Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:10 pm
Having just acquired and experimented quite a bit with some of MIDI-Boutique's LCD displays, I'd say there isn't too much mystery in getting them to work, as long as you are satisfied with Hauptwerk's pre-programmed LCD output capabilities (as opposed to more complex, user-programmed capabilities.)
I bought 6 of their HWLCD-Mini panels, configured in two chains of three. These are the simplest displays, not programmable themselves, just configurable for "address" by setting simple jumpers on the backside of each panel. They are intended to be an out-of-the-box HW compatible solution, which I believe them to be. From unboxing to first-light took me about 5 minutes (I started with just 1 panel, got it working, then daisy-chained in the rest.) The basic process:
1) Give each panel a unique "Panel ID" by setting its jumpers - simple binary counting, and these IDs will correlate with panel identifiers (0, 1, 2...) in Hauptwerk. If you make a mistake and some panels share the same ID, no probs, they'll just both "see" and display the same data.
2) Chain multiple panels together using the supplied cables. Put a "MIDI DIN" plug (supplied) on the MIDI-In of the first panel in the chain, connect this to a MIDI-Out source from your PC. Do not loop the MIDI-Out of the last panel back into a MIDI-In interface to the computer - this could cause a MIDI loop (which HW will detect on startup) - just treat the chain of panels as a single one-way consumer of MIDI data. The panels pass through any and all MIDI-In data unmodified to their MIDI-Out port. Apply power to the panels.
3) Start HW, and enable the physical MIDI Output device in "General Settings; MIDI ports...; MIDI Out" tab - enable the physical MIDI interface driving the panels, and give it a friendly alias: I called mine "LCD Displays (Out)". On the MIDI In tab, you may want to ensure that MIDI chain is NOT enabled, if for some reason the physical MIDI path loops back to the PC's MIDI input side - this is that potential loop noted in the prior point.
4) You are good to go at this point, to configure HW to drive the panels. Use "General settings; MIDI LCD panel control (for all organs) ..." to configure displays common to all instruments, and the nearly parallel "Organ settings; MIDI LCD panel control (for this organ) ..." to configure a panel custom to the instrument. The organ-specific option provides a few additional pull-down options to associate LCDs with expression pedals / sliders / knobs - controls that vary from organ to organ. I find that many surround sets use controls of this type for their internal perspective-mixers. To configure, use "Insert" to create an entry for 1 panel - this will enable the fields in the tab that let you associate this new entry with a specific panel by selecting the MIDI Port and the Panel ID (those jumpers on the backs of the panels) from two pull-down lists. Once selected, you can set the state of the optional RGB LED light, and configure the data source for each of the panel's two display lines. On the organ-specific variant, those organ-only choices for expression/slider/knob each provide an optional text-field, whose contents will be pre-fixed to the data being displayed. This lets you meaningfully identify the organ-specific control, e.g. "Swell" or "Near Lvl".
5) In my experimentation, I've settled on allocating 4 panels (8 lines) to HW-wide settings, such as what's loaded, loaded temperament, volume settings, combinations... I then allocate the remaining 2 panels (4 lines) to organ-specific stuff, such as expression pedals and perspective controls.
Cheers, Bob