The Verschueren choir organ
from the Basiliek in Oosterhout
FREE Download
PLAY DEMO
J.S. Bach - BWV 527
In October 2022, we recorded the Verschueren choir organ of the
Basilica in Oosterhout for Hauptwerk.
Due to the non-functioning of the main organ in the church, and the
temporary postponement of its restoration, in 1977 it was decided to
have a choir organ built by the Verschueren company. It was designed
in a classic southern style.
As a choir or altar organ, the Sint Jan has since had a modest
instrument from Verschueren with a well-thought-out disposition. The
main manual, based on the Prestant 8 ft, has a divided Trompet 8 ft,
while the secondary manual has a Cornet décomposé. In the seventies,
it was one of the innovative instruments of this organ builder. A
modest instrument with nice sound possibilities.
About the recordings
Four channels technology
Schuifjes op de tab "speeltafel"
This sample set was recorded from four positions in stereo (24 bit
96kHz).
The set comes with a Sygsoft devised 4-channel technique whereby the
user may set the listening position themselves.
There are 4 positions, namely :
1: Front, recorded very close to the organ. This provides a very
direct recording that is useful for study purposes.
2: Middle, this recording was made at about 3 times the distance used
in the front recording.
3: Rear, recorded far from the organ.
4: Wall, recorded far from the organ at the rear wall can be used as
surround.
Through four sliders (0-100%), a mix can be made of the four positions
that is to your liking.
A good starting point for setting the sliders is e.g.
Front-Middle-Rear-Wall 25-60-80-100
More information see:
"System requirements"
Other details
The recordings for this sample set were made in october 2022.
Recording quality 96 kHz, 24 bit. The set is reduced to 48 kHz 24
bit.
Number of microphones: 8
Number of samples processed in this set: 9,140
Number of lines in the Organ Definition File (ODF): ca. 550,000
Division of the Work
Christian Boogaard: Noise reduction, adjusting the wind
model, intonation, demos, and artistic advice.
Johan van der Waal van Dijk:
Processing of the samples and technical advice.
Rietje Raatgeep:
Administration and PR.
Fred de Jong:
Layout, additional control samples, loops ,ODF and overall
management.
With thanks to
Jan Willems, de organist van de kerk, and his wife Ilse, for the
pleasant cooperation and
the municipality of Oosterhout for switching off the fountain on the
Markt and the carillion of the church.
Specification of
the Verschueren choir organ from the Basiliek in Oosterhout
General instructions for download and install a sample set
Important: Download the latest licensing packages file
https://www.hauptwerk.com/licensingpackages/
Start Hauptwerk V (or higher) and install this file via the menu File
| Install Organ, Temperament, or Impulse Response Reverb... Hauptwerk
will 'learn' which protected sets are currently on the market.
For users of Hauptwerk 5 or higher:
Make sure that Hauptwerk is not loaded.
Open your iLok account and choose Licenses/Redeem Activation code
and cut and paste the many-digit code into the screen.
Activate your license to iLok Cloud or to the iLok dongle. In the
latter case: then place the dongle on the Hauptwerk PC. It appears that this rule is not clear to everyone:
3a: Go to your iLok account (log in if necessary) and select the
sample set for which you want to enter the activation code.
3b: At the top right of the iLok screen is a gray/green check
mark.
If you go over this with the mouse you will see the text
"Activate licenses".
Click on this check mark and you will see a new screen.
3c: Click on Activate and Ok. Now the checkmark in the previous
screen turns green.
3d: Now double-click on the line you are working on and the
screen that opens must show "License status active" on the top
line.
3e: If necessary, repeat the above for the eventualy other newly
purchased organs.
Restart Hauptwerk and you can install and use the organ.
Before download and install, note the following:
Download all .CompPkg.Hauptwerk files.
Load these files in the same folder and
Do not change the file names and
Do not unpack by hand.
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, throw the wrong download file away
from the PC and download that file again.
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.
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.
Before loading the organ, first have a look at 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.
