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Hauptwerk console on a budget

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JRHLondon

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Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Aug 29, 2015 10:21 am

http://westlondonchat.com/photos/showph ... 60&cat=517

I'm going to convert a 1970s Gem Wizard into my virtual organ console with two manuals and one octave of pedals.
See above link.

Wish me luck!!
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Aug 29, 2015 10:32 am

http://westlondonchat.com/photos/showph ... 61&cat=517

An octave of Hammond organ pedals .... a fiver from ebay. I'll build these into the Gem console then wire them into a cheap usb powered midi keyboard with its keys removed which will be tucked inside the console.
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Aug 29, 2015 10:40 am

http://westlondonchat.com/photos/showph ... 62&cat=517

Above photo is a mock up of where we're heading.
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Aug 29, 2015 7:10 pm

For anyone seeking to spend significant dollars, check out these Hammond MIDI pedalboards.

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http://hammondorgan.com.au/models/hammo ... edalboards

I am familiar with the XPK-100 and the XPK-200L, having installed both models in simple Hauptwerk consoles in recent years.

Although only of 13 notes, I find the XPK-100 to be better as it includes a range of additional functions not present in the XPK-200L.

For theatre organ stylings, and for introducing elementary pedalling to young children with a compact instrument which can be quickly dismantled and stored in a classroom cupboard when not in use, I believe there is a place for these devices in the Hauptwerk scene.

Andrew
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSun Aug 30, 2015 4:03 am

I've seen those for sale. Very nice. I might get a set at some point for its portability, to use with a keyboard. I would have considered them for this project except as the Gem Wizard was already available free I decided to see just how cheaply I could put together a functioning VPO console and I think the whole thing is going to cost quite a bit less than the price of just those pedals!
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 2:59 am

Here's a shot of the DIY Hauptwerk console in one of my three music classrooms. This one uses 2 Behringer UMX-61 keyboards, a Hammond XPK-200L 20-note MIDI pedalboard and a Behringer FCB-1010 pedal control unit. The computer is a MacBook Pro 15-inch with 8 GB of RAM and the full Hereford sample set loaded at 16-bit depth with single loops. The sound is reproduced either through the classroom audio system (which includes a subwoofer) or through headphones. Behind the keyboards is a powered USB hub to which the various USB inputs are linked, and the MIDI interface is a Roland UM-ONE mk2 unit. The FCB-1010 is daisy-chained via MIDI THRU on the Hammond pedalboard. There's also an extra USB cable emerging to the left of the keyboards - near the headphones - for optional attachment of a single launchpad.

Andrew

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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 1:11 pm

Brilliant! Very similar to my set up before I decided to pop it all into the old Gem! I've got a launchpad too though not sure I'll be needing it as the two midi keyboards are bristling with buttons.
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 5:55 pm

PS Andrew: must be a fantastic school btw!!
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 7:55 pm

It's pretty good now, but this was not always so. It's just an ordinary Catholic primary school, but it happens to employ a specialist music teacher. I've been there since 2004, teaching class music lessons to all students from Kindergarten to Year 6.

For the first 5 years I had a very good setup in a different location. However that room was demolished in 2010 as part of a radical and fundamentally flawed major rebuilding of the school. All the keyboards, percussion instruments and other resources were packed away while the builders were on the premises, and I moved from class to class, lesson by lesson, attempting to teach music in open plan learning spaces - alongside 2 or 3 other classes in the same physical space! I was then informed that the rebuilt school would not contain a new music room, and that this peripatetic and highly problematic approach to music teaching would have to continue into the indefinite future. Eventually reason prevailed, a new school leadership team allowed a separate music room to be re-established, and I've slowly built everything back up again.

Here's a panoramic view of the whole classroom. The organ is located at the far end of the photo near the tall black cupboard, just to the left of the TV. It's positioned back to back against the large black Yamaha keyboard on its stand.

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The aim is to allow all students to experience an organ, even at the most basic levels. I have just purchased some "Ped-X-Tend" units from Wayne Leupold Publications in the USA. When fitted, these will allow the youngest students, right down to Kindergarten, to play a few pedal keys.

Andrew
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telemanr

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 9:05 pm

As a retired teacher I sympathize. It's always a struggle to keep the arts going. It takes an administration that values it otherwise it's hopeless.
Rob Enns
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostTue Sep 01, 2015 11:16 pm

attempting to teach music in open plan learning spaces - alongside 2 or 3 other classes in the same physical space! I

Arrrrrghhhh!!! I've done a lot of music in primary schools, and there's NO WAY I could put up with that! Nightmare!

