The Symphonic Concert Organ at the Mercatorhalle Duisburg

The organ is often associated with sacred spaces, yet its history extends far beyond the church. As early as antiquity, it resounded in Roman arenas and royal courts. In the 19th century, the organ flourished as a concert instrument in England. Virtuosos like William Thomas Best gave popular afternoon recitals in civic halls, which—thanks to affordable ticket prices—reached a wide audience. This tradition lives on today in the “Promenade Concerts” at the Royal Albert Hall.

The concert organ in the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle Duisburg stands firmly in this English symphonic tradition. Its tonal and visual models include the organs of Caird Hall in Dundee (1923, Harrison & Harrison) and Usher Hall in Edinburgh (1913, Norman & Beard). The instrument was meticulously voiced to match the unique acoustics of the Mercatorhalle. Unlike church organs, English-style concert organs are characterized by multidimensional sound projection that blends seamlessly with choir and orchestra.

One of the organ’s key technical features is its use of differentiated wind pressures within a single division. This requires numerous windchests and bellows, making an electric action essential. In Duisburg, five blowers, four independent wind systems, 20 bellows, and 35 windchests provide wind pressures ranging from 102 mm to 381 mm water column—up to five times higher than those found in standard organs.

The 4,349 pipes were constructed according to English models. Tuning collars made of spotted metal enable gentle voicing, while wooden stoppers in covered metal pipes reflect German influences. English organbuilding offers a wide array of voicing aids, including tuning ears, expression enclosures, refined treatment of the windway, and leathered upper lips. In reed pipes, the shape of the shallots, tongues, and resonators plays a defining role in the tonal character.

With four manuals and 72 typically English stops, the Eule organ produces a rich, immersive sound. It is suited for music ranging from the Baroque era to late Romanticism and even contemporary genres—making it one of the most versatile instruments in Europe and a destination for organists from around the world.

Mercator Hall

The Mercator Hall in Duisburg, located in the modern CityPalais in the heart of the city, is a central venue for music, culture, and conferences. Since its opening in April 2007, it has served as the home of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and has established itself as a premier location for concerts, galas, and business events. After a temporary closure between 2012 and 2016 due to fire safety issues, the hall underwent extensive renovations and was technically upgraded.

The centerpiece of the venue is the main concert hall, which seats up to 1,745 guests. It was acoustically designed to adapt flexibly to various event formats—from symphonic concerts and chamber music to jazz, pop, and conferences. Movable acoustic reflectors, adjustable curtains, and a finely tuned reflection system allow for variable acoustics at an international level. The stage is modular and expandable, and the hall features modern lighting and audio systems as well as an inductive hearing loop for visitors with hearing impairments. Wheelchair access and designated seating areas ensure barrier-free attendance.

In addition to the main hall, the Mercatorhalle includes the smaller Rudolf Schock Hall with around 529 seats, an exclusive lounge for VIP guests, and a flexible conference area. The venue offers a total of over 12,000 square meters of event space, along with a parking garage with 670 spaces.

Blending functional design, technical excellence, and cultural significance, the Mercatorhalle has become a major hub in the Ruhr region—a place where sound, architecture, and urban life come together in harmony.

 

Disposition

Recording Technology

 

Surround

The sample set includes recordings from three different positions within the hall. The Close samples were recorded with microphones placed on stage at the height of the organ pipes, resulting in a very direct and detailed sound. The Middle channels were recorded from the front row of the audience, and the Ambient channels were captured in the rear third of the large concert hall, which seats approximately 1600 people. Ideally, the different channels should be played back through separate speaker pairs to achieve the best immersive effect. The individual balance of these channels can be adjusted using the sliders on the Controls page.

Tremulant

The organ features tremulants in the Orchestral, Swell, and Solo divisions. The sample set includes dedicated tremulant samples—each pipe in these divisions was recorded with the tremulant engaged. This method provides the most natural tremulant sound. However, it also comes with limitations: The oscillations of the individual pipes are not synchronized, each pipe vibrates independently. Additionally, the speed and depth of the tremulant cannot be adjusted after the fact.

