Wednesday, October 9, 2019

hedOrgan pipe-organ soundfont v7.5 (Updated to v77)

Here is a masterpiece: hedOrgan soundfont!

This unique soundfont was created as a gift for organists and for those who are willing to play organ and compose organ works.

If you like pipe-organs, playing or composing and / or arranging, please read the detailed descriptions in the page without skipping a line.

Do not hesitate to recommend this soundfont to your friends who are both free and highly detailed (please don't be jealous).


No Public or Private license, no USB dongle, no payment: This soundfont is completely free!

Read here first!


This is not a soundfont suitable for real-time use. Designed for use in a note writing software (Musescore recommended). Because the sounds and their mixes are put on separate patches.

To use it in Musescore, you must copy the soundfont to your own user soundfont folder.

This soundfont, by its nature, does not conform to General-MIDI or any other standard. Because it contains the sounds of a particular instrument and mixtures of these sounds. Note: Includes more than 1500 patches. The patch list is in the zip file.

It is highly recommended that you follow the reverbation settings shown below. (It is automatically set in templates.) When you press the "Load from score" button in the Fluid'tab of the Synthesizer, the presets and soundfont will be loaded automatically. (The most important setting: Dry-Wet settings should be between 4 and 5)

      New addition: If you increase EQ1 and EQ2 a little (try separately) you can make the sound more middle-tone or more-harder. The smoothing effect is used in the current settings.

      Important: Reverb settings are the most important factor to ensure the realism of the instrument and the environment. And if the reverb in the original environment of the instrument cannot be imitated, you will get a dry sound. In other words, the quality of the reverb unit used for the reality ratio in imitation of instrument sound plays a major role. This is also vital for the fusion of sounds.
 

hedOrgan's Basic Stops are as follows:

   
       Additional information: This soundfont is an imitation of a real pipe-organ. In other words, the samples are simulated and idealized. All patch names are copies of the actual instrument's stops (The exemplary organ is in the church of Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Szczecinek.)

+--+----------------------+--+-----------------------+--+---------------------+
| #| [MI] (Great)         | #|  [MII] (Swell)        | #| [P] (Pedal)         |
|--+----------------------+--+-----------------------+--+---------------------+
|01| G 1-Trumpet8'        |01|  S 1-Lieblgedekt 16'  |01| P 1-Posaune16'      |
|02| G 2-Mixture5         |02|  S 2-GeigenPrinzipl16 |02| P 2-PrinzipalBass16 |
|03| G 3-Cornet2&4'       |03|  S 3-Gedekt 8'        |03| P 3-BassViolin16'   |
|04| G 4-Raushquinte2_2/3 |04|  S 4-Concert Flute 8  |04| P 4-SubBass16'      |
|05| G 5-Piccolo2'        |05|  S 5-Gemshorn 8'      |05| P 5-EchoBass16'     |
|06| G 6-Octave4'         |06|  S 6-Chalumeau 8'     |06| P 6-Quintbass10_2/3 |
|07| G 7-HohlFlute4'      |07|  S 7-Aeoline 8'       |07| P 7-OctaveBass8'    |
|08| G 8-HarmonicFlute8'  |08|  S 8-VoixCeleste 8'   |08| P 8-Violoncello8'   |
|09| G 9-Rohrflote8'      |09|  S 9-Fugara 4'        |09| P 9-BassFlute8'     |
|10| G A-Salicional8'     |10|  S A-Travesflute 4'   |10| P A-OctaveBass4'    |
|11| G B-Gamba8'          |11|  S B-Progressio 2&4'  +------------------------+
|12| G C-Prinzipal8'      +--------------------------+
|13| G D-Bourdon16'       |
|14| G E-Prinzipal16'     |
+--+----------------------+

   Info: It is standard for a instrument to have two manuals: the Great and the Swell. The Great is the lower and the Swell is the upper manual.
  Note: Some organs are Great and Swell is also displaced.

    Tip 1: Think like this: MI (Great) is for solos, MII (Swell) is for accompaniment.
    Tip 2:
       a) If solo on both hands, use only the "G" patches on both keyboards (works such as Bach's preludes, fugues and inventions)
       b) If your left hand is accompanied by chords, use the "S" patches on the left hand (such as Pachelbel's Canon).

