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Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

A discussion forum for anything even marginally Hauptwerk-related.
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mdyde

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSat Feb 12, 2022 5:09 am

Thanks very much, Julian too.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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magnaton

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Feb 13, 2022 11:32 am

Thanks Jerry for posting this well deserved tribute. My journey was similar from a single MIDI keyboard, 2nd keyboard, pedalboard, etc. For me however it was about 6 months between each incremental step.

Another benefit from the popularity Hauptwerk are the startup companies that have formed from consultants, sample set producers, dedicated MIDI console builders, etc. This would have been unheard of if not for Hauptwerk. Digital organ companies like Content and Phoenix now offer a choice of their proprietary organ voices or a Hauptwerk engine. Established pipe organ suppliers like Klann and Arndt have seen an increase in demand of their products thanks to Hauptwerk. So its just not us organist and hobbyist that have benefited from this jewel of a software package. :)

Danny B.
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dw154515

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Feb 13, 2022 1:08 pm

Absolutely!

I started my Hauptwerk journey out of the need to have an organ “within reach” at all hours when working on my Masters Thesis - writing a concerto for organ and orchestra. I had a large AE/Skinner a couple miles away but only had access one night a week, so I started looking into “at home” options.

Now, I’m 5 organs in! I donated my first Hauptwerk organ to another organist, and have built 4 more - one for the church I play at (Greenwood UMC) which has, I think, drawn a SIGNIFICANT amount of publicity for not only the church but Hauptwerk in general, and has been a resounding success by every possible measure. When I get “criticism” from purists about using it in church (usually arm-chair organists with nothing nice to say about anything), I have to remind them that, in our situation, if we didn’t have Hauptwerk, we’d pretty much have nothing. And what an absolute shame that would be.

This “product” certainly closes the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

I am now building a “hybrid” theater and classical organ all in one console. Fully motorized SAMS with the Masterworks 3/31 Wurlitzer but also has touch screens and Caen and several other organs. Where else are you going to find the ability to do that.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, a university here in Indiana is bringing their entire organ department for a visit to Greenwood UMC in a couple of weeks after the head of the department came for a visit and was simply blown away by the attention to detail - especially in the Sonus Paradisi Caen Cavaille-Coll. He played for several hours, each time saying, “let’s see if it can handle this….” then being subsequently amazed by it. He insisted he had to bring his students since access to an “authentic” French romantic organ just doesn’t exist.

Couldn’t have done any of this without you, Martin. It’s been a pleasure and I hope we can keep going!!
Drew A. Worthen
Master of Music in Composition - Butler University
http://www.drewworthen.com
Director of Music & Website Admin - Greenwood UMC
http://www.greenwoodumc.org
Design Engineer - American Sound and Electronics - Indy
https://americansound.cc/
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rayjcar

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Feb 13, 2022 3:39 pm

I first got interested in Hauptwerk in 2009 after having dabbled with Miditzer using a single M-Audio keyboard as a midi controller. I then decided, with great trepidation, to "midify" my Rodgers Olympic 333. I actually wired the midi encoders in parallel with the analog keying circuits. But after a power surge destroyed the time division multiplexing on the transposer, which drove the keying circuits, I took the plunge and gutted the entire analog circuitry. I also added decoder/drivers for the SAMS. Since then, there has been no looking back. I now have four theatre sample sets.

Hauptwerk has delivered amazing realism at an incredible price point. One would be well into six figures to replicate the functionality that I have with my system if a commercial organ were to be purchased. The realistic sound, and the latency (with my chosen settings) which simulates the real world delay of a real Wurlitzer, have motivated me to practice to a level that I had never before achieved. It's hard to believe I've been at this for almost 13 years, and I'm loving every minute of it.

So kudos to Martin for this ingenious chunk (I won't say bit) of software , and I look forward to further enhancements in the future.

Ray
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voet

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Feb 13, 2022 7:52 pm

When I retired from church music, I got rid of my practice organ and entire music library. However, before long I realized that I really missed playing the organ. There is so much wonderful organ literature still to learn.

