SampleForge VPO
Demo coming soon
SampleForge VPO lets you take ranks of recorded pipes from different sample sets and put them together into one organ. It matches their tuning, levels and acoustics so they sound like one instrument, and gives you a console designer with practically endless customisation.
Demo coming soon Watch on YouTube
Built for Windows 10 and 11.
Five stages, all in one program. Choose a step to see what SampleForge VPO does there.
Bring in ranks from the sample sets you're licensed to use.
Match pitch, temperament and compass.
Balance levels and room so it sounds like one organ.
Build the console in the style you want.
Hear it, then export a ready-to-load organ.
Mendelssohn, Finale from Sonata No. 6. The same performance plays first before tuning, then crossfades to after tuning in SampleForge VPO. Drag the slider, or click Before or After, to switch whenever you like. The stops come from three different organs, and were all tuned automatically, with no human adjustment or tweaking. Both halves are at the same loudness.
Samples from sample sets by Piotr Grabowski, used with permission. MIDI file from the Mutopia Project. Audio quality is reduced for playback on the web.
Work in progress. SampleForge VPO is still in development. Features, screenshots and the look of the program may change before release.
Sample sets shown: Cracow, St John Cantius; Friesach; Długa Kościelna, by Piotr Grabowski, used with permission. SampleForge VPO does not include or redistribute any sample sets; you use your own.
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No samples included. SampleForge VPO doesn't ship with any samples. You bring sample sets you're licensed to use, and their producers still own them.
Check each licence. Many producers limit how their samples may be changed, combined or shared. An organ you build with SampleForge VPO is for your own use unless every producer whose samples it contains allows more.
Credit stays with the stop. Every stop keeps a record of the sample set and producer it came from, so you can always see whose work is in your organ.
Edit only where allowed. Not every creator allows the WAV files to be edited. Where they don't, some changes such as tuning, levels and the console can be made in the organ file alone, leaving every sample untouched. Check the licence for these too.
No copy protection removed. Encrypted or protected sample sets aren't supported, and SampleForge VPO never tries to unlock them.
The full rules are in our Terms of Use and Sample Rights.
Typical times, measured on one real stop: a Principal 8' of 58 notes with several release samples each, about 300 WAV files and 400 MB. Larger organs are estimated from that stop.
Why it takes a while: for every stop, SampleForge VPO retunes each sample, analyses its tone, measures and applies reverb, finds loop points and, where needed, extends the range, then writes new sample files. Not every stop needs every step. Typical assumes only a few stops need their range enlarged; Worst case assumes every stop needs every step, which is rare.
| Task | 1 stop | 25 stops | 50 stops | 100 stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick scan | Under 1 s | A few seconds | A few seconds | A few seconds |
| Full scan | A few seconds | 7 s | 15 s | 30 s |
| Standard workflow (typical) | ||||
| Retune | 6 s | 3 min | 5 min | 10 min |
| Enlarge range | 9 s | 4 min | 8 min | 14 min |
| Find and write loops | 10 s | 4 min | 8 min | 17 min |
| Standardise reverb | 10 s | 4 min | 8 min | 17 min |
| Total | 35 s | 15 min | 29 min | 58 min |
| Place in a building | 5 s | 2.5 min | 4 min | 7.5 min |
| Load into the Organ Player | A few seconds | 1 min | A few minutes | 5 min |
| Export the organ file | ~1 s | A few seconds | A few seconds | A few seconds |
| Memory used in GrandOrgue, lossless compression | — | ~10 GB | ~16 GB | ~28 GB |
| Memory used in GrandOrgue, uncompressed 24 bit | — | ~14 GB | ~24 GB | ~44 GB |
Measured on a development build with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (8 cores), 32 GB of RAM and an NVMe SSD. Organ estimates assume stops of a similar size; stops with more notes or samples take longer. Times depend mostly on the number of processor cores and the speed of the drive your samples are on, so expect them to be longer on a smaller PC. Times include writing the new sample files.