      Tip for Musescore:
      1: A ready organ template file is "hedOrgTemplate.mscz".
            suggestion: reverb settings are very important to simulate the hall where the organ is located. After loading the template, use the [Load from score] button on the synthesizer. The reverb settings will now be as they should be.
      2: As with physical organs, you can use the sounds of one keyboard on the other keyboard or the pedals.
            note: physical organs have levers to transfer the sounds of one keyboard to another. So you can use only one sound set and / or its mixes at the same time and on the same keyboard.
      3: Some physical organs also have a separate volume pedals for each keyboard. The volume setting or dynamics of the mixer can be used for this operation (for example: p, mf, f).
      4: If the sound of a patch is too low to be heard, you can increase the volume by adding a dynamic to the start part of the staff. If you are using a single patch throughout the entire work, it would make more sense to make this setting from the mixer (see below for more details).

Effect Patches:


[ Eff ]
E 1-Hall Env.

Mixtures:


Mixed patches were made from mixtures of stops (only meaningful ones included):
    Note: If all the mixtures were to be included, we would not have enough space to list them. It is the current reduced version and contains more than 1500 mixes.

Mixed patch samples:
[MI Mix]                 [MII Mix]              [P Mix]
G-12                     S-12                   P-12
G-168                    S-26B                  P-3679
G-48A                    S-13AB                 etc...  
G-12CD                   S-12357
G-2ACE                   S-12458A
G-489D                   etc...  
G-14ACE
G-467BD
etc...
   Tip: Use the "GPS" system to find sounds conveniently in the Musescore mixer. in other words, access the sounds with the descriptive letters of the patches. This system is specially designed for convenient use.

Descriptions:


    The first letter indicates the keyboard to which that sound belongs. Subsequent figures indicate which sounds are mixed.

      example 1: G 12  = "G 1-Trumpet8'" + "G 2-Mixture5"
      example 2: G ACE = "G A-Salicional8'" + "G C-Prinzipal8'" + "G E-Prinzipal16'"

   Tip: Print from the list of basic stops at the top of the page and keep the printout with you. Thus, you can easily find the contents of the mixtures in the list. (I also have a print-out, and I can use it very easily)

   Example: You can easily see the mix of three flutes as "G-789" or the mixture of two Gedekts as "S-13".

   Information: The "hedOrgan-instruments.xml" file contains all the basic sounds and mixes in the soundfont file.


   
       Tip: If you are going to create an instrument manually, first select from the Basic Patches. Use mixes with instrument-change text within the page.

Description for enthusiasts:

  •  Pipes are arranged in a soundfont in a panoramic order. (180 degrees Stereo)
  •  Small intonation differences that are inevitable in the manufacture of pipes are added.
  • "Chiff" and "Steam" effects are available on every patch. As in the original, this effect is less audible in high-pitched sounds.
  • Due to the structure of this soundfont, all patches have different volumes. This is completely normal and intentional. Because, a complex pipe calculation was used to create the instruments. Therefore, setting all sounds to -6dB or similar distorts the timbre and structure of the sound.
  • Patch sounds are not recorded in the samples. Samples contain only basic sine waves. Instrument timbres were created in the soundfont using sound-physics rules and pipe calculations. If you try to make so many instruments with individual samplers, the file size will easily reach the multi-gigabyte level.
  • Sine waves used are prepared by me with a special software; these sine waves are of high quality and contain no disturbances.
  • Instrument mixes are created with special software. Similar mixtures were eliminated by other software. Both software are original and created by me. If it was necessary to do it manually it could take years to finish. Mixtures which are very similar to each other are readily available, but these mixtures are intentionally left.
  • Mixtures are ordered from small to large. So first comes the numbers and then the letters.
       Example 1: Correct-search: 1234, Incorrect-search: 3142, 4132, 4321
       Example 2: Correct-search:  12A, Incorrect-search: A12, 1A2, 2A1
            Tip: First, the numbers (ascending), then the letters from A to Z are ordered.

Additional information:


The original Pipe-organ sample sets of software such as Hauptwerk and Grand-Orgue take up a lot of space on the hard disk and computer memory. For example: Sample packs are available in sizes from 2GB up to 12GB. However, the sample set of this soundfont takes up very little space on both the hard disk and computer memory and is designed for easy operation. That is, a soundfont of 4.7MB is smaller than the samples of only two notes of a normal VPO sampleset (!)

