Fri Jul 03, 2015 6:10 am
Hello Ernest,
As a test, to verify I loaded the St. Anne's sample set and listened to the bottom C notes on the ranks you mentioned using my RME Fireface UFX audio interface and AKG K702 headphones (which are designed as 'reference' headphones, with an amplitude response that's very accurate for all frequencies between about 10 Hz and 40 kHz).
Subjectively, although the Great Open Diapason Large 8 is indeed a loud rank, the Pedal Open Diapason 16 is strongly audible beneath it, adding a firm 16' fundamental tone. The Pedal Sub Bass 16 is significantly quieter, and has relatively soft upper harmonics, but it's 16' fundamental tone is still clearly audible below the Great ranks, even the Large Open Diapason.
(The Pedal Echo Bass 16 is intended to be a very quiet rank, which just adds a subtle 16' fundamental tone for use below softer manual stops.)
I also measured the approximate levels of the relevant harmonics using a spectrum analyser on the direct output from Hauptwerk, with the following results (all for the bottom C notes on the listed ranks):
- Pedal Open Diapason 16: Fundamental (16' tone): approx -46 dB.
- Pedal Open Diapason 16: Second harmonic (8' tone): approx -29 dB.
- Pedal Sub Bass 16: Fundamental (16' tone): approx -54 dB.
- Great Open Diapason Small 8: Fundamental (8' tone): approx -59 dB.
- Great Open Diapason Large 8: Fundamental (8' tone): approx -47 dB.
(Only the differences between the values are relevant, since the actual values also depend on the overall output level settings.)
In particular, note that the Pedal Open Diapason 16's fundamental (16') tone is approximately as strong as the Great Open Diapason Large 8's fundamental (8') tone, so there is indeed plenty of true 16' bass tone available from the Pedal division.
The relative levels of the ranks are as they were recorded from the real St. Anne's organ, so they should form a good representation of the real instrument (although of course other choices of microphone positions when recording would have influenced the strengths of different frequencies to a certain extent, because of the nodes/anti-nodes of the church's acoustic). Subjectively I would say that they represent the real instrument well overall.
Hence I have to agree with others in thinking that you must have some audio hardware downstream of Hauptwerk that either isn't reproducing the 16' tones (approx. 32-65 Hz) sufficiently, or conceivably is specifically attenuating them for some reason (e.g. perhaps some kind of high-pass filter in the hardware, if the speakers have one).
To test, I too would recommend trying some high quality headphones (that have good frequency responses that go down at least to 30 Hz) directly on the output from your audio interface, if you have some to hand.
One final note: in the Advanced Edition of Hauptwerk you could optionally use its voicing facilities to adjust the relative levels and equalisation of ranks, if you wished.
Hope that helps.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.