System requirements
of
the Verschueren choir organ from the Basiliek van Sint Jan de Doper in
Oosterhout
a modern fast computer, minimum 32 GB RAM and e.g. Windows 11 64
bit
a good internal or external sound card
2 manuals or keyboards with (at least 25 keys) pedal òr a complete
electronic organ with MIDI out
good quality speakers /headphone
The computer
To play the complete version of this sample set without restrictions
requires a modern, fast computer with, for example, Windows 10 64 bit
installed and around 32 GB of RAM.
Obviously Hauptwerk must also be installed with the latest version 5
(or higher) Advanced.
It is said that the best results are achieved using Apple-MacIntosh
computers; however, we have no experience with this. It is difficult
to make exact statements about what is needed. The "mother" website
hauptwerk.com
provides much information about this issue. Prerequisites. Het
virtuele Verschueren orgel van Oosterhout is alleen via download te
verkrijgen. The choir organ is FREE. Below is a
table of memory usage. On other systems, these values can vary considerably! Please note
that your Operating System also requires considerable memory.
The sound card
A good internal or external sound card. In many cases, this sound card
can also handle the MIDI connection from the console to the
computer.
For more information go to: Hauptwerk.com.
Manuals/keyboards/pedal òr complete organ with MIDI out
Twee manuals or keyboards and a (at least 25 keys) pedal òr a complete
electronic organ with MIDI out. Beautiful consoles specifically
designed for Hauptwerk are commercially available. Er zijn al de meest
prachtige speeltafels speciaal voor het gebruik met Hauptwerk in de
handel. In the Netherlands these are available through, for
example,
Those who are technically inclined can provide their keyboard with
MIDI capability using hardware from, for example,
WIRA,
MIDI-Hardware.com
or MGB . We ourselves have
done this using a Heyligers organ dating from around 1975 (using WIRA
hardware). The conversion was about 300 Euro and everything has worked
perfectly for years.
Speakers/headphone
The superb sound quality of Hauptwerk is best experienced through
high-quality headphones, such as AKG or Sennheiser.
We prefer connecting the sound card to a (possibly multi-channel)
sound system. The above mentioned companies can also advise you on any
purchases in this area.
What you definitely should not do is listen to Hauptwerk
through the built-in speakers of the monitor or a set of €10 computer
speakers!
Table of memory usage for
the Verschueren choir organ from the Basiliek in Oosterhout
Hauptwerk 6 (space needed on the hard drive is 10 GB)
The meaning of the columns:
A = Number of loaded channels
B = Compression applied?
C = Bit rate Pipe samples
D = Multi-release pipe loaded?
E = RAM usage, Operating System not included (GB)
Please note that the stated values are an approximation !
De nrs. 1-2-3: is for loading mode 16 bit, single release compressed
(a possibility but we think the quality is insufficient).
De nrs. 4-5-6: is for loading mode 16-bit, compressed and multi
release (the standard Hauptwerk loading mode).
De nrs. 7-8-9: is for loading mode 16 bit, uncompressed and multi
release.
De nrs. 10-11-12: is for loading mode 20-bit, compressed and multi
release.
De nrs. 13-14-15: is the loading mode 20 bit, multi release
uncompressed (we prefer this if you have enough memory).
There are of course many more variants, e.g. pipe samples loaded at 24
bit and sounds at 16 bit, etc.
If you're having trouble, send us your question by filling in the
Contact form.
nr.
Definition
A
B
C
D
E
1
(16 bit) with 1 channel loaded single release compressed
1
✔
16
✘
1,05
2
(16 bit) with 2 channels loaded single release compressed
2
✔
16
✘
2,1
3
(16 bit) with 3 channels loaded single release compressed
3
✔
16
✘
3,15
4
(16 bit) with 4 channels loaded single release compressed
4
✔
16
✘
4,2
5
(16 bit) with 1 channel loaded multi release compressed
(Standard Hauptwerk)
1
✔
16
✔
1,4
6
(16 bit) with 2 channels loaded multi release compressed
(Standard Hauptwerk)
2
✔
16
✔
2,8
7
(16 bit) with 3 channels loaded multi release compressed
(Standard Hauptwerk)
3
✔
16
✔
4,2
8
(16 bit) with 4 channels loaded multi release compressed
(Standard Hauptwerk)
4
✔
16
✔
5,65
9
(16 bit) with 1 channel loaded multi release uncompressed
1
✘
16
✔
2,1
nr.
