Viscount’s physical modelling platform – Physis explained
Physis is a computer generated physical model of an organ pipe. This enables the Viscount Digital Organ to be manipulated in just the same way as a pipe voicer would approach an organ pipe.
As most of our customers owning a physical modelling organ know these instruments allow a very high degree of personal control over how the digital organ sounds. This extends from the selection of individual stop voices from the internal library all the way through to building your own complete instrument that could be voiced to any regional style with English, Baroque and French being the most commonly used.
All this sits within your standard instrument. The voicing of each stop voice can be undertaken just as you would with a pipe organ but there is much much more covering tuning styles and winding that replicates the effect on pitch that happens when the wind supply changes as more air is demanded as stops are added or more notes played. All this combines to produce a living sound that subtly varies every time you play different combinations of stops and notes. This is what makes our physically modelled instruments so realistic and enjoyable to play.
A series of tutorial videos to help you with your Viscount instrument
Not everybody is determined to work through our instruction guides to find out how all this flexibility is managed. So we have produced a series of video tutorials to show how the features are managed and also what they do and explain why you may want to explore them to build your own personal preferred sound.
In 2016 we published the first 5 videos covering the topics of voices, tuning and winding. We have recently added a further 7 videos to this tutorial covering topics such as Audio Management, Reverberation, Recording Sequencer, Configuration of pedals/manuals/pistons and MIDI Features. I am very grateful to Francis Rumsey who, as well as presenting the videos, has written the scripts and carried out the editing of these videos.
If you are looking for videos explaining the features and functionality of our Chorum Range of Organs then go to our video blog post for these instruments instead.
Francis is a highly experienced audio engineer as well as talented organist so we have been fortunate to find the ideal person to present and manage this project for us.
More videos are in production so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates. Maybe there are features you may not have known were available or ones that you would use just once and then forget about.
Watch the Video tutorial on Vimeo
You can either watch the videos below or go to our collection on Vimeo and watch the whole series. There you will also find other Videos such as Hymn of the Month and Regent Classic Tutorial Series. If you are already following us on YouTube, please do consider checking us out on Vimeo too, as the sound quality of the videos should be slightly better there. Read our blog post about moving to Vimeo here.
We will most likely add to this series to form an extensive library of guidance we hope you will find informative.
If there is a topic or question you have – and we haven’t covered it yet, please do get in contact with us – we would be pleased to add your question or topic to our tutorial videos.
I have had a passion for church organs since the tender age of 12. I own and run Viscount Organs with a close attention to the detail that musicians appreciate; and a clear understanding of the benefits of digital technology and keeping to the traditional and emotional elements of organ playing.
they have got great sound.wish i could have one for my cathedral
Great stuff. I’m loving it.