Alessandria: no audio through headphones

If anyone has a solution to my current problem I would be very grateful!

I have downloaded Piotr Grabowski's Alessandria sample set and everything seems to be working as it should except one thing: the audio will not work via my MacMini headphone socket. I can successfully route it to the internal speakers in my touchscreens if I choose that option, but selecting the headphone socket produces silence.

My other organs (including Piotr's Friesach) are working perfectly through the headphones, so it can't be a hardware issue. As far as I can see, they have the same audio settings as Alessandria, unless there is something I have missed.

As a temporary fix I am listening to Alessandria with my headphones plugged in to the touchscreen, but the sound quality is terrible.

Thank you for any solutions you may have.

Clarabella

PS the link to the FAQs seems to be broken - I tried there first...!

[mdyde]

Hello Calabella,

I see via PACE's system that your licence is for Hauptwerk v5, so (assuming you're still using v5) for good measure please first check via 'Help | About Hauptwerk' that you'd using v5.0.1 (as opposed v5.0.0).

The audio device setting is global (not per-organ), so it can't affect one organ differently to others. However, from memory I think that some macOS versions rename the audio device when you plug/unplug headphones into the Mac's built-in audio output, so you might possibly need to exit and re-launch Hauptwerk for the change to get picked up. Also, in case it's relevant, it's important that you don't plug in or unplug, or rename via the OS/hardware, any USB, or MIDI, or audio devices whilst Hauptwerk is running -- Hauptwerk doesn't support 'hot-plugging' devices. (Make sure you exit Hauptwerk before connecting/disconnecting any hardware.)

Please try:

- Reboot the Mac, for good measure.

- Plug your headphones into the Mac's built-in output before you launch Hauptwerk, and keep them plugged in for now.

- Launch Hauptwerk.

- On the 'General settings | Audio device and channels' screen, make sure that the built-in/headphones output is selected as the audio device, and that channel numbers 1 and 2 are still mapped to its channels 1 and 2. OK the screen.

- Load St. Anne's.

- Click on some stops and keys to verify that you can hear it through your headphones.

- Now load Piotr's Alessandria sample set. Using just the mouse to click on its stop and keys (so as to eliminate any possibility of a MIDI configuration problem), do you now hear its sound?

- If not: use 'Organ settings | Organ configuration wizard' with just the 'Reset rank routing ...' option ticked, then complete the wizard.

Does that solve it?

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your help.

I'm using 5.0.1.034. I've worked my way through all those stages and whilst St Anne's worked fine through the headphones, Alessandria still does not. I then loaded Friesach and that works ... Back to Alessandria: nothing!

Sorry to be a pain. I was really looking forward to trying out this organ!

[mdyde]

Thanks, Clarabella8.

I have no experience with Piotr's Alessandria sample set myself, but whatever the cause of the problem, it can't be due simply to whether you're using headphones -- chnaging the selected audio device from one 2-channel stereo output device to another can't itself affect one organ differently from another.

I see from Piotr's announcement of the sample set that he mentions that the demo version of it has only a subset of its stops functional:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=19341#p145215

Could that account for it?

Hi Martin,

I'm using the full sampleset. I agree that it is very odd, but it is nevertheless the case that all the organs I have work perfectly with the headphone output except this one. It must be a problem with the sampleset: I'll try contacting Piotr directly.

Clarabella

[mdyde]

Thanks, Clarabella.

In case you have some non-default audio routing settings for other sample sets (e.g. migrated from Hauptwerk v4), please also try:

- Load St. Anne's.

- Go to the 'Organ settings | Advanced audio ... | Rank routing ...' screen.

- In the left-hand browse list, highlight any rank that you can definitely hear.

- Note down the value of the' Rank output perspective 1: Destination mixer bus group' setting. (For example, for a clean installation, it would be set to group 0005 by default.)

- Cancel the screen without changing anything.

- Now load the Alessandria sample set.

- Go to the same screen, and see whether that particular setting is set to the same value as it was for St. Anne's.

- If not, highlight all ranks simultaneously in the left-hand list, then change that setting (i.e. for all ranks) to the same group number that the working St. Anne's rank was set to, and OK the screen.

Thanks for your continued input Martin - it's much appreciated!

I've just tried your last suggestion, and everything is set to 005 on all organs.

I've emailed Piotr to see if he has any ideas and I'll report back. I would imagine that if it can happen to me it can happen to others so it might be useful to someone else to know how it's fixed eventually (I'll be positive and say 'how' rather than 'if'!)

I'm a Hauptwerk newbie and this is my first purchased sampleset - so not a great introduction. But I have to say I have been really pleased with the free sets I've tried so far and I won't let this put me off.

Clarabella

[mdyde]

Thanks, Clarabella.

One more thing to try:

- Exit Hauptwerk.

- (Make sure that your headphones are still plugged into your Mac's audio output.)

- Launch a 'spare' one of the 'Hauptwerk (alt config N)' desktop short-cuts (Hauptwerk configurations). These all have completely independent settings.

- Within that 'alt config N' Hauptwerk configuration, use 'File | Revert all Hauptwerk settings to factory defaults' to make absolutely certain that all its settings are at their defaults, then exit, then re-launch that same 'alt config N' configuration.

