A few questions

Hi, Im new to hauptwerk and have a few questions, which hopefully havn't already been asked a lot.

Firstly will the type of sound card I use affect the latency/crackling at all?

Is 1gb of ram enough for a large organ with low-ish latency, or is it definately worth going for 1.5gb? (I currently have 512), and does it matter if its 2100 or 2700 etc?

I currently use a yamaha p80 piano as my midi input and have noticed that when I select certain voices, it changes the stops, but not all are in use. Is there a way to edit them so I can assign them to my own stops?

> ... will the type of sound card I use affect the latency/crackling at all?

Probably. On board audio may decrease latency the most. I'm using a Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum effectively, but I've seen some complaints posted. With 2.0 you may want a multi channel audio card. It may be worth shopping your local professional audio store and buying from http://www.samedaymusic.com or another internet vendor.

> Is 1gb of ram enough ... I currently have 512 ....

Probably not. I have 512 on my notebook and except for Grace Lutheran Casavant 1 & 2 I can only use the Positifs and Mini. (I believe the Ott also fits.) Check out

http://home.austin.rr.com/losdos/Hauptw ... sByMB.html

This does not reflect the recently available, free, Ott organ, nor does it reflect upcoming Milan Digital Audio nor OrganArt Media releases. (I hope to post an update soon.) Windows and each loaded service take memory. With 2 GB of RAM I can easily load the St. Stefanuschurch Marcussen & Son. As of 2/9/2004 only the Goenningen Engelfried is larger. Future organs may, or will, require more memory.

> ... does it matter if its 2100 or 2700 etc?

The fastest recommendations are 1.6 and 2.0 Ghz. I believe my AMD 2100+ is rated at 1.7 Ghz. The Marcussen & Son works just fine. If you haven't purchased the computer yet, buy the fastest CPU with the most expandable RAM that you can afford or rationalize.

> ... I currently use a yamaha p80 piano ... not all [the stops] are in use. Is there a way to edit them so I can assign them to my own stops?

I first tried Hauptwerk with my Yamaha Pf70 piano. (Yes, I hate to get rid of stuff that works.) Beyond setting the MIDI split below the lowest note so you're only using Hauptwerk you can change the Organ Definition (.organ) File. Simply use an editor or Windows Notepad to modify the file, adding generals and divisionals that reflect your registration preferences. (Familiarity with INI files and the file format documentation will come in handy!)

Hope this helps

Hi Mark
I'm using PC2100 memory but only have 1Gb. To load the Marcussen for example I definitely need 2Gb allowing for Windows XP to be loaded. The computer now uses virtual memory and I get severe crackling for a while. It eventually goes as XP cleverly determines what stops I have selected and puts those most used wave files into real memory.

Hauptwerk uses MIDI Program Change signals to set combinations of stops so you may find there is a clash with your keyboard output there.
Generally Hauptwerk stop changes are managed by MIDI Note ON/OFF signals on channel 5 so you may need to change the Set-up information to reflect the output from the Yamaha.

As the previous reply indicated the greater understanding of the .organ files will enable you to edit them to suit your keyboard. Print a small one out and see how each part has a function. Change one bit at a time to see the effect. (Make a backup of course)

With only one keyboard input I would not bother about purchasing any special sound card. You will most likely get satisfactory results with the on board sound chip. A lot of experimenting with the buffer size will be needed. Also make sure you have upgraded to the lates DirectX drivers and the latest audio drivers too. (However a note of caution too. I updated my Windows 2000 system via the Microsoft instructions and now find that latency has trippled.)

Hope this is of help.
Brenton

Probably not. I have 512 on my notebook and except for Grace Lutheran Casavant 1 & 2 I can only use the Positifs and Mini. (I believe the Ott also fits.) Check out

http://home.austin.rr.com/losdos/Hauptw ... sByMB.html

This does not reflect the recently available, free, Ott organ, nor does it reflect upcoming Milan Digital Audio nor OrganArt Media releases. (I hope to post an update soon.) Windows and each loaded service take memory. With 2 GB of RAM I can easily load the St. Stefanuschurch Marcussen & Son. As of 2/9/2004 only the Goenningen Engelfried is larger. Future organs may, or will, require more memory.

