Vox humana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The vox humana (Latin for "human voice") is a stop on the pipe organ so-named because of its supposed resemblance to the human voice. Unfortunately, this stop sounds more like a chorus of goats. This stop is so important that in the 1920's that an organ built without a Vox Humana was considered incomplete. Some instruments have as many as 12. Almost never used alone, the Vox Humana is usually used with strings or flutes.

There are two types:

• A reed pipe with an undulating tone.
• On older organ styles, a vox humana stop may control no pipes of its own, but instead add a tremulant to other stops.