Definition
A
B
C
D
E
10
(16 bit) with 2 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
2
✘
16
✔
4,2
11
(16 bit) with 3 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
3
✘
16
✔
6,3
12
(16 bit) with 4 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
4
✘
16
✔
8,4
13
(20 bit) with 1 channel loaded multi release compressed
1
✔
20
✔
2,2
14
(20 bit) with 2 channels loaded multi release compressed
2
✔
20
✔
4,5
15
(20 bit) with 3 channels loaded multi release compressed
3
✔
20
✔
6.7
16
(20 bit) with 4 channels loaded multi release compressed
4
✔
20
✔
8,9
17
(20 bit) with 1 channel loaded multi release uncompressed
1
✘
20
✔
4,1
18
(20 bit) with 2 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
2
✘
20
✔
8,1
19
(20 bit) with 3 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
3
✘
20
✔
12,2
20
(20 bit) with 4 channels loaded multi release uncompressed
4
✘
20
✔
16,2
Screen layout of
the Verschueren choir organ from the Basiliek in Oosterhout
Tab 1 : Foto's (Pictures)
Interior of the church
Organ front
This tab shows the front of the organ and if you click on the picture
you will see the church.
Tab 2 : Console (simple stop representation)
Virtual Console
On this tab a simple representation of the stops of this organ.
The buttons with a bleu dot are added voor Hauptwerk using samples of
this organ.
The button "Motor" turns the wind engine on.
The button "Tremulant Nevenwerk": This organ does not have a
tremulant on the real organ, but for the enthusiast we have made one
that you can switch on with this button. This is a modulating
tremulant and you can adjust this to your taste via the voicing.
With the 4 sliders at the top right, the volume of the different
channels can be set, which allows you to broadly determine your
listening position. A good starting point is Front-Middle-Rear-Wall
e.g. 31-46-69-100
The button "Trompet 8'" (Hoofdwerk): This button is split
vertically. If you press the left part you will hear the bass side and
if you press the right part you will hear the treble. On the tab
"3:Schakelaars" you find a button "Trompet 8 Vt gekoppeld". If this is
"On", the Trumpet 8' is not split.
The pedalstops Prestant 8' and Gedekt 8' are not original and are
so-called transpositions of the manual voices (so do not contain extra
samples). The couplers are all 3 original.
Tab 3 : Schakelaars (Switches)
Switches
Most elements of this tab do not actually need to be visible, but for
interested parties it still gives a a bit of an impression of what
needs to be done to get a sample set of this size to work.
Keep in mind that behind each (manual) button there are 56 long, 56
long release, 56 medium release and 56 short release samples. The same
applies to the pedal, but always 30 pieces.
It is also useful to know that if you right-click on a switch you can
immediately access the correct voicing screen.
In the column "Speelhulpen" (Playing aids) you will find 3 buttons:
With the button "Trekkergeluid" (Tracker noise) you can
choose whether or not to hear the sounds of the trackers.
With the button "Manuaal Kopp. B/D" you can link bass and
treble of the manual coupler.
With the button "Trompet 8 Vt gekoppeld" you can choose
whether the Trumpet 8' is split or not.
Tab 4 : Wind
The windmodel
On these tabs a schematic representation of the wind supply of this
organ.
With the various sliders you can control the supply of wind for the
bellows and the various wind chests.
With the "R" or reset buttons you can return to the settings
that we think are the most suitable (default values). With the button
"Sygsoft" at the bottom right you can reset all 7 sliders in
one time.
Important:
If you decide not to load a part of this sample set (e.g. your
computer RAM memory is too small and you choose e.g. to omitting all
"Wall" samples) then the wind consumption decreases by 25% and then
the organ becomes much less wind sensitive than it actually is.
In that case, go to Organ settings/Organ preferences/Wind supply model
and choose a value of approx. 125. In case you only need to load one
channel e.g. "Middle", (the wind consumption decreases by 75%) then
you need this value to about 400% to get the same result.
Obviously, you can choose any value if you don't like the organ's
behavior. With the check mark on this same Wind supply model tab you
can turn off the wind supply completely.
You listen to the Verschueren positif from the Basilica in Oosterhout
PLAY DEMO
