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Our 10yo was singing in Town Hall tonight. Sydney Combined Public School Choir. Really good :-)
I haven't been in there in years - it's a fantastic room.
It's a shame I only had my crap phone on me - but I think you get the scale of it. The big big pipe in the middle is 90cm diameter or more - I reckon that you could stuff about 1/4 of the choir in it!
Cheers,
John K
Follow Ups:
Sorry to disappoint but most of the visible pipes for most organs are decorative and don't 'sound'.Not all, of course.
as in ours. This uses several large sealed box loudspeakers as well as acoustic pipes. Some are of the PA/musical instrument type, plus ones for deep bass to do the kind of pedal-reed sound we can't get as there isn't room for long/high enough pipes.
The original idea for this was mine! Using a MIDI connection off the old console, and tall dual pipe |||| TL subs. Chris Erskine the organist, and lawyer and Senior Counsel, took the idea beyond my wildest dreams.
http://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/ManukaAng.html
Gives even more detail.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 09/16/14
And is still all air operated!
""Built between 1886 and 1889 by Hill & Son, of London (and not provided with a job number), the instrument was instantly famous for then being the world’s largest organ and for the novelty of its full-length 64-foot Contra Trombone stop. It remains the world’s largest organ without any electric action components and is of international significance as representing the pinnacle of British achievement in the Victorian era, even though its conservative design was the subject of debate at the time.""
Cheers,
John K
Try this demo recording of the 64 foot pipe!
Cheers,
John K
No, the original idea was from a person whom you don't know.
Back in the early 1990s.I've also added an extra link where Chris goes into great detail about the organ as it is now.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 09/16/14 09/16/14 09/16/14 09/16/14
While scanning your post, it seemed that you were claiming the idea for the organ in the hall (Sydney Town Hall) which was being discussed was yours. To the casual reader, it was not obvious that you were talking about an entirely different facility.I'll add that I've now read the article by Chris Erskine (2002), and there is no mention of a Tim Bailey birthing the idea of a combination pipe/electronic organ. In fact, from the beginning of the article:
"The combination organ - part electronic, part pipe - has finally arrived in Australia. Although relatively common in the USA,"
Relatively common in the USA. Apparently, this combination has been used by organ makers for years.
To proclaim "The original idea for this was mine!" is a major mis-representation. Maybe the notion to consider it (using a MIDI connection) was new to you, but then-current practice - as had been previously implemented multiple times - was much more advanced than your idea.
Edits: 09/17/14
Chris Erskine used to drive me in, in the colder months, to Sunday choir practice held for an hour before 10 AM service, allowing Patricia to drive in on her own, and not have to sit in a running car with the heater on, for an hour.Chris has driven the whole organ thing at St Pauls for as long as I can remember, and has personally paid for some if the work. One Sundday we were discussing the limited range of the existing organ in the 'new' organ / choir loft. Due to the restricted height in the organ loft there is not enough room for putting in long pedal-reeds, to play the two or three lowest notes.
On a subsequent trip? I told Chris about my own plans for subs. And, that it might be possible to link the console's pedals to amplifiers via some interface, he could use sub-woofers.
I was about to buy cardboard form-work tubes to build subs for use at home here. One of matching diametre to a 12inch woofer and an outer one whose remaining area would match that of the inner tube? As suggested by Nelson Pass IIRC, or Dave Dlugos?
But when Patricia saw them in the garage she put her foot down, and we compromised on big ELF enclosures using the outer tubes.
Similar TL items might have solved the path-length Vs height problem in the organ loft, but would have taken up quite a lot of floor area, especially if built to take 15s or 18s! Chris was not keen on their size, nor appearance!
I was very busy with my work and suggested to Chris that he ask organ makers, musical instrument folk, and Professional Audio types about the idea of subs and gave him some contacts.
As we can see he found he could add lots of capabilities not just pedal reed bass. Apart from those original conversations I had every little to do with the project. But I promoted and supported it within the parish particularly the dependent extension of the building. Neither of us were aware of these marvellous possibilities.
Your assumptions or opinions are grounded in your own knowledge of what's possible and doesn't engage with the reality that neither Chris or I were aware of the possibilities, way back when.
To me it is a good example of 'leaping to judgement', even perhaps an a-priori judgement?
Perhaps you could try to read less 'casually,' and just as important, to leap to judgement less often.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 09/17/14 09/17/14
That does look like a fantastic hall, and that IS a huge pipe organ! And it's always cool when we or our kids get to perform in a hall like that.But who ever thought it was a good idea to hang that black line array, and the lights and lighting grid, in front of that beautiful organ and stage?! Sometimes, the people who run these facility upgrade projects really have no business being on the committee! Just because some equally asthetics-challenged systems designer says "you can" doesn't mean "you should". Hopefully, in another 10 or 20 years, someone will have the brains to say "this looks horrible and we need to fix it".
:)
Edits: 09/16/14
The line array was actually a cream colour - at least tried to blend it in, but it is 3 or 4 metres tall!
The ceilings and fixtures are stunning, and yes, to a large degree obscured by the junk hanging down everywhere. The back half of the hall is pristine.
I hope that in the restoration in the '90s they were motorised and so able to be raised and lowered easily so they could be removed when not required - mind you, I suppose there are recitals and performances in there several times every week and they must have their lights and gadgets!
Cheers,
John K
part of the reason I was in Sydney was to visit and hear that organ. I walked into it and there was one guy in there, I asked when they would be playing the organ and he said in 3 days.
Well, in 3 days I was going to be on a boat in the Bass Straight. He asked where i was from and I told him Palo alto and he said that is a long way to travel to hear an organ.
"tell you what" he said, I am the organist and I will play it for you.
And so from 40 feet back I listened as he played 30 minutes of Bach .
That big pipe goes down to 8 cycles and when he hit those notes the pressurization was unreal, my pant legs did indeed flap, nothing could be heard but the pressure was unreal.
That 30 minutes was a highlight of my whole trip, the organist gave me a gift I will never forget.
I really neeeed to keep track of organ recitals at the Town Hall and take my daughters in there.
You were really lucky to get a personal performance!
Cheers,
John K
I had the best part of 8 years, two services / concerts or more per week, singing to the accompaniment of such an organ.
Makes home audio seem almost silly. Even with ELF type subs, like BAG-End or the BIG RELs.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
The only thing more awesome is when you are standing in the organ loft in back of the organist and the pipes are almost in arm's reach. (It helps if the organ is over 150 years old.)
And this was just a little organ... :-)
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Here's some information about the one I sat in front of for 8 years or more at least twice a week.
http://www.newcastlecathedral.org.au/music.html
And
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=mgeneral&m=112142
Longer article about the Christchurch organ below.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
and overwhelming sonic experiences I have ever had.
It was a long time ago but truly memorable.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
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