- Still within that 'alt config N' configuration, try these tests again:

On the 'General settings | Audio device and channels' screen, make sure that the built-in/headphones output is selected as the audio device ... OK the screen.

- Load St. Anne's.

- Click on some stops and keys to verify that you can hear it through your headphones.

- Now load Piotr's Alessandria sample set. Using just the mouse to click on its stop and keys (so as to eliminate any possibility of a MIDI configuration problem), do you now hear its sound?

If (within that 'alt config N' configuration) you still have sound from St. Anne's, but not from the Alessandria sample set, then the problem couldn't be due to any of your settings (given that they'd all be at factory defaults).

Piotr has replied to say there must be something wrong with my audio hadware. Given that two of his other samplesets work perfectly on it, I am inclined to disagree. Not very helpful!

Once again, thank you Martin for your input. I am impressed by the Hauptwerk customer service!

I have now tried the sequence you suggested above. This was interesting:

When I loaded St Anne's: pressing a key with the mouse produced a note, but it was not constant: it repeated itself roughly twice a second as the key was held down, with a click in between. Definitely something wrong.

When I loaded Alessandria: silence.

When I loaded Friesach: all worked perfectly.

Returning to St Anne's: same problem as before.

We are perhaps getting somewhere, but I'm not qualified to say where. Piotr has suggested there may be an issue related to previously used HW4 settings, but my Mac is new, has only had HW5 on it, and the sample sets I am using were all freshly downloaded on to it.

I was planning to buy some other sample sets for Christmas, but I'm reluctant now to spend any more hard-earned £££ until I can be confident they will work OK...!

Clarabella

[mdyde]

Thanks, Clarabella.

I have now tried the sequence you suggested above. This was interesting:

When I loaded St Anne's: pressing a key with the mouse produced a note, but it was not constant: it repeated itself roughly twice a second as the key was held down, with a click in between. Definitely something wrong.

Within that same 'alt config N' configuration, and with St. Anne's loaded, if you use the mouse to turn on (say) the virtual Open Diapason Large 8 stop on the Great, then click on middle C on the virtual Great manual, holding the mouse button down so that it keeps playing, do you still have that problem?

If so, do any of the meters go into (or nearly into) the red on Hauptwerk's 'Audio, MIDI and Performance' large control panel? (It can be opened via 'View | Large ... control panels | ...' if it isn't already open.)

When I loaded Alessandria: silence.

Still within that 'alt config N' configuration, if you load the Alessandria sample set, use the mouse to turn on a virtual stop, and click on a virtual key on the corresponding one of the virtual keyboards, do you still hear no sound?

If so, does the virtual 'Audio' level meter show any activity as you do so on Hauptwerk's 'Audio, MIDI and Performance' large control panel?

Clarabella 8 and Martin,

Thx for the fascinating conversation. I have no idea about a solution but I do appreciate your courtesy and helpfulness.

Clarabella8 says they are a newbie with Hauptwerk. I have had similar strange problems to you. All sorted (sometimes by Martin) and sometimes by myself realising I was doing something quite strange.... and embarrassing.

So persist and enjoy Hauptwerk.

Stephen
Australia

[mdyde]

Thans very much, Stephen.

Sorry - I haven't had time to fiddle with this for a few days...

Within alt config N, using the mouse to click on the screen console, and connected to the headphones:

Alessandria still produces no sound, nor any response on the audio level meter.
Friesach produces a clear steady sound but no response on the meter
St Anne's produces the intermittent sound described above and no response on the meter.

If I then reroute to either of touchscreens, thus using their buit-in speakers:

St Anne's and Friesach both sound clear and steady, with a response on the meter.
Alessandria is silent with no meter response.

With reference to the manual, and allowing for my relative inexperience, I have adjusted and then reset to default a variety of parameters in both organ and general settings, with no change to the above.

I began to wonder if my MacMini (which is four months old) was at fault, but that would not explain why some organs work perfectly but Alessandria is the only one that does not. In the circumstances one cannot help but think there is a fault with the sampleset, much as I respect Piotr's expertise, and much as I am aware that other people have this set working well for them.

I am left with a sample set I paid good money for but cannot use, and a less than happy Hauptwerk experience. Oh dear! I am very happy to hold my hands up and admit I am doing something wrong if only someone could tell me what..! I was planning on buying some other organs but I am reluctant to do so now unless I can be sure they will work on my system.

Clarabella

[mdyde]

Hello Clarabella,

Thanks for the update. Let's concentrate on getting St. Anne's to work with your headphones first (since it's a sample set we all have and know well), and in the 'Hauptwerk (alt config N)' configuration (since that has all-default settings).

Are the headphones that you're using traditional 100% analogue headphones (not USB, Bluetooth, wireless, or noise-cancelling, etc.), and are you using them plugged into the 3.5mm headphones jack socket on the Mac Mini itself (as opposed to via any kind of adapters, for example)?

Also, am I right in assuming that your Mac Mini is an Intel one (not the recently-released Apple ARM CPU 'M1' model, given that the latter was released less than four months ago)?