Happy Holidays

Subscriber Lists:

We are endeavoring to clean up our e-mails lists. Over the years many addresses have been added, some are no longer used, some aren't relevant, and some we aren't sure were ever real to begin with. To this end we are asking people to intentionally sign up for any news letters we have available as a way to confirm you are real, and you would like to continue getting information from us. 

Shipping Delays:

Due to the global pandemic, supply chains are a mess everywhere; from obtaining raw components to trying to get a box a delivery truck. Many shipping networks are congested and carriers are facing delays. We apologize if your order is taking longer than you expected. We are doing the best we can. 

Classic MIDIWorks is now able to supply custom woodwork made in the USA. The pictures here show a 4m angled keycheek and music rack stack made in Cherry with Ebony stripe. It was recently delivered to a customer in Toronto. 

Also available are custom solid wood benches, adjustable

benches, and risers for a bench and console.

Subscribe to our MIDI Works newsletter to get more information as it is released.

Plans are in the works for wood working products, such as consoles, benches,  key cheeks, and music racks to be manufactured in England. These will be available to anybody living in the United Kingdom and possibly the rest of Europe. This will mean significant savings in terms of shipping costs. More information, along with pictures, will be available in the new year. If you want to receive this information when it becomes available, be sure to add your e-mail address to the MIDI Works UK list. 

Contre Bombarde is big and getting bigger, some numbers:

• 5,500 users, up from 4,500 last year
• 36,000 uploaded pieces this year compared to 29,000 the previous year.
• over 400 sample sets
• more than 350 registered users online every week

We are currently working on updating the  website to have a subscription service,  which will provide features such as  scheduling multiple uploads, more detailed analytics (see who is playing your song), and sample set producers will be able to add their own sample sets to the data base. 

The site will still be free, these are additional services which will be available. The Beta version should be up and running early 2021.  

Contrebombarde Concert Hall is partly user supported, so we would like to thank all those who have made donations during 2020 (and before), for their kindness, and acknowledge that we (and all users) appreciate their support!  If you have never made a donation, but enjoy listening to the thousands of free performances, we ask that you do so now.

Hauptwerk 6 has been released and offers a long list of updates that you’ve been waiting for! This new major version boasts several updates to the Hauptwerk combination system, including important enhancements to the General pistons and Stepper sequencer and many new Favorite options focusing on organ, temperament and combination set Favorite options.

Further updates to the already extensive MIDI system are included as well as higher fidelity updates for audio output. Please see the

Hauptwerk 6 Release Notice for full details and all of the new features offered in the most comprehensive version of Hauptwerk released to date!

Classic Organ entered into an agreement this past year to become an official dealer of the Viscount line of classic church organs. The full size consoles for churches will be available for sale in Canada, and the small portable console will be available throughout North America. 

Viscount's Italian research facilities have developed Physis®, a method of physically modeling a pipe.

Thanks to accurate audio reproduction and powerful reverberation effects, Viscount has transferred the magnificence of a large pipe organ into the convenience of a compact instrument.

Each instrument comes with a rich library of voices: you can easily select hundreds of additional sounds from the internal memories. 

We are currently building a new website for the Canadian market. 

When Viscount discontinued the CM-100 tone generator, they introduced their new Laurel box. 

This unit provides up to 35 simultaneous pipe organ sounds from a library of 620 pre-programmed voices. These sounds are selected via an LCD control panel behind the front cover, but can also be accessed remotely from a PC voicing program. Each one may be assigned to any of sixteen output audio channels and controlled by any of 3 MIDI input channels. 

The voices are generated using physical modeling technology, not by sampling. This system involves real-time calculation of the audio waveform based on the physics of

construction, materials and air pressure.

The overall goal is to provide better realism of organ sounds as each individual key can have its own set of parameters just like a real pipe organ. Almost every parameter can be individually adjusted.

The unit also has reverberation and tremulant effects selectable on front-panel keys, and expression of all three divisions via MIDI.

Laurel is fully supported by Classic Organ Works, and connects via MIDI to our pipe organ control systems, including the new Maestro system. 

Organteq is a computer program which uses physical modelling to create the sound of a pipe organ. You can install it on your computer or laptop to create an inexpensive Virtual Pipe Organ.

By utilizing the technology of Modartt's award-winning virtual instrument - Pianoteq, the playability and complex behaviours of real acoustic pipes are simulated.  By omitting the usage of samples, the file size is just a tiny

fraction of that required by other virtual organs, perfect for use on any modern laptop.

The sound is generated in real time from scratch, reproducing the typical and variable pipe attack transients "chiff" as well as the 3D configuration, where pipes are located in space according to their keyboards. Even the action noises from keys, stops and couplers are modelled. All this makes the instrument livelier than sample based variants, bringing more realistic variability in attack and sustain.

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. maybe Christmas...perhaps... means a little bit more!

Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

Calvin Coolidge