Rank Two: Recreate the Grandeur of a Real Organ in Your DAW
Welcome to the world of rich and multifaceted sounds of Rank Two – a synthesizer specially designed by Quilcom to reproduce the unique timbre of organ ranks. If you’ve always dreamed of adding authentic church or concert organ sounds to your musical compositions but have encountered limitations with traditional samplers or simple synthesizers, Rank Two opens up new possibilities.
In the world of real organs, a “rank” is a set of pipes that have a similar sound character and cover a full chromatic range, usually five octaves. Several such ranks are combined into a “Division,” which, in turn, is assigned to one keyboard (manual). Complex organs allow the performer to “couple” manuals and divisions, simultaneously engaging several ranks and divisions to create an incredibly voluminous and multi-layered sound.
Unique Synthesis and Modeling Technology
Rank Two doesn’t just reproduce recorded samples. It uses an innovative approach, combining two key technologies:
- Physical Modeling: This aspect of synthesis is responsible for imitating the “wind” and “pipe” interaction. It adds life to the sound by mimicking real acoustic processes that occur inside an organ pipe when air passes through. This adds realism and depth, which are often missing in static samples.
- Additive Synthesis based on sinusoids: This part forms the tone itself, determining the harmonic composition of the sound. By combining sinusoids, the plugin creates rich and complex timbres characteristic of different types of organ pipes.
The interaction of these two sound generators (physical modeling and additive synthesis) in Rank Two is realized through amplitude interaction. At the development stage, the plugin’s sound was carefully tuned to be as close as possible to the timbres that can be heard in high-quality sample sets of real organs.
Features of the “Reed” Section
Special attention should be paid to the “Reed” section. Unlike pipes where sound is created by the vibration of a column of air, in reed pipes, sound is generated by the vibration of a metal reed. The “Reed” section in Rank Two uses:
- One of 15 specially designed waveforms (created in Quilcom Wavemaker 4).
- A bank of resonant filters with a very high Q-factor, tuned to harmonics.
This approach allows for creating a more defined, controlled, and characteristic sound spectrum, imitating the unique sound of reed organ ranks, such as “Trumpet” or “Clarinet” type pipes. Static samples cannot always convey the full dynamics and complexity of these timbres, while synthesis in Rank Two allows for achieving greater expressiveness and flexibility in shaping the sound of reed pipes.
Building a Full-Fledged Organ Sound
As with real organs, the Rank Two plugin is designed with the idea of using several instances (copies) of it in your DAW. This allows you to imitate different “ranks” and “divisions,” mixing them (creating a “mixture”) to achieve the most saturated and full sound, as on a real organ. You can combine different Rank Two instances to imitate the richness of a multi-register organ, assigning different “ranks” to different MIDI tracks or layers.
However, even one instance of Rank Two is capable of creating a wide range of full and expressive sounds, which is evident in the example of the included presets. This makes it useful even for simple parts or if you are just getting acquainted with the plugin. Using “extensions” is an easy way to build a rich sound with fewer copies of the plugin running in your DAW, optimizing the use of computer resources and simplifying project management.
Who is this plugin for?
Rank Two will be a great tool for musicians, producers, and sound designers who work in various genres that require authentic or stylized organ sounds:
- Classical and Baroque music, where timbre authenticity is key.
- Ambient and drone music, where atmospheric, dragging, and evolving sounds are needed.
- Experimental electronics that are looking for unique and unexpected timbres.
- Music for film and games, where epic, mystical, or dramatic organ passages are needed.
- Any compositions where a unique, atmospheric, or monumental timbre is needed that goes beyond the standard keyboard instruments.
Thanks to the combination of physical modeling and additive synthesis, as well as the ability to flexibly build complex sounds, Rank Two from Quilcom offers a fresh look at the imitation of organ timbres, providing depth and character that are hard to achieve by other methods.
Technical Information
Rank Two is available in VST format for the Windows operating system (32-bit). Make sure your DAW supports this format and architecture for the plugin to work correctly.
Try Rank Two and discover new horizons of organ sound in your music projects! It’s a tool that can inspire you to create unique textures and atmospheres.
