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NYMetro EMS
NY Metro Emergency Musical Services
Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ Services

               
    My name is Kenneth A. Farnum, Jr., organist and music director of 
St. Mary Star of the Sea on City Island (Bronx, NY).  In addition to my music ministry,
I have worked for over thirty years as a full-time musician and piano tuner/technician 
for schools, churches and institutions throughout the tri-state area. 

    As an organist, I have played in dozens of churches over the years and have 
encountered many situations where the church's original pipe organ is either in dire need 
of repair, in varying stages of disrepair with limited capabilities, or simply not functioning.  
In every case, the cost to repair and maintain the instrument is financially astronomical.  

    As a result, there has been an increasing trend toward using substitutes.  
While these keyboards may be able to reproduce the basic general sound of an organ, 
they are not up to the task of recreating the interactive complexities that even a 
medium-sized pipe organ employs.  Fortunately, due to many advances in technology, 
there is now a financially viable option available to your church that can recreate 
the majestic sounds of a large pipe organ.  

    I would like to invite you, and anyone in your parish who might be interested 
in upgrading your organ, to attend a very brief Hauptwerk™ virtual pipe organ system
demonstration at my church in City Island.  With a new season of weddings fast approaching, 
you will want to act on this project sooner than later!
 
    I am confident that after seeing this very preliminary demonstration of the Hauptwerk™ 
virtual pipe organ software, it will inspire you to consider investing in your congregation's 
overall church service experience.  Whatever options you decide are financially feasible 
for your parish, I am sure a solution can be found with the Hauptwerk™ virtual pipe organ system, 
as it is quite flexible for future expansion. 

    If you are interested in attending a short Hauptwerk™ demo, 
please feel free to call me at the number below or e-mail me at FarnumA440@aol.com.


Cordially yours,


    Kenneth A. Farnum, Jr. 
        PO Box 211
        City Island, NY 10464-0216 

     www.NYMetro-EMS.com/hauptwerk.html      
     (Home): (718) 885-2480 /  (Cell): (917) 805-4699 


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Listen to Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe organs
http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/home/front

HAUPTWERK

Virtual Pipe Organ Software

Product FAQ
Q:

What is Hauptwerk and who uses it?




A:

Hauptwerk is an advanced computer organ system - a virtual pipe organ that takes full advantage of the enormous processing power
of the latest computers to provide very complex pipe organ modeling and per-pipe sound shaping,
while maintaining the enormous polyphony necessary to model a pipe organ successfully. At its core,
Hauptwerk is a powerful and high-performance specialist software sampler, specifically designed
and optimized for modeling pipe organs through the use of MIDI.

Hauptwerk may be used:

  • For study and practice at home by organists, organ enthusiasts and music students.
  • As a church organ, theatre organ, or concert hall organ where a real pipe organ may not be possible.
  • As a high quality sound module to power digital organs and voice expanders.
  • To upgrade old digital/electronic organs to the latest audio technology and realism.
  • In commercial and home recording studios to provide unparalleled pipe organ sound.
  • For music composition and arrangement.
  • For historical organ and music study and research.
  • For making a playable documentary of endangered or valuable pipe organs.
  • As an instrument on which to learn the organ in music schools, colleges, etc.
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Q:

What do I need to use Hauptwerk?
A:

In the very broadest of terms, you need a computer to run it that meets the minimum requirements.
You also need a MIDI keyboard or MIDI organ console and an audio/MIDI interface for the computer.
You will also need amplifiers and speakers (or headphones), and leads to connect everything together.
You might also want one or more third-party instruments to use in Hauptwerk, although a basic 30-stop English organ sample set is included to get you started.

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Q:

What is MIDI?
A:

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

This is a standard protocol for digital communication between two MIDI devices, such as an organ console and a computer.
Any organ or other hardware that sends MIDI output will most certainly be compatible with Hauptwerk.
A simple and inexpensive MIDI cable is all that is needed to connect your MIDI organ to a MIDI interface on your computer to run Hauptwerk.
Most digital organs built after the 1980's will have MIDI output. Please consult the owner's manual of your digital organ if you are not sure of its MIDI capabilities.

Please see our Documentation pages for more information about Hauptwerk's advanced MIDI capabilities.

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Q:

Which operating systems are supported with Hauptwerk?
A:

For a list of supported operating systems please visit the Requirements page.

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Q:

Does Hauptwerk have built-in convolution reverb?
A:

Most instruments available for Hauptwerk include their own original sampled acoustics offering a more realistic spatial impression than any current convolution can offer. Therefore convolution reverb is not required for these instruments and is not available in the current version of Hauptwerk. However convolution reverb is planned as an important enhancement for a future update.

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Q:

Do you offer student or academic discounts?
A:

Hauptwerk is available in three editions, Free, Basic and Advanced. Due to the variety of editions which cater to all budgets we do not currently offer student or academic discounts.

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Q:

Can I use Hauptwerk as a VST or Audio Unit plug-in on a Mac?
A:

Yes, Hauptwerk 4 includes both VST and Audio Unit plug-ins for Mac OS X (and VST for Windows) allowing you to connect Hauptwerk to your audio/MIDI sequencer host program. Step-by-step tutorials are available to guide you through setting up Hauptwerk with several leading programs including Logic Pro, Sonar, Cubase and Reaper.

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Q:

Why does Hauptwerk sound so realistic compared to other digital organs?
A:

Hauptwerk's system is built around the philosophy of using at least one large sample per pipe,
(typically 3-10 seconds of a recorded pipe), all including natural attack and release samples of each individual pipe,
and recorded with a resolution of up to 24 bit 96kHz. Since all samples are recorded chromatically
from a real pipe organ there is no pitch strecthing to "fill in" sections of the keyboard compass.
Every note is an individual and unique pipe recording!