I purchased a recent MIDI equipped 3 manual Content digital organ. It has a decent sound and a well-appointed specification. However, after about a year, I decided to explore Hauptwerk. With the assistance of François Ratté, I acquired the necessary additional components and was soon on my Hauptwerk adventure.

In the past, I would try to make the organ at my disposal sound as close as possible to the tonal concept for each piece of music I played. With Hauptwerk, I chose the instrument based on the piece I want to play. What a luxury!
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mdyde

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostMon Feb 14, 2022 6:30 am

Thanks again, everybody.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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ldeutsch

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostMon Feb 14, 2022 5:03 pm

OK, I'll add my voice in congratulations!

We all have differing backgrounds. I actually grew up in a household where organ was quite important. I cannot remember a time when we did not have at least one organ in our home and some of my earliest memories involve my father playing the organ. My father, Ralph Deutsch, invented the first real-time digital organs - which become the Allen Computer Organ in the early 1970s.

I was encouraged to play the organ from an early age and we always had good practice instruments in the house. I am on my third Rodgers organ - and all were at least three manuals.

I have worked with my father developing organ systems for other companies, so I have been in the technical end of the organ industry too - since my graduate school days.

I worked as a professional organist and choirmaster for about 20 years until I retired to have time to play jazz at festivals and travel more. I am still the Caltech organist and I play concerts and special religious services on demand.

I discovered Hauptwerk when I was trying to put together a reasonable approximation of a big theater organ to play from my Rodgers console. I started with jorgan - because Miditzer did not run on a Mac. I did some initial theater organ recordings with my custom jorgan system - but it was clear this was not going to satisfy me. I discovered Hauptwerk when some friends pointed my in that direction. I purchased my first license in early 2008 and I have never looked back.

Because of how well Hauptwerk worked, I decided to obtain a large theater organ console. You can read about all this on my web site - but it suffices to say Hauptwerk made it possible. Nowadays I even practice using Hauptwerk on my concert organ - even though it has perfectly good (excellent, in fact) internal samples. Hauptwerk makes it easy to switch between organ "moods" and it is also perfect as a recording system.

I have been quite happy with Hauptwerk, and the various improvements added over the years. Congratulations to Martin and the rest of the team for creating and maintaining a quality product over many years. Martin, I hope you have a good succession plan!

Les
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Charles Braund

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostMon Feb 14, 2022 11:06 pm

Like Les, I was involved with the organ from an early age though we never had any organ in the house. I very much grew up as a teenager with pipe organs both church and cinema (I was “resident” organist on a Compton 3/8 cinema organ at 13) and played in our local church on both a broken down Estey two manual reed organ and a R&D Apollo. My website gives a bit more of my history but is mainly concerned with my pipe organ interests over the years rather than pipeless instruments.

After several years working for or being involved with companies as diverse as Nicholson’s, Kenneth Jones, Viscount, Conn, Copeman-Hart, Heyligers, Woop, Kienle, and Ahlborn, (I even spent three years with Kawai along with Les and his father though we can’t remember meeting), I eventually opened my own general music shop and recording studio.

