It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:40 am


Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

A discussion forum for anything even marginally Hauptwerk-related.
  • Author
  • Message
Offline
User avatar

kaspencer

Member

  • Posts: 767
  • Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:42 pm
  • Location: UK, England, Wiltshire.

Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostThu Apr 28, 2016 11:26 am

HAUPTWERK - THE VIRTUAL PIPE ORGAN
NOTICE OF AN EVENT

On Saturday 7th May 2016 at 2:00pm in the church of John the Baptist, in Boldre (near Lymington, Hants), I will give a talk to the Bournemouth Organists on the subject of Hauptwerk.

The talk will be illustrated using the organ in Boldre, which is a very effective Hauptwerk installation using the Hereford Cathedral sample set, installed and setup by a member of this forum, Adrian Taylor.

The talk will be followed by refreshments, and an opportunity to play the organ. The event will finish with Choral Evensong at 5:00pm, accompanied by the organ.

For many Hauptwerk users, this is a wonderful opportunity to see what Hauptwerk can sound like as part of a very economical organ project supporting a range of church music activities.

The image below gives details of the venue and an outline of the event, as well as directions to Boldre, which is a little out-of-the-way in the Hampshire countryside.

Image

Members of this forum are welcome to attend.

Kenneth Spencer
Kenneth Spencer
Music Site: http://www.my-music.mywire.org
Project Page: http://www.my-music.mywire.org/opus_ii.htm
Books on Hauptwerk and Computing; Novation Launchpad overlays: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kaspencer
YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/kaspenceruk
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostThu Apr 28, 2016 5:34 pm

I wrote back to Ken (on another Forum) that I wouldn't be able to attend due to the distance across the pond (for me) altho it looks to be a worthwhile event. Best to you Ken. I know a lot of your enthusiasm for Hauptwerk will be evident there. :)

Would be nice to organize something like that here in the states. Many folks have heard about Hauptwerk and likewise have many questions.

Rgds,
Ed
Offline
User avatar

RichardW

Member

  • Posts: 899
  • Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:16 am
  • Location: UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostThu Apr 28, 2016 6:20 pm

engrssc wrote:... I wouldn't be able to attend due to the distance ...

I read the title of the post then saw who had most recently replied. Then I did a double-take on the title. Did it say New Hampshire and I had misread it? Even that would be a bit far.

It sounds like an interesting event but it is a bit far for me too. Not quite as far as Ed, though. :)

So best wishes to Ken and I hope it all goes well.

Regards,
Richard
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostThu Apr 28, 2016 7:02 pm

I had asked Ken if he had considered video taping the event and making it available on YouTube.

Rgds,
Ed
Offline
User avatar

magnaton

Member

  • Posts: 682
  • Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:28 pm
  • Location: Austin, TX

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostFri Apr 29, 2016 12:08 am

engrssc wrote:
Would be nice to organize something like that here in the states. Many folks have heard about Hauptwerk and likewise have many questions.


Yes, how about a Hauptwerk weekend? Maybe some place central to include vendors, workshops, demos, a swap meet, and evening concerts. Should we form a committee?

Danny B.
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostFri Apr 29, 2016 1:39 am

This idea has been proposed previously but unfortunately didn't get off the ground. The closest thing was some organ events which MDA participated in demo-ing Hauptwerk having a booth, etc. This was quite some time ago, tho. Some "name brand" organists had a chance to see and hear Hauptwerk first hand. Brett published some pictures at the time.

Rgds,
Ed
Offline
User avatar

kaspencer

Member

  • Posts: 767
  • Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:42 pm
  • Location: UK, England, Wiltshire.

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostFri Apr 29, 2016 3:20 am

Yes, it is indeed Hampshire, England UK!
Ed: I might just see whether I might be able to set up my video camera, but that may not be possible. If I do I'd probably have to spend hours editing out my ums & aahs - Even then it might be a disappointment!
Richard: I think that you are in the B&WOA -yes? If so I recently asked Penny to circulate details. Boldre is about 90 minutes from Bath on a good day, so you'd be welcome. I think some Bristol members (my OA) might be doing a car share.
Ken.
Kenneth Spencer
Music Site: http://www.my-music.mywire.org
Project Page: http://www.my-music.mywire.org/opus_ii.htm
Books on Hauptwerk and Computing; Novation Launchpad overlays: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kaspencer
YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/kaspenceruk
Offline
User avatar

dhm

Member

  • Posts: 1270
  • Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:50 am
  • Location: Rochester, UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostFri Apr 29, 2016 6:43 am

magnaton wrote:
engrssc wrote:
Would be nice to organize something like that here in the states. Many folks have heard about Hauptwerk and likewise have many questions.


Yes, how about a Hauptwerk weekend? Maybe some place central to include vendors, workshops, demos, a swap meet, and evening concerts. Should we form a committee?

Danny B.


Danny,

I'm going to be in Texas the third week of May, talking about ways of getting some more European HW consoles into the Lone Star State.
Also planning a day or two in Austin. PM me if it might be helpful to meet up.

Douglas.
Douglas Henn-Macrae
Authorized Hauptwerk Reseller
http://www.midi-organs.eu
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostFri Apr 29, 2016 7:54 am

kaspencer wrote:Ed: I might just see whether I might be able to set up my video camera, but that may not be possible. If I do I'd probably have to spend hours editing out my ums & aahs.


