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Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

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Antoni Scott

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Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostSun Jan 03, 2021 10:40 am

Back in 2011 I acquired a nice Schantz three manual console from a church in New Jersey. The date stamped on the inside of the console was 1962. I removed all of the tilt tab stops and the three manuals because I planned to use my existing Fatar keyboards. The pedalboard, toe pistons and three balanced swell pedals were all analog and required coverting them to MIDI with the use of two digital scanning boards from Classic Organs in Canada. Wiring the keyboards, pedalboard together in the standard "daisy chain" method got everything going as expected. The computer, which was a 2007 Vintage MacPro "dual-quad core" with 32 GB of RAM was installed inside the console. I used a single simple monitor. Everything was working well but as usual I always wanted to"improve" things a little.

The second improvement was to add additional toe pistons because most of my stop changing was done this way. I was able to acquire for free (I only had to pay the shipping) a dozen used Rodgers toe pistons. They didn't match the Schantz toe pistons but that was of little consequence to me.

The third improvement was to add a row of couplers above the top manual. These tilting tab couplers were salvaged from a pipe organ that was being junked in favor of a new Allen organ !!!!!! As with the pedalboard and toe pistons, they were analog and were wired into the remaining spots on the digital scanning boards.

The fourth improvement was to replace the rotating potentiometers on the balanced swell pedals with the smoother more accurate slide potentiometers obtained from Artisan Organs. I didn't have to attach them to the digital scanning boards because there were + 0 - positions on the back of each Fatar keyboard for this purpose.

The Fifth improvement was to add two touch sensitive monitors obtained from Milan Digital. I never did get to separate the Left and Right stop jamb since everytime I attemped it, it wouldn;t work. No idea why. This improvement was somewhat disapointing as attempting to change stops with my fingers never worked that well. Sometimes I had to touch the top, middle or bottom of the stop two or three times to get it to work despite the constant re-calibrating. Using my mouse always worked. So rather than fumble during a stop change while playing I have resorted to the relaible and instantaneous method of stop changing with the toe pistons or thumb pistons .

The Sixth Improvement was to add a fourth manual, again a Fatar for style matching but this time pistonless. With sixty available thumb pistons ( even although they were were clicky square pistons) I thought I had enough pistons. The fourth manual was installed on the top of th other three. This reqired that the top rail of the console be made narrower so some cutting was required. I investigated replacing the key cheeks with the available versions for sale until I saw the price. I was able to reuse the original Schantz keycheeks for the bottom three keyboards and I made the top pair myself. I glued two 2x4's together and sandend them so that the seam was invisible. The tricky part was the rounded Skinner style nose on the front. I cut a template out of cardboard to use while scribing the wood. Gentle sanding brought the round nose out and they match the originals quite well. I obtained a stain frrom Home Depot that matched the original key cheeks. The tricky part was cutting the recess in the key cheeks for the Fatar keyboard ends. It was fairly straight forward with careful measurements.

The Seventh improvement was to add thumb pistons to the "pistonless" fourth Fatar keyboard. After some reflection I decided that I really wanted some thumb pistons with that real pipe organ feel rathe than the standard square Fatar pistons that click when you push them (they were, however, 100% reliable !!!) . I was able to salvage sixteen thumb pistons from a Lowrey organ that was being junked. Fortunately these pistons had their own housing to bring the piston travel away from the key stroke interference that one would experience if you used standard pipe organ pistons with Fatar keyboards. It just required that I cut holes in the blank metal piece underneath the pistonless keyboard. Being analog it required adding these piston wires to the remaing positions on my digital scanning board.

The Eighth improvenent was to move the pistonless Fatar with the newly installed Lowrey pistons to become the bottom keyboard. This decision was made because most of my thumb piston stop changing would be on the bottom keyboard.

