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Content Organs and Hauptwerk

Connecting Hauptwerk to MIDI organs, sequencers, ...
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NickMelb

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Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostSun Jun 12, 2022 2:50 am

Hi
This is my first post.
I recently bought a Content Celeste 340 digital organ which has three manuals and pedals.
It has a 'Personal Control Centre' unit on one side which allows me to adjust various settings e.g. temperament, volume balance between speakers, transposition etc. One of those settings is a 'Hauptwerk' function which basically shuts down the digital organ itself and converts it into a purely MIDI-sending instrument to connect to my computer.
I've connected up to HW7 and am able to play some lovely organs such as Martinikerk and St Etienne, but there seems to be an issue with the general master pistons and getting them to map onto HW7 pistons. Really, the only ones I want to map to the HW7 are: (1) General Cancel, (2) Stepper forward and (3) Stepper backward.
General cancel is not 'seen' by HW7
Stepper forward is 'seen' but only works once
Stepper backward is also 'seen' but only works once
I have a feeling that the Celeste's pistons are only sending states of the Celeste's stops to HW7, as opposed to the pistons themselves sending MIDI messages to HW7 like simple switches.
I've contacted Content Orgels in the Netherlands and they said they would look into it but that 'not all of the pistons send MIDI messages'.
If anyone has any advice would be appreciated.
In the meantime I have ordered an iRig Blueboard which is a foot switch for use with electric guitars that has four simple switches that connects by bluetooth to my computer and an app on my computer will convert to MIDI messages. I am hoping that this will work with HW7. The Blueboard will fit perfectly on the ledge in front of the pedal board to the right of the swell pedal and is powered by batteries and has no other wires attached.
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mdyde

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostSun Jun 12, 2022 4:08 am

Hello Nick,

Welcome to the forum.

NickMelb wrote:Stepper forward and (3) Stepper backward.
General cancel is not 'seen' by HW7
Stepper forward is 'seen' but only works once
Stepper backward is also 'seen' but only works once
I have a feeling that the Celeste's pistons are only sending states of the Celeste's stops to HW7, as opposed to the pistons themselves sending MIDI messages to HW7 like simple switches.


I think your diagnosis does sound most likely, given the symptoms. However, you could try running MIDI-OX (http://midiox.com/ - for Windows) or Snoize MidiMonitor (for macOS) when Hauptwerk isn't running to see the exact MIDI messages that the Content is sending as you press its pistons. To be usable for controlling Hauptwerk, each piston needs to send a distinct, unchanging MIDI message (not varying according to the states of the stops, etc.) each time that you press it.

Content are probably in the best position to advise if in doubt, though.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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voet

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostSun Jun 12, 2022 10:22 am

Nick, I have a Content Mondri 5800 which I use only for Hauptwerk (HW). I tried mapping HW cancel to the cancel piston on my Content, but it was problematic, so I use the HW cancel on my touch screen.

I also tried mapping HW pistons 0-9 to my Content pistons 1-10 and it did work, but there was a problem. The original owner of my instrument ordered Content's Extra Voice module, which uses MIDI In. Because of that, my Content cannot receive MIDI messages from HW. As a result, I could use a Content piston (which I set in HW) to activate stops, but if I added stops by hand and then hit the Content piston again to return to the original registration, it did not work.

Rather than use my Content pistons, I use the stepper function in HW. I set up each of my HW instruments as a 30 note pedal, even though I have a 32 note pedalboard. I use the pedal's high F# for minus and high G for plus steppers. This has worked flawlessly. There is very little organ literature that utilizes the full 32 compass of the pedalboard. However, if you ever have a piece that uses those notes, you could temporarily re set the compass.

I hope you find this helpful.
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NickMelb

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostSun Jun 12, 2022 11:04 pm

Thank you both for your replies and welcome.

Mydyde, I will try out that application for querying MIDI inputs. Thanks for that.

voet, that was in ingenious solution, and got me quite excited until 2 seconds later I remembered that my pedalboard only goes to f. Oh well.

Will be interesting to see if the Blueboard 4 pedal switch device works - should arrive tomorrow.

Nick
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NickMelb

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostThu Jun 16, 2022 3:53 pm

Just to update... the iRig Blueboard arrived and despite some tricky problems getting my computer to pair with it (solved with the help of the iRig Blueboard's tech support team over email) it is now working and sitting very nicely just in front of my pedalboard. It has 4 buttons: A = stepper advance, B = stepper reverse, C = general cancel, and I haven't assigned D yet.
The only issue is that the button could be a bit more sensitive, it needs a fairly firm press with my foot.
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IainStinson

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostThu Jun 16, 2022 5:14 pm

Thanks for the update.

How do you power cycle the pedal? Do you have to use the switch on the rear of the pedal?

Iain
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NickMelb

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Re: Content Organs and Hauptwerk

PostFri Jun 17, 2022 1:34 am

Yes I just lift it up, turn it over and switch it on (or off). Because of its size and shape it just happens to fit snugly and doesn't move. Although I'm only just starting out with it - it may turn out to require fixation of some kind when registration changes are more frenetic.

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