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Visit to the "Wall of Voodoo"


Mallette

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So I'm sitting in my inlaws Florida room in suburban Tampa as I write. Just formalized a two day visit next Tuesday thru Thursday with Marshall, aka GLA51, proprietor of the famed "Wall of Voodoo." We are to insert the final brick, 160 lbs of McIntosh, into that wall. Personally, I think he should keep that "final brick" business between himself and Katrina, but whatever.

Anyway, I am packing an HDD with several hundred gb including the "Fox Touch" both CD ripped and 24/88.2 LP transfer, Pomp and Pipes, and a lot of other stuff I am looking forward to scaring the alligators away with.

Will provide reports as long as I am capable...

Dave

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I think I'm a bit envious...[:D]

Enjoy the time.

Hey... if you get downtown, you can have a look at that pipe organ at St. Andrews (...designed and built
by C.B. Fisk, Inc., Gloucester, Massachusetts. Opus 105 of the Fisk firm, the
two-manual instrument has 28 stops totalling 1,581 pipes, housed in a case of
quarter-sawn white oak. The specification, first proposed in 1987, reflects the
many roles a modern American church organ must play: leading hymn singing,
accompanying choral music, and playing four hundred years of organ repertoire.)

Bruce

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Thanks, Bruce. Being a high churchman of the Anglican catholic tradition...I'd done my homework and found that church and organ for Anglican high mass Christmas eve. Florida Symphony will play the service...

Almost as exciting as the "Wall of Voodoo."

Dave

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Thanks, Bruce. Being a high churchman of the Anglican catholic tradition...I'd done my homework and found that church and organ for Anglican high mass Christmas eve. Florida Symphony will play the service...

That would be beautiful! There were less than ten folks in attendance when my daughter had her wedding there.

Bruce

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I expect a few more than 10 for Midnight Mass. Taking the Korg MR-1 and getting there early for a good seat.

Can't wait. Then, I can play it back in DSD from the Korg thru the "Wall." Wish I'd brought a better mike than the one that came with it, but better than nothing.

Dave

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I expect a few more than 10 for Midnight Mass. Taking the Korg MR-1 and getting there early for a good seat.

Can't wait. Then, I can play it back in DSD from the Korg thru the "Wall." Wish I'd brought a better mike than the one that came with it, but better than nothing.

Now I am envious. My wife and I won't have time to get to our church in Atlanta on Sat. night. I would love to have THAT organ and Richard Morris at the same time.

Bruce

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Dave's organs have me worried [:P]..... I'm limited by the speakers & subs in the man cave's "Wall" to 28 Hz + 3dB. I'm solid to 33-34 Hz, but after that, the "roll-off" begins... The "beast" is the MC352 which will deliver to the K'horns (CW1526's for woofers). The MA6500's will deliver to each of the 3 pairs of Heresy "eXtremes" which make up the centers, upper left & right corners, and "surrounds". System is "fed" by the Creative Labs Titanium xFi (or whatever it's called) stereo only "audiophile" card, or the TASCAM CC-222MKIII. Dave's HDD will go in the external USB HD dock and feed the Xfi device.

Room is seriously treated and constructed with a sloped ceiling, and little (if any...) unwanted resonance/ spurious reflections. Since the room is small (nearfield studio size) 17 wide by 14 deep, anything below about 30 Hz starts rattling those strange African pygmy war mask wall decorations for which I have been noted to hang while burning the candles and casting the bones... Also the didgeridoo starts playing itself, which can be unnerving

But then again, it's hard to complain when listening to Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone" at only about 1-2 watts, you are pinned to your listening chair like sitting in a F-18 on a carrier launch.

Now what shall we feed the troops? Tuesday evening, Dave and crew should be tired and hungry after the trip, so maybe a nice smoked pork loin roast, and then retire to the living room for a nice movie? Wednesday is Dave's Chili & Wall of Voodoo day!! Later that evening, a nice movie.

The living room is set up for movies with the Cornwalls, Belles and a SW-110 sub. Comfy furniture and blankees make it a nice "nest" when it gets below 70 which is really cold here in Florida....

[H]

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hooWAH! This is gonna be fun. Jhoak, hope you can make it down on Wednesday. I am slightly bummed as my Korg isn't charging. I'd plugged it in yesterday to offload some stuff, which I got off just fine, but then the battery went dead. The power supply is warm, but it simply isn't working. Hope it is the cord to the Korg itself, otherwise it's internal and likely fatal. Don't have a meter, so I can't check that.

