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Ensuring compatibility before purchase

Building organ consoles for use with Hauptwerk, adding MIDI to existing consoles, obtaining parts, ...
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Obnoxiousblue

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Ensuring compatibility before purchase

PostWed Nov 04, 2015 2:28 pm

Hi folks! New here, looking to make sure that I have the basics before hoping on board to try and set up my own console.
Working with a Lowrey EZP3 and a Hammond XPK-100 midi pedal board. I believe these paired with my Dell Alienware 15 should be ample to get me playing on Hauptwerk but would be interested in any suggestions for speakers and a second keyboard.
I have been reading alot here but admit it is a bit overwhelming when new to the idea of a virtual organ!
Hope to learn and hear what users have to suggest!
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johnh

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Re: Ensuring compatibility before purchase

PostWed Nov 04, 2015 8:33 pm

Nearly any 61 key MIDI keyboard will work. The choice comes down to preference and if you plan to upgrade to a 'proper' console at a later time. And by proper I simply mean matched manuals in something close to the standard positioning. If you look at the setups on pcorgan.com http://pcorgan.com/Fotos3cEN.html you'll see that even at the 'low end' creativity is your ownly limitation. Early on my second manual was an M-Audio Oxygen 61 that I bought cheap off of Craigslist. I bought it because it was cheap, it fit well on top of the keyboard I had, I knew I could sell it again on Craigslist when time came to upgrade, etc.

For speakers, again, if you are just testing the waters, almost any decent pair of powered monitor speakers will suffice. M-Audio, Behringer, Rockit, and many others make good products. I picked up a pair of Rockits (again from Craigslist) that have served me well (some people have had problems with this brand). Currently I'm using a nice pair of speakers from a high-end home audio system. I'm hoping to branch out into multi-channel audio for my own system (beyond stereo) soon. Adding a subwoofer adds a lot to the experience also.

I venture to say that very few people enter the virtual organ world by putting together their ultimate setup from the start. You send like you want to learn as you go and that will require some experimentation to determine what is most important to you. Of course I know you want it all but everyone compromises at some point, the feel of the keyboards, the ergonomics of the console layout, the quality of the sound card, the amps, the speakers, the number of channels, etc, etc. Few of us can afford to have it all. And if we could have it all (money being no object) we probably wouldn't be reading the DIY section of this forum! :-) We'd just call up the experts and tell them what we want.

I've been fortunate to be able to help others with their setups and this gives me exposure to multiple ideas and collections of gear. I don't think there is one right answer to selecting any of this stuff...
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RichardW

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Re: Ensuring compatibility before purchase

PostThu Nov 05, 2015 8:10 am

Hi,

First thoughts: The XPK-100 is a bit short at 13 keys. Most of the organs that Hauptwerk emulates require the full 25-32 key pedal boards. Also, it has a MIDI output only as far as I can tell and I am not sure if you will have a suitable input socket for it anywhere. The EZP3 has a MIDI input but I suspect that will let you play the EZP3 from the XPK-100 but not pass the signal into the computer.

I think the EZP3 has an audio input so you could try feeding the PC output into there to get you started if you don't want to buy speakers straightaway. Headphones might be a possibility, too, although I am not a big fan of headphones the quality can be very good at a reasonable price.

Kit recommendations are always difficult because only you know how far you are prepared to jump in. I started with a piano-sized Roland keyboard and already had a sound system. When I thought I might get the Hauptwerk bug I acquired a cheap set of pedals from ebay to see if I might like it. I upgraded my PC sound card at the same time. Later I added a 61 key keyboard.

The experience from that made me realise which type of sample set I liked the most (stereo "wet" sets) and that directed my later upgrades.
Richard
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ldeutsch

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Re: Ensuring compatibility before purchase

PostThu Nov 05, 2015 4:37 pm

So, before you go out and buy a larger pedalboard, understand that no HW samples set actually "requires" any specific number of pedals. It is trivial to take your 13 pedals and assign them to the lowest octave of any sample set. For most theater organ playing, that will suffice anyway.

I have three HW setups. Two have AGO pedalboards. The third, in my studio, is controlled by a stack of synth keyboards and a 13-note MIDI pedalboard of a similar ilk.

Even for concert style samples, your existing pedalboard will give you a good idea what each organ will do - and perhaps provide motivation for that upgrade!

Les
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RichardW

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Re: Ensuring compatibility before purchase

PostThu Nov 05, 2015 7:46 pm

Les, thanks for the clarification.

I did not intend to mislead but I can see how that might happen.

Regards,
Richard

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