Viscount CM100

[David Pinnegar]

The local church has been declared redundant . . . but there's still demand for a carol event in the Village Hall. We thought of accompanying carols on a strident Sperrhake harpsichord . . . but perhaps it might not support singing if there are enough people.

So I resurrected a Viscount CM100 expansion unit and found an old Midi keyboard and from the library of stops set up
16 Gamba
8 Gamba
8 Viol D'Amour
8 Principal
8 Stopped Diapason
4 Principal
4 Flute
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
Sesquialtera II
Mixture
8 Trompette

Of course the effectiveness is governed by voicing and relative balance between stops but after a little work on this the result of the unit working just with one manual is remarkably impeccable. Much better than ever I expected and actually better than many more complete electronic instruments I've heard.

If anyone's thinking of selling a CM100 I'm possibly a willing buyer!

Best wishes

David P

[diapason]

Sounds a good plan.  You might contact David Mason at Viscount.  He has a lot of secondhand stuff in his showrooms.

[dragonser]

Hi,
when it is not such a busy time of year might you be able to post a couple of short you tube clips to give everyone an idea of the different stops ?
Regards Peter B

[David Pinnegar]

Yes I will.

For a one manual capable of supporting hymn singing to the full, the effectiveness of this setup is rather extraordinary. Effectively it's a 11 rank Great with a Viol d'Amour to give the versatility often supplied by another manual.

If one could put a split between stops so as to achieve a split manual it would very ably achieve the effectiveness of French Baroque instruments with the absolutely superb variety of Cromorne and Vox Humana stops.

Speakers are also important and I'm using original style Lowther Acousta cabinets fitted with dual units, one an Audio Nirvana Super 8 fed on a 100uf capacitor and the other a Tannoy 8 inch unit at the side to reinforce bass fed by a 3.5 or 7 mH coil.

The Gamba 16 is extraordinarily effective in absence of a pedal organ and the secret of the whole thing is to voice the 16 and 8ft stops to diminish in the bass so as not to make the left hand muddy.

For the 8 Principal I chose one of the Diapasons with a discordant semitone harmonic chiff, and toned back the power so that it's more delicate rather than in-your-face, and likewise with the 4 Principal, choosing a chiffy one, and also a Spitz Flote for the 4ft.

The voicing allows adjustment of "Character" of the stop. This adjusts the presence of the 2nd harmonic in particular and the harmonic structure above.

To get more chiffy stops to blend, it's effective on the unit to tone back "character" by a notch or two, and also to adjust the delay of attack so that the chiff shines through.

Attack of chiff on a 4ft stop is a trick used by the French Baroque organs to achieve an attack without the 8fts doing so in an in-your-face sort of way.

Playing with the setting up of the unit is helped by a smidgeon of knowledge of pipe organ voicing and likewise is an interesting sound laboratory to work with in giving ideas for new pipe organs.

Very intriguingly the repertoire of Christmas Carols works wonderfully, even best, in Meantone. Equal Temperament makes them sound both insipid, unexciting and impure in comparison.

Best wishes

David P

[dragonser]

Hi,
having heard one of these expanders in person,at one of the Eocs meetings, they seem a very useful unit.
For anyone wanting to know more about their possibilities the user manual, other guides (and software) can be downloaded from
http://www.organworks.com/index.php/products/sound-generation-systems?set_article=viscount-cm-100

note I have no connection with the above company.
regards Peter B