Anyway, midnight mass tonight at St. Andrews with or without it and that is going to be very cool.

I suspect we have a full day of listening Wednesday and you guys can expect a full and gloating running report...

Dave

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http://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html

Marshall, take a look at this if you get a chance. I have the Fox and a couple of other things in DSF format if this works. There's a 30 day trial. I haven't even looked to see what it costs, but was blown away that they claim DSF capability. DSF is the ultimate, IMHO, digital format with lossless transcoding to all PCM formats.

Dave

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Wowee, this St. Andrew's in Tampa is AWESOME. Opened at 2130 with the Florida Orchestra members playing Vaughan Williams "Music for Strings" and "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" with the choir joining them. Promptly at 2300 the great bells sounded, the steely eyed verger slammed his staff three times, the priest intoned in Anglican chant "Let us proceed in peace, and a marvelous coloratura soprano intoned "Once in royal David's city..." with the strings and the superb GB Fisk opus 105 tracker organ. The procession, in perfect step and time with the music, moved up, to the alter, and clouds of frankincense arose as the alter was censed, then the procession moved back through the main aisle. By this time, the congregation had joined the hymn, but as the procession passed with great clouds of incense being emitted from the now glowing censor, I had to hold my breath for a couple lines to avoid choking on the pungent frankincense due to a bit of raw throat from allegy drip. However, I was able to continue a few moments later.

The mass was a hybrid of Candlyn's "Choral Mass based on Christmas Carols" and the Prayer Book of 1928 Festal Eucharist: Rite One, one of the most beautiful liturgies in existence. It remains my hope that, like Rome, we will restore this great work to our normal service use next time we revise the Prayer Book. The Psalm was a Stainer Anglican Chant setting and it moved me to tears...it's been so long! I miss such things so.

I was near heaven by the time the choir and ministers recessed to "Hark, the herald angels sing" with the orchestra, organ, choirs, and congregation in full throat. As the final bell sounded midnight and the congregation left, we sat as the musicians played the "Allegro" from Mozart K. 157 and I gazed up through the pall of incense smoke in the building to the arms of St. Andrew, the Episcopal Church, and the Diocese of Florida above the nave and thought of the 1900 centuries this night has been celebrated and how we'd have been just as at home in the 3rd or 13th centuries on this night.

Sad to say I was unable to diagnose my Korg charging issue so I was not able to preserve this except in memory.

So now it's on to Marshall's on Wednesday!

Dave

post-9494-13819684358672_thumb.jpg

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Thanks for the report. I'm an Anglican myself, and attended the Christmas Eve service at Christ Church Cathderal in Vancouver, BC. The organ there is a tracker organ built for them by Kenneth Jones (of Ireland) about 10 years ago. The choir is wonderful, having won the national choral competition 4 timesin a row. And, yes, Christmas Eve is on the High Church side, so there was a fair cloud of incense being waved about from the thurible.

Merry Christmas!

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Wowee, this St. Andrew's in Tampa is AWESOME.

I knew you would like it.

I just wish the Catholic Church would realize the mistake they made in moving away from the Traditional Latin Mass after Vatican II. At least they have finally got more of the translations of prayers a little more correct.

Bruce

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And, yes, Christmas Eve is on the High Church side, so there was a fair cloud of incense being waved about from the thurible. Merry Christmas!

And a big kuiver'n klipsch klan "welcome" to you, dvb! Thanks for refreshing my memory on terms. After 6 years of low church I had forgotten the "thurifer" and "thurible." Our thurifer at my old church was the son of a Nigerian prince...who was on the vestry. They always wore Nigerian royal dress on high holy days. A beautiful family that made our parish look more like Christ wanted His church to look.

That young man could swing a thurible in perfect time to the music and procession...a work of art.

Dave

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Not to hijack your thread, but I attended Christmas service at 4:00pm today at the National Cathedral in DC. Although I would not describe myself as an organ buff,

I was literally in tears listening to the organ and choir perform Christmas Hymns. Truly a spiritual experience and I believe that I finally felt the Christmas spirit. I highly recommend it to anyone who finds himself in our capital. 5 stars all the way.

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http://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html

Marshall, take a look at this if you get a chance. I have the Fox and a couple of other things in DSF format if this works. There's a 30 day trial. I haven't even looked to see what it costs, but was blown away that they claim DSF capability. DSF is the ultimate, IMHO, digital format with lossless transcoding to all PCM formats.

Dave

I contacted them....... "The X-Fi Titanium HD card is not supported at this time". Also I am apparently quite the "dinosaur" with the .wav files....

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