Baroque Organ of the St. Anthony's Church  in Bacsfa (Slovakia)

Bacsfa Organ
                                                                                History
Bacsfa is a village in Slovakia inhabited mostly by Hungarians. It has 550 inhabitants.
The settlement was first mentioned in 1205. In 1238 the village already had a church. This small church was demolished in 1852 due to its poor condition. The village belonged to the Esztergom Archbishopric in the Middle Ages.

The Franciscan church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua was built between 1660 and 1674. The church's landmark, the altarpiece depicting the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, was painted by a Bratislava painter in the early 1700s. In the summer of 1715, the Virgin Mary in the painting cried bloody tears several times. From then on, many people visited the church every year, and in 1737 Pope Clement XII granted a plenary indulgence to all believers who make a pilgrimage to the church on June 19, the anniversary of the miracle. The church has been a famous pilgrimage site ever since. In 1995, the famous painting was stolen and has never been found, so only a copy of the painting can be seen.

The two-manual and pedal baroque organ was made by an unknown Bratislava master in 1779. It was the organ of the Franciscan church in Komárom. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Franciscans were forced to flee Komárom, and therefore the organ was moved to the Franciscan church in Bacsfa in 1811. This is one of the best preserved and still functioning baroque organs in historical Hungary. The pipes and mechanics of the organ are original, and no significant repairs or reconstructions have been made in recent centuries. The organ is still functional today, but this wonderful little instrument would deserve a professional reconstruction.

The following friends helped me to make and publish the sample set (in alphabetical order): Dominique Dantand, Gérard Lefranc, Nagy István and Jean-Pierre Silvestre. If something's done well, it's thanks to them. Thank you for their work. Special thanks to Gábor Farkas for obtaining permission to record the organ, and to parish priest Csaba Mikus.

Features
Sample quality 
The sample sets are available in wave format 48kHz/24bit, stereo, multiple loops (1-8) and multiple releases (3 levels). 
The organ is tuned according to Werckmeister III. a=449 Hz. (The temperament file named "Bacsfa" is attached.)
The sample sets are made in two forms. 

The sample set is available in original and extended formats. 
The extended format includes 3 manuals, copulas and shutter, as well as some extra stops created using the organ's sound. 
The sample is made in 6-channel surround format. (1 stereo pair for front-direct, 1 stereo pair for front-diffuse and 1 stereo pair for rear.)

The sample set reverb is 3.5 s reflecting the original  acoustics of the church.  (Created IR file for HW5-9 users)

Hauptwerk v4.2 or v5-9 supported for the Organ Definition Files.

Keyboards, Pedal 
The organ compass of the manuals are 49keys, the compass of the pedal is 22 (extended format: 25 keys.)
The manuals and pedals of the original organ have a short lower octave in the Baroque style. I have supplemented the lower octave of the virtual instrument with the missing notes, and this is usable by default, but the Hauptwerk program also allows the use of a short lower octave.
Operating Instructions:

RAM requirements (GB)

2 channels sztereo

6 channels surround

 

16 bit

24 bit

16 bit

24 bit

Bacsfa original version

5

6

7

9

Bacsfa extended version

7

10

10

15
The data is for information only. They depend on the operating system and other apps.
Specifications  

Original

Extended

Pedal  22 keys

Subbass 16’, Violinbass 8’, Violinbass 4’  

Pedal  25 keys

+ Octavbass 2’

Positive 49 keys

Copula major 8’, Copula minor 4’, Octava 2’

Positive 49 keys

same

Great 49 keys

Principal 8’, Coppel 8’, Octav 4’, Flauta 4’

Quint 3’, Superoctav 2’, Mixtur 1 1/3’

Great  49 keys

+ Vox humana 8’

Swell  -

 

Swell 49 keys

Octav 8’, Coppel 8’, Copula major 8’, Vox Coelestis 8’

Octav 4’, Copula minor 4’, Nasat 2 2/3’, Octav 2’,

Terz 1 3/5’, Quint 1 1/3’, Vox Angelica 8’

Couplers: -

Tremulant: -

Enclosure -

Couplers:

I/P, II/P, III/P, II/I, III/I, III/II

Tremulant: III

Enclosure: III

Pictures
Bacsfa Chruch and Organ

Audio demos

Playing Dominique Dantand, Nagy István and Jean-Pierre Silvestre
Download / Order
Try the the demo sample sets before you buy!
The Trial Versions of the Bacsfa Organ has a limited compass of C2-C3 (048-c to 060-c) in the pedal, C2-G5 (048-c to 079-g) in the manuals. All other functions work. 
(Some registers of the extended version work irregularly in the demo version!)


If you are using one of Hauptwerk versions 5-9, you can install and use the church IR file.


Surround vs Stereo mode

If you do not have a surround sound system, but there is enough memory (RAM), I suggest you also install the surround version. If you activate the front and rear stops too, then you will get a more compact and fuller sound than the simple stereo.

Guide: simple stereo from surround, how to?  

Buy the full Bacsfa sample set!
59 EUR
69 USD
(You can pay in dollars or euros.)