Hauptwerk
  • WittManWilsonWittManWilson
    Posts: 76
    Anyone here ever work with Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ software? We have an aging digital Allen organ at church and I am looking into using Hauptwerk in lieu of purchasing a new digital organ (our parish is in deficit spending right now) as a way to enhance the sound of the organ. It appears easy to use, but I don't know how difficult it is to hook up, and what the overall cost would be. Any experience?
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I believe forum user 32 Contrabombarde uses a Hauptwerk configuration in his excellent chant accompaniment video series.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    A friend of mine built his own home rig and has used it for quite a while, if you want me to put you in touch.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Hauptwerk itself is free and open source. Computers hardware is a commodity.
    Your real expense, if you want it to sound good, is speakers.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I believe you are thinking of GrandOrgue, which I have run before. Hauptwerk is paid, $250-$600.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    I forgot. Hauptwerk does have a free version, but it is freeware ("Free as in sample"), not Open Source.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Still. Speakers. Don't forget how expensive good speakers are.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,828
    Get KILLER speakers. Get KILLER speakers... and put them up up up if you can.
  • Ted
    Posts: 204
    I have been using Hauptwerk for a few years on my Rodgers 525. It is fantastic.

    I recently got an Emo commercial 24" touch screen (quite inexpensive used) and it makes all the difference when playing. There is a free version of Hauptwerk with limited voicing, but the other full versions are paying. Their pro version allows you to use 2 touch screen monitors for the stops, one on each side of the console, but it is not cheap.

    I have samples from organs around the world, and I originally thought I would settle on one, but now I use different ones according to the type of piece I play. It is quite formidable to have all these organs from around the world in your living room!

    The open source GrandOrgue is quite good, but lacks the variety of samples that Hauptwerk currently has. That may change, but there is no financial incentive to do so I suppose.

    As for the computer to run the thing, you need a gamer. I have a AMD 8 CPU chip running with 16gb of RAM and a 500gb SSD hard drive. You really need that much memory with some sample sets. The sample sets can be several gbs in size, so a regular hard drive would take a lot of time to load the whole set into RAM. You also need the powerhouse CPU to play so many voices concurrently.

    One problem with Hauptwerk is the reverb, that is, it does not have it, at least mine doesn't, so you may need to install VST plugin software, like I had to, in order to play dry samples realistically in a living room.

    My Rodgers has 2 manuals, but some sample sets are of organs that have 3 or 4 manuals. In that case I assigned 2 manuals from the sample to play on one manual on my console, not ideal, but it works sufficiently well.

    To use Hauptwerk, the organ must have MIDI, as my Rodgers does. For those electronic organs that do not, there are kits, such as those by Harrison Labs, available on eBay that allow you to hardwire each key or pedal into a MIDI interface, quite tedious to do, but it does work.

    Ted

  • Jeffrey CogginsJeffrey Coggins
    Posts: 360
    Public use of Hauptwerk is not free.

    https://www.hauptwerk.com/clientuploads/documentation/licensing/HauptwerkEndUserLicenseAgreement.pdf

    13.1. The Hauptwerk Free Edition may be used for non-commercial, home personal use only. (In particular, you may not use the Free Edition for public performances or for any type of public installation, whether permanent or temporary.)

    14.1. A public installation license is required for all permanent (or semi-permanent) public installations of Hauptwerk. (Occasional, temporary use of a Registered portable home Hauptwerk system for performance or demonstration in a public venue does not require a public installation license.)
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Torculus
    Posts: 44
    How much computer does it take to run GrandOrgue satisfactorily?
  • Ted
    Posts: 204
    I would not skimp on computer power even if GrandOrgue uses fewer resources than Hauptwerk. Desktop computer components are not that expensive these days.
    The computer needs to deal with samplesets that are basically live recordings of each pipe so there is a lot for the computer to do in processing these. Imagine full organ, with all the stops pulled: you can be talking about 400 .wav files the computer must process at the same time. I would not go with anything less than a 4x CPU whether AMD or Intel, running at 3ghz min. Again enough RAM is important because the OS uses it not only to store the active program, but the program uses it to store the sampleset. Once you run out of RAM, the OS starts using the hard drive, so expect judder, even if the hard drive is SSD. 8gb may be a good start, but I found that with some high resolution samples that is not enough.
    You may also want to use Linux as the OS if you will only be using GrandOrgue on that machine. It is more efficient and uses fewer resources than Windows 7+
    Thanked by 1Torculus
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I haven't tried it, but GrandOrgue also has it's own liveCD version, nickname "organ OS" or something, which I presume is some stripped down linux based setup for running it in a more efficient manner. I have considered installing it on a spare hard drive I have, and swapping that into my rig next time it gets used to boot from it.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • WittManWilsonWittManWilson
    Posts: 76
    @ Ben Yanke... I would love to talk to someone who has implemented it. I know our current church organ has MIDI capabilities, so it doesn't sound like it would be that hard to get it running. However, I don't know where to start in terms of the right MIDI/Audio interface or speakers. If you can PM me with your friend's email address, I would appreciate it.

