Frustrated.com

Ok...here's the deal folks.
In what now feels like a former life, I was an FRCO(Chm). Three strokes over the past five years have devastated my playing.

My physiotherapist thinks that getting into a project would be good, and in particular, playing again - no matter how badly to begin with would be beneficial - but here's the rub. Accoustically, HW is the only way to go. There is nothing else even close. Ideally, I would like to recreate the main organ in Chichester Cathedral, or the Willis of Salisbury - either would be good. Software? No problem - simply buy the sample set - but hardware? You have NO idea how frustrating this is proving to be.

I'd like to acquire a 4 manual, 32note RCO pedal board, four swell pedals (one of which is to be a general crescendo)

So....where can I go to get this? Ideally I would like a one-stop-shop that will sell me the console, a descent computer, and a couple of touchscreens.

When I research this however, on various forums, it seems that no-one can agree on anything - from hardware supplier to audio - people can't even agree on a soundcard!

So can anyone here make an elderly and slightly broken organist happy, and steer me in the right direction?

Since you have your FRCO, I assume you're UK based.
If so, please see here: http://en.midi-organs.eu/. We are the one-stop-shop you need.
We offer a range of "standard" 3- and 4-manual consoles from Hoffrichter in Germany, with all the swell pedals, thumb & toe pistons you would ever want, and some you might not have thought of, plus custom-built Hauptwerk PCs, touchscreens, speakers, Hauptwerk and sample-set licences.

As I answered your post on facebook, finding a vendor depends on where you live. If in the UK, Douglas (above) can help you. Here's a list for other countries if you're not around there (might not be current):

https://www.hauptwerk.com/dealers/

Some of those probably only resell software, but several sell turn-key Hauptwerk systems.

P.S. I use Peterborough and Salisbury, and they're really good, since you seem to have an interest in English cathedral organs. Check out the Audio Angelorum and Milan Digital Audio instrument web sites.

Renatus may also be able to help with the “hardware”. Speak to Colin Peacock.http://www.renatus.co.uk/organ_home.php.

For virtual instruments also look at Hereford Cathedral, St Mary le Bow and other organs from Lavender Audio (https://www.lavenderaudio.co.uk/) these are very fine virtual instruments and work well with the most recent versions of HW.

Good luck and I hope playing helps your health and well being to improve.

Iain

I agree with IaIn's recommendation of St. Mary-le-Bow, which is very well-recorded and sounds quite natural in my system, as well as being a very nice organ to begin with. Salisbury, in comparison, is one of the first sample sets produced for Hauptwerk and the technology has improved since then. It also has an awkward interface on my single touch screen system, with the stops too small to read (I would think with twin touch screens this might be less of a problem). I have not tried Hereford. Of course, St. Mary-le-Bow is not a cathedral organ, if that is what you are looking for, but it is nevertheless very flexible.

There are a couple of other English cathedral organs available for Hauptwerk, including Peterborough from Audio Angelorum, and Blackburn coming up soon from Llannerch Organs, and many superb instruments of similar size but different conception from around Europe.

I have always found Douglas Henn-Macrae to be very helpful. When I was first starting out with Hauptwerk nearly 20 years ago he invited me to his home to try out various manuals and sample sets, which was enough to convince me that this was the way to go, and I have bought a number of sample sets from him over the years. I ended up building my own system up from bits and pieces rather than buying a ready-made one from him, which was what suited me at the time. I think he is based somewhere near Rochester in Kent. I am guessing that you are in the UK, though I don't know where.

Full instrument
DHMidi-organs
http://en.midi-organs.eu/

Nottingham Organs
https://www.nottinghammidiorgans.co.uk/new.html#contact

Romsey Organsworks
https://www.organworks.co.uk

Renatus
http://www.renatus.co.uk/organ_home.php

Hauptwerk Systems UK
https://www.hwsystemsuk.co.uk/

Commercial consoles for HW
- check that they do work with HW and that all controls can be used with HW.
- Find a dealer that will take full responsibility for the complete system
- Make sure you can add sample sets yourself and not have to go back to the dealer
- Understand any limitations in the proposed solution
Noorlander, Mixtuur, Content, Eminent

Following on from Iain's post above...
If you order from Romsey Organ Works, it will be built by Renatus.
If you order from Renatus, they will direct you to ROW.
Either way you will get a top-quality English-style console (but it won't be cheap).
The Romsey/Renatus team did a very fine job for me last year, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Beware of ordering from mainland European firms unless you are sure they understand the requirements of British organists, e.g. divisional combinations, radiating/concave pedalboards, etc.
My two EU suppliers (Hoffrichter and Magnus) are already well aware of this, and provide these as standard.

Thank you one and all.

I am most grateful for your time and consideration - let's see what the future brings.

To Flightcrew737:
Join the club. I agree that no one can agree on anything. In some cases, there is just too much information. Regarding deciding on a sound card. FocusRite or PreSonus is a good choise. I would lean towards PreSonus.
As each upgrade is introduced, with the exception of Version IV ( Version IV's "Auto-detect" feture simplified things immensely) , it gets more and more complicated to follow, unless you are a computer tech/organist. The latest migration process is an example. If your confused or frustrated, it's better to just engage someone that can do it for you. I would highly recommend that you contact Francois Ratte, who I think can provide you with everything you want or need (computer, console, keyboards, etc) and he will set it up remotely for you.

