The Pels & van Leeuwen choir organ from the Grote- or Catharijnekerk in Heusden

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In January 2014, we recorded the Pels & Van Leeuwen choir organ in the Grote- or Catharijnekerk in Heusden, in the Province of North Brabant.
This organ from 1990 has 1 manual, pedal (fixed), and 6 stops.
For Hauptwerk, we have added a Subbass 16' to the pedal. The plan is to also release an ODF that allows both the Lohman organ and this Pels & Van Leeuwen organ (via a third manual) to be played from a single console.
Note: This sample set can be effectively used with the free version of Hauptwerk.

Oudheusden has been inhabited since the 8th century. At that time, there was mention of a fortified place, a "Castle," at the Oude Maasje. This castle, which bore the name 'Nieuwenrooy', stood on the site where the current public school 'Nieuwenrooy', was built.
The church of Oudheusden after being destroyed several times since the French period was not rebuilt. Because the course of the Meuse is increasingly shifting northward, it already created in the 12th century the need to build a fortified place elsewhere.
In the immediate vicinity of the castle the fortified town of Heusden established itself over the centuries. Already in the year 1210, mention is made of a church in Heusden. What the church looked like is not known. What was left, namely the tower built in Romanesque style, was destroyed in 1944. In 1328 the church was extended with a north and south aisle. There was also a choir in Gothic style.
In 1555 a transept replaced the north aisle and three bays were constructed in alternating layers of brick and stone. Here we still find decorations in Gothic style.
A city-wide fire in 1572 destroyed large parts of the church. Starting in 1579 a thorough restoration ensued.
The side choir, probably built in 1412, was torn down in 1628. The location of this side choir is still visible in the masonry. In the years 1637-1639 the choir was renewed.
The tower was blown up during the nights of November 4 to 5, 1944 by retreating German troops. The western part of the church was also destroyed. After the war, the church, on its west side, was closed in and restored. The tower, the western chapels and the devastated bays were not rebuilt.
The circumference of the foundation is visible in the pavement. In the church one can find, in addition to beautiful gravestones and signs from the 16th and 17th centuries, bells from 1334, 1501 and 1518. A bell from 1412 now hangs in the turret.
The mausoleum of the Baron Van Friesheim, Governor of Heusden from 1711-1733, dates from 1733 and is very beautiful. The design of this tomb is by Jacob Marot and the sculptor was Jan Baptist Xaverij.

Wind pressure: 70 mm
Tuning: a' = ca. 435 Hz. (Hauptwerk 428,4 Hz.)
Temperament: Werckmeister III. (Of course in Hauptwerk this can be switched to equal temperament or another temperament)

The pedals on the real organ are fixed but to make it possible to play in Hauptwerk the Holpijp 8'; Prestant 4'; Roerfluit 4' and Octaaf 2' as a kind of transmission we have added a pedals to manual coupler.
Also we have added a copy of the Subbas 16' from the Lohman orgel.

This sample set was recorded from three positions in stereo (24 bit 96kHz).
The set comes with a Sygsoft devised 3-channel technique whereby the user may set the listening position themselves.
There are 3 positions, namely :
1: Front, recorded very close to the organ. This provides a very direct recording that is useful for study purposes.
2: Centre (Middle), this recording was made at about 3 times the distance used in the front recording.
3: Rear, recorded far from the organ is used as surround.
Through three sliders (0-100%), a mix can be made of the three positions that is to your liking.

We have made an ODF to join the Pels & van Leeuwen organ to the Lohman organ (using a fake 3th manual). The most right column on the picture shows the stops of the positif. Using the "P +" buttons you can handle the transmissions (See above). The 4th slider (with the caption "Vol") you can set the volume of the positif related to the main organ. Using the button "R" switches it back to the normal volume. (Free for owners of our Samplesets Lohman en Pels & van Leeuwen)

Free request Combination 2 organs Heusden

The recordings for this sample set were made in January 2014.
Recording quality 96 kHz, 24 bit. The set is reduced to 48 kHz 24 bit.
Number of microphones: 6
Number of samples processed in this set: 3954
Number of files in this set 4182 in 130 folders.
Number of lines in the Organ Definition File: 222.614

Johan van der Waal van Dijk:
Processing of the samples and technical advice.

Christian Boogaard:
Noise reduction, adjusting the wind model, intonation, demos, and artistic advice.

Rietje Raatgeep:
Administration and PR.

Fred de Jong:
Layout, additional control samples, loops, ODF and overall management.

Before download and install, note the following:
1. Download all .CompPkg.Hauptwerk files.
2. Leave these files in the same folder and
3. Do not change the file names and
4. Do not unpack by hand.
5. Check the MD5 checksums with the WinMD5 program, free to download from
http://www.winmd5.com or http://www.fastsum.com
If a checksum is incorrect, discard the wrong download file from the PC and download that file again.
6. Start Hauptwerk (File/Install organ....), select in the folder where you just downloaded the files,
the file with extension .CompPkg_Hauptwerk_rar in Hauptwerk's 'component installer'.
Hauptwerk automatically finds the other files.
7. If you get error messages, scroll to the end of the log file (this opens automatically if something goes wrong when unpacking) to see what goes wrong.
Usually a file is missing, or there is a file in the wrong folder or a file is damaged.
8. Before loading the sampleset, check the system information regarding the expected memory usage etc.

Note: Please contact us via the Contact form if you encounter any issues; we will try to assist you.

We have made an ODF to join the Pels & van Leeuwen organ to the Lohman organ (using a fake 3th manual). The most right column on the picture shows the stops of the positif. Using the "P +" buttons you can handle the transmissions (See above). The 4th slider (with the caption "Vol") you can set the volume of the positif related to the main organ. Using the button "R" switches it back to the normal volume. (Free for owners of our sample set Lohman)