Without wishing to re-launch the pipes vs. digital debate (in my opinion
pipes win every time but not in my very small home!), I would be grateful
for some advice.  I am acquiring a practice instrument for my house.  It
is a positive-style digital instrument with primary baroque specification
but also alternate romantic voicing as I hope to re-learn a wide range of
organ literature that I first studied 40 years ago, but have found it
difficult to find enough time within my schedule to get to a church to
practise regularly and keep current.

My question is that, within my budget, I can choose between a 27-stop 2
manual instrument with full capture, similar in that sense to the pipe
organ I first learned on at school, or a 40-stop 3 manual instrument but
with no capture at all.  I am leaning towards the former as I think I
would find it difficult to play even easier romantic and modern pieces
fluently without pistons and toe studs.  Then again the tonal resources of
a larger 3-manual instrument are appealing too, and no doubt some of the
registration changes could be accommodated with the additional manual.

I would be grateful for any opinions on this limited topic, again
hopefully without spiraling into the familiar arguments as to the relative
merits of pipes and digital.

Thanks in advance.

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