No Public or Private license, no USB dongle, no payment: This soundfont is completely free!

At this stage, you may think, "But how is the sound quality of this sample-set?" will come. The sound quality of this soundfont is very high. Because the sampleset was prepared with a special method.

Of course there is also a challenge. The software that uses virtual-organ technology (I mentioned above) provides you with a visual organ and you can easily manage them by pressing the tablets (buttons). In soundfont technology, there is no such option, you must select the sounds manually from the mixer or list.

"How difficult is using this soundfont?" 


The answer to the question: "I have carefully designed and used this soundfont and designed it over and over again. In my experience, I can say that it is quite easy to get used to and work". Of course, you have to spend enough time working on this package to get used to it. So: The person who has patience collects the harvest of the crop.

Templates:


The template files provided with the package are prepared for easy use.
You will copy these files to the templates directory of musescore in your user directory.

After creating a new file from the template, press the "Load from score" button in the Synthesizer's Fluid'tab, and the presets and soundfont settings will be loaded automatically.

It is a good start to examine the samples before use.

Get to know and explore the soundfont. This will give you ease of use.

I wish you good use.

For Full-Organ Sound:


If you want an "Organo pleno", you need to mix a mixture that can be all together. it will be the most suitable with the most numbers for example: G-2456ACE or G-2456CD
Warning: In some multiple mixes, the change in the timbre makes a little difference.



Demos:

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven


Notice: The chorus sound is from another sound-font. 
Not included in the this sound-font.


HedOrgan Classics Demo




  • Demo1, Pachelbel's Canon in D: 00:00
  • Demo2 Bach 02:20
  • Demo3 Hall-Effect: 04:00
  • Demo4 Bach Prelude 05:49;
  • Demo5 Bach Fuga 07:05;
  • Demo6 Pachelbel (cont'd) 08:25;




Downloads:

New: v77


Revisions:
Feb / 2021: MIX banks were edited and corrected. patch locations are different from v75.



Old: 

v75: // Some banks in the Mix Parts in this release contain a 16' pipe sound, although they shouldn't be. This has been fixed in v77. But as a side effect, the blends in Mix banks are not the same as the old version.

HedOrganSoundfont-sf2.zip // universal, 3.6MB
HedOrganSoundfont-sf3.zip // for Musescore, 795K

Revisions:
October/10/2019 11:14 Example scores updated.
October/10/2019 12:30 Demo Video added
October/10/2019 12:46 Patch list added

38 comments:

  1. The 'sf2' download link seems currently to point to the 'sf3' zip file - mis-paste?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you;
      Link names that were mistakenly mixed with each other were corrected.

      Delete
  2. This is amazing! It's hard to believe something like this can be free.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It doesn't work well on Musescore... The Mixed manuals doesn't work at all... what about if I want an organo pleno ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tested it and confirmed that it was all working.
    I did'nt understand what the problem was.

    If you want an organo pleno, you need to mix a mixture that can be all together.
    it will be the most suitable with the most numbers, because unfortunately some mixes have been eliminated because they give the same sound.
    for example: you can choose G-2456ACE for both keyboards. (From the mixer or instrument list) Also: you can increase the volume a little and increase the reverb mix a little.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello. I'm struggling to change registration in the middle of a score on MuseScore. "Change instrument" seems to show only the default MuseScore instruments, and "Change sound" doesn't work either. Do you know if this is something that is possible?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D-oh I forgot to import the instruments list... It works now!

      Delete
  6. Works great in MuseScore. We are using it in a virtual concert and the stops are very close to what the composer has indicated. Careful editing of tempos and note duration makes it sound like a human performance. One thing that would increase realism is single-note dynamics so that the organ could get louder or softer during the same tone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm so satisfied with it, but there is one thing I wonder why. Why do mixtures that have G A Basic Stops contain 1@2019-hedSound instruments?

    I open hedOrgv75.sf2 with polyphone and found that G Mixtures such as G 48A contain 1@2019-hedSound instruments, although any Basic Stops in G 48A do not. It seems that every mixtures that have G A-Salicional8' Basic Stops contain 1@2019-hedSound.

