops.
• 8 GB of RAM - precisely 6.5 GB of RAM for the Zwolle Wet, loaded in 16-bits, memory compression, full multiple releases, all loops.
• 12 GB of RAM for the Zwolle Surround - 16-bits, memory compression, full multiple releases, all loops. This figure was reported by user using Mac machine. In this case, the 12 GB are used by Hauptwerk itself, so you have to have at least 1 GB more free RAM for the operating system and its processes!
• If you want to get most out of the samples, load it at least in 20-bits (possibly with the memory compression enabled). If you have to make compromises, it is always better to use the memory compression while loading in higher bit depth, than using the samples without the memory compression at lower bit depth! The higher bit depth, the less noise (hiss) introduced by the audio engine in Hauptwerk!
• polyphony of 3.000 voices recommended for the Zwolle Wet sample set, double the amount for the surround set. No special requirements on polyphony for the Zwolle Dry.
• HDD space: 3.30 GB for Zwolle Dry, 12.7 GB for Zwolle Wet, 25 GB for Zwolle Surround. If using Windows, your HDD has to be partitioned to "NTFS" file system. If you use FAT32 file system, then you will not be able to install the sample set. However, you may convert the file system using the DOS command: "convert  partitionname: /fs:ntfs" and then the sample set should install correctly (thanks to Martin and Marco). I am not aware of installation problems on MAC computers.
• From one of my users I have got some hints on using Zwolle Wet sample set uncompressed. He says: I ended up installing the various noises at 16 bits compressed, the pedal at 24 bits compressed and everything else at 24 bits uncompressed.  Squeaked by at 15.2 GB.

Specification

The complete stop list is available from different web page.

The original compass of the manuals is 4 full octaves (49 keys), the compass of the pedal is 27 keys (up to d). The extended version of the sample set is also available, the compass of the manuals extends to 54 keys (up to f) and the pedal compass is extended to 30 tones (up to f).

Screenshots

console	belows	stop jamb	voicing	Hauptwerk 1 version

Temperaments

There are two different temperament templates supplied with the sample set. Additionally, they can be downloaded from this location. After the installation, these temperaments are to be found among other Hauptwerk tuning schemes in the Temperament menu.

• Equal, a = 491.6 Hz. This temperament is designed to provide the original organ tuning. Although there is the "original organ" temperament available directly from the Hauptwerk menu, I recommend using this special tuning chart, since it forces the samples to sound in tune.
• Meantone, a=491.6 Hz. Schnitger St. Jacobi tuning scheme was used to provide the template for this tuning, however, it was applied to the Zwolle "Chorton" setting. I strongly recommend using this meantone temperament with Zwolle sample sets, since only then the stops which include thirds (cimbels, tertianns, sesquialteras...) will sound as intended. Also, the plenum sound will be more compact and even the individual stops will acquire characteristic sound color which the equal temperament can never imitate.