Eminent Digital Church Organs

Phone: 800.357.4545     

R. Wayne Grauel & Associates

The same precepts that distinguish a quality pipe organ builder also apply
to my business philosophies, high standards, and the organs I offer my clients.

Unlike other electronic organ companies, Eminent digital organs are not mass-produced based on a common design and shipped to dealer showrooms throughout the country.   These organs are built specifically for each client and offer advanced real time computing technology.  Real time digital organ technology offers a sound that is unbelievably realistic and far superior to other companies which offer only sampled sounds in their organs.  Eminent Digital Organs offer a natural and authentic representation otherwise available only in the finest wind blown instruments.

Unfortunately, buyers of electronic organs often search for an organ the same way they buy a car or an appliance, limiting their choices only to companies offering local showrooms, convenience shopping, and discount prices. Typically, most local organ dealers have franchises from manufacturers that mass-produce their instruments in large factories. The bottom line is that some of these companies may not have a sincere interest in church music, organ literature, or the tonal interests of the organist, but rather sales numbers and huge profits.

I realize that there is a great deal of faith involved in traveling any distance to hear a prospective instrument, especially when you probably have two or three well known organ dealers within local driving distance.  I also do a lot of recordings at various churches in service situations and I have heard a lot of organs.  I can honestly say that none of them sounds like an Eminent or any organ I would represent.  I encourage you to at least call and talk with me about the instruments.   I've had people travel distances well over 500 miles to see and hear our organs and the reaction has been overwhelming.

What distinguishes my philosophies from other electronic organ companies?

Tonal quality should be the first and foremost consideration of any organ. Unfortunately, for many small to medium sized churches, there’s a performance penalty for choosing smaller instruments (or spending less money). The truth is that almost all other electronic organ manufacturers offer product lines with graduated levels of technology and tonal quality, limiting their higher quality sounds to only their "top of the line" instruments.

Imagine contracting for a small pipe organ of several ranks for a private studio or chapel from one of the world's leading pipe organ builders. It would be inconceivable to expect the tonal quality of this pipe work and the quality of sound to be less just because it is a smaller instrument.  With so few stops, each of these ranks should be of the highest quality. The same holds true with organs designed and built by Eminent. Their smallest church organs employ the same computer technology, software, and exceptional tonal qualities as their largest, most expensive organs, there’s just more of it!

With other electronic organs, you’re often limited to selecting an organ with a predetermined stop list supplied for each model of organ.  Too often this means a canned, generic stop list that may or may not be exactly what you would select if you had the luxury of consulting with the organ builder to design an organ that meets both your tonal objectives and your budget.

I offer my clients a unique opportunity to take an active part in the tonal design of their instrument, just like any pipe organ builder.

Acquiring a high quality digital pipe-less organ is similar in practice to acquiring a pipe organ. Pipe organ builders consult with the church and/or musician to design, build, deliver and voice an organ that meets their specific needs and musical requirements.  One decides on the organs I represent in the same way.

One of the most significant aspects of deciding on an organ is the ear of the tonal finisher.  This is the final step that will determine the sound of your organ.  As in any art form, each individual voicer will leave his mark on a particular instrument in the success or failure of its tonal design.  Many electronic organs claim to be voiceable but in reality, many organs employing sampled voices are quite limited when compared to the flexibility of any organ offering real time digital computing.

Most electronic organs are mass produced at their factory, and then installed like a home theatre system...plug it in, adjust some volume controls and that's it.  The question you need to ask is:  what pipe organ experience does your local electronic organ salesman have? Does someone who only hears electronic organs have a clear concept of what sounds to expect when voicing your organ?

Both of these firms offer unprecedented control over the individual voicing of each stop.  I personally work with each client during the voicing process of each organ to achieve the same spectacular tonal results as if it were a pipe organ.

As an accomplished church musician with decades of church music experience in both organ performance and choral conducting, I have a clear understanding of the tonal concepts and esthetic value of a real pipe organ. As a professional church musician, I was truly privileged to have spent my entire career playing North German and Dutch mechanical action organs in very good rooms. My last organ was a 24 stop Flentrop in an excellent acoustical environment, an experience few organists ever get to realize. 

As a person who was fortunate enough (or skilled enough) to have positions with really good pipe organs, I was one of those pipe organ snobs who basically thumbed my nose at playing an electronic organ.  I even had a small pipe organ in my home.   After moving with my family to a much more rural location, I realized that for most churches the reality of a pipe organ may never be possible, no matter how much it would be appreciated.

There are a number of  factors that could influence the reality of obtaining a quality pipe organ. The first, foremost, and most obvious to most people is the financial resources that are required.  Over the last several decades, economic factors have had a huge impact on the pipe organ business.  Some of this has actually been for the better as far as quality goes.  Many of the "well known" pipe organ companies are no longer in business, leaving two distinct groups of builders. These would be a relatively small number of high quality organ builders who build an organ every year or two, get top dollar for their work, and have contracts as much as 4 to 6 years in advance.  They are in high demand by a number of forward thinking churches and universities who have the financial resources and the physical space to build organs of stunning accuracy.  And then there's everyone else!  The high cost of labor, materials, and the demand for craftsmanship has put the pipe organ on the endangered species list for all but the wealthiest churches.  Obtaining a high quality organ from a well known builder will require a serious commitment.  A modest, 20-some stop high quality mechanical action pipe organ could run well over $600,000.00

Some good older organs are available through the "Organ Clearing House".  Many of these historic organs can be purchased for a song in today's dollars, but there are the unseen costs of moving, and restoration which could easily far exceed the cost of even the most expensive high quality digital organs.

Other considerations that prevent some churches from purchasing a used pipe organ are the obvious physical space requirements. What is most overlooked is the impact of the acoustical environment of the worship space. In my experience, only a small percentage of churches in this country have the proper acoustics to edify the pipe organ and offer a sound like we would hear on recordings. Hearing an organ in anything but moderately good acoustics with some natural room delay is often a huge disappointment and actually has a negative impact on wind blown pipes.  Fortunately, both the Cantor and the Eminent Digital pipe-less organs have excellent built-in reverberation systems and offer realism in the playing to even the driest rooms.

I was faced with the challenge of consulting with our local Lutheran church to find an immediate replacement for their ailing electronic organ. My past experience as both a professional Choir Director and Organist and as Dean of Central Maryland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists often placed me in a position of consulting with churches and committees on their music programs and organ searches. This situation was going to be a significant challenge for me musically,  because the church had limited resources, a relatively dry room, and some serious space limitations.   I knew pipes were going to be out of the question.

After exhaustively researching options to meet the needs of the music program of this church, I traveled to investigate the Dutch firm of Eminent. I will admit that I was initially skeptical because most digital electronic organs that I had experienced lacked a distinct tonal character that I was specifically used to hearing in good pipe organs.  After exhaustively previewing several Eminent organ installations and playing a wide range of music including French and German Baroque,  Romantic, traditional hymns for service playing, and free form improvisations, I found this to be a spectacular instrument that clearly exceeded my expectations. To be frank, I was stunned!   In fact, I had never heard a digital organ like this in all of my experience.   I was so impressed with what I heard in this organ, that I decided to put my reputation behind Eminent and represent them.

My job is not to sell, but to offer a choice in organs - based on the needs of my clients and their individual priorities and commitments to their own personal needs and the needs of their congregations.

For sales and information contact:

R. W. Grauel & Associates
Eminent-USA
Union Bridge, Maryland
800.357.4545

Conveniently located near Baltimore & Washington, D.C.

copyright  © 2001 R. Wayne Grauel

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