    Is it OK? I have no idea about how Basic Stops are mixed and I'm not so good at English to read all the explanations above. Could someone explain it to me?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What you say is true.

      These mixes were made with three different scripts I wrote. I couldn't do so many mixes by hand, one by one.

      Since the number of sine-waves I used was limited, I had to make mixes with these kinds of scripts.

      One of the scripts may have a mistake. Because one of these scripts mixes parameters, another sets attenuation parameters, and the last one eliminates very similar sounds. I guess the error might have been caused by the instrument's name remaining in memory (not deleted when it should have been) during the mixing phase.

      Worst of all, after the mixture is made, we can know what is mixed with what only by the name given by the script. It is impossible to understand by looking at the parameters. And yes: we can tell there's a mistake somewhere.

      Your attention is commendable.
      But rerunning these scripts and reordering mixes is not something I can do right now, because it takes a lot of time.
      But when I have time I can take care of it.

      What you can do: You can simply delete those parameters named "1 @ ..." that you think are incorrect from the preset section.

      Delete
    2. I checked: The error is only in the first columns, ie in the parts where 1 @ sample is located.
      It is caused by the initial value being 0 instead of 1440 in the comparison script.
      I ran the scripts again. Results are up to a day or two.
      At first glance it seems that the number of presets will decrease. And old presets won't be in the same places. Which is expected.
      The bank numbers in the Mix sections in the new version will be different, so only the basic patches will be compatible with the old ones.

      Delete
    3. I understand. Thank you for your hard work. I adjusted some preset and it sounds great. Old presets somewhat tend to be same(not sharp, although it's just my preference). This bug may be one cause.
      As the matter of attenuation, although I now understand in preset we can use negative attenuation, I'm still concerned about a tiny thing maybe different from your intention. The global attenuation in presets only work on instruments that do not have attenuation values. In fact negative attenuation in global (as in P 1-Posaune 16' preset) only amplify _eff:breathNoise and _eff:breathNoise. I guess instruments that have individual attenuation values do not get effect from global attenuation.
      So if you(or the scripts) intend it only to anplify Noise that's all OK.

      Delete
    4. Yes, you can delete all -5's in the global part of the Pn-.
      This is also another overlooked error.
      Thanks for your attention.

      Delete
    5. OK, I get it. Thank you for your reply.

      Delete
    6. I added v76 to the downloads section.
      I hope this version doesn't contain a problem / bug

      Delete
    7.  Thank you for your hard work but, I'm sorry to say that, another problem came in. Some mixtures do not have 16 'pipe where they should. For exanple G AE, G AD, G 18D and so on. It seems that A instruments delete all the 16 'pipe, whereas in G 18D I can not say why.
       I can resolve the problem. It's just adding the 16 'pipe by my hand. So, it's just a report.

      Delete
    8. This time I quickly found the cause of the problem.
      The reason for this error is a comma that is not present in the test scripts but is not clear where it came from during the actual operating phase. // It is possible that my finger accidentally touched that key on the keyboard.

      I run the test and actual scripts by synchronizing them.

      Delete
    9. I see there is no problem now.
      Although some mixtures(for example G-346ACE) I used go away these are very similar to existing mixtures(G-346CE), so it's no problem. It shows the last scripts work right.
      Thanks to great work.

      Delete
    10. I now find that in v75 some presets such as G 9D do not have attenuation on instrument 2. It completely fixed in v77.

      Delete
    11. Oh, glad to hear that.

      Your incredible attention and valuable review will benefit other users too; Thank you very much again.

      Delete
  8. I found a problem.
    This soundfont uses negative value in attenuation, but according to polyphone manual, the sf2 format doesn't allow attenuation to be negative, no amplification is thus possible. As a matter of fact, negative attenuation in global do not work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS: Negative attenuation is not allowed in the instrument section. But it can be used freely in the preset section.

      Delete
  9. Hi! Sorry this is a dumb question, but I cant seem to find hedorgan on instruments list! I tried opening the file, but I get this error. Been trying to figure it out for 2 hours now

    File '/Users/..../Documents/MuseScore3/SoundFonts/hedOrganv75-instruments. 2.xml' is not a valid MusicXML file

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. old (v75) instruments xml's name is "hedOrganv75-instruments..xml" (has included double dots but valid and loadable).
      I don't know where the ". 2" part in your error message came from.

