Introduction
Masterpiece is a free, open-source pipe organ sample player. It plays Hauptwerk-format sample sets and GrandOrgue organs, each with its own console, wiring, wind and swell boxes, on Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Android, iPhone and iPad, as a standalone program and as VST3, LV2 and AU plugins. It is part of OpenPipes, an open-source virtual pipe organ platform, and is published under the GPL-3.0 licence.
This manual has two parts. The user guide covers installing the program, opening sample sets, playing, connecting a console, audio, and the memory and loading choices that decide which organs a computer can hold, followed by a complete reference of every setting. The developer guide covers building Masterpiece from source, its architecture, its tests and its performance figures.
| Sample set formats | Hauptwerk-format organs (full, compact and composite definitions), GrandOrgue organs (.organ definitions and .orgue packages) |
| Packages | Installed folders, or straight from .rar packages, including solid, multi-part and multi-volume sets; a solid RAR 4 set split into volumes is the exception |
| Samples | WAV and WavPack, at any sample rate |
| Systems | Windows, macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Linux (x86-64, Flatpak, Debian packages), Raspberry Pi (64-bit and 32-bit), Android, iPhone and iPad |
| Plugins | VST3, LV2, AU |
| Engine | Hand-written AVX2, SSE2 and NEON vector code; 725 voices per processor thread by default, up to 16,384 |
| Memory | Samples held at 24 or 16 bits or folded to mono, release tails streamed from disk, and a sample cache for fast loads |
| Control | A MIDI channel per manual, MIDI learn for every stop, piston and swell shoe (SysEx included), generals, divisionals and a 999-frame stepper, temperaments, pitch and a transposer |
Where to start
- Installing Masterpiece for the download for your system.
- Opening an organ for sample sets in folders and in their packages.
- MIDI and consoles to connect keyboards, pistons and shoes.
- Memory, loading and streaming and Small, medium and large organs before loading a large set.
- Troubleshooting and caveats when something does not sound as expected.
Questions and ideas are welcome in the discussions, and problems in the issues of the repository on GitHub.