Things were developing fast in the 80's and in 1981 Emu had produced their ground breaking Emulator sampler – very few could afford the Fairlight or the Synclavier and not many could afford the Emulator either.
I remember once asking Henk Heyligers why he hadn’t adopted sampling for his organs and he replied that he wouldn’t go along that path until he could get right into the very core of sampling hardware as it existed then. He remained in the analogue world until he retired but he was probably the world leader in that field – have a listen to the Piet van Egmond recordings in Apeldoorn at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ6VxtbURk4 they are quite remarkable even today. What he could have achieved with HW !
However, with the introduction of the Emu sampler especially when it eventually became more affordable and got beyond 8 bit, I became one of their retailers.
Finally, I was able to record my own pipe samples and edit them. Between the engineers at Emu and myself, we did plan a church organ based on multiple EIII units but sadly Emu were taken over by Creative Labs and their hardware samplers disappeared altogether so the project was shelved – I never really got on with Akai. Thus, I had to wait until Tascam produced their Gigastudio to be able to get back in the game again.
Like others now working with HW we saw Gigastudio as an ideal way to produce pipe organ sounds that we ourselves could create and produce without being ruled by one of the big manufacturers. However, we were all rather left in limbo when Tascam decided to discontinue Gigastudio.
An organist friend of mine mentioned Hauptwerk shortly after Martin had first introduced it so I looked into it and started experimenting to see what could be achieved. Martin came up to see me and we spent a pleasant afternoon and evening discussing HW. It was evident from our meeting that Hauptwerk was going to offer so much more than anyone else had done previously and it also wasn’t going to be discontinued at the whim of some large corporate body accountant.
I did look into J-Organ but was not over impressed and I felt that I would have been a traitor to jump onto the Grand Orgue and other platforms when they emerged. I therefore decided to put my future “eggs” into the one basket.
OK, I still don’t have the first inkling about programming (wrong generation and background plus the wrong sort of brain) but I do know a little bit about recording and a little bit about pipe organ sound plus I have sufficient nous to be able to use software to edit organ samples to get results that I feel are authentic. HW has developed beyond all the expectations I had of it two decades ago and with ever more powerful computers and memory capability, what was once impossible in terms of what can be done has become a complete reality.
I join with others in thanking the genius of Martin for giving people like myself access to a realm that was previously denied to all but a chosen few corporate boffins.
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mdyde

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostTue Feb 15, 2022 5:58 am

Thanks, Les and Charles.

I still have my E-MU Emulator e6400. It's still technically pretty good for use as a basic pipe organ expander (allowing up to 32 independent voices via its two MIDI INs, albeit for short-ish one-loop samples, and without release samples, etc.).
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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ldeutsch

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostTue Feb 15, 2022 2:09 pm

I also still have and use some EMU gear - but not the samplers. I used those Akai samplers that Brian decided to forgo. I used them mostly for recording and for casual gigs. I think they still exist, sitting at my parent's house where my mother is still living.
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Antoni Scott

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Jul 31, 2022 9:50 am

It's hard to believe that it has been this many years since the intorduction of Hauptwerk. I've enjoyed my Hauptwerk since 2008 when it was called Crumhorn Labs ( I still have the original install disc).
It has been quite a journey and have experienced every version and upgrade as a remarkable improvement. Kudo's to Martin Dyde for one of the most extaordinary developments in digital musical technology bringing joy to thousands of amateur and professional organists.
Antoni Scott
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mdyde

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostSun Jul 31, 2022 9:52 am

Thanks very much, Antoni.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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B777Captain

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostMon Nov 28, 2022 8:46 pm

I”m a little late to this thread but…..

I am in total AWE of you Martin.. and to Brett Milan for somehow, someway getting basically, the Greatest Cathedral organs in the entire world…. In our Living Rooms!!!!!!!!!! I still sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around that concept… and that its real!!

It started with me as a 13 year old when Grandma bought me a Wurlitzer model 4037 with a synthesizer, then a Hammond Elegante and then…. I heard about this thing called “Hauptwerk”. I recall being so excited when I first heard about this around 2010 ish or so…. And remember asking myself.. “Whats a midi?” Lol.

Well, with the assistance and patience of Francois (McDev), I was able to put together a 4 manual console and setup in of al places… Dubai, UAE while a Captain at Emirates Airline.

I am 100% certain that I can say, that my 4 manual setup was the largest organ in the entire country of the United Arab Emirates!!!! Not many can say that about the country they live(d) in… but I can!!

I have a 2nd organ console setup in my Las Vegas home now again thanks to Francois’s assistance and have SO MUCH JOY from playing even though Im a complete amateur and don’t read music…. It’s just AMAZING to me that I have these grand cathedral organs of the world… IN MY OWN LIVING ROOM!!!

Thank you so very much Martin and Brett! I hope you realize how special this all is to us here in HW land!

Pat
Pilot Southwest Airlines
Las Vegas, Nevada
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mdyde

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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostTue Nov 29, 2022 4:12 am

Thank you very much, Pat. Very kind words, and I'm very glad it gives you so much pleasure.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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Re: Thank Hauptwerk! 20 years of music, tinkering and joy.

PostWed Nov 30, 2022 6:15 pm

Without Hauptwerk I would not be playing the organ.
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