RE: New Builder Questions
jtadams wrote:
Linux geek here. (This won't make sense to any other kind.) But to answer a question I didn't see answered by others: VMs tend to introduce significant latency. It might be worth giving it a try, but I'd be surprised if it worked well. I love Linux also, but Hauptwerk doesn't support it at this moment AFAIK. I very much wish it did, but it doesn't, so you'll want a Windows or Mac machine, 64 bit, with lots of RAM. You may need a network connection temporarily to activate your license, but not afterward. You can try tethering from your phone if it supports that and a cheap WiFi dongle; that may be easier than moving the whole computer Now, to answer a question you didn't ask, but I would in your situation. Will it run in WINE? The answers on WineHQ suggest probably not. I have heard others say that the basic functionality for non-encrypted samplesets can be made to work, but no one I know of has gotten encrypted sample to work because something about the dongle is completely unsupported in WINE. I'd be very happy to find out I'm mistaken on any of these points. But that's the situation as far as I'm aware today.
Thanks for the info. As it turns out, a much less expensive solution presented itself. We were given a Johannus Opus 37. All we had to do was pay to move it, add an external amplifier, and have it voiced. We were able to reuse the Rodgers speakers. At first we just used a pair of column speakers. Something was missing and I thought to add the other speakers, but could not do it because of an impedance issue with the amplifier. The amp has A and B speaker terminals. I was going to wire the additional speakers to the B terminals. But the amp manual warns that those speakers will be paralleled with the A speakers so both must be 8 ohms or more to avoid going below 4 ohms, which is a requirement for the amp, and since the Rodgers speakers are 5.3 ohms each, the result would be well under 4 ohms. Then I realized that if I wired the speakers in series I would have 10.6 ohms. So I wired the column speakers in series with one another, and wired the remaining speakers in series with one another. That solved the issue of something missing.
The way the auditorium is set up, there is a platform with walls that come about 1/4 of the way into the room. The podium is centered on the platform and a small set of pipes is on a wall behind the podium. We would have to spend around $5000 to have the pipes hooked up to the Johannus organ. We decided that since the Opus 37 is a digital organ we would forgo listening to the pipes. There is no expression capability for those pipes, so they were only usable during postludes. I like real pipes as much as the next guy, but these are really too much for the small auditorium we have. We'll keep them for looks, but not connect them to the Opus 37. The column speakers I mentioned are hung on the back side of the two short walls and angled towards the wall with the pipe chamber. In with the pipes are three Rodgers speakers, two stacked on one side, and one on the other, all behind the pipes. The chamber walls are angled so that the two on the left aim towards the right, and the one on the right aims towards the left, but essentially the three of them are directed into the auditorium. I'm guessing this is where most of the missing sound comes from. The fourth speaker sits back in a corner behind the wall with the pipes and aims sort of out towards opening between the short walls and the pipe chamber wall. Another guess, but I suspect it acted like a sub woofer for the Rodgers.
I've seen the backs of these Rodgers speakers. They are open, and there's a label that identifies the impedance of each box as 5.3 ohms. The one thing I don't know, and can't easily determine is how the three speakers in with the pipes are wired together. There is one wire pair coming from them at the organ. They could all be in parallel, or they could all be in series, or two of them could be in parallel and in series with the third one. But since I put them in series with the fourth box I know I have at least 5.3 ohms plus whatever those three are, and thus it's safe for the amplifier.
We've had the organ working for a few weeks with just the column speakers, and were mostly happy with it. I came to the realization I could wire the rest of the speakers in last week. The difference is noticeable, and I've been getting favorable comments from members of the congregation.
So, while it would be great fun, I'm no longer going to pursue rebuilding the Rodgers and will start a new thread offering the console, foot pedals, and bench for free, F.O.B Lake Oswego, Oregon, to any builder who would like to have them.
Thanks to all for your advice.