Some observations on this downloadable harpsichord.
This harpsichord was built in 1981, by Martin Bezemer Eindhoven the Netherlands.
This one-keyboard-instrument contains two 8 foot stops with a lute to the first stop.
The recording has been made with the following equipment:
1st: 2 new AKG Perception 200 large diaphragm condenser microphones.
2nd: six chanal mixer Tapco Blend 6 of 2006.
3rd: a simple computer with an AMD Athlon 1600 MHz processor.
4th: an M-Audio 2496 sound card.
The wav-files are recorded in 16 bits at 44,1 kHz.
Tuning is equal to a’=440 Hz.
We have constructed loops in wav-files in a simple manner:
After the tone has died out we have inserted a few seconds of silence and on this we placed loops with CoolEdit version 96.
A loop on absolute silence is, as it happens, always correct. Just before the release of the key we inserted a cue-point as required by Hauptwerk.
The sound of the front "stop" starts immediately and the back "stop" after about 20 msec.
Recently a Dutch harpsichord player (Pierre de Ries) suggested that this staggering of the attack with coupled keyboards should be slightly larger in the bass than in the treble.
At this moment we have no technical ways to realize or measure this specific harpsichord effect.
But certainly there is a point in what mr. de Ries says. We are still working on this.
We also admit that this staggering of the attack delay is not always uniform from key to key.
We welcome your comments, especially from those who play the real instrument.
You see 2 keyboards in Hauptwerk. At the side of the upper manual you will see two labels "8va Bassa".
This manual plays one octave lower than the other manual depending on the stops chosen.
In this way you can now play the 5 lowest notes of the original instrument on the lower left side of the upper manual.
Instead of stop buttons we have opted for combination buttons.
These implement all possible combinations (affecting the stops on the upper manual as well):
1: The front stop, a somewhat "sharp" one.
2: The back stop, a little bit "milder".
3: The lute on the first stop.
4: The back and front stop together.
5: The lute and the back stop together.
6: Everything reset.
Furthermore we have added a swell, which is of course not original.
Due to the state of the instrument which is not very good the result is not overwhelming but possibly you can enjoy it nevertheless.
The instrument uses approximately 300 MB of memory (this is what Windows attributes to Hauptwerk etc).
Any comment from you is appreciated (both positive and negative) because it will enable us to improve our work next time.
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