The Future of Organ Playing is Some Punk With a Synth

[OO1]

 this guy is a good organ player - now what he plays is so unrelated to an organ's  true sound - that is , he makes the organ sound awful  -

 

he should be playing a piano instead like jerry lee lewis -now  he may look like jerry lee and want to play like jerry lee -but as he is using the wrong instrument -the result is a total waste of talent and a dead end for this artist -

 

what a shame -the synthesizer  was invented years ago

Edited February 8, 2015 by Randyh

[Mallette]

now what he plays is so unrelated to an organ's true sound

 

Randy, I am a purist who for the first couple of decades after I fell in love with the pipe organ turned up my nose at electrically assisted keyboards, that is, any organ that used electricity for anything other than the blower.   Didn't even much see the need for a swell box.  But then I learned to appreciate French organ music and then  my love extended to classic Skinners, Mollers, and the American classic voicing. 

 

But for years I drew the line at electronic instruments and the "I can't tell the difference" crowd.  About 10 years ago Hauptwerk came on the scene.  Initially, it was cheap.  Curious, I purchased a copy and hooked up a MIDI keyboard to my Klipschorns.  I was astonished to find myself playing what really sounded like the 1928 Mt. Carmel Skinner.  But I did not embrace it as I suddenly felt that here was a real threat to the craft of organ building.  The Allen's, Roger's, and such sounded pretty convincing to many but they weren't remotely comparable to my ears.  This was a different animal, though.  Real pipes sampled and algorithms applied to make the keyboard and sound extremely convincing. 

 

In the past couple of years I've realized that sampled, virtual instruments will take a bite out of the organ craft...but not kill it.  There will always be those with the money and desire for a living, breathing instrument.  No matter how convincing a virtual instrument is you are still basically listening to a recording.  But, as with the Edison "tone tests" all the way through to "real vs Memorex" the majority of people will not know or care about the difference.  Further, real instruments can be augmented by virtual additions.  The American Guild of Organists approved use of virtual 32' stops over a decade ago as even they felt that in that low region the advantages of virtual compared to the high cost, space and other requirements of giant pipes outweighed just saying "no" to the modern world.

 

Carpenter's instrument is NOT a synth.  All those sounds are from real, living, breathing instruments sampled at high resolution.  I am a stodgy old fart, but not oblivious to progress.  Far from "making the organ sound awful" his "Candide" reduced me to tears of recognition that he is taking the King of Instruments to a whole new generation and carrying on the work that Virgil Fox started in captivating audiences who otherwise see the pipe organ as something to be heard at funerals and weddings.

 

I like it.  I look forward to hearing more of him and his totally unorthodox mixed metaphors of previously unheard palettes that say "the organ's death is greatly exaggerated."

 

Dave