Tracker Touch
The touch of an organ is not always constant. Physis® Technology in Viscount organs has found a way to simulates the change in touch pressure needed as the organist adds additional stops. On a tracker pipe organ, as more stops are engaged, the keys become harder to press. This feature will satisfy even the most discriminating pipe organist. This feat has never been accomplished through any other technology. If you would like the organ to act as if it’s an electric-action, as opposed to a tracker, it can easily do this as well. To the average church organist, this organ will perform just as any other digital organ.
Variable Windchest Configuration and Air Pressure
One physical phenomenon that could only be attributed to real pipe organs is the slight changes in air pressure based on very specific variables happening in real time. The varying air pressure not only affects the attack of the note, but also the tuning. These tuning changes are not random – they are based on the size and number of windchests.
For instance, one well-respected American pipe organ builder uses one single windchest to power all notes of the organ. This means that any change in air pressure will affect all divisions. When you hit a massive chord with many stops pulled out, you will notice a very brief dip in air pressure by the ever so slight tuning destabilization it causes. In a pipe organ with multiple windchests, the air pressure changes may be isolated to only certain divisions of the organ. With Physis®, you as the organist are empowered to not only determine how many windchests your organ are built on, but also on how strong the blowers are in handling air pressure changes. If you’re unsure about any of this, your qualified Viscount organ local dealer will make all of these custom adjustments for you.
Ensemble Effect
While an organ’s windchests will play a major part into how the tone and tuning changes as it is played, the ensemble effect accounts for minute changes in tone and tuning take place when the air supply of the organ is stable. This is another small, but important, detail when it comes to the actual sound of an authentic pipe organ, and with Physis®, we’ve been sure to add it as a feature.
Our algorithm can implement the ensemble effect as it would occur with a fully-built, conventional organ, so you can offer the same sounds and get the same experience you’re used to.
Variable Attack based on real time computation
As you know, when you play the same note twice or repeatedly on a pipe organ, the attack of that note is not the same. This is because when you play a note repeatedly and quickly, there is already air in the pipe, which creates a different sound against the inner walls of that rank than it would if there wasn’t any air at all. Older sampled sound technologies have at sometimes incorporated ‘random’ attack.
Unfortunately, the randomness is just that. The sampled sound organ does not determine how the attack should sound in real time based on what precisely the ORGANIST is playing or doing at that moment in time. It is only randomly selecting which attack sampled to play, which isn’t what happens in a real pipe organ.
Physis® Technology on the other hand does.
Stone
Wood
Brick
Plaster