Birds converse in the mist - Improv

[quantum]

I was experimenting with tonal variations here. 

Had recently been listening to some Messiaen organ music.  Had a moment when I thought wow - that sound!

Please use headphones or quality speakers to listen.

jOrgan 3.5
Cavaillé-Coll 1.0

[chopinatic]

I was experimenting with tonal variations here. 

Had recently been listening to some Messiaen organ music.  Had a moment when I thought wow - that sound!

Please use headphones or quality speakers to listen.

jOrgan 3.5
Cavaillé-Coll 1.0

Very interesting, some nice use of harmony. Can't say it was something id listen to in general but i think you have a fantastic musical imagination, allowing yourself to be taken in whatever way the music decides to take you.  I admire your exploration in your music. Great job!

[goldentone]

I really enjoyed this, Quantum.  The loud, very dissonant parts are not my cup of tea, but the rest of it was quite interesting.  You're definitely blessed with deep and unique musical resources.

[rachfan]

Hi quantum,

Here again, you've come up with a most imaginative improv.  You created the sense of a mist, quite murky at times, and the piercing, raucous voices of the birds.  (We have a large male raven that was born on our property and has been here now for three years with his lady friend.  And when they sound the alarm, it's really raucous!)  You created that effect well. 

I loved the very low, sustained pedal points too.  I listened with a headset, and when I closed my eyes during those pedal points, I could feel the concussion and low vibration from those very tall organ pipes!  Reminded me of my youth.  The city where I was born had a beautiful Paramount Theatre built in 1928 in Rococo style with 2,200 seats.  It also had a Wurlitzer theater organ on stage with three keyboards.  The pipes were mounted in chambers in the side walls behind the draperies of faux opera boxes.  When I'd attend organ recitals there, and those lowest notes were played, it felt like the theater walls would tumble down!  I got that same sensation in your improv here.  Phenomenal!

[arensky]

Cool. It's a misty grey day here (unusual) and the ravens are squawking, feasting on worms on my lawn. You capture the mood perfectly, reminds me of being back East.

I like the way you use the organ, big blocks of sound that slowly shift and settle against each other, with the birds conversing in and above them. Excellent as always. 

[lontano]

I was experimenting with tonal variations here. 

Had recently been listening to some Messiaen organ music.  Had a moment when I thought wow - that sound!

Please use headphones or quality speakers to listen.

jOrgan 3.5
Cavaillé-Coll 1.0

Very interesting and well done. Those deep base notes are so low you can almost count the hertz!

I have no training on the organ, but have spent some time improvising, and with the vast number of combinations of sonority (esp. on a really large instrument) the possibilities are infinite.

I'm reminded of an LP that Messiaen released in which he improvised at the organ while a woman read poetry his mother, a respected poet, wrote while he was in her womb. I wouldn't call it high art, and it's slightly strange, but it was the only recording I've ever seen of Messiaen improvising. He was well-known for his improvisatory skills, but with the above exception he never recorded it.

What are the brief specs on the instrument you used in this improv?

Lontano 

[quantum]

Thanks all!  Glad to hear that some have experienced what I had attempted to describe through music.

lontano, the organ console I used is a 2 manual + AGO pedal with MIDI.  The sound is produced by several pieces of software.  For the organ relay, we have the open source jOrgan (you may have heard of it's commercial counterpart Hauptwerk).  As it is a Java program it should run on any platform that supports Java.  One can then open or create organ dispositions within jOrgan - this case being the CC 1.0 from RITE Instruments.  In this disposition sounds are packaged as sound fonts.  On Windows there is a Fluidsynth extension one can use with jOrgan to allow it to play the sounds.  

jOrgan has come a long way in recent months regarding ease of setup.  Probably the item that turns most people off is its complexity and the numerous steps one has to take in order to get an organ playable.  Now there is a setup wizzard to help easily configure your MIDI devices, plus the integration of Fluidsynth brings the elements together in a single package.  

jOrgan home:
https://jorgan.sourceforge.net/

Home of the CC organ (direct links don't work, just enter and click on CC 1.6 in the menu for info and screenshots)
https://www.rite-instruments.de

I've attached a screen cap of what it looks like on my computer.  Some little additions I made were expansion to 30 Generals and a combination sequencer.

[lontano]

An enormous gift of information. 
Maybe some not so new here may have known, but it's well worth sharing!

Many thanks,

Lontano

[quantum]

An enormous gift of information.  
Maybe some not so new here may have known, but it's well worth sharing!

My pleasure.  

I should mention that all the software above is FREE.  You can access the same sounds even if you use a cheap MIDI keyboard from a department store.