What will a 2.9GHz Pentium 4 with 1Gb memory do for H'werk?

Hi!

I'm in the south of France for a few days and a Packard Bell 2.9GHz P4 machine has just been put out for rubbish next to the bins on the other side of the road . . .

Is such a spec a useful starting point for Hauptwerk? Is it worth booking another suitcase to fly it home?

Best wishes

David P

[B. Milan]

Hello David,

It does meet the minimum requirements for using Hauptwerk www.hauptwerk.com/requirements, so it should suffice to get you started either using the included St. Anne's set or many of the smaller instruments available. Depending on the operating system, just make sure that you are able to find appropriate drivers for audio and MIDI interfaces. I'll leave it to you to decide if it is worth finding a suitable case to travel back with!

Dear Brett

Many thanks

What is the limitation on this computer with perhaps larger organs - particularly perhaps St Maximin? Does one need to go to a faster processor or merely more memory?

I went with my son on the course at St Maximin and there were two practice hauptwerk instruments. These were excellent on French baroque but when someone started Widor 5/5 the result was interesting!

Best wishes

David P

[mdyde]

Hello David,

Thanks for the interest in Hauptwerk.

The Sonus Paradisi St. Maximin sample is very large, and you'd need a much more powerful computer than the P4 you mention to be able to use it effectively.

This Hauptwerk prerequisites PDF near the top of this page covers general requirements and recommendations for running Hauptwerk:

http://www.hauptwerk.com/support/requirements/

... and also have a look at the 'technical info' PDF for more detailed recommendations for computer hardware.

The Sonus Paradisi website has specific recommendations/prerequisites for the St. Maximin sample set here:

http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/organs/Maximin/screenshots.0.asp

In general, I think a fair summary would be that to be able to use the sample set effectively in full you'd want want a computer that meets at least the following minimum spec.:

- Quad-core processor
- 6 or 8 GB of memory
- 64-bit operating system (either 64-bit Windows 7 if a PC, or OS X Snow Leopard if a Mac).
- A reliable semi-pro/pro audio and MIDI interface, e.g. any of those we list in the Hauptwerk prerequisites PDF.
- The Advanced Edition of Hauptwerk.

Is it worth booking another suitcase to fly it home?

The extra baggage might cost more than the PC is worth

The Pentium4 is plenty for the Isnard in terms of processing power (for a minimum install). Except for the Grand Jeu, French Classic registration doesn't put a big load on the CPU. However . . .
The 1GB ram isn't enough - you need 3GB ram just to load the whole set in 16bit mono.
The onboard sound (or consumer level) audio, just won't do the Isnard any justice.