magnaton wrote:Mark C. has done some extensive testing and reporting on Hauptwerk rank routing. Start with this thread then search the others. In a later thread, he describes how he tried to create the sound of his local cathedral from a center pew perspective; sound originates form the choir loft in back and the reflections happen in the front
http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=13679After reading all this you might end of with a case of SAS (speaker acquisition syndrome).
Good Luck,
Danny B.
Hi Danny,
Ha! You dug up an old thread from the archives for sure!
After my 'divisions routed' scheme as outlined in the the thread above you probably recall after that it morphed into the 'rank routing' scheme which involves sending 'like sounding' or ranks of the same family to the same speaker pairs and after extensive testing which I did report on here I found this to be by far the best arrangement. It gave the best realism and clarity, and although I have yet to move to v6 because of limited computer power, I'd love to hear this arrangement with the newly added features of v6, I'm going to have to wait awhile on that though.
I believe at some point in the past I did report on a few additional modifications to my set-up, namely adding a pair of side channel speakers set up off to my left and right side while seated at the bench. So, I still have my 10 total channels, 3 stereo pairs to the front I divide ranks either based on 'similar sound or by family' or in some cases by 2' or 4' or whatever, it's a process of experimentation and elimination but it's amazing the results you can achieve just by sending one or two ranks to a different pair of speakers and with the newly added feature of being able to more quickly change rank routing without having to wait for the entire organ to re-cache and re-load, you can hear the results much more quickly while the last arrangement's sound is still in your head for quicker comparisons, this part I greatly appreciate. As for my side channels, in my testing I've found instead of a direct mix-down of all, for surround sets it's been best to include them with the rear signal and I can then adjust the volume of the side channels to add just that little bit of extra space to the sound and expand the stereo field. The rear speakers receive the same as the side channels and again I can adjust the sound so I can just hear the rear speakers coming into play as I do with the side speakers. Now that I've done this, muting the side speakers from the mix makes quite a difference and I much prefer they are in the mix vs. not and will stick with this arrangement.
I too have a mix and match of speakers, two pairs of towers up front along with a pair of smaller bookshelf speakers I've place on top of the one pair of towers and I've positioned them in the layout depending on how I intend to use them and what ranks I'm sending to them. I've found reeds are best to the inner pair of towers, the more foundation stops, flutes, bourdon, montre, etc., to the outer pair of speakers, and the more high pitched ranks, 2' (and maybe even 4' in some cases) to the smaller upper bookshelf speakers, but again experiment. As for really any size instrument following the same general routing should work out best.
I have the Paramount 310 and on that one I use a similar arrangement for ranks, but have set it up so certain things like the tambourine, harps, glock, drums, etc. either go to the side speakers or the rear and it's crazy! I have sounds coming from all over the place, from the front, sides, rear, etc., and it's great, I love it! But if you look at many theater organ layouts, they have things all over the place, so I used the same idea and it really sounds cool.
Anyways, to most directly answer the original question here, it is a process of experimentation but if you follow the basic idea I've laid out I think you will find it to be quite good right out the gate and you can experiment from there, that's half of the fun!
Marc