he following table summarises the specifications of a number of extant consort organs together with some that have not survived (in brackets). The basic provision of Stopped Diapason, Principal and Fifteenth was often augmented by an Open Diapason, usually in the treble only for reasons of space, which had a particularly important role in consort music in providing the tone of open wood principals at 8ft pitch. The presence of a 4ft Flute was often associated with organs for which the accompaniment of vocal music formed part of their original role. The mixtures were usually of two ranks; these are the stops that are most likely to have been altered or replaced but it seems that the most common composition included a twelfth and seventeenth. These pitches may have been intended to complement the harmonic content of the Stopped Diapason, especially in organs where this was the only 8ft, to strenghten the effect of the open principal chorus.

Even with only four or five stops, the provision of divided registers enabled the organist to find a kaleidoscopic variety of dynamic and tonal combinations that could fulfil different functions in consort playing and enabled him to play his part in ‘humouring’ the music through stop changes. With vertical stop levers mounted very close to the player’s hands either side of the keys, registration changes could be made very swiftly.