Revolutionary Organist Plays Virtual Pipes

[skylighter15]

I'm installing a full digital organ in my house in the future, I want it to be supremely capable and fully adaptable. I have considered many design elements and share many of the attitudes and opinions he has toward the organ. I know who will assist me in designing my console now!

[DeserTBoB93535]

Virgil Fox all over again.

[kegginstructure]

Flamboyant but no substance? That could be said about a lot of modern entertainers, I guess. But I am curious. How do you decide "no substance" ? That seems to be dismissive on a point that is hard to demonstrate. And as to being dismissive when discussing Liberace AND Virgil Fox seems disingenuous. OK, you like E Power Biggs. But to me, you have confused style with substance. That is ALWAYS a critic's downfall.

[patsaxon]

It is good to see a young organist as the organ is a dying art of the past. Regardless of real pipes or digital, such instruments are still too expensive. If there is a digital organ, I would recommend the Hammond 935 as it a combination drawbar and classical organ for the most affordable price. Lowrey's Tribute is about affordable for the technology that it offers the organist.

[wljmrbill]

being retired now and living in small space with lttle money...I have a vitual organ..and I feel I am playing in a big cathedral and sounds as good as the recordings of the famous instruments. with keyboards and computer I am in business and feel comfortable with it and I have play mnay pipe organs in my life.I like to see the old instruments preserved:but seems no one or few want to spend the money needed to remain so.

[Baldwin48HR]

Pipe organs too costly? I respect Cameron, but I heard from an organist who met him that the Trinity organ cost over a million dollars.......

[armorsecsys]

@Baldwin48HR to costly to maintain.... Maintain...... keyword... If you figure the cost of keeping the pipes tuned, repairs etc, I'm sure a digital organ is cheaper in the long run....

[peteacher52]

@Baldwin48HR It could well be that much, and, for what it can do, I say a bargain. I'd be interested to know how much it would cost these days to re-create the wonderful mechanical action organ in St Ignatius Loyola, NY. With that knowledge, the cost of a first-rate digital organ might look rather appealing. Over 20 years ago, Dame Gillian Weir, playing the famous Haarlem organ, said it would cost around $US3 million to build again. This might add a little perspective to the question..

[DeserTBoB93535]

@Baldwin48HR Power for old Orgoblos, leather, banging pipes four times a year to keep them somewhat in tune...yes, they're VERY expensive to use and maintain.

[oofahman]

That kid is effing amazing!!!!!

[Bachinterpret]

Virtual organs are bullshit anyways. The technical way of how the sound is created will never make them approximate original pipe organs. It neither sounds "rich" nor "seductive" but soulless and dead. Speakers could never imitate an organ pipe. This is ridicolous. Would you ever think of playing on a "virtual violin"?

And how can this guy think of playing Chopin on this instrument, or have I to say "gadget"? Never heard such a shit before.

[cavailleacoll]

i strongly disagree with you the pipe organs are here to stay i am very anger with this new age organ crap it has completely destroyed the organ and the intent of the organ.

[mfortee]

I honestly believe if Virgil Fox was still alive today, he would GLADY accept Cameron's style in open arms.

[djbjr1130]

French Horn Celeste???

[pzimmer]

when and why did that happen?

[VirgilFoxMusic]

riverscuomo06:

Would you mind qualifying that statement please? It seems you may know CC as I noticed that he appears in a photo on your video, sitting at the console with you while you play. Was he tutoring you? 6 months ago you made a comment that seems to admire him, and now this? Just curious as to what you're really trying to say about the genius. Thanks in advance for clarifying.

[riverscuomo06]

@VirgilFoxMusic He is a genius and made some bad choices.  But all that mess is water under the bridge now. We're friends again :-)

[VirgilFoxMusic]

@riverscuomo06 Thanks for your reply, even if it is a year late. I realize that it may have taken a year to sort out the difference. May I just say that I am a great admirer of CC and I hope to organize a tour for him in NZ one day. We have had a brief email exchange and I have had some more extensive contact with his previous NY affiliates, but that is all. I really do believe that CC is a genius and probably the best is yet to come from him as he develops his artistry. With great anticipation.

[riverscuomo06]

@VirgilFoxMusic It's great to hear that. I believe he is one of the best musicians to have ever lived...a modern day Mozart.

[josemagus]

@riverscuomo06 E. Power Biggs knew how to make the pipe organ sound. This guy is nothing more than the Liberace of the organ, flamboyant but no sutstance. He is nothing more than a reincarnation of Virgil Fox.

[prysmith37]

@riverscuomo06 Well, he is welcome at The Church of St, Mary the Virgin, and I suspect his concert schedule may impinge on any duties as "artist in residence" anywhere. As for the claim that he is "not allowed" to play on Marshall & Ogletree instruments, I would simply ask, Says who?

[riverscuomo06]

@prysmith37 Says the company, but this is actually no longer the case.

[bbbbmer]

VERY interesting!!!

[riverscuomo06]

i wish i could carry on a conversation while playing a bach trio sonata...

[MajaCiapa]

@riverscuomo06 Maybe you can, just try that. :)

[DPinFL]

I'm personally glad to see the evolution of this musical instrument, and am a fan of this gifted young artist. I've typed this online reply on my wireless PC keyboard rather than a Smith Corona typewriter, and I have Cameron's artistry captured on my iPod, so that I don't have to lug around a record player for the vinyl disc. If things didn't evolve, I'd have never been fortunate to see this YouTube posting. Thanks for making it available!!!

[willowthebored]

So, basically, real pipe organs suck. Riiiight. And the electronic organ would be where exactly if some bored Greek musician hadn't stuck a big set of pan pipes on top of a water-powered windchest two thousand years or so ago...? You can imitate it perfectly, but in the end, is it authentic? No...

Also, pipe organs are expensive to *manufacture*. You can maintain them primarily by yourself if you learn properly...

Also, who's the manufacturer?

Impressive footwork, I will say that.

[bigal99999]

I totally agree, a real pipe organ can never be replaced or honestly replicated...real analog sound waves can never be reproduced by digital.

[niceflyer80]

@bigal99999 Well, I beg to differ. So would Claude Shannon and Harry Nyquist, who formulated information theory and the Sampling Theorem, respectively. If the audio is sampled at at least twice (for practical reasons, faster) the highest frequency component present, the digital recording has all the information of the analog signal. Reproducing the sound is something else. Speakers are of course physically different systems than organ pipes.