Just as the rise of computer gaming drove the incredible advances in graphic cards back in the 1980's (thank you games!), the use of samplers in pop music have driven that hardware to a very high level of sophistication where you can have as many as 1,000 notes being played simultaneously as well as running some large computer applications with no glitches or degradation of sound. A group of people have been taking current sampling technology and going retro -- 1700's retro. Here is one large example:
The pipes in the casework are non-speaking -- decoration only. Here is a smaller example:
Key, pedal, control and stop action are all controlled by MIDI. The full version of the software is about $600 and you then start buying sample sets. Here is where the fun begins, you can be playing on a Theater Organ and in 20 seconds, be playing on an organ that J.S. Bach played on when he was in his 30's and 40's. A few more keystrokes and you are playing a lush symphonic organ of the type that Camille Saint-Saens used when he composed his majestic Symphony #3. The specific software is about $500 for the full version (cheap considering that P Diddy is not going to be buying a copy -- this market is small). A fun time to be alive!!!
