LinPlug daOrgan Upgraded to Version 2.0
September 10, 2002
LinPlug announced the release of daOrgan 2.0. daOrgan 2.0 is a flexible, easy-to-use, VSTi drawbar organ simulation available for both Macintosh and PC.
The sound of the drawbar organs such as the Hammond B3 has become one of the most popular and easily-recognised sounds in contemporary music. LinPlug studied the original B3 schematics in detail and sampled a B3 over and over again, in order to capture the true essence of this mighty instrument.
daOrgan 2.0 builds on the foundation laid by LinPlug with daOrgan 1.0. daOrgan 2.0 is 24 note-polyphonic and features a classic 9-drawbar design that includes a vibrato section, a percussion section as well as a highly sophisticated rotary speaker emulation. These features have been incorporated into an easy-to-use interface, capable of producing a wide range of classic and modern organ sounds.
The unique design of the drawbar organ is the main reason for the instrument's versatility. The Linplug daOrgan 2.0 has 9 drawbars, each having eight continuously-variable degrees to which it can be "drawn" or pulled out. By manipulating the drawbars it's possible to create a wide range of instrumental timbres ranging from a carnival, a horn section or a big band, to a small jazz combo, a funk group, a percussion section or a flute.
daOrgan 2.0 features all of the controls found on the original Hammond B3 including adjustable percussion, adjustable keyclick, and even adjustable motor noise (this can be removed, although it was always present to some degree on the original B3). The Drive control allows you to add anything from a touch of warmth to dirty overdrive. And for even fatter organ sounds there's a Spread control that enables you to play 5 detuned organs simultaneously.
A major part of the "classic drawbar organ sound" comes from the use of a rotary speaker system. One of the main improvements in daOrgan 2.0 is its completely syncable and much enhanced rotary speaker simulation. The original Leslie speakers that were used with B3s consisted of a single cabinet containing two speakers, one for the higher frequencies and one for the lower frequencies. Both speakers were mounted on a separate motor that rotated the speaker at two speeds; slow and fast (the speaker could also be stopped). daOrgan 2.0's rotary speaker simulation enables you to control both the slow and fast speed settings, as well as the motor acceleration settings. All of these parameters can be synced to the song's tempo. You can also set the "size" of the speaker cabinet as well as the crossover frequency of the low and high frequency speakers.
All daOrgan parameters can be controlled with an external hardware/software controller. Controller setup is very simple thanks to LinPlug's unique ECS (Easy Controller Setup) feature which automates controller assignment.
System Requirements: VST2.0 capable host software, 300 MHz MAC or PC.
The daOrgan is available for online purchase at the LinPlug website. The license fee for the daOrgan 2.0 is $US39.00. Users that registered earlier versions of daOrgan prior to 5/5/2002 will be able to upgrade for $US14.50. For Users that registered earlier versions of daOrgan from 5/5/2002 on the upgrade is free.
For more information, visit their web site at www.linplug.de. | 