Ken, your "proposed" ums & aahs would only add to the realism of such an event and probably overall would be much better than some YouTube postings we've seen. :)

Rgds,
Ed
Offline
User avatar

ajt

Member

  • Posts: 870
  • Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:40 pm
  • Location: Hampshire, UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostSat Apr 30, 2016 2:53 pm

I'm really pleased that this event is finally happening. Sadly I left that church and the area in July last year, and have been without a regular organist job since. I miss that organ more than any other I have played regularly, which is odd considering the church before it was a big Willis III. I'd always hated electronic organs and not regarded the ones I had encountered as musical instruments, just a collection of vaguely organ like noises to be endured.

Indeed, the original Copeman Hart at Boldre was much the same. But, when it blew up on me during a wedding, and I was able to bypass the CH tone generation stuff and replace it with Hauptwerk (with Haverhill initially), it was a major change. I started to enjoy it. The CH console was very well made, very precise, the audio system was also very good, so with a decent sampleset and a lot of voicing, it started to feel like an instrument.

When David Butcher let me try the Hereford Beta (at home), I knew that it was going to be a perfect fit for the church, albeit with a lot of the Hereford acoustic take out. And it was. Apologies to those who've heard this story before...

There are compromises. There are always compromises! At the time we bought the Mac for the church, 8Gb RAM was the max that would go in the Core 2 Duo machines. So, I had to squeeze as much of Hereford as I needed into 8Gb. Hereford had more stops than the console had, and I *needed* some of them ;-) Paul Kuzan kindly gave me an Xkeys which allowed me to stick a few extra buttons under the music desk.

The terms of the faculty (church planning permission) were that we couldn't modify the console (except to change a few stops), so things like adding proper on/off/shutdown buttons were not an option. Again, that had to be on the X keys. We also couldn't change the speaker setup or modify anything visual in any way.

I experimented a lot with audio routing - there are 3 stereo speaker pairs and a mono sub. At first I replicated what CH had done; choir to one pair, swell to another, great and pedal 8' to the last pair. That was ok. I lived with it for about a year. But, the best result came from carefully balancing all the speakers so that they were the same dB at a specific point in the church (using a dB meter from my school science lab), then throwing everything at all 6 speakers and letting Hauptwerk decide what to do (apart from the stuff that went to the sub). That brought some oddities for the choir members, who found that due to the speaker arrangement, they thought that some notes were missing on the organ (most obvious on the tuba). They weren't missing, just coming out of the speakers on the wrong side of the arch from them. In the congregation it sounds great, but the choir stalls are a bit compromised. Tough :-)

I've done a *lot* of voicing. Tiny tweaks over a couple of years. The most obvious ones were personal preference which would upset the Willis purists; all of the swell (except big reeds) +5dB. The solo light pressure reeds and solo flutes +9dB (oboe, clarinet, etc).

If I were to do it over again, I'd replace the sub woofer with one that can properly deal with the bottom 3rd of the 32', I'd get permission to add a couple of speakers just for the choir (people not division) and move the speakers slightly. I'd modify the console to startup and shutdown the computer properly.

I wish I could make it next weekend, but my boy is doing Chichester Psalms and Rejoice in the Lamb solos over the weekend! I'd love to hear what the assembled worthies make of it though - do report back please, Kenneth!
Adrian
Offline

Lee M

Member

  • Posts: 7
  • Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:10 am
  • Location: Gloucestershire, UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostSun May 01, 2016 6:31 am

Looking forward to the presentation! I will be making the pilgrimage on Saturday and if anyone would like a ride, we will be leaving Stow-on-the-Wold around 10 am. Please contact me with a private message if you would like to join us - we estimate a trip of just over two hours. Lee
Offline
User avatar

ajt

Member

  • Posts: 870
  • Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:40 pm
  • Location: Hampshire, UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostTue May 10, 2016 3:07 pm

How did it all go? Sorry I didn't make it in the end; thought I could, then couldn't at the last second!
Adrian
Offline
User avatar

kaspencer

Member

  • Posts: 767
  • Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:42 pm
  • Location: UK, England, Wiltshire.

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostMon Jun 06, 2016 6:05 pm

Greetings to everyone!

I am sorry not to have reported back on the "event" sooner, but one way or another I have been very busy.
Anyway, I was really pleased with the way in which the talk went. There was a very good attendance, and an attentive and interested audience. And afterwards, I was delighted with the number, scope, and quality of the questions. It clearly showed that there was a great deal of interest. There were serious questions from several people who were obviously looking at building significant Hauptwerk setups - at least two for churches.

Several people on this forum asked whether I could record the talk and put it on YouTube. Well, I'm afraid I was incompetent in my effort to do that! I took my HD video camera down with me, and I set it up. BUT I failed to turn it on properly! So there was no recording. I am sorry for that.

Adrian - sorry you couldn't make it - I hadn't read your post about not being able to make it, so I did have a careful look around the audience to see if you were there. But I did make several references to your work in doing all the setting up of the CH+HW, so those who didn't know what you had done do know now! Also I hope that your son's solos in Chichester went well.

Thanks again to everyone for their interest. It is all very gratifying!

Best wishes,

Ken
Kenneth Spencer
Music Site: http://www.my-music.mywire.org
Project Page: http://www.my-music.mywire.org/opus_ii.htm
Books on Hauptwerk and Computing; Novation Launchpad overlays: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kaspencer
YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/kaspenceruk
Offline
User avatar

ajt

Member

  • Posts: 870
  • Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:40 pm
  • Location: Hampshire, UK

Re: Notice of a Hauptwerk event in Hampshire, England, UK

PostWed Jun 08, 2016 5:22 am

I'm glad to hear it went well. The reaction I'm most interested in is from the "purists"; intrigued to hear what they made of it, tonally/as an instrument.
Adrian

Return to General discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 10 guests