Viscount Organs
Physis® Technology
Duplicating the finest sounds of the world with the technology of the future
Workmanship and innovation make Viscount an industry leader. Their proprietary Physis® technology is the culmination of 10+ years of research and development. It's important to realize space and volume are the main architectural elements affecting an organ's sound. Because of this each hand-made pipe varies in height, thickness, design, and imperfection. As a result, each pipe speaks differently within its environment. Using Physis®, Viscount has perfectly reproduced the sound, ambience, and configuration of iconic organs from around the world.
Let's get technical! Physis® bridges the gap between architecture and sound by implementing an advanced multi-processor platform. This results in unrivaled calculation power. The DSP array architecture features state-of-the-art floating-point SHARC® Processors by Analog Devices. Each processor is capable of 2.4 GFLOPS peak performance. With up to 8 SHARC® Processors, Physis® can send and process over 12 Billion instructions per second. In short, Physis® provides the power to accomplish what digital sampling simply cannot.
Physis creates a perfect reproduction of the original sound
Unlike outdated modeling technology that stores audio samples, Physis® rebuilds each sound using complex algorithms. To physically model sound, Physis® measures an organ’s natural physical attributes, plus its interaction within its environment. This results in a warmer, natural-feeling, and ever-changing sound, just like the organ used for the model. Moreover, Physis® allows your instrument to be adjusted for acoustically deprived environments and accommodate the desires of even the most discerning organist.
Sound
It must be remembered, windblown pipes are hand-built and unique. This means each pipe interacts differently in its environment. Viscount’s patented Physis® technology recreates how a pipe organ sounds, as well as how one acts. This is due to an investment of over $5,000,000 from a team of over 40 engineers, plus extensive cooperation with 3 European Universities.
It's true that sampled sound technology has been the standard in digital organs for over 25 years. Regardless, Physis® technology is the future of digital organ modeling. Whereas our competitors can only offer you sampled sound technology; Whitesel empowers you to do so much more.
Reproduction without the use of stored digital samples
Physis® Technology allows Viscount organs to reproduce sound waves identical to those of a 'traditional' pipe organ. To clarify, each sound wave has its own autonomy, individuality, and unique characteristics. Unlike sampled sound technologies, Viscount’s UNICO and SONUS instruments reproduce each note’s sound wave without “breaks” or “split-points." As such, the progression of sound across the keyboard is accurate, smooth and natural.
The shape of Physis® pipe organ sound waves are open. To that end users have the ability to edit, modify, and extend their structure. This results in a tri-dimensional sound like a 'traditional' pipe organ. Unlike older sampling technologies, Physis® 'speaks,' with “Left-to-Right," “Front-to-Back,” and “Up and Down” motion, just as they would in windblown pipes.
Physis creates a perfect reproduction of the original sound
Are you looking for the exact sound of a famous pipe organ? Viscount gives you access to any organ in the world! First Physis® physically models sound by measuring an organ’s natural physical attributes, and its interaction within its environment. Next Physis® rebuilds that sound using complex algorithms, not storing samples like other outdated technologies. The result is a dynamic sound, identical to the original organ used for the model.
Physis Plus Technology
Physis Plus represents the natural and powerful evolution of our patented and well-known Physis (Physical modeling) technology. How does it differ from the current one? In our laboratory we have developed a technological combination of our proprietary physical models and an artificial intelligence algorithm we call MORIS© (“Multi-Objective Random Iterative Search”, a Viscount Deep Learning complex procedure (*1)(*2)(*3)) that has made it possible to achieve a new level of sound richness. This algorithm is able to learn and capture new acoustic features of typical organ sounds and provide estimates of the parameters of a pipe physical model, making our new physical models incredibly realistic both in terms of harmonics and keyboard feeling.
When constructing an organ stop, the first things to determine are the physical features of each individual pipe in every detail; for example the diameter, width and height of the mouth, the shape of the resonator tube – if any – the stopper and chimney, etc. All these elements combine to determine the timbre as the features of each pipe.