The Ott organ only needs 313 Mb of RAM if loaded in Stereo, half of it, if loaded in Mono. This is due to the fact that the organ only has 280 pipes. As you see you can load the Ott organ with 512 Mb RAM with no problems, if you only have 256 Mb RAM, you should be able to load the mono version.

For more information, please look at http://orgel.datzko.ch/Ott-Orgel-EN.htm ... ssetzungen .

Christian.

Thanks for the replies.

I now have a couple of further queries.
Bwwolfe - do the memory usage quotes in that chart represent stereo or mono?

Ive managed to assign different buttons of my keyboard to different combination pistons, at the moment it is set so that pressing each button will activate all piston no.1s, or all no.2s etc (ie great swell and pedal), but for some reason the swell combinations of stAnnesMoseley do not change. Ive checked the code and it is the same as for the great and pedal. If you don't understand what Im trying to say here please say!

As regards to memory again, when I play organ1 in mono with a latency of 10 blocks, I get a little pop or crackle every so often, surely 512mb or ram is sufficient for this? Im using win2000 pro.

Lastly, are there any other free organs that can be downloaded apart from the Hauptwerk and ott ones?

thanks

Lastly, are there any other free organs that can be downloaded apart from the Hauptwerk and ott ones?

Let me quote Jiri Zurek from another thread (Organ Sample Sets and .Organ Files: baroque organ available for FREE):

Dear Hauptwerk users,
I have decided to release a special version of my latest sampled instrument - Zlata Koruna - for free to anyone who would like to download it from my ftp server. I would be happy if every Hauptwerk user had the possibility to play a genuine baroque instrument without having to pay for it. Only performing on baroque instrument allows you to hear the baroque pieces as they sounded hundreds of years before. Now you have a granted possibility. Please, email me for more information. You may also visit the web pages of Sonus Paradisi project to find out more.
_________________
Jiri Zurek,
Prague
www.clavmon.cz/sonus

Please keep in mind that this is more like a demo version, but still a playable, 4-stop organ.

On the website it says:

ZLATA KORUNA MINI sample set. To promote the idea of Sonus Paradisi even more I have decided to release a small fictious baroque organ derived from the Zlata Koruna sample material. It has 1 manual (4 stops: Kryt 8, Principal 4, Quinta 2 2/3, Octava 2. It is free. See Order link.

Contact Jiri for more information.

Christian.

> ... do the memory usage quotes in that chart represent stereo or mono?

All stated requirements are for Stereo samples. You can load them in mono, but the mono sound doesn't begin to compare with the stereo sound. Personally I would rather load a smaller organ in stereo than a larger one in mono.

If you load in mono you can select the option to simulate stereo. While this appears to be a cool feature it's my personal experience that if you don't have the horsepower to load an organ in stereo you have absolutely no business trying to simulate it. Really this is a function of CPU and memory. If you have a great CPU and sound card, but not enough memory it might work very well. I you don't have enough CPU or memory I wouldn't use it.

> ... I get a little pop or crackle every so often ... Im using win2000 pro....

I've never tried Hauptwerk with W2K. I've only used XP Professional and a friend has it running with XP Home. Switching to XP may not solve the problem. Some machines are not capable of running XP. Verify your hardware compatibility with XP before upgrading.

Lowering the Overall Volume % in the Audio Settings tab may or may not help.

I may be stating the obvious, but I believe it's better to let the amplifier and speakers do the work instead of your computer. If you max out your amplifier and adjust the computer volume lower you may get better results.

Different sample sets prefer / require different amounts of amplification.

FYI