      Please download and use new version (v77)
      filename is "hedOrganv77-instruments.xml"

      Delete
  10. When I load an instrument from the Hed Organ list, the Musescore "Grand Piano" sound is assigned to it. I can change it to the correct sound using the mixer, yet the "change instrument" feature is unusable since no matter which Hed Organ instrument I select the "Grand Piano" sound comes out and there's no way for me to change it. Is there something I'm missing?
    I apologize for the newbie question and bad English.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You probably use this sound font in combination with Musescore's default soundfont. Musescore's soundfont is at the top of the list and the synthesizer is trying to assign a patch to it that is not in Musescore's default soundfont.

    Since this soundfont is designed for stand-alone use, the instrument-list is adjusted accordingly. Because it contains too many patches and it is not possible to make it GM compatible.

    You have two options:
    1. You can put this soundfont on top and it will be compatible with its own instruments.xml (but this time you have to manually select the patches you chose for Musescore's default soundfont from the mixer).

    2. You can use this soundfont alone.

    PS: With the "Save to Score" and "Load From Score" buttons, you can save and recall the soundfont list to the score you are working on.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks a lot! I'm not using a lot of other instruments in this piece, so it's not going to be a problem putting this soundfont at the top. Also thanks for the "Save to Score" and "Load from Score" tip, I'll be sure to use it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for the greate soundfont.

    ReplyDelete
  14. As a thanks i would like to share my app i am developing on: https://github.com/ckirste/MULTImidiSOUNDFONTplayer . If you interested in send me an email: chr.kirste@googlemail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It looks like a nice app.
      I couldn't test it as I don't use USB MIDI on Android smartphones.
      I wish your projects success and plenty of users.

      Delete
    2. Thank you. Well you just need a little Adapter and a midi controller keyboard. There is also an little integrated display-keyboard.

      Delete
  15. I need help!
    The hedOrgan-instruments doesn't show up even if I put it on Musescore files.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You should add "hedOrganv77-instruments.xml" to this path (If Instruments folder doesn't exist, please create it.).
    C:\Users\[your-user-account-on-windows]\Documents\MuseScore3\Instruments

    example: C:\Users\JohnDoe\Documents\MuseScore3\Instruments

    ReplyDelete
  17. This seems like a potentially very powerful addition to Musescore, but I'm having a problem. I've input a very basic pedal part (literally just sustained single notes), and set the instrument to [P-7 OctaveBass 8'], and set the synthesizer controls to at least roughly what is shown in the above image. However, the playback is giving some frequency beating, particularly as the notes ascend (the highest pitch so far is E3). From what I can tell, it's like the left and right audio channels are playing two different frequencies, which they shouldn't be, since there's literally only one note in the staff. I could easily have done something wrong on my end, but I would appreciate some guidance with this issue.

    EDIT: I've done some testing with the synthesizer settings, and it's something to do with the wet/dry dial. When I set it to completely dry, the beating goes away, but the sound becomes basically a pure sine tone. When I increase the wetness, the sound becomes more accurate but the beating increases. It seems like one tone bleeds into the next. Is there any way to get that more appropriate "wet" timbre without the sustain/bleed? Thank you for any help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tested it for 3 octaves (with Musescore) and couldn't hear any beating. // First with only the P-7 patch, and then three times separately by addind an instrument on each of the other staff.

      Soundfont is mono. Pipes are panned differently with a special system. therefore, a frequency difference between the two channels is not expected.

      I also couldn't understand the absence of beating when the Wet/Dry pot is completely set to Dry. Yes, Musescore's reverb has some channel leaking, but there should be no frequency variation between channels.

      There may be a slight delay effect at the beginning of the note, but this is reverb's own specialty. //Delay cannot be set smaller than 20ms.

      Maybe if you send me your musescore file by e-mail, I can examine it further. (If you press the save to score button before saving, the reverb settings etc. will also be saved to the score)

      Delete
    2. Thanks for your help, and I apologize if I'm asking stupid questions; I've never really played with any of the advanced settings we're dealing with here, so like I said in my initial post, I could easily be misunderstanding or doing something wrong, so I appreciate your patience with a newbie.

      I can't seem to find an email address for you, so if you could somehow get that to me, I can send you the file.

      Delete