Thank you all for your help. the hardware issue is now resolved....only to be replaced with another.

During the many month i was either in hospital or out of action at home, My wife replaced the laptop HW was stored on thinking that the software was on the little blue 'dongle'.as we know, it isnt.

I have contacted HW directly about tis, but they have been less than helpful. I have the numbers etched onto the dongle, and clearly HW posted it to my home address. They are denying eny knowledge of my downloading earlier versions of he software, which is a pity since that would entitle me to an upgrade licence for V7 rather than the full cost.

Does anyone have any bright ideas how i can recover my original download?

(PS If there is a computer expert here, please type slowly for the mentally afflicted and avoid acronyms. Before i can go to an HDD i first would have to find out what it is!)

[mdyde]

Hello Flightcrew737,

Sorry to hear you've been having difficulties, and hope that you're recovered from your spell in hospital now.

I've had a rummage through our database looking for people with names or email addresses similar to the email address to which your forum account is registered. Based on that, am I right in thinking that you had a Hauptwerk version 4 Basic Edition licence?

Assuming so: Hauptwerk v4 is no longer available to download (or on any other media) from us, I'm afraid. However, even if you didn't keep a copy of the software, you would certainly still be eligible to upgrade to the current version of Hauptwerk v7, if you wished. The v4 dongle is the important thing for that, since that contains your v4 licence.

You won't believe how hard I've tried! Hauptwerk may be the bees knees of digital sound, but it hates me with a vengeance!!

24 attempts at installing before I got an error-free install.

St Anne's Mosely came up, and 'sounded', but could I get my Viscount to communicate with HW? Not a prayer in hell. I went through the setup processes with microscopic care and attention to detail. Nothing! Zip! Zilch! Nada!

Then - in the early hours of the morning, something occurred - something as yet undefined, but HW and the Viscount started to communicate - well, sort of.

The first thing I noticed was the screen shots in HW7's user manual do not represent the screens actually IN HW7. So, for some reason, the great and swell are permanently coupled. The pedals don't work at all.

And the latency! Wow - that's measured in decades (musically speaking).

The bottom line is that this program is far too complicated for my use. I just want a plug-and-play system that works straight out of the box, every time, without needing to go through the whole damn setup each and every time.

And that's another thing - even getting it to work in this half-assed manner, it promptly forgot all the settings when I closed the program out.

AND YET.....here's the thing. Although I have owned the licence for only a couple of days, nowhere on the HW site can I find any information on cancellation, yet this is required by distance selling legislation.

So, if HW bother to read this, I'd like to cancel my licence, please, and a refund to the payment account.

In short, too complex, WAY too much tech knowledge required, and I simply don't have the time for it.

Oh, and yes, I am using a brand new computer that far exceeds the minimum requirements for the system - and HW is the ONLY program installed on it.

Not a happy customer.

I too am technically challenged, but since the beginning, in 2014, I have had an expert take care of my installations. My equipment is not state of the art, yet it has worked faithfully and reliably for all these years. For a few hundred bucks, you can rest easy and have a system that offers you unending hours of pure joy.

My tech person can enter my computer at a distance and do all the manipulations remotely. It's a charm.
I cannot recommend more this path, and the person I have worked with. Contact François Ratté at info@hauptwerkconsultant.com. He will solve all your installation problems for sure. By the way, he has been hired to be a tech consultant on this site, but has his own business.

You don't need to turn your back on Hauptwerk, just get professional help!

Good luck, and keep us posted.

RS

If logging in and going to this page: https://www.hauptwerk.com/my-account/subscriptions/
doesn't show a way to cancel your subscription, try emailing support@hauptwerk.com.

Thousands of us have made it work just fine by following the list of instructions and asking questions. There's a solid Installation and User Guide, Youtube tutorials, this forum is searchable, and we try to help each other here and on the facebook group when questions are asked. And the person at support@hauptwerk.com is very good, as is the developer, who follows the forum and helps people all the time.

Steps to address latency are in the Performance Tuning section of the user guide. Saving settings changes happens automatically, but not if you left a settings window without pressing OK to keep your changes, and even then, it warns you if you're shutting down with settings changes unacknowledged.

[mdyde]

Hello Flightcrew737,

Thanks very much for the purchase, and sorry to hear you've been having problems getting everything to work together properly.

For my own reference, I see that you were previously asking about hardware to use for Hauptwerk here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20452 . (I'll merge your new topic with that one once you've had a chance to read this, so as to keep the relevant information all in one place.)

In that topic, some people recommended various suppliers of complete Hauptwerk systems (comprising compatible MIDI consoles, audio/MIDI interfaces and pre-configured computers). Did you end up buying such a system, or did you get the various components (especially the MIDI console, computer, audio/MIDI interface) from different sources? If the former, the company you bought the system may be able to give you detailed help with how to get it all connected up and configured properly.

Failing that, if you'd like us to try to help you get your current hardware working with Hauptwerk, then please use "Help | Create a diagnostic file" within Hauptwerk, and email the resulting file to Francois at support [at] hauptwerk.com , with a note referring him to this topic so that he knows what it relates to. That will allow him to see relevant computer hardware information and settings (such as what operating system you're using, what audio/MIDI interfaces are present and which you have selected, etc.).

Alternatively, if you'd definitely like a refund on your Hauptwerk v7 licence, then please email Francois ( support [at] hauptwerk.com ) to discuss it.