Observations regarding HW8

Hi Martin
Just a few observations regarding HW8. I am enjoying the benefits of HW8 and I won’t list them as they are in other posts.
The "Organ settings | Rank voicing and surround/3D panning" screen, with expandable nodes is a great idea and has the potential to be one of the best new additions since the new mixer.
Being able to create four different versions of the same organ is ground breaking and opens many possibilities. This saves copying the organ from say alt config 1 to 2 to create a new version from your organ you have spent lots of time setting it up as a baseline.
However, in the "Organ settings | Rank voicing and surround/3D panning" screen there are literally 100’s of changes made to an organ sample to make it sound the way you like. Bringing this data across from one node to another node is very painful and would require days of work to copy info one at time between nods.

To make this new idea reach its fullest potential it needs a copy between nodes routine.

I am excited with this idea but as it is I won’t be using it as I don’t have the patience to spend days copping between nodes for every organ I own.

The mini control panel “Mixer preset for organ’s rank routing/voicing preset” has grown in width greatly due to its long new name. In HW7 I had a few docked at the bottom of the screen however when I upgraded to ver8 it pushed some of my docked items off the screen to the right. Maybe you could change the name or use two lines to bring its width back down.

Not related to HW8.
I have set up Hauptwerk so I use midi to control as many aspects as I can. In a normal session I don’t use keyboard, mouse or monitor. I also run Hauptwerk 24/7. At the end of a session, I like to unload the current organ so that my launch pads are not lit. This requires dragging out the keyboard and using its shortcut.
Being able to link the unload with a midi control would be nice and shouldn’t be hard to implement.

A long time ago (Window 7 & HW5 I think) the ideal way to run Hauptwerk was in Realtime priority as it still is today. The annoying thing is that it needs administration privileges to run. I soon got tired of answering yes to the popup every time and sometimes Realtime was not implemented.
So, I devolved a script using Windows Task Scheduler to run Hauptwerk with highest privileges and to run it Realtime priority using a desktop shortcut. This method bypasses the popup and is never seen again and guarantees Runtime priority is implemented.
Every time I’ve updated my computer, I’ve had to go back to see what I did, so I have created a PDF instruction manual on how to implement this to save myself time and copy/paste the script.

Do you think this is information that could be shared with other users. I think many uses probably do not know how to run Hauptwerk with admin privileges and if they do like me are sick of the popup. I have created the manual with step-by-step instructions for those with little understanding of windows.
I won’t share this until you have had a look at it. I can send with your permission a copy to Francois as I have his email. Let me know if you like a copy to evaluate.

I have a few more ideas that may be useful but I will do that through Francois at a later time.

Congratulations on HW8 and thanks again,
Norm

[mdyde]

Thanks, Norm.

The "Organ settings | Rank voicing and surround/3D panning" screen, with expandable nodes is a great idea and has the potential to be one of the best new additions since the new mixer.
Being able to create four different versions of the same organ is ground breaking and opens many possibilities. This saves copying the organ from say alt config 1 to 2 to create a new version from your organ you have spent lots of time setting it up as a baseline.
However, in the "Organ settings | Rank voicing and surround/3D panning" screen there are literally 100’s of changes made to an organ sample to make it sound the way you like. Bringing this data across from one node to another node is very painful and would require days of work to copy info one at time between nods.

To make this new idea reach its fullest potential it needs a copy between nodes routine.

Yes -- adding the ability to copy/import/export mixer presets and rank routing/voicing presets is logged as a high-priority enhancement, and it's something that we hope to add in a future version.

Note also that, since you can multi-select ranks on the voicing screen, you could select a particular organ rank within several of the rank routing/voicing preset nodes (e.g. select the Open Diapason 8 within presets 1 and 2 simultaneously), then voice both together, thus potentially avoiding the need to copy settings.

The mini control panel “Mixer preset for organ’s rank routing/voicing preset” has grown in width greatly due to its long new name. In HW7 I had a few docked at the bottom of the screen however when I upgraded to ver8 it pushed some of my docked items off the screen to the right. Maybe you could change the name or use two lines to bring its width back down.

I've logged in our database that it might be more efficient in terms of screen space usage if the prefix text on that mini control panel was shortened or wrapped. (Even aside from the prefix text, that mini control panel does still need to be a bit wider than earlier versions, since it has some extra controls, such as the the preset name.)

A long time ago (Window 7 & HW5 I think) the ideal way to run Hauptwerk was in Realtime priority as it still is today. The annoying thing is that it needs administration privileges to run. I soon got tired of answering yes to the popup every time and sometimes Realtime was not implemented.
So, I devolved a script using Windows Task Scheduler to run Hauptwerk with highest privileges and to run it Realtime priority using a desktop shortcut. This method bypasses the popup and is never seen again and guarantees Runtime priority is implemented.
Every time I’ve updated my computer, I’ve had to go back to see what I did, so I have created a PDF instruction manual on how to implement this to save myself time and copy/paste the script.

Do you think this is information that could be shared with other users. I think many uses probably do not know how to run Hauptwerk with admin privileges and if they do like me are sick of the popup. I have created the manual with step-by-step instructions for those with little understanding of windows.
I won’t share this until you have had a look at it. I can send with your permission a copy to Francois as I have his email. Let me know if you like a copy to evaluate.

Thanks. Yes -- by all means send that to Francois, to see what he makes of it.

One other quick thought off the top of my head: perhaps disabling Windows' User Account Control might avoid that Windows confirmation prompt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control .

