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Our story, our aesthetic
We started our sampling journey back in 2004, in the early days of Hauptwerk. Our first project was the 1966 Schantz, a 32 rank 2m organ. Some stops were added from other sources with similar acoustics to bring it to 3m and about 47 ranks, and in 2006 the set was prepared for the completely redesigned HW version 2.
In intervening years, we had other projects for private use, the first of which was to ‘port the original Jeux d’orgues 2 from a soundfont to HW1, the creation of a Cavaille-Coll clone from existing ranks (there were no CC for Hauptwerk at the time).
It was not until 2011 when we decided to release another instrument. We were offered the opportunity to sample an historic 1926 Wangerin (mostly unaltered) in the Madison Masonic Center (Madison, WI). We also created a mini-set to emulate the organs found in the 2 lodges there, as they were not in good enough shape to sample, but being by the same maker, we could get a very close approximation by using stops from the Auditorium instrument.
In October 2016, we sampled a 1983 3/50 Schantz at St. Philip’s ELCA in Fridley, Minnesota. This is a neo-baroque/American Classic instrument in great condition and lots of fun to play. It was finished and released to the public in late January 2017.
In November of 2018, we merged with CLR Resources, now we are the sample producer offering the most American instruments for the Hauptwerk market. In the winter of 2020, we released a sample set of an historic American organ – the 1852 Simmons organ at Los Altos UMC, and Summer 2020 saw the release of the 1925 E.M. Skinner at Holy Trinity RC in Georgetown. Fall 2020 brings the release of the 1961 Aeolian Skinner at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and Spring 2021 the 3 organs of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Summer 2021, the historic Steere from First Baptist, Owatonna, MN was released, and towards the end of 2021, the marvelous Lively-Fulcher organ at St. Olaf RC in Minneapolis, MN. At the beginning of 2022, we released the Zimmer organ from First Lutheran, Long Beach CA.