Savaria (Aquincum Organ from Cathedral of Szombathely)
Szombathely is the oldest recorded city in Hungary. It was founded by the Romans in 45 AD as Savaria (Colonia Claudia Savariensum or Claudius' Colony of Savarians) and was the capital of the Pannonia Superior province of the Roman Empire. Szombathely is known as the birthplace of Saint Martin of Tours, the Duke of Armbrust, and Rudolf Virág, Leopold Bloom's father in James Joyce's Ulysses.
The Cathedral of Szombathely was built between 1791 and 1814 in baroque-classical style. It is one of the largest churches in Transdanubia. Construction of a two manual, 40 stop late-baroque organ was started in 1808 by the Viennese master Ignaz Kober. Kober died in 1813, so the organ was completed in 1814 by Gaspar Dorner. In 1867 Nandor Peppert added a further 10 registers, changing the character to romantic.
On March 4, 1945, American bombing razed Szombathely to the ground. The cathedral was heavily damaged. The 150-year-old Kober organ was destroyed and only some baroque sculptures decorating the case could be saved from the rubble. The communist regime did not allow the organ to be rebuilt, so for more than 50 years a six-register positive organ served the liturgy.
In 1999 the new three manual, 54 register organ was built by the Aquincum organ factory. The organ was designed by Áment Lukács OSB and its case incorporates the rescued carvings. As well as new pipes the organ included the best ranks from the redundant 1915 G F Steinmeyer and Cie (Ottingen) organ of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Augsburg, procuding the modern organ that allows not only baroque but also German and French romantic works to be performed convincingly.
The following friends helped me to make and publish the sample set (in alphabetical order): Dominique Dantand, Gérard Lefranc, Nagy István, Enrico Sandrini and Adrian Wheal. If something's done well, it's thanks to them. Thank you for their work.
The sample sets are made in two forms.
a. A version of stereo mix (mixing of 6 channels recording).
b. A Surround version (3 pairs of stereo recording: close (near); at distance (far) and in the background (rear).
In the surround version you can adjust the perspective by setting the volume of the near, far and rear recordings. (Suitable HW loading and channel settings can be used to give wet or semidry stereo modes or 4 channel surround mode too).
The sample set reverb is 4 s reflecting the original acoustics of the church.
Hauptwerk v4.2 or v5-9 supported for the Organ Definition Files.
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RAM requirements (GB) |
stereo |
surround |
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16 bit |
24 bit |
16 bit |
24 bit |
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Savaria |
5 |
8 |
14 |
22 |
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Pedal (original 30, virtual 32 keys) Untersatz 32', Prinzipalbass 16', Violonbass 16', Subbass 16' Quintbass 10 2/3', Oktavbass 8', Bassfloete 8', Choralbass 4' Mixtur 6x5 1/3' Bombarde 32', Posaune 16', Chamade 16' Trompete 8', Chamade 4' |
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Great (original 58, virtual 61 keys) Praestant 16', Bourdon 16', Salice 16' Prinzipal 8', Hohlfloete 8', Gamba 8', Oktav 4', Rohrfloete 4' Rausch 2x, Kornett 3-5x, Mixtur 5-6x, Zimbel 4x Trompede 16', Chamade 8' |
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Swell (original 58, virtual 61 keys) Rohrbourdon 16', Diapason 8' Floete harmonique 8' Vox coelestis 8', Violoktav 4', Travers floete 4' Sept kornett 4x, Flautino 2', Plein jeu 5x Fagott 16', Oboe 8', Trompete harmonique 8' Vox humana 8', Clarine 4' |
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Positiv (original 58, virtual 61 keys) Quintaton 16', Prinzipal 8', Bourdon 8', Salizional 8' Oktav 4', Floete amabile 4', Sesquialtera 2x, Oktav 2', Quint 1 1/3' Scharf 5-6x, Trompete 8', Clarinette 8' |
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Couplers: There are plenty of defined couplers in the virtual version Tremulant: I, II, III Enclosure: II, III Slider of Near (semidry) - Far (wet) - Rear volumen control (only in the surround version!) |
Install the part01 of the stereo-wet version. Install the part01 and then the part02 and part03 of surround version. It is important to sort.
The savaria_stereo_mix version is different from the surround version, you can install and use it separately.
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.
Buy the full (stereo-mix and surround) Aquincum of Savaria (You can pay in dollars or euros.)