Memory figures include about 4 GB for Windows and GrandOrgue, which stays the same whatever the size of the organ; that is why the figures don’t double when the organ does. The lossless 50-stop figure is from a real organ; the others are estimated from it and from the test stop, about 400 MB once loaded at 24 bit. Stops vary a lot in size, so treat these as a guide and allow some spare memory.
SampleForge VPO can do a lot, but it can’t make a sample set better than it was recorded. These are the limits worth knowing before you start.
Every change starts from what the producer recorded. Retuning moves a pipe’s pitch, and large changes can alter its character slightly. Notes made by enlarging a range are built from the neighbouring pipes, so they are close matches, not new recordings. The bigger the change, the more you may hear it.
SampleForge VPO works best with samples, because the room can then be added evenly to every stop. It also works with samples, and most sample sets, especially free ones, are recorded wet.
A recorded room can’t be fully taken out again. SampleForge VPO works around this by matching reverb between stops, but stops from very different buildings will never blend perfectly.
Organs are exported for GrandOrgue, so they can only do what GrandOrgue supports. The console is drawn as images with GrandOrgue’s controls on top, and the whole organ is loaded into your computer’s memory when you play it; the memory planner shows what will fit. Hauptwerk export is planned but not available yet.
Try SampleForge VPO on your own sample sets.
Coming soon
Every feature, for building and exporting your own organs.
Release date not yet confirmed
The Demo comes first, as early access. The Full edition will follow once testing is complete; we'll announce its date when it's confirmed.
Follow the YouTube channel for release news.
I grew up in the Anglican choral tradition: first as a young chorister, then all the way through university, and more cathedral singing that took me on tours, introducing me to a wide variety of organs across Europe and North America. The organ was always a keen interest of mine: the voice of the liturgy, a concert instrument in its own right, and now, thanks to virtual pipe organs, an instrument we can play at home.
I won't claim to be an organist, but I am a huge organ enthusiast. I started learning the organ at school, but only came back to it as an adult. That was when I discovered virtual pipe organ software such as Hauptwerk and GrandOrgue, first played through my electric piano.
Having since built my own home console, I started to discover the wonderful variety of sample sets that are out there. However, the sets available to me never quite had the organ I wanted. That led me to composite organs, and to editing GrandOrgue organ definition files by hand.
As many of you will know, it's a steep learning curve and not always super user-friendly. My own results rarely looked or sounded as polished as a properly produced sample set. SampleForge VPO started as my own way of making that manual process of editing files easier. It has taken a great deal of time and effort to develop, and with encouragement from friends and family, I've decided to share it. I've waited until now to share its progress and development, because I wanted the early access demo to be something I'm proud of releasing.
I certainly don't know everything about organs, so any feedback on how SampleForge VPO could be better is always welcome. I hope you enjoy it, and that it helps you build the organ you've always wanted to play.
Jon
GrandOrgue organs and folders of samples you are licensed to use. Some Hauptwerk-format sets can be read, but not all yet; this is still being worked on. Encrypted or copy-protected sets can't be used.
SampleForge VPO never overwrites your original files without your permission. Changes are written to new sample files, or to the organ file only.
Only if the licence of every sample set in the organ allows it, and many don't. Commercial use also needs a written licence from us; see the Terms.
The Demo is a free version with no time limit and limited features. It builds organs of up to 15 manual stops and 3 pedal stops on 2 manuals, and shows the Full features greyed out. Full removes those limits and adds features such as placing stops in a building, more console styles and playing your own MIDI files in the Organ Player. The feature list can show what's in the Demo.
Not at the moment. SampleForge VPO is for Windows 10 and 11. Towards the end of the early access stage, we plan to add other operating systems.
Not yet. It exports organs for GrandOrgue; Hauptwerk export is planned.
Yes, to play the finished organ. GrandOrgue is free and open source. SampleForge VPO isn't affiliated with the GrandOrgue project; it creates files that GrandOrgue can open.
The Demo comes first, then an early access release. Dates and the price of Full will be announced when they're confirmed; see News or the YouTube channel.
Email support@sampleforgevpo.com, with screenshots or log files if you can.
General questions: hello@sampleforgevpo.com
Bug reports and support: support@sampleforgevpo.com
Build the organ you’ve always wanted to play.