The Ninth improvement was to add a more pwerful computer. This decision was sort of forced on me. Back in 2015 my original MacproDual Quad core stopped working. Apple wouldn't look at it since it was "Vintage" and parts were no longer available. This, of course, was farthest from the truth. It took me several months of not having my Hauptwerk before I solved the problem with the help of a Forum member who suggested I contact a third party "parts" vendor. I eventually ended up talking to a technician at Other World Computing who gladly helped me diagnose my problem. He suggested removing all of the RAM modules and installing two at a time until the problem reoccurs. Lo and Behold my problem was easily and cheaply resolved with the replacement of one RAM module. However this experience left me with a dilemma as to what to do in the future since getting help is all but impossible. I purchased a back-up MacPro but this time an inexpensive "Vintage" 2011 12 core (3.33 Ghz) with 96 GB Ram to "future proof' it. Each of the four internal hard drives are backups of each other.

TheTenth improvement was to add twenty-five more couplers along the top keyboard. This, for some unknown reason, created some issues which I could not solve. Stops would automatically change without me touching anything. Additionally i decided that I didn't care for the aesthetic appeal of all these coupler stops so I removed them (the Eleventh improvement). Removing these coplers solved the problem.

The finished console can be seen at the following links as I found it impossible to attach it to this article.

Antoni Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pphY020V_lw

toccata and fugue in d minor.mov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J6DHbESDMk
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micdev

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Re: Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostSun Jan 03, 2021 4:34 pm

Great work Anthony,

Btw you know that you can disable those flashing lights on the keyboards... when I install a system to for my clients I always disable then, everyone prefers that.

You will find a setting in configuration software to disable it (on a manual basis)
Best regards
François

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Antoni Scott

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Re: Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostSun Jan 03, 2021 5:12 pm

Hello Micdev:
Thank you for your comments. No, I didn't know that I could disable those annoying flashing lights. To be honest with you, as paranoid as I am about doing anything to the software the last thing I would ever attempt would be to "disable" anything without knowing the outcome before hand. I would expect that I would disable the keyboards and never get them to work again. If you could direct me to the drop down menu options it would be helpful.

Lastly,and most importantly, I regretted in my previous post for not giving you credit for previous help that I received from you in the past. It was an oversight and I should have done that then so am doing it now.
With all the complexities of the Hauptwerk sysytem, it can be a daunting task to undertake something like what I undertook with my limited knowledge but I did so with the knowledge that if there was a problem that I couldn't solve there was Francois Ratte to step in and help. Mr. Ratte is an expert in his field and his knowledge of the Hauptwerk software is exceptional, a true asset to the Hauptwerk community. .

The attached video is of the early version of the Hauptwerk console before all the extensive revisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N11CzRZ ... Xo&index=3
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micdev

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Re: Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostSun Jan 03, 2021 9:57 pm

Thanks Antony for your kind words.

I guess that you purchased your keyboards from Midiworks. If you run the CMKConfig program (latest version) you will find on the 3rd tab (if I recall - sorry I don't have it installed on this computer) a checked box to "un-ticked" who will turns off the blinking lights.

If you can't find it, let me know and will check exactly where the option is on another computer.
Best regards
François

Virtually sharing my enthusiasm and experience with you
Worldwide technical assistance, consultation and ready to play system.

http://www.HauptwerkConsultant.com

AND Hauptwerk Support Manager
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Grant_Youngman

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Re: Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostMon Jan 04, 2021 12:24 am

Don't know what OS version you have on your primary machine, but Midiworks has STILL not produced a Catalina compatible version of CMKConfig :-(

I seem to recall that with my 2 early V1 keyboards with the Config software available in the 2007 timeframe, I had to cut one lead going to each of those LEDS to cancel the light show :-) I upgraded the PIC chips in the keyboards to V2 at some point and a newer version of CMKConfig did support turning off the LEDs with a check box.
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micdev

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Re: Final Version of Hauptwerk Console

PostMon Jan 04, 2021 9:23 am

I had to cut one lead going to each of those LEDS to cancel the light show


More recent keyboard (2012-13 I would say) now have connectors that you can pull off. You do need to remove the keycheeks to access them.
Best regards
François

Virtually sharing my enthusiasm and experience with you
Worldwide technical assistance, consultation and ready to play system.

http://www.HauptwerkConsultant.com

AND Hauptwerk Support Manager

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