Staff Members

Graham Goode

BackgroundGraham was born in Zimbabwe, and grew up in Harare. After finishing High School he went to study in the USA, for the first year attending Warren Wilson College in the North Carolina portion of the Appalachian Mountains. He then transferred to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. After returning to Africa, he attended Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, and graduated with a postgraduate Bachelor of Divinity in Pastoral Theology. He then worked as a minister in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in South Africa for the next five years. He left the ministry in 2005, and has been working as a Technical Writer in Information Technology companies since then.

Musical Interest

Graham learned to play the guitar when he was 8 years old, and then learned to play the piano while in High School. He was a member of the church's music groups at Hatfield Presbyterian Church and Highlands Presbyterian Church in Harare, and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Grahamstown, playing both keyboard/piano and guitar (and singing). He started using MIDI keyboards while studying in North Carolina, and started working with samples using his EMU Proteus MPS keyboard. His interest in the pipe organ only developed after leaving the ministry, but he now enjoys having fun playing the virtual theatre organ as well as playing church/classical organs and creating sample sets.

Virtual Organ Interest

Virtual (software based) pipe organ technology has been around for decades, starting with additive and subtractive synthesis and then maturing into sample based recreations.

Graham's interest in virtual pipe organ software began with the earlier version of the Miditzer 216 theatre pipe organ (soundfont synthesis based) program. From there the interest grew to include various other virtual pipe organ applications and sampler engines. Graham typically works with others to help them achieve their VPO/VTPO goals. One of these collaborations was the Puppitzer Live CD (A Puppy Linux live CD loaded with the Miditzer 216). Another was jOrgan Pup - also Puppy Linux Live CD, this time loaded with jOrgan and various classical and theatre organ dispositions. He has also worked to create Fluidsynth extensions for jOrgan, and Gigastudio/LinuxSampler based sample sets and dispositions.

Hauptwerk

The first sample set that Graham worked on for the Hauptwerk platform was a collaboration with Joseph Basquin - the Jeux d'orgues 2 Stiehr-Mockers updated version. They remastered (doing noise reduction and amplitude adjustments) the DAT sample recordings (recorded by Joseph in 2000). Graham also did the graphics work and CODM (Custom Organ Designer Module) programming of the updated version. See Jeux d'orgues 2 -Stiehr-Mockers to download the latest version of this sample set.

Since then Graham has worked with many other people, all over the world, helping them install and play Hauptwerk sample sets, as well a creating sample sets by either helping with processing the samples and/or creating the Hauptwerk ODF (Organ Definition Files). These include the Composite English Cathedral Organ, Wildervank v1, Jorgenson Tribute organ, Van Oeckelen orgel (Oude Pekela), Burea Church, Pitea School of Music, American Classic Organ Major I and Minor I, Barton Theatre Organ series, Freedom Morton Theatre Organ series, Jeux d'orgues 3 - Jean Andre Silbermann, Balzan Parish Organ - Platania, Moller Opus 8060, Shantz Opus 918, Robert Morton Opus 2401, Ryhope Compton 3/9 Cinema Organ, and various other custom organs for private individuals.

Graham's philosophy on virtual pipe organ creation involves both an historical preservation perspective (re-creative) as well as a creative synthesis (composite) to create something new. For this reason you will see that for many projects he will have an original version of the sample set, as well as reduction and/or extended sets in the series. Using virtual pipe organ technology to create an audio 'backup' of an instrument is a personal passion, and so Graham hopes to be recording and creating sample sets of many organs in the years to come.

To see what Graham is currently collaborating on please see Work in Progress.

MIDI Micro Electronics and Console Conversions

Virtual pipe organ applications are played via MIDI signals. For this reason Graham has become involved in micro electronic MIDI projects as well as console conversions. His first project involved a conversion of a Hammond L100 whose tone generation system had been used for spares to fix another Hammond (so it was just the two keyboards and the Pedals). This was converted using Tom Scarf's PIC Microchip based MIDI project. Graham then converted a Keinla console, also using PIC based MIDI boards. Since then Graham has converted Conn consoles (both classical and theatre), Yamaha Electone, Viscount, and some combination MIDI Keyboards + MIDIfied Pedalboard systems. Graham has used MIDI boards from Midigadget Boutique as well as the DIY and OpenSource MIDIBox PIC based MIDIO128 project.

Carl Heslop

Carl is an organ builder and concert organ player in the United Kingdom. He recorded the samples for the Ryhope Compton 3/9 Cinema Organ sample set.

Carl has been a regular Cinema Organ concert organist at the Ryhope Compton console, as well as various other venues in the UK. He is also very involved in the maintenance, repair, and tuning, of pipe organs in the area that he lives in. Carl has also worked on a hybrid instrument, adding Hauptwerk based ranks to a pipe organ.

[More information to be added soon]

Andre Nel

Andre is one of our primary Alpha and Beta testers. He is the organist at Lindenpark NG Kerk in Johannesburg, South Africa. [More information to be added soon]