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X-Keys and Hauptwerk

Building organ consoles for use with Hauptwerk, adding MIDI to existing consoles, obtaining parts, ...
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conn652t

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X-Keys and Hauptwerk

PostWed Mar 15, 2017 5:44 pm

A friend of mine had bought 4 16 button X-Keys strips for his organ. He had a heck of a time trying to program them and getting them to work.(Years) He thought that Hauptwerk would just auto detect them, of course it didn't. The X-keys comes with a program called Macro Works. I knew what a macro did but didn't know why you would need this. We found a thread in the Hauptwerk forum and it was saying something about the computer keyboard. Long story short the computer keyboard is the interface between Hauptwerk and the X-keys. Below is how you do

Here is the easy explanation of how to program the X-Keys

1. Make sure the program switch is closest to the cord.
2. Open MacroWorks 3.1 if it did not open automatically.
3. Go to the "Mode Menu"and select “Hardware”
4. Go to the layout Menu. Should be a diagram of the X-Key strip.
5. The X-keys will be blank or gray.
6. Double click the first button.
7. Keystrokes screen comes up. Check the box Automatic Separation of up & down strokes.
8. Hit any key on the computer keyboard. Whatever you hit will appear in the 2 boxes of the
keystroke screen.
9. Hit Save
10. After all the X-keys are programmed, go to File and select “Write to Device” The green led will blink on
the strip.
11. Now move the switch on the strip away from the cord.
12. Now you can auto detect the pistons or tabs for whatever organ you are using.

Note: You can only use the letter or number or any key on the keyboard once. The MacroWorks program cannot distinguish between capital and lower case. All it knows is the letter is used. Hope this helps.
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engrssc

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Re: X-Keys and Hauptwerk

PostWed Mar 15, 2017 6:34 pm

The important item with X-Keys and similar keystroke based controller programs is that it (they) only work if the program they are to control is in focus Any other program in front will block it. This isn't the case with MIDI control.

See http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12264&p=92490&hilit=X+Keys+focus#p92490

Rgds,
Ed
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mdyde

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Re: X-Keys and Hauptwerk

PostThu Mar 16, 2017 4:41 am

Hello conn652t,

To add to Ed's reply:

I don't have an X-Keys unit here to check, but to use Unicode values (especially those greater than 255) my understanding is that you need to configure the X-Keys' key specifically with their 'SendUnicode()' function, rather than their one-shot character/key event functions (I can't remember exactly what those latter functions are named). Hauptwerk should then be able to auto-detect any Unicode codes in the range U+00021 to U+03FF that you assign to the X-Keys buttons.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.

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