Play true-to-life pipe organs in your own living room

The Johannus LiVE brings the impossible within your grasp: play true-to-life pipe organs from dozens of international churches in your own living room, on an authentic organ.

Historic bridge between church and home

Playing a full church organ is every organist’s dream... but not every organist has 24/7 access to a pipe organ. The Johannus LiVE builds a historic bridge between the musical experience of the classic pipe organ and your own home. What is the Johannus LiVE, exactly, and what makes that connection between technology and romance so unique?

True-to-life experience

The Johannus LiVE is a high-quality digital organ that comes with sample sets, allowing you to play on dozens of international pipe organs. The sample sets are uploaded into the digital organ via USB drive. Each thumb drive contains the authentic, professional recordings of a specific international pipe organ. The highest standards for digital audio are used to play the sampled sounds. This audio experience allows the Johannus LiVE to give you the feeling of playing a true-to-life, actual pipe organ.

Four positions per organ

For each sample, that authentic, high-quality sound can be played from four different positions within the church. The first position places you in the organist’s seat. The direct transmission of sound dominates the experience, while the spatial acoustics are secondary. The second position sets you in the audience, close to the front of the organ. The reverb is already coming into play, but the direct sound is still the primary focus. In the third position, you are placed right in the middle of the church, where sound and reverb meld as if you were in a CD recording. The fourth position places you in the back of the church, beyond the scope of the reverb. 

The organist is key

One of the unique features of the Johannus LiVE is the fact that you, the organist, are right at the heart of the experience. The sound of the speakers is angled directly towards your ears. The organ sounds are crafted to blend with the space in which the original pipe organ is situated. It’s hardly a leap of the imagination to envision yourself at the keys of historic pipe organs in famous cathedrals... because as far as your ears can tell, that’s exactly where you are.

Dynamic stoplist

Every register on the Johannus LiVE comes with a small dynamic display that allows you to switch effortlessly between the stoplists of various pipe organs. To illustrate: the register that indicates a Principal 4’ on the Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Église Notre-Dame d'Auteuil in Paris is a Gemshorn 4’ on the Bätz-orgel in the Dom cathedral in Utrecht. The displays show the appropriate stoplist depending on which organ is currently being played. The registers are arranged by operating the wooden drawknobs, approximating the same experience as playing the selected authentic pipe organ.

A fully fledged organ

The combination of a physical stoplist with actual drawknobs and an authentic, superb sound make the Johannus LiVE a fully fledged organ. A unique sound experience that meets the highest standards for digital audio and the option of playing dozens of actual pipe organs add the finishing touches to your experience. Play the world’s most beautiful organs from your own living room.