RobStefanussen
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Virtual pipe organist is the Phantom of his own living room
If any instrument deserves to be geeked over, it is the pipe organ. Over the course of its almost 2,000 years of development, it has evolved from the rudimentary Greek water organ to the extremely complex device featured in cathedrals and concert halls all over the world. And this is all well and good, but what is an aspiring (or accomplished) organist to do when he wants to practice yet doesn't have access to the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois in Paris? Well, he might go ahead and build his own -- at least that's what an Engadget reader named Rob Stefanussen did. The heart of the thing is a Mac Pro running Hauptwerk's Virtual Organ, and while the software is pretty impressive itself, what caught our attention was the baroque MIDI controller he built to play the thing. Featuring four keyboards, a pedalboard, pistons, and expression shoes, this thing plays like the real deal. And not to be undone in the sound department, he threw in six speakers and a sub-woofer, routing different sets of pipes to the different speakers to let the sound mix in the air for that authentic pipe organ sound. Wild, no? How would you like to hear it in action? Check out the video after the break to see (and hear) it for yourself.