In our case the work is done ‘backwards’; we take a set of homogeneous reeds (a rank then) and let the deep learning algorithm listen to them, analyzing every smallest feature in detail, until determining, with a good approximation, how the sound object that determined that timbre is made. This work, done by the MORIS©, is therefore comparable to the work of the organ builder (or rather the pipe maker): its output is a sounding voice, but it is still “raw”.
However, to obtain voices of good aesthetic and artistic quality, it is required the intervention of the musician and sound designer who, in a manner, is comparable to the pipe tuner, who takes the sounds one by one and refines them so as to make them sound good by each self, and also well harmonized with the other voices.
Starting from an Input, the MORIS© will seize those features that contribute to the creation of that peculiar sound, it elaborates them with a series of rules, and it produces a “raw” pipe organ sound through the synthesis. Through a series of iterations, randomly varying the synthesis parameters, MORIS© modifies the set of parameters until the best representation of the input sound is obtained.
Nowadays one of the most challenging tasks in physically-informed sound synthesis is the estimation of model parameters to produce a desired timbre. Automatic parameter estimation procedures have been developed in the past for some specific parameters or application scenarios but, up to now, no approach has been proved applicable to a wide variety of use cases. Now our physical modeling technology development has set a new standard of sound reliability and flexibility.
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Virtuoso Series Organs
The Viscount Virtuoso Series redefines the digital church organ, bringing the awe-inspiring sound of pipe organs to your fingertips. Virtuoso organs meticulously recreate the richness and complexity of real pipes, at an ultra-affordable price, delivering an unparalleled level of sonic authenticity. The VIRTUOSO series classical organs use their exclusive Physis+ physical modeling technology. Physical modeling does what mere sampling cannot – it duplicates the phenomena involved in pipe organ sound generation, creating an incredibly authentic pipe sound.
Vanguard Series Organs
The new Vanguard series is Viscount’s high-end line of classic organs using their Physis+ physical modeling technology. Miles beyond decades-old sampling techniques, physical modeling actually creates the pipe sound rank-by-rank, note-by-note, without sample breaks and other tonal and voicing problems. The Viscount Vanguard Organ Series delivers exceptional sound quality and versatile musical capabilities at a budget-friendly price. Ideal for churches seeking a powerful and easy-to-use digital organ, the Vanguard Series provides everything you need to enhance your worship services. Shown is the new Vanguard 363DK as an example.
Vero Series Organs
The new Vero series is Viscount’s top-end line of classic organs using their Physis+ physical modeling technology. Miles beyond decades-old sampling techniques, physical modeling actually creates the pipe sound rank-by-rank, note-by-note, without sample breaks and other tonal and voicing problems. Think of physical modeling as a means to ‘un-bake’ a cake. We then know all the ingredients and techniques that went into making the cake, we can now actually create that cake, and allow for subtle changes in the recipe. In the pipe-organ world we call that voicing. Frozen recordings of pipes (sampling) cannot be voiced. Highly customizable, the Vero line from Viscount begins with their Vero-370, a comprehensive 3-manual, 70-stop instrument and expands upwards to larger 3 and 4 -manual models. The Viscount Vero Organ Series delivers a compelling blend of affordability and exceptional sound quality, making it an ideal choice for churches seeking a powerful and versatile digital organ. Packed with essential features for expressive playing, the Vero Series empowers you to elevate your worship services and inspire your congregation
Cantorum Organs
VISCOUNT’S SMALLEST CLASSIC ORGAN
Viscounts Cantorum line organs are portable and very affordable instruments for home or professional organist – now using Viscounts exclusive Physis+ technology, Physical Modeling, not sampling. Cantorum organs are designed with an extremely simple to use interface and are real classic instruments, not toys. Cantorum organs come as a Duo 2-keyboard or Trio 3-keyboards. Cantorum organs offer the ability to choose between three different ‘pipe sets’ (Baroque, Romantic, Symphonic) and create his/her own preferred audio environment through acoustic modeling. The keyboard is carefully crafted to reproduce the touch of a real tracker-type pipe organ. Cantorum organs are compact and easy to move as separate pieces, and can be easily transported.
