What is saved in a backup?

I have a few questions on the 'Backup Hauptwerk setting and personal data' operation, things that do not appear to be clear in the manual.

1) I am using two configurations (default for stereo and Alt-1 for surround) and I have three organs installed. When I do the backup, does a single backup operation cover both configurations and all three organs? Or do I need to do a backup separately from each configuration? Might I even need to do it separately for each organ loaded?

2) Does a backup also save stop and piston console-to-screen assignments? I have a huge stop array, a separate lighted stop for each rank of the Rotterdam organ. It takes forever to use auto-detect, one at a time, to do all those stop assignments, not to mention assignments of master couplers to console pistons, master combinations to console pistons, and the like. This is the information I'm most interested in having backed up.

3) Does the backup include output assignment (I have three stereo channels) of each rank for each organ? Setting the output channels, resolutions, and so forth is very tedious on a large organ and hence important to back up.

I do have the ability to do a system image to an external drive, which is slow and requires massive storage, but if all of the above are not backed up, then I'll know that I need to do a system image to pick up everything.

Thanks!

Tim

I think the answers will all be YES, but can't say for sure.

The reason I am responding is to be sure you know that the developer, Martin, works in a different time zone and sometimes gets the weekend off, so don't be surprised if the definitive answer doesn't appear until Monday. Perhaps another user will know the answers from experience.

Thank you for that information. It would be presumptuous of me to expect their tech support to have nearly instant turnaround. I'm just grateful that such a marvelous program exists! I'm a professional programmer (now semi-retired) and I have to call Hauptwerk a true masterpiece. Unfortunately, the manual is less than complete. I'm taking detailed notes as I learn the ropes, and I hope to, at some point in the future, write up a thorough beginner's guide that covers the bazillion things a newbie needs to know but that's not in the manual. Maybe it could be a collaborative effort. But right now I'm up to my ears in configuring things.

Tim

The answer is "yes" to all of your questions. I've used the backup to move my configured organs between different machines as well as to recover from "user errors".

The sample set data and cache are not included in the backup. You can "simply" install the organs again from the installation materials for the instruments and restore the HW backup to recover the ways you've configured your system. The cache is would be created the first time the organ is loaded. (It would be configured as saved in the restored backup).

Iain

[mdyde]

Hello Tim,

This is the relevant excerpt from the user guide ('Backing up and restoring your settings and data' section -- page 25 in the current v4.2.1 version):

File | Backup your Hauptwerk settings and personal data always makes a backup copy of all of your Hauptwerk settings and other personal data (organ combinations, voicing, Custom Organ Design Module organs and logs)

In answer to your questions:

1) I am using two configurations (default for stereo and Alt-1 for surround) and I have three organs installed. When I do the backup, does a single backup operation cover both configurations and all three organs?

Yes -- all settings from all configurations are included.

2) Does a backup also save stop and piston console-to-screen assignments? I have a huge stop array, a separate lighted stop for each rank of the Rotterdam organ. It takes forever to use auto-detect, one at a time, to do all those stop assignments, not to mention assignments of master couplers to console pistons, master combinations to console pistons, and the like. This is the information I'm most interested in having backed up.

Yes -- they're user settings, so they're included.

) Does the backup include output assignment (I have three stereo channels) of each rank for each organ? Setting the output channels, resolutions, and so forth is very tedious on a large organ and hence important to back up.

Yes -- likewise, they're settings, so they're included too.

Thank you... that sets my mind at ease.

Tim

I hope to, at some point in the future, write up a thorough beginner's guide that covers the bazillion things a newbie needs to know but that's not in the manual.

It's been done. Click here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14329

Actually, I bought and thoroughly studied that book before I even took my first steps toward building an organ. It was quite good, and had a lot of useful information. But it does not contain the sorts of things that I had in mind. For example, I have three stereo pairs of speakers. Others may disagree, but I found the explanation of audio routing in the manual to be extremely cryptic. I eventually figured it out just by experimenting. Once I understood how routing works, I realized that the program design is fabulous, very intelligent and versatile. But one would never know that just from reading the manual. Also, I wanted to use an expression pedal as a master volume control, something that I'm sure others would be interested in as well, and it took me a very long time to track down in the program where to do this. Again, when I found it, it made perfect sense and was easy to do. But a good beginner's guide would cover things like this. In any case, I'm so happy and excited about this organ. Everything is working great so far, and my wife is astonished at how good it sounds. So all is good.

Tim

Actually, I bought and thoroughly studied that book before I even took my first steps toward building an organ. It was quite good, and had a lot of useful information. But it does not contain the sorts of things that I had in mind.

Also, I wanted to use an expression pedal as a master volume control, something that I'm sure others would be interested in as well, and it took me a very long time to track down in the program where to do this.

It's right there on Page 130 of the manual (found by text search for "volume"):
<<Volume - Use the slider if you want to adjust the overall audio level in real-time... Right-click on the slider and select 'Auto-detect ...' if you want to control Hauptwerk's volume from a MIDI knob or expression pedal.>>

> But a good beginner's guide would cover things like this.

Sounds great. Everybody's experience is different, and all of us have learned from the shared experience of others.