All samples are held in the computer memory (RAM) to achieve a much higher polyphony than is possible with disk-streaming,
commonly used in most samplers. Unlike generic software or hardware samplers, Hauptwerk has complex physical and acoustic models
specifically designed to reproduce the features and sound of a pipe organ, and is thus able to achieve much more realistic results. It is also designed for a much higher polyphony than generic samplers and supports up to 32,768 simultaneous notes!

Many digital organs compromise the quality of the pipe samples to allow them to fit  in a smaller amount of memory. This results in artificial (synthesized) attacks and releases and very short sustaining portions. These factors alone reduce the realism of the overall sound and randomness of a real pipe.

Hauptwerk combines long samples with complex organ modeling to achieve the most realistic sounding virtual organs in the world.

Because of the attention to detail and high quality modeling Hauptwerk has become the popular choice among professional organists and music students around the world!

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Q:

Will Hauptwerk work on my computer?
A:

As long as your computer meets the minimum requirements Hauptwerk should run on your computer. Hauptwerk is available from the downloads page to try before you buy a license. Hauptwerk will run on both PC and Mac computers. Most computers should be able to run Hauptwerk fully, even older Pentium III computers. Hauptwerk is not available for the Linux platform.

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Q:

Can I try Hauptwerk before purchasing it?
A:

We do offer a trial edition for testing the software before you buy it.  The trial edition has some limitations compared to the fully licensed versions however will  allow you to completely test the software to make sure that it performs as you need it to.  The trial edition is available via download or you may order the DVD from our Online store.

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Q:

Which Hauptwerk edition do I need?
A:

Hauptwerk is available in Free, Basic, and Advanced Editions. You may read about these differences here to see which edition of Hauptwerk may be right for you.

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Q:

Is a Hauptwerk organ affordable?
A:

Yes! We like to think that Hauptwerk provides the best sounding organs at one of the most competitive prices on the market today. The versitility of the software approach allows customers to either build up their virtual organ over time as their budget allows, or to get a full console from the beginning. Either way, we feel the sound will far exceed anything you've ever heard and will be a fraction of the cost of most digital and electronic organs.

Due to the large library of instruments available for Hauptwerk, customers may choose instruments based on both their budget as well as their preference of instrument styles including Baroque, Classical, Modern and Theatre organs. This also allows customers to gradually add-on to their organ with new instruments without having to buy a new digital organ or an expensive and inferior sounding pipe voice expander.

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using…

A story of

an old 1980s Allen 700

series organ

A friend of MIDI Boutique recently came to us with a very common intention - to ask us to help him midify his new found treasure. His story began with the end of a friendship and the beginning of a new surprising relationship...
Our friend, let’s call him Jim, lent money to his old,old friend, let’s call him Tom, on the condition that he would pay him back as soon as possible. As often happens, long time went on, and one day Jim found himself in  poor financial circumstances. He needed money and he decided to call Tom and ask him to pay him back. Unfortunately, Tom said that he didn’t even have nearly the amount that he owed. He was even more broke than before and didn’t have anything of value to give to Jim to pay his credit. The only thing that he could give him was an old organ.
Eventually, Jim gave up and accepted the organ. Their friendship was broken, he would never get back his money and on top of it all - he now had this old organ, in which he had no interest in the first place, since he didn’t know anything about organs.
One day his daughter and her new boyfriend came to visit him from another city. When they first met, Jim and the boyfriend had an awkward handshake and introduction (you know, like most first father-boyfriend introducing moments that a girl has at least once in her life). Upon entering Jim’s house, the boyfriend was surprised to see particular piece of Jim’s belongings - the old organ which Jim had put in a corner in his living room and used it as stand to keep potted plants, teacups and books. It turned out  that the boyfriend was an organist, so he asked Jim if he would mind if he tried to play the organ. Jim, very taken aback that someone took this much interest in his old organ, took off the stuff he kept on it and let him play. The boyfriend played a little and it turned out that the organ has a good potential and can easily be revived, so he suggested to Jim to MIDI-fy it. Jim was so inspired by the sound of the organ. The idea that he could do something that would make it sound better excited him. Soon after he found out that playing organ was his new passion that made him so much happy.
So one day, he came to us and told us his story. He explained that the pedalboard already had worn dry contacts, which he would like to replace the contacts with new ones, using our csr32p reed contact system and mpc32mq pedalboard encoder to scan them. Also he explained that the organ had 19 toe pistons. So he asked us to recommend him a board to be able to midify the toe pistons in addition to the pedalboard. Finally, he was interested in possibilities of future MIDI conversion of the two manuals, the 47 stops and the 16 pistons per each of manuals manual.
We are always happy to answer all the questions that our clients have.
We explained him that if he intended to convert entire console to MIDI, then he could use one of our bundles, instead of separate encoders per part.
This could be hwce2-bundle. Of course the pedalboard contact system can be interfaced to this bundle as well, so that he wouldn't need separate encoder for pedalboard. Separate pedalboard encoder would worth it only when there is a need of detachable pedalboard or in order to keep the system modular.
Jim’s  project is now in progress and MIDI Boutique is in now charge of monitoring and online assistance.
Jim may have ruined his friendship with Tom forever and may have never gotten his money back, but the organ came out to be more than he ever thought it would be - Tom had given him a something much more valuable than the money he owed.Accepting the organ instead of money and MIDI-fying it was one of luckiest decisions he ever made.

To be continued...
Dear friends, please feel free to share your stories and photos of your organs with us on sales@largonet.net

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