Los Altos UMC | Los Altos, CA

Built by William B. D. Simmons, Boston in 1852, this organ was shipped around Cape Horn to Howard Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. It is one of the few organs that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire that ravaged the city.

In 1976, it was purchased by Los Altos United Methodist Church, removed and rebuilt with additions by Manuel Rosales and Associates in 1977-78.

In 1993, George Bozeman Organ Builders added several prepared pedal stops. The Keyboard action is entirely mechanical, and there are 2 levers to engage the four Great upperwork stops and operate the Swell expression shutters. The stop knobs are engraved without pitches as was norm in the early 19th century in America.

The Organ in Howard St. Presbyterian Church, San Francisco

Encryption

The samples are offered in 48kHz/24bit resolution. The multiple releases have three levels: short, mid and long. Hauptwerk 5 and higher required (incl. HW6/7). The sample set is encrypted via simple encryption.

The sample set is offered in the Stereo variant (2 channels). Because the reverb time of the room was so minimal, and the sound of the ambient channels virtually indistinguishable from the direct channels, we chose to not include a second perspective. The sample set responds very well to added reverb via the HW convolution feature. Below is a screenshot of one of our favorite reverb settings in HW;

Reverb time

The reverb time is ca. 1~1.5 seconds.

Keyboards, pedalboard

The original compass of the keyboards is 56 keys. The original compass of the pedal division is 30 notes.

Requirements

RAM consumption

16-bit compressed - 1.7gb
24-bit compressed - 3.3gb

Built by Wm. B.D. Simmons in Boston, 1852. Restoration and Voicing by Manuel Rosales and George Bozeman, 1977 & 1993. It has mechanical key and stop action, so there are no pistons. There are mechanical levers to assist with 4 Great treble* stops, and for the Swell shades. Stops have names and manual designation on them, but no pitch numbers.