    Thanks for all the help.
  • kaspencer
    Posts: 3
    For anyone who is interested in Hauptwerk, may I suggest that this book will help, as as well as this series Hauptwerk Tour of five videos providing a tour of a Hauptwerk installation.
    I do hope that these links will be useful for anyone who needs to know more about Hauptwerk.
    Best wishes,
    Kenneth Spencer
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Adam Wood
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    At a former parish (with very little money) I used a cheap MIDI-capable electric piano as the keyboard, playing into J'eux D'orgues running on an older iPad (a $30 app, or so, which plays samples from various pipe organs). It was dead simple to set up, and completely reliable, week in and week out. If you play huge chords on the highest quality reverb then yes, you'd get some distortion, but standard hymns or a Bach prelude or what have you could easily be played without overloading the system.

    Good Speakers: Yes, this is the most important thing. Our parish, lacking in so many other things, was fortunate to have some donated, and they made all the difference. As somebody said, put them up high and out of sight. Keep the iPad out of sight too if you can (though you need to be able to see it to change the stops).

    And yes, to those who are thinking it, this set-up is very far from the ideal. In my parts, at least, there are many parishes with serious financial challenges. Installing a pipe organ (or any organ) is not a realistic option for them. In this case, I tried to convince the priest to use a cappella music, which I believe is the best solution in such situations, but that proposal was apparently a non-starter. The sounds of J'eux D'orgues are pretty good, and certainly better than anything that the beast of an instrument (something digital from the mid 80s) I was playing could produce.

    Anyway, if you are cash-strapped, it's an option that costs very little and works.
  • Priestboi
    Posts: 155
    Anyone having trouble with windows 10 and drivers? I was using GO, but its just really not working out for me. Any advice would be amazing! Kindly inbox me, but feel free to berate me for making the upgrade.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    Keep us posted on Windows 10. I have been waiting to make the upgrade until I saw what problems others were having.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    It is not permitted to use HW in public without public installation license, according to the manual:

    13.1. The Hauptwerk Free Edition may be used for non-commercial, home personal use only. (In particular, you may not use the Free Edition for public performances or for any type of public installation, whether permanent or temporary.)

    14.1. A public installation license is required for all permanent (or semi-permanent) public installations of Hauptwerk. (Occasional, temporary use of a Registered portable home Hauptwerk system for performance or demonstration in a public venue does not require a public installation license.)

    https://www.hauptwerk.com/clientuploads/documentation/licensing/HauptwerkEndUserLicenseAgreement.pdf

    (I envision a new flood of violations as Catholic music directors who illegally copy music have a new way to prevent publishers and now organ software developers from making money. "There's no money to buy music in the budget.")
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    "There's no money to buy music in the budget.")


    IMSLP and CPDL. We don't need no stinkin' money.
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Where the corner has been turned, fellow geezers, is that we are no longer held hostage by our own LitIndustrialComplex Tres, but by JWP and other major hard paper publishers. I'm cutting a check to Richard Rice today. I've cut other checks to Noel, Adam B., CMAA, K. Allen, Heath, Peter, Richard, JMO, Chris Mueller etc.
    And mostly on my dime or "endowment stipends" from funerals. Those books will stay after I'm gone. However, whether they'll continue to be used.....?
    The stranglehold I really have no solution for is that I don't think there will ever be a universal, mandated or otherwise, pew book for the RCC in the USofA, (presuming the Republic will still be standing and Christians aren't outlawed.)
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Melo ... glad you don't have to cut a check to me. Any donations to CPDL, though, are most welcome.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Ted
    Posts: 204
    Hauptwerk runs fine on Windows 10 64bit. I was wondering what specific problems people are experiencing. Perhaps they have to do with the MIDI interface drivers specific to your device and not Hauptwerk.
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