Viscount Hybrid Pipe Organ
“An Extraordinary Gift to our Community: Shortly before Christmas, a member of our community informed me that she wished to make a gift to our community. According to the donor, this gift is to be used for one purpose only: toward the purchase of an organ for our liturgies here at Jesus the Good Shepherd. “
- Father Michael King, Bulletin excerpt from Jan 15, 2017
Rev. Fr. Michael King performing the blessing of the organ with incense.
Our organ was dedicated
on October 25, 2017
After a year long process, the organ and its principal rank of pipes is our newest addition to the Music Ministry. Having the organ has become an integral part of the liturgy here at Jesus the Good Shepherd, and we enjoy the traditional sounds, as well as the contemporary flexibility of the digital sounds of piano, string, and harp and over 1200 sounds!
Custom Viscount Hybrid Organ with Physis ® Technology
Viscount (pronounced VAhee-count): The Largest Producer of Digital Classical Keyboard Instruments in the World. Viscount offers state of the art technology from the largest manufacturer of organs in the world. http://www.viscountinstruments.us/ouverture.html
Whitesel Church Organs: Third generation, family-owned business that installs new Viscount Church Organs and repairs, services, and tunes digital and pipe organs of any make and model. Harrisonburg, Virginia. https://www.whiteselorgans.com
For the organ stop list, click here.
Specifications of the new Viscount Ouverture
Viscount Ouverture Terrace Console
Principal rank of pipes on the back wall of sanctuary.
Custom roman mouth opening symmetrical to the roman arches of the church cloister.
The OUVERTURE is an organ with 3 keyboards, complete pedalboard and 55 registers - each of which can select hundreds of organ and orchestra voices. The organ comes with 8 organ styles (4 fixed and 4 programmable) that allow the organist to create and store an infinite number of combinations, either in the 128 internal memory locations or externally via USB memory. The parameter settings are easily accessible through the graphic display on the front panel. The “Tracker Action” style keyboard accurately detects touch by obtaining the speed of actuation of the keys.
Developed with the award-winning and patented Physis® physical modeling technology, which reproduces the physical phenomena involved in the sound generation of the pipe organ, the Ouverture is capable of generating the highest-fidelity, most authentic church organ sound.
Physis ® Technology
Physis ® technology revolutionizes the way a digital pipe organ acts and sounds. After decades of old technology that used PCM (‘Pulse Code Modulation’ which was created over 40 years ago) as a model for sound generation a new technology has finally been developed and internationally patented by Viscount International. Physis ® technology, calculates in real-time the physics of a flue, reed or bourdon pipe. The result is a living organ, changing in real time, resembling the organ you prefer, or creating a new sound. Physis® technology is Viscount's implementation of physical modeling applied to organ pipes, something no one has ever done before. It is the culmination of years of technological evolution. Physical modeling is used widely in not only other areas of the musical instrument industry, but also other industries altogether. Some of the world’s leading technology companies use physical modeling to achieve what was previously thought to be impossible. Jesus the Good Shepherd's new Custom Viscount Hybrid Organ with Physis® Technology, will become the most technologically advanced digital organ in the Archdiocese of Washington!
Custom Windchest Pipe Case
A custom windchest pipe case adorns the back wall of the church. This rank of pipes is called a Principal Chorus, which consists of 8 foot, 4 foot, and 2 foot pipe ranks totaling 61 notes in all. These pipes are fully functional with the organ and have the true aesthetics of an authentic pipe organ. This pipe configuration is known as a “Crown Configuration,” which is also highly symbolic for our parish. The musicians of JGS and all who see the pipes, are constantly reminded of the purpose of our music in worship… to bring Glory to God in the highest. For the Good Shepherd is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.
Roman Mouth Pipes
There are many types of pipe mouths. The pipe mouth selected for our church is a “Roman Mouth,” which fits the existing architectual design of the church cloisters.