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Organ console
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Organ console
The pipe organ is played from an area called the console or keydesk, which holds the manuals (keyboards), pedals, stop controls and pistons. Pistons are used to select a registration with stops. In electric-action organs, the console is often movable. This allows for greater flexibility in placement of the console for various activities. Some very large organs, such as the van den Heuvel organ at the Church of St. Eustache in Paris, have more than one console, enabling the organ to be played from several locations depending on the nature of the performance.
Controls at the console called stops select which ranks of pipes are used. These controls are generally either draw knobs (or stop knobs), which engage the stops when pulled out from the console; stop tablets (or tilting tablets) which are hinged at their far end; or rocker-tablets, which rock up and down on a central axle.
Different combinations of stops change the timbre of the instrument considerably. The selection of stops is called the registration. On modern organs, the registration can be changed instantaneously with the aid of a combination action, usually featuring pistons. Pistons are buttons that can be pressed by the organist to change registrations; they are generally found between the manuals or above the pedalboard. In the latter case they are called toe studs or toe pistons (as opposed to thumb pistons). Most large organs have both preset and programmable pistons, with some of the couplers repeated for convenience as pistons and toe studs. Programmable pistons allow comprehensive and rapid control over changes in registration.
Newer organs in the 2000s may have multiple levels of solid-state memory, allowing each piston to be programmed more than once. This allows more than one organist to store their own registrations. Many newer consoles also feature MIDI, which allows the organist to record performances. It also allows an external keyboard to be plugged in, which assists in tuning and maintenance.
The layout of an organ console is not standardized, but most organs follow historic conventions for the country and style of organ, so that the layout of stops and pistons is broadly predictable. The stops controlling each division (see Keyboards) are grouped together. Within these, the standard arrangement is for the lowest sounding stops (32 ft or 16 ft) to be placed at the bottom of the columns, with the higher pitched stops placed above this, (8 ft 4 ft, 22⁄3 ft, 2 ft, etc.); the mixtures are placed above this (II, III, V, etc.). The stops controlling the reed ranks are placed collectively above these in the same order as above, often with the stop engraving in red. In a horizontal row of stop tabs, a similar arrangement would be applied left to right rather than bottom to top. Among stops of the same pitch, louder stops are generally placed below softer ones (so an Open Diapason would be placed towards the bottom and a Dulciana towards the top), but this is less predictable since it depends on the exact stops available and the space available to arrange stop knobs.
Thus, an example stop configuration for a Great division may look like this:
The standard position for these columns of stops (assuming drawknobs are used) is for the Choir or Positive division to be on the outside of the player's right, with the Great nearer the center of the console and the music rest. On the left hand side, the Pedal division is on the outside, with the Swell to the inside. Other divisions can be placed on either side, depending on the amount of space available. Manual couplers and octave extensions are placed either within the stop knobs of the divisions that they control, or grouped together above the uppermost manual. The pistons, if present, are placed directly under the manual they control.
To be more historically accurate, organs built along historical models will often use older schemes for organizing the keydesk controls.
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Organ console
The pipe organ is played from an area called the console or keydesk, which holds the manuals (keyboards), pedals, stop controls and pistons. Pistons are used to select a registration with stops. In electric-action organs, the console is often movable. This allows for greater flexibility in placement of the console for various activities. Some very large organs, such as the van den Heuvel organ at the Church of St. Eustache in Paris, have more than one console, enabling the organ to be played from several locations depending on the nature of the performance.
Controls at the console called stops select which ranks of pipes are used. These controls are generally either draw knobs (or stop knobs), which engage the stops when pulled out from the console; stop tablets (or tilting tablets) which are hinged at their far end; or rocker-tablets, which rock up and down on a central axle.
Different combinations of stops change the timbre of the instrument considerably. The selection of stops is called the registration. On modern organs, the registration can be changed instantaneously with the aid of a combination action, usually featuring pistons. Pistons are buttons that can be pressed by the organist to change registrations; they are generally found between the manuals or above the pedalboard. In the latter case they are called toe studs or toe pistons (as opposed to thumb pistons). Most large organs have both preset and programmable pistons, with some of the couplers repeated for convenience as pistons and toe studs. Programmable pistons allow comprehensive and rapid control over changes in registration.
Newer organs in the 2000s may have multiple levels of solid-state memory, allowing each piston to be programmed more than once. This allows more than one organist to store their own registrations. Many newer consoles also feature MIDI, which allows the organist to record performances. It also allows an external keyboard to be plugged in, which assists in tuning and maintenance.
The layout of an organ console is not standardized, but most organs follow historic conventions for the country and style of organ, so that the layout of stops and pistons is broadly predictable. The stops controlling each division (see Keyboards) are grouped together. Within these, the standard arrangement is for the lowest sounding stops (32 ft or 16 ft) to be placed at the bottom of the columns, with the higher pitched stops placed above this, (8 ft 4 ft, 22⁄3 ft, 2 ft, etc.); the mixtures are placed above this (II, III, V, etc.). The stops controlling the reed ranks are placed collectively above these in the same order as above, often with the stop engraving in red. In a horizontal row of stop tabs, a similar arrangement would be applied left to right rather than bottom to top. Among stops of the same pitch, louder stops are generally placed below softer ones (so an Open Diapason would be placed towards the bottom and a Dulciana towards the top), but this is less predictable since it depends on the exact stops available and the space available to arrange stop knobs.
Thus, an example stop configuration for a Great division may look like this:
The standard position for these columns of stops (assuming drawknobs are used) is for the Choir or Positive division to be on the outside of the player's right, with the Great nearer the center of the console and the music rest. On the left hand side, the Pedal division is on the outside, with the Swell to the inside. Other divisions can be placed on either side, depending on the amount of space available. Manual couplers and octave extensions are placed either within the stop knobs of the divisions that they control, or grouped together above the uppermost manual. The pistons, if present, are placed directly under the manual they control.
To be more historically accurate, organs built along historical models will often use older schemes for organizing the keydesk controls.
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