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It came to my attention in 2022 that the convent at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Makato, MN was closing, the sisters were all moving to a nearby retirement home together in Shakopee, and the property was slated to be put up for sale. Charlie and I both have a soft spot for preserving the sound of historic instruments in their natural surroundings, so I got in contact with Sister Lucille in the summer of 2022 to see if it might be possible to sample the historic 1877 Johnson organ and preserve the sound. After a number of emails and a trip down to see the organ and site, we came to an agreement. Once word spread around to the sisters, there was joy and excitement as they realized something of this special place would be preserved. I traveled down from the Twin Cities in early October on a Sunday afternoon, and began the 2-day process of sampling the instrument. I was struck by the unique beauty of the organ, especially the Johnson patent reeds (I’ve never heard anything like them!)

We sampled in 24-bit 96kHz, 4 perspectives – Direct (in the balcony, about 8-10 feet from the façade, 2 large-diaphragm cardioid condenser mics) Ambient (about the same distance from the pipes as the console, 2 flat-response omni condenser mics) Diffuse (at the foot of the altar steps – Sister Lucille’s “favorite spot” to hear the organ – 2 Earthworks QTC-1 omni condenser mics) and Remote (almost as far away as you can get from the organ, behind the altar in the chancel – the built-in mics of a Zoom H6). Impulse responses were captured in the gallery, the L and R transept galleries, and the chancel – a total of 12 separate files. The remote perspective proved inferior for a number of reasons (not the least the fact that the reverb at that point is so long that we had many overlapping notes), so we settled on the other 3 perspectives, which came out in amazing detail and clarity.

We are excited to share this instrument – it is a not just a vital historic document, but also an exciting instrument to play. While we can never completely and perfectly emulate the real thing, we think it is the best quality we’ve done so far.

Stop by HERE and see some further pictures, hear some demos and find links for purchase.

Jonathan Orwig and Charlie Raasch

We want to say “Congratulations” to Milan Digital Audio for 20 years of helping us all be the best we can be by enabling access to amazing instruments throughout the world from our own homes and studios.  In addition, we have been at this for 18 years!

To celebrate with their 20 years and our 18 years supporting the Hauptwerk community, we’re offering a very special price on a selection of our instruments.  This sale will run from August 1 – August 20.

The Immanuel Presbyterian Los Angeles organs are offered for the reduced price of USD349.  Normally USD429, this set includes three complete organs on the campus.
Sample recordings of the instruments can be found through the following links:
IV/62 1927 EM Skinner
III/37 1956 Schlicker
II/21 1977 Hradetsky

Follow this link for details on how to purchase.

We are offering a USD99 license for the First Lutheran Long Beach Zimmer III/47, normally USD149.  Sample recordings can be found here and here.

Follow this link for details on how to purchase.

Finally we are offering a USD299 license for the University of Redlands Casavant 1927 IV/73.  Sample recordings can be found here.

Follow this link for details on how to purchase.

Thank you for your continued support!
Jonathan Orwig, Charlie Raasch

Evensong Music

We are proud to announce the release of the 1893 J.W. Steere organ in the First Baptist Church of Owatonna, Minnesota. It has a long and interesting history – the organ was installed with funds donated by the famous Pillsbury family, and has served the church for nearly 130 years.

The instrument is a typical small parish instrument of that era, with plenty of 8′ tone, lots of options for color, and built sturdily to work and last with minimal maintenance. Also notable is the fact that the organ is mostly original and intact – it does have an electric blower, but one can still see the controls for the original water machine and there is still a stop knob to signal the bellows, hearkening back to the days of manual pumping.

The organ is still used for weekly services, and is in remarkably good condition considering its age. We sampled in 96kHz/24 bit, and downsampled to 48/24 after noise reduction was complete.

This continues our series of historic American organs – we are grateful to church organist Drew Meyer and the church board for allowing us to digitally preserve the sound of this organ for the future. Do note a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the sample set will go back to the church.

To order a copy of this historic organ go HERE

Introductory price $89, and includes a complimentary free organ – a small instrument on the Concordia University Irvine campus.  The instrument was a home organ which was donated to Concordia University and came to the university in 2019.  It sits in the university’s new Zhang Concert Hall.

We’re pleased to release the Trinity Georgetown organ, a 1925 E.M. Skinner organ, one of the finest of its era. The instrument went through a five-year renovation and expansion program between 1995 and 2000.  This historic instrument was originally installed in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress until it was brought to Holy Trinity in 1955. Contracts were signed in 1995 with the Lively-Fulcher Organ Company to rebuild/refurbish and enlarge the instrument.

• In the summer of 1996, the company replaced the failing wind chests of the great and choir divisions of the organ. The swell and pedal wind chests were in good repair.
• In the fall of 1997, Lively-Fulcher revoiced and tonally regulated the entire instrument, which over the years, had been worked on and added to by various organ builders. The work brought the organ into one cohesive tonal ensemble.
• In the summer of 1999, a much-needed new console was installed. This new console had the stop preparations for the additions that were to come.
• Finally, in the spring of 2000, those additions became a reality. Included were five new stops to the pedal division including a full-length 32′ pedal reed, and a Walker digital 32′ Bourdon. Other additions included a 4′ reed on the swell, a 16′ Bourdon on the Great, a Tierce on the choir and a solo “Festive Trumpet”.

This sample set was recorded in 24 bit 96kHz, all noise reduction was done at the high resolution before converting to 24/48 for Hauptwerk

We are releasing this set only in v5, since we have had very minimal sales in our sets released for v4.  The set will sell during the introduction period for $199, and for a limited time, if you purchase the v5 set, you will also receive the 1929 Glendale Skinner organ for free! (previous purchasers of the Glendale instrument will be eligible to buy for $99 during the introduction period with a valid proof of purchase note that the set is not available for HW v4, so you must have either purchased the V5 Skinner or upgraded to HW 5 )

There are several demos on the page for this organ, all have been done in HW-V, with some carefully added reverb via the new convolution reverb included with HW-V. Those specific setting are included on the page so you can duplicate them in your setup.

This is the second of our releases as a combined partnership with CLR, we continue plans to release new HW American sample sets, we have more coming!

The BOGO sale will run until September 15, 2020 – thanks for your continuing support, and best wishes for all during this challenging time!