The electronic organ in the Boogkerk in Amersfoort by Peter van Dijk

by Peter van Dijk | Het ORGEL | Year 97 | (2001) | Issue 1

Peter van Dijk The electronic organ in the Boogkerk in Amersfoort
Het ORGEL 97 (2001), nr. 1, 19-21 [summary]

Johannus, manufacturer of electronic imitation-organs, praises its top-brand Monarke onits website: ‘The Monarke-organ has a sound quality that is as good as the averagepipe-organ.’ I played the Monarke in the Boogkerk in Amersfoort.

This Monarke has 24 stops; its price was ƒ 50.000. The instrument has, unlike manyother Monarkes, no pipe façade. That’s ‘fair’, as it is indeed not a pipeorgan. The choice of natural materials for the manuals is a good one: playing on plasticis horrible. The form of the stop-knobs is however somewhat kitschy.

The tones are divided between the speakers in such a way that a C- and C#-chest aresuggested, so the lowest pitches come from the rather small left tower as well.

This Monarke resembles a real organ considerably more than a Heijligers did 20 yearsago. The attack, however, is not supple, the frequency spectrum rigid. But the mainobjection is that it is clearly audible that the sound is processed by electronic devices.The flutes are relatively the best stops, the principals are with respect to attack andliveliness far from ‘real’, and the plenum lacks brilliance.

Even if electronically reproducing the complexinteractions between the pipes of an organ were possible, the costs would be so high thatthere would be no reason to do so.

Some links to”classical” electronic organs websites