Note also that it isn't necessary to adjust the priority of the Hauptwerk process manually/externally, provided that the "Try to run Hauptwerk at real-time priority on Windows (requires launching 'as administrator')?" advanced general preference is ticked in Hauptwerk, and that the Hauptwerk process is launched 'as Administrator'. If that preference is ticked, Hauptwerk will automatically try to set its own process to real-time priority whenever audio is active, and reduce it other times (to avoid wasting CPU time/power).

Thanks, Martin, for your quick reply.

Martin Wrote
One other quick thought off the top of my head: perhaps disabling Windows' User Account Control might avoid that Windows confirmation prompt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control .

That would probably work but would allow viruses and other nasties to install from downloads, emails and websites. So, I would not recommend users do this.
I could possibly get away with this because my computer is dedicated to running Hauptwerk and is not connected to the internet. I like my way better as I can leave User Account Control turned on.

Yes -- adding the ability to copy/import/export mixer presets and rank routing/voicing presets is logged as a high-priority enhancement, and it's something that we hope to add in a future version.

I thought you would not be overlooking the need to copy/import/export mixer presets and rank routing/voicing presets. Can’t wait for this to be implemented.

Note also that, since you can multi-select ranks on the voicing screen, you could select a particular organ rank within several of the rank routing/voicing preset nodes (e.g. select the Open Diapason 8 within presets 1 and 2 simultaneously), then voice both together, thus potentially avoiding the need to copy settings

I hadn’t thought of using multi-select ranks on the voicing screen. I saw this but didn’t quite understand its use, I will give this a go tomorrow.

I will send my manual to Francois tomorrow.
I agree with your note regarding Real-time.
Any chance of linking the unload with a midi control in the future.

Thanks,
Norm

[mdyde]

Thanks, Norm.

I have set up Hauptwerk so I use midi to control as many aspects as I can. In a normal session I don’t use keyboard, mouse or monitor. I also run Hauptwerk 24/7. At the end of a session, I like to unload the current organ so that my launch pads are not lit. This requires dragging out the keyboard and using its shortcut.
Being able to link the unload with a midi control would be nice

ny chance of linking the unload with a midi control in the future.

My apologies for failing to reply to that point in your original post. I've logged your notes to an enhancement request log, so that it can be considered in the future.

Hi Martin.
I've been using HW for years.
always the latest updates.
but I hope you can change something in the next update. it is about the volume control in hw.
this depends if you want to start a recording.
if you accidentally change the volume during recording, you will immediately hear it on playback with midi etc.
can you make it so that you can just realize this volume slider in such a way that it does not affect the recordings.
This problem has been going on for years now, and this has never been corrected.
compare it to the past with recording with a tape deck.
the rec was set. and you could turn the volume knob so much without affecting the recordings.
other than that I am very satisfied with HW 8 keep it up.
Regards
Henk Pasterkamp
From the Netherlands Urk

[mdyde]

Hello Henk,

Thanks for the suggestion, and also for upgrading to v8, and glad to hear you're enjoying v8 in general.

We intentionally made the volume slider be recorded and replayed on the basis that some people (perhaps more so in the theatre organ community) like to use it dynamically as an expression pedal as they play, for organs that lack native swell boxes, for example. I'll log as an enhancement request that you'd appreciate a new general preference for disabling recording/playback for it.

Hello Henk,

Thanks for the suggestion, and also for upgrading to v8, and glad to hear you're enjoying v8 in general.

We intentionally made the volume slider be recorded and replayed on the basis that some people (perhaps more so in the theatre organ community) like to use it dynamically as an expression pedal as they play, for organs that lack native swell boxes, for example. I'll log as an enhancement request that you'd appreciate a new general preference for disabling recording/playback for it.

Hello Martin.

In principle, the point is that the volume slider should not affect the record level.
I work with Rme and all my workspace are set to various samples.
and with the volume slider I adjust the strength. but I also often play in the evening so the volume slider is set to eg 12%.
So if I want to record then you will hear almost nothing after the recording.
so what I said earlier, make the volume slider independent of the record level, at the competitor. I'm not naming a name, so it just works. I start the recording, and if I play full volume or play low volume, it doesn't matter for the recording. So it always stays the same. I just wanted to mention that.
Greetings
Henk Pasterkamp

[mdyde]

Thanks, Henk.

Yes -- adding the ability to copy/import/export mixer presets and rank routing/voicing presets is logged as a high-priority enhancement, and it's something that we hope to add in a future version.

Note also that, since you can multi-select ranks on the voicing screen, you could select a particular organ rank within several of the rank routing/voicing preset nodes (e.g. select the Open Diapason 8 within presets 1 and 2 simultaneously), then voice both together, thus potentially avoiding the need to copy settings.

Hi mdyde,

Piggybacking on this excellent suggestion, I would like to add another one that concerns to all the circumstances in which the user is led to select ranks, stops or divisions or pairs of different channels. It would be the ability to filter the list (and/or to select from the shown one) by some term common to the items someone wants to work with. Something like "rear", "front A", "OW", "tremmed", "gedackt", "special", to name just a few examples. This would save a lot of time and effort, and would avoid the mistake of inadvertently failing to select an item from a large congener group. Boolean "and or" connectors would be equally interesting. Specifically about the "Rank Voicing and Surround/3D/Perspective Panning" window, it would be interesting to have the value field also in the MSTR button. Many changes are conveniently made to the entire compass, and (much) more time and effort are spent using the mouse and arrow keys (which are not always available on touchscreen setups) than directly entering the desired value.

TIA,

Antonio

[mdyde]

Thanks, Antonio. I've logged your notes as an enhancement request.