I have a recent two manual digital organ. Last year I was researching various options to upgrade to three manuals and better sounds. I looked at Hauptwerk but the consoles on the market seemed very expensive. I made a start by buying the advanced edition and four wonderful sample sets. These I loaded into my MacBook Pro and linked it to my midi-capable digital organ. I was amazed to find how smoothly everything went. I also discovered that not only could I control the software from my keyboards and pedals, but that by simply cancelling all the organ stops and leaving the organ in normal (as opposed to Hauptwerk) mode, I could also apply reverb from the digital organ. Finally, I discovered that a simple audio cable from the computer to the organ's line-in allowed me to play the sound back through the organ's internal speakers.
I'm now about to upgrade to a three manual digital organ from the same maker, safe in the knowledge that I can repeat the above procedure. What I can't understand is, if you go down the route of buying a specially made console for Hauptwerk, or build your own from good quality parts, the cost is very much higher. A final advantage of using Hauptwerk with a midi-capable digital organ is that, should something go wrong with your Hauptwerk set up, or your computer, you have the organ's own built in sounds to fall back on.
Can anyone tell me why dedicated Hauptwerk consoles, without sounds and electronics, are so much more expensive than off the shelf digital organs?!
I'm now about to upgrade to a three manual digital organ from the same maker, safe in the knowledge that I can repeat the above procedure. What I can't understand is, if you go down the route of buying a specially made console for Hauptwerk, or build your own from good quality parts, the cost is very much higher. A final advantage of using Hauptwerk with a midi-capable digital organ is that, should something go wrong with your Hauptwerk set up, or your computer, you have the organ's own built in sounds to fall back on.
Can anyone tell me why dedicated Hauptwerk consoles, without sounds and electronics, are so much more expensive than off the shelf digital organs?!