Anyway, your music room looks great, and has surely got to be the only primary school music room on earth with a fully functioning pipe organ in it?
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostWed Sep 02, 2015 2:45 am

Thanks guys for your words of support. I toughed it out at that place for 2 reasons. First, I was unwilling to walk away from a position where I had permanency of tenure. Second, the draconian and detrimental changes affected all staff, so I surmised - correctly - that in due course the tide would turn. Fortunately the principal who spear-headed the flawed building plan moved on only a year after the work was finished. His successor has been steadily spending more money to gradually overcome the worst of the problems. I've had to wait my turn for funds, but it's been worth it. New basic student keyboards were purchased at the start of the year, and the above photo was taken just days after new blinds were installed a few months ago.

Interestingly, the school building programme itself had an indirect link to my personal Hauptwerk story. The funds for the school's building work came from a handout of funds in 2009 by the Australian government to all schools in the country to allow them to build a new hall or library. This was to help pull Australia out of the global financial crisis by generating work. As a consequence Australia rode out the GFC fairly well, so much so that the Australian dollar soared in value against other currencies. With the AU dollar riding high against the US dollar (above $1.10 at one stage), the British pound and the Euro I found that more than a few large Hauptwerk sample sets had unexpectedly become affordable to me. Several sample set producers can thank this situation for the fact that I spent up at that time on their wares. Today the Australian dollar is now worth much less against the US dollar that back then - in fact about 69 cents as announced on tonight's news.

I do know of 2 other schools with similar Hauptwerk installations in their music rooms. They are the other 2 schools where I work - 1 day per week at each. The school mentioned above is larger so I go there twice a week. Its installation remains in situ, with just the computer and launchpad being removed and taken home each day. The other two setups have to be dismantled fully and packed into a cupboard at day's end. When I have some current photos of these I'll share them, as they provide further examples of "Hauptwerk console on a budget".

Andrew
Last edited by Andrew Grahame on Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostFri Sep 04, 2015 5:34 am

Today I was at one of my other schools, and took some quick photos of the "organ" as I was setting it up.

The instrument - minus the laptop - is stored in this cupboard.

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The keyboard stand is adjustable for width and height. The swell pedal is a Yamaha FC-7 running through a MIDI Solutions Pedal Controller. The MIDI interface is a Roland UM-ONE as in the previous installation. The Hammond XPK-100 13-note pedalboard includes additional functions controlled from "toe studs", and also supplies the power for the swell pedal controller.

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The keyboards are Behringer UMX-610 units, connected via USB to a powered hub. A single USB cable links to the laptop on the adjacent table.

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I am in the process of revising the music rest situation with this installation. Previously I simply placed a music stand behind the instrument. I now have a Yamaha music rest which will shortly be attached by hinges to the top keyboard. The hinges will allow it to fold flat for storage.

This rig takes just minutes to set up and dismantle. At this school I teach one day per week, using the school's hall as the music room. The space is carpeted, air conditioned and good to work in. The organ's audio is fed through the hall PA, which is actually an old Viscount organ tone cabinet which used to stand in the parish church.

Andrew
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Sep 05, 2015 5:07 am

Excellent! Loving the funky red... bet the kids do too! The Gem I'm converting had a massive speaker in it with a powerful amp, both of which I've removed. Someone with a modicum of electronics know-how could build a cabinet for them and have a pretty good amp. If anyone reading this wants them they're yours... collect from Farnborough, or from central London one evening where I work (any time after 10pm!)
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JRHLondon

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Re: Hauptwerk console on a budget

PostSat Sep 12, 2015 10:22 pm

It's all coming along nicely folks! I have successfully added midified pedals to my budget console by wiring the Hammond organ pedals bought for under a fiver on eBay to an Evolution midi controller keyboard bought on eBay.

I now have a 13 note pedal board!

The Evolution has stacks of spare capacity still, I can use it to add more pistons etc should I want to. I've left the rest of the keyboard innards there too, so I could have a full pedal board later if I want, thought to be honest, C to C is really enough for most of what I play.... at the moment!
Follow this link for the picture of me testing out my modification of the pedals.....

>>> See photo here! <<<



Here's a smaller version of the pic:
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And here are the pedals bought for under a fiver, which I'm wiring into an old Evolution keyboard to "miditise" them....

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