Really, I searched before posting this!

Hello folks,

I work for an organ builder (who prefers I not spout his name across the internet doing research) who has a custom digital product that is used on jobs. We are considering using Hauptwerk as a replacement for this. Of course the downsides of having a PC (well, a mac) instead of dedicated hardware are lingering, but our biggest issue is that of our samples.

While it appears that oberwerk has a number of (possibly?) suitable samples to "get started" with, we have a very large sample library of stops we have recorded specifically to use with our equipment. They have been built into instruments using aWave, and are currently stored in Ensoniq EFE format.

Simply put: How difficult is it to create a working instrument for Hauptwerk using our pre-existing samples, or even using oberwerk samples?

Thanks in advance,
Jon

[mdyde]

Hello Jon,

Many thanks for the interest in Hauptwerk.

First of all, I assume that you have Hauptwerk v4 already installed. If not, you can download it here: http://www.hauptwerk.com/downloads/hauptwerk-downloads/

There are really two main parts to making a Hauptwerk sample set:

1. Preparing the samples.

If you choose to use off-the-shelf sample sets to supply the samples then you avoid the need for preparing your own. For installation in reverberant spaces (rather than for home practice/listening), the samples really need to be 'dry' (no room acoustic recorded in the samples) or at least nearly-dry.

There are quite a few off-the-shelf dry classical sample sets available, for example:

- The Milan Digital Audio MasterWorks Skinner (not the wet version): http://www.milandigitalaudio.com/skinner.htm
- Various English-style sample sets from Silver Octopus Studios: http://www.silveroctopus.co.uk/
- Many Sonus Paradisi sample sets have dry versions: http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/organs.0.asp and http://hauptwerk.cz/AvailableSounds.htm

All of those are licensed per-installation, so of course they potentially have an additional cost to you above using your own samples.

If you want to use your own samples, they basically need to be in Microsoft WAV format (16, 24 or 32-bit), ideally in 48 kHz (although 44.1 or 96 kHz are also supported). They can be either stereo or mono. Create at least one sustaining loop in each pipe sample and a single cue point to mark the start of the release. The samples in the St. Anne's sample set installed with Hauptwerk v4 are encrypted, but you can download the older version of St. Anne's for Hauptwerk v4 here:

http://www.hauptwerk.com/stannesv3/

Once downloaded, install it using 'File | Install ...' in Hauptwerk then look in the /Hauptwerk/HauptwerkSampleSetsAndComponents/OrganInstallationPackages/000002 folder to see its samples, to use as examples (those are wet, 44.1 kHz, mono, single release).

Having looked at those, if you think you're interested in going down that route, the Sample Set Creator's Guide (available on email request to licensed users) covers the formats in depth, and we can arrange with you to allocate the necessary package IDs etc.

2. Making the organ definition file.

Oberwerk is the quickest and easiest way to create an organ definition, although it places quite a few restrictions on the specifications (for example, it always generates organs with three manuals). Oberwerk itself also only runs on Windows (not Mac), although the organ definitions it generates can also be used on Macs too.

Hauptwerk itself includes the Custom Organ Design Module (CODM), which is more flexible than Oberwerk, but a little more technical to use, since you need to create/edit the organ definition using an XML or text editor (it doesn't yet have a graphical interface for organ design, as Oberwerk does). However, it's designed to be fairly easy and quick to learn and use for anybody familiar with editing text files. It's also specifically designed to be suitable for creating custom organ specifications for use in digital organ systems, etc.

Have a look at the CODM user's guide for that, which can be found on the Help menu in Hauptwerk.

There are various example CODM organ definitions installed with Hauptwerk in the following folder: /Hauptwerk/HauptwerkUserData/CustomOrganDatabaseConnections. View them in a text editor or XML editor such as the freeware XML Marker: http://symbolclick.com/. You can load those examples in Hauptwerk (as well as any other CODM organs you might create) using 'Design tools | Load custom organ' from the menu in Hauptwerk.

Hope that helps as a starting point, and of course please feel free to email us if you'd like us to send any more detailed information.