Why We Believe Sampled Sound Technology is Obsolete...​

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Whitesel Church Organs has two separate policies when it comes to pipe and electronic organ building.  Pipe organ building is hundreds of years old.  Traditions of building have been passed down the line through 6 generations of the Mascioni Organ Building Family and many others in the field.  These techniques are what make pipe organs so magnificent.  If you have the best pipe organ product in the world, and very little has changed in your technique, you should continue building the pipe organ that way if it works, while still embracing tool and woodworking advancements.

 

Electronic organ manufacturers on the other hand must always continue to innovate.  The reason is simple...…the sampled based sound electronic organ still is not 100% comparable to a pipe organ.  The goal in the electronic organ world should be to sound as close to a real pipe organ as possible, and also offer all the amenities electronics and technology has to offer.  Until the day that we can hang our hat and say that’s been done, we must continue looking forward in order to create a true clone of the ancient and mighty pipe organ.



What makes the experience at a pipe organ so unique?  What makes each experience at a pipe organ different every time?  Why do we feel music differently at a pipe organ?  Anyone who has played both a pipe and electronic organ will tell you they still aren’t the same.  If you are an organist that loves one specific brand of electronic organ over another, we ask that you take that hat off for a moment.  If you look deep down inside the core of what makes you a true musician and organist, you know without anyone else telling you the following is true...…your particular choice brand of sampled-sound organ, while it may have a lovely sound, still doesn’t even begin to touch the core of what it means to play and experience a real pipe organ.



A pipe organ is unique because it creates natural variations in sound due to even the most miniscule change in temperature and humidity, change in air pressure, the type and number of stops chosen, the age of that instrument, and so on.  As a musician, you not only hear a pipe organ differently, but feel it as well.



A sampled sound organ is simply a ‘snapshot’ of a pipe organ.  If you stayed in another part of the world for a month, can you honestly say that one picture could say everything about your entire trip?  Everything you felt?  Everything you experienced?  Probably thousands of other experiences and moments would have been missed.  We feel that while sampled-sound based organs worked very well for us for so many years, they cannot and will not take us any further on the journey to creating a true clone of a pipe organ.



Another problem we saw in sampled sound organ manufacturers is their choice of components.  Computer technology has advanced to a point where a cell phone can compute many times over the information of a personal computer of 15 years ago.  If this is the case, why would some organ companies choose to use computer chips, processors, and motherboards that were available a decade ago?  Unfortunately, this is happening.



A well-known company proudly announced that the processors in their custom organ (which cost the church around $300,000) could compute 16,000,000 (million) pieces of information a second.  For those of you who are not computer savvy, this may sound like a lot.  But it’s not.  A Viscount UNICO Organ with Physis Technology can compute 12,000,000,000 (billion) (sustained rate) processes per second.  If you had a choice between a computer that processes only 16 Million pieces of information per second or one that processes 12 Billion per second, which would you choose?  And what if we told you the faster computer costs no more than the slower outdated one?  In reference to our competitors we often hear people say, 'well it's so expensive, so it must be good!'  If you feel this way, we have a bridge to sell you.  You see, at Whitesel Church Organs, the difference in our organ pricing and our competitors, is that we don't charge you for the nameplate.



Have you ever been playing at an older electronic organ, and the stops suddenly make a crackling noise as you select them?  Or they don’t play at all?  At one time, technology only allowed us to use a thin metal contact for each key and stop on an electronic organ.  It was the best available to us at the time, and almost all electronic organ companies utilized these types of contact because it was considered and accepted to be the best.  The problem was that over time, the metal is exposed to air, dirt, and dust.  It degrades over time, and causes problems that never completely go away as the organ ages.  New technologies are now available that eliminate contact issues.  It’s unfortunate that some major organ manufacturers are choosing to still use a method of contact construction from decades ago.



You may be thinking that Physical Modeling technology is too new to accept it in your church.  The fact of the matter is that Physical Modeling Technology has been in development for the Viscount Organ for over ten years, and has been accepted in the music industry as a whole as the new standard.  If you listen to the radio, chances are you’'ve heard a physically modeled sound and thought it was the real thing.  And if you've watched a weather map on the news recently, or used a GPS Navigation Device, you've already experienced physical modeling firsthand. Ask yourself why other industries would fully accept physical modeling technology if it is so unfounded?

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Whitesel Organs would be happy to discuss in length the power your church has in choice.  We hope you choose Whitesel Church Organs and Viscount Organs with Physis Technology.  Please call us today.