POWERING UP AND SHUTTING DOWN

Hello everyone,

Is there a consensus on the best way to power the VO system up and down?

I’m thinking one way to control it is to use a switched receptacle. Powering up would be a flip of the switch to turn on the computer which would energize the audio interface. (USB powered). Speakers are powered and would be controlled
By a separate switch receptacle and circuit.

Powering down would be:1. Switch off speakers. 2. Close Hauptwerk. 3. Shut down the computer via mouse control. 4.Switch off the system.

Does this approach make sense? Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks,

Don

Your approach is what I do, basically:

Power switch 1 turns on the computer and peripherals including audio and MIDI interfaces, and the console.
Power switches 2 and 3 turn on the front and rear speakers, respectively.
A piston tells HW to shut down the computer while I turn off the speakers using switches 2 and 3.
Then power switch 1 off.

I have a momentary push switch on the organ, that turns on the computer. The computer is plugged into a power bar - smart strip that is activated when the computer is turned on. So all the peripherals are turned on when the computer is turned on and then when I shut down the computer everything turns off automatically.

Hello,
here is the way i'm using with four relays (K1, K2, K3, K4) piloted by a Arduino Nano:
1 - a single press on a push button for a self powering relay (K0), this relay supply the power for +5V and +12V,
+5V and +12V are used for powering midi interfaces and LCD display (2 Arduino Mega).
2 - the Arduino Nano after 3 seconds delay, power the 20 Loudspeakers on (first relay K1 )
and USB HUB, touchscreens, Motu 24 AO (sound interface) with relay K2.

3 - After 30 second delay, time for the Motu ready to go, the third relay (K3) power the PC for Hauptwerk
by shorting the switching on pins on the motherboard for 2 seconds.

The last relay (K4) is used for cutting off the self powered relay when the system is going to shutdown.

A piston button on Launchpad miniMK3 is used for giving the order to Hauptwerk to switch off the computer.
On the Arduino Nano controlling the four relays, the presence of the +5V on the computer motherboard is used
for the last relay (K4), this relay open the auto self powered relay (K0) and all is shut down.

People have approached this in many ways and the forum has quite a lot of discussions about this.

Here's my solution to minimise what I have to do to start up the system and to ensure that there are no loud bangs etc, from the audio arrangement.

Power on . I have one main switch which powers on the computer system, audio interface and monitors. The system is set to boot on power up. The main switch also enables the power to my console which I have to start by pressing the start switch on the console.
Once Windows is running, I login to the HW account, This runs a script which
- starts the USB power controller
- starts a monitor program that checks it HW is running (and if not will close down Windows)
- does some sanity checks (mostly to see that a Windows update hasn't changed so settings which could cause audio glitches,
- allows me to I select which configuration to use (with a timeout so it defaults to configuration zero).
- operates a USB controlled power sequencer which turns on the amplifiers and sub
- launches at selected HW configuration

Power down
To shutdown, I use a Launchpad (midi) button to exit HW (not to shutdown the system).
On leaving HW, the USB power controller detects that HW has ended and turns off the power to the amps and sub.
The monitoring program that detects when HW has stopped and this initiates the shutdown of the computer (having left sufficient time for the amps and sub to be powered off.)

Summary
So to turn on the system I operate one main switch, login to Windows, turn on the console.
To shut down, I press the shutdown button on the launchpad. When Windows has really shutdown, I turn off the main switch.

So to turn on the system I operate one main switch, login to Windows, turn on the console.
To shut down, I press the shutdown button on the launchpad. When Windows has really shutdown, I turn off the main switch.

This is broadly what I do too, except that if (and probably only if) the HW computer is stand-alone, not connected to the internet, and therefore the licencing is via an ILOK dongle, a couple of steps can be automated.

My computer automatically boots when power is applied, and starts HW as soon as Windows has finished loading.
So switching the computer on at the mains results in my default HW organ loading with no further action. This is
indicated by an 'ORGAN READY' stop lamp.

Similarly, pressing one button 'SHUT DOWN' (configured to act as a stop control ) on my console cancels the
'ORGAN READY' stop and triggers HW to unload itself and then shut down the computer.

Audio bangs are prevented by the 'ORGAN READY' control (which is put 'on' by HW's 'organ loaded' message) also controlling an SSR (solid state relay) which feeds the mains to the amplifiers. This means that the amps only come on
when the organ is ready to play, and are the first thing to be switched off when I'm finished.

Nick

Good evening all.

An intesting an important question for anyone who has a serious console.
My arrangement is similar to Iain's.
ON:
1. I have a keyswitch, First On and Last Off.
...That powers up Speakers+USB devices, to give USB devices time to start before:
2. A PC power switch starts the PC - PC boots on power applied.
.... I don't currently start Hauptwerk automatically, because my multi-channel audio controller is slow off the mark.
.... A message on one of the TFT displays tells me when Hauptwerk is ready etc.
OFF
1. PC is switched off by a switch on one of my Arduino controllers acting on the HW MIDI power Off Menu Option.
2. Speaker+USB devices power off last, via keyswitch.
An additional feature is a Pro-Elec mains power strip (try CPC) which has a remote controller for powering off the speakers from the organ bench, when deciding to play via theadphones - quite useful!

Kenneth Spencer.

Thank you all for your response to my query. I recently completed Midifying an Allen T12a which was purchased off the showroom floor in 1959 and moved around in the family since. We got it in November 2021 in dismal condition, actually didn’t play at all. After spending several weeks of effort to get it to play without success, we decided to Midify. The tracker keyboards having original ivory keys and the console of walnut made the investment worthwhile.

So wrapped up in the Midifying process and rebuilding the keyboards I never stopped to consider the On-Off part of the system. I’ve learned from your reply’s that there are various ways to accomplish this. Your reply’s gave me some ideas to implement down the road a bit. For now, but not long term, I’ve settled on this:

1. Power switch on energizes a power strip. The power strip energizes the Mac Mini, turns on the touch screen, audio interface and powered speakers. 2. Manually turn on the Mac Mini. 3. Mac Mini is dedicated to this organ and is set to load HW. 4. Select the virtual organ and play. In no way does this method match the suffisticated systems explained here.

Again, thank you all!