CHORUS MIXTURES are intended primarily to “cap off” a principal chorus, flute chorus, or a reed chorus with high-pitched octaves and fifths. Chorus mixture ranks are usually scaled as principals.
As a chorus mixture progresses higher in pitch, the highest-pitched rank becomes too high to be of practical value. For this reason the highest rank BREAKS BACK periodically (sometimes every octave); that is, the rank containing the highest pitch jumps down to a lower octave or fifth.
Chorus mixtures are used mainly in chorus-type registration, where several parts are played from a single manual. Chorus mixtures add brilliance to the stop combination.
Click to hear a principal chorus (8', 4', 2') first alone, and then with a chorus mixture added at the half-way point.