South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

A discussion forum for anything even marginally Hauptwerk-related.
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kaspencer
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South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by kaspencer »

Would anyone in the SW of England be interested in an informal grouping of Hauptwerk users into some sort of club?
If so, either expressw your interest in a reply to this posting, or contact me via the email address given on my music website (at http://www.my-music.mine.nu).

I am not proposing anything onerous or elaborate, just perhaps the opportunity of meeting every few weeks/months and exchanging ideas, describing our various projects, and perhaps rotating the location amongst those who are lucky enough to have a Hauptwerk organ (at any stage of development) that they'd be willing to demonstrate.

As far as "South West England" is concerned, I am perfectly happy to include absolutely anyone who is willing to travel to SW England to meet with the group, or any location to which anyone living in SW England might likewise be willing to travel.

If a few people agree, I will construct an emailing list which I will circulate with a few proposals for ideas that might be of interest.

Regards

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
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ajt
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by ajt »

Yes, I'd be up for something. I'm in Lymington.
Adrian
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JulianMoney-Kyrle
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by JulianMoney-Kyrle »

In theory I would be interested. My Hauptwerk organ is in Wiltshire (roughly between Devizes and Chippenham) so not, I think, very far away from you. In practice, I am there most weekends but not generally during the week.

Julian
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dhm
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by dhm »

I realise Kent isn't in the South West, but please keep me posted - unless anybody wants to do something similar in this corner of the country?
Douglas Henn-Macrae
Authorized Hauptwerk Reseller
http://www.midi-organs.eu
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David Pinnegar
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by David Pinnegar »

Hi!

It really would be great if such meetings might be part of the EOCS which certainly embraces Hauptwerk:
http://www.eocs.org.uk/scripts/vorgsys.htm

So many issues of organ interfacing and sound reproduction are common to Hauptwerk and other areas of digital organ synthesis that it's really helpful to share knowledge across the board. I really enjoyed the link of the news of the Canadian hybrid organ using pipes, Hauptwerk and a jOrgan interface and, Hauptwerk being more sophisticated than all the competition will win over members rather than in any way being challenged by seeming competition. Even if people work on simpler systems, Hauptwerk is going to be the system to which they aspire to work towards. So bringing Hauptwerk meetings under the banner of EOCS would make a lot of sense and EOCS members and knowledge go back to the very beginnings of electronic organ creation, often with expertise derived from working with radar during the war and surplus parts available afterwards. Of course such knowledge might appear irrelevant, but other areas of member's knowledge is up to the minute and very helpfully shared.

There's a Southern meeting in Hampshire this coming weekend . . .

Best wishes

David P
http://www.organmatters.co.uk
David Pinnegar, B.Sc., A.R.C.S.
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kaspencer
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by kaspencer »

Thanks to everyone for the interest shown so far. It does look as though it would be worthwhile setting up a highly informal group. What I propose to do it to allow this topic to show over the next week or so, in order that as many members from the SW can be made aware of the proposal. After that I will drop everyone who has responded an email or PM with some possible dates for a first meeting. We can take it from there.

Specific answers to questions and points raised may be:
I realise Kent isn't in the South West,
As mentioned, anyone can feel free to participate even though they may be somewhat out of the area, if they are willing to travel.
It really would be great if such meetings might be part of the EOCS which certainly embraces Hauptwerk:
I would certainly be happy see any members of EOCS, be they Hauptwerkians or not! At present, I am not proposing that I organise any formal membership arrangements, or fees, or anything like that. I just thought we could keep it as informal and simple as possible, and if attendees wish to formalise it if it proves popular then that's also fine by me.
What I will do, though, is post a message on the Organ Matters forum (I don't think I can post on the EOCS forum as I am not a subscribing member), to give the idea maximum publicity.
There's a Southern meeting [of the EOCS] in Hampshire this coming weekend . . .
I couldn't find a meeting date for the EOCS this weekend, though there is one on 18th September - are there any location details available, David?

Do please let any other SW based members of this forum know so that we can get maximum participation!

Regards

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
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OPUS1883
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by OPUS1883 »

Count me in Ken.

Chris
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ajt
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by ajt »

Having had a phone call this morning asking if Jennifer Bate can come and do a recital on my not-even-installed-yet Hauptwerk installation at church, that might be a good opportunity for a Hauptwerk SW meet...

Details as and when we get them!
Adrian
Christoff
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by Christoff »

Hi Ken - sounds a really good idea - please count me in - I know that strictly speaking Cornwall isn't in England but I have a passport and am willing to travel !!

Good luck with your idea

Chris
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marcus.reeves
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by marcus.reeves »

Hi Ken,

I'm in Andover (for my sins) and would be game for something.
Best wishes,
Marcus
peterprowse
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by peterprowse »

Hi
I'm in Torbay and would be interested.
Peter
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kaspencer
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Re: South West England Hauptwerk Users Club

Post by kaspencer »

In the end we never had a meeting of the proposed SW Hauptwerk User Group.

What happened, was that as the agreed date approached, more and more people made contact cancelling their own attendance, for many, and generally understandable if unfortunate, reasons. And there was some bad weather too. But when we were down from about 14 or 15 people to just me and only a couple of others, I just thought we had nowhere near a quorum, so I reluctantly let it go. As time has gone on since the original proposal, I have had quite a few individual visitors.

SWEHUG was a good idea and I would have loved to get it going but I was reluctant to run the risk of another failure so I haven't attempted to resurrect it. Somehow, I would need to get that little bit of certainty that once a date had been fixed, we'd be sure of it going ahead. Also, it was a strong possibility that it might have been better to call it EHUG rather than SWEHUG and make it open to anyone in the country from wheresoever they might be, as several people originally interested were not from the south-west.

We can keep the discussion going and see whether support can be regenerated for the idea.

All the best,

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
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