Tuning

The organ is tuned to equal temperament with a1=440Hz. Slight deviations from perfect tuning are entirely normal and contribute to the instrument's lively character. These small deviations were intentionally preserved during post-processing; however, each sample’s exact pitch was stored. Only significantly detuned notes were corrected to avoid noticeable discrepancies. When using Hauptwerk's Original Tuning setting, the organ sounds as lively as the real instrument. If a defined temperament such as Equal (even temperament) is selected in Hauptwerk, the sample set is precisely retuned by Hauptwerk, resulting in a somewhat sterile and less natural sound. To counteract this, Hauptwerk offers a random detuning feature to simulate subtle tuning imperfections.

However, Hauptwerk’s built-in random detuning cannot be used for multi-channel sample sets, as the software does not ensure synchronized detuning of related samples (i.e., the same pipe recorded in different microphone positions). This often leads to undesirable artifacts. Therefore, this feature is disabled in the sample set (parameters set to 0). Instead, the sample set includes its own pseudo-random detuning. The detuning level can be adjusted using the sliders on the Controls page. Values are randomly assigned per pipe but fixed in the definition file. Separate settings are available for reed and flue stops.

Special Features of the Organ

The organ includes several special features that are faithfully reproduced in the sample set. On the original instrument, the controls for these functions are located in a drawer beneath the right stop panel. In the sample set, they are accessed via the Controls page.

Second-touch in Manuals I and II

Manuals I and II support second-touch functionality—a feature commonly found in theatre organs. Certain stops or couplers are only activated when the key is pressed beyond the initial resistance point, triggering a second switch. This allows for expressive dynamic layering not otherwise possible. On the Eule organ, the following stops or couplers are triggered via second-touch:
Manual I:  Coupler II/I, and the stops Mercator Trumpet and French Horn (when coupled via IV/I)
Manual II:  The stops Tuba Sonora and Carillon

Pedal Pizzicato

The pedal pizzicato feature causes selected stops to play only a short, detached note (pizzicato), regardless of how long the pedal key is held down. This effect, inspired by theatre organ practice, enables creative articulation. The following stop behaviors apply when pizzicato is enabled:
Contra-Violone 32' and Sub-Bourdon 32' are completely disabled.
Violone 16', Bourdon 16', and Geigen 16' play in pizzicato style.
All other pedal stops play normally.

General Swell Coupler

The general swell coupler links all swellable divisions to the left expression pedal (Pedal II), allowing it to act as a master swell control.

Vox Strigis (Owl Call)

An effect stop that briefly plays the call of an owl and shows an owl appearing in the organ case. After a few seconds, the call is heard again and the owl disappears.

The compression method used by Hauptwerk is lossless, meaning that using the "compressed" loading option does not result in any loss of audio quality. However, slightly more CPU power is required when playing the set in this mode. The best audio quality is achieved when loading at 24-bit resolution. For slightly reduced requirements, 16-bit resolution may be selected. Since loading options can be set individually for each stop within Hauptwerk, it is possible to adjust them to match the available system memory.

 

Licence conditions

Here you can view the licence conditions for our sample sets.

Installation

The sample set is delivered exclusively as a download (approx. 35 GB). The download consists of several files, which together form a splitted archive. For installation in Hauptwerk, these files must all be located together in one directory. Then select the file "...part01.rar" for the installation. Hauptwerk will automatically install the complete set in one go. Detailed installation instructions for your Hauptwerk version can be found in the Hauptwerk Main User Guide. You can access it from the Help menu in Hauptwerk.

During the installation you will be shown the license agreement. You can only proceed with the installation if you accept the license agreement.

This sample set is protected by the iLok system. A valid license for the sample set is required to install and play the organ. For this purpose you will receive an activation code by mail after purchasing the set. The mail also contains the instructions for activating the license. Only after activating the license in the iLok License Manager the sampleset can be installed.

Watch the premiere video done by Fraser Gartshore on Youtube! Great fun! (note: the title screen is shown for around 6:30 minutes before the actual video starts.)

You can find a number of pieces recorded with this sampleset on the Contrebombarde website.

Here is a link to a playlist featuring this organ.

This sample set is available for Hauptwerk version 5 and higher and it is protected by an iLok licence. Hence you need to obtain a licence in order to install and run it. You will get an activation key for the full licence via E-Mail following your purchase of the sample set. An activation key for a 14 day trial of the full set is available from us free of charge. You can ask for the key via mail or via our Request trial activation code form.

The sample set is distributed via download only. The download consists of 6 files, which together form a single split archive. Please make sure all files are downloaded and located in the same folder on your drive, then select the file ...part1.rar from HW's organ install menu, HW will then install the entire set in one go. Here are the links for the download:

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6.