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New Builder Questions


Our church's Rodgers organ (360, I think, vintage 1987) has finally decided it wants to retire. A new one will be very expensive, so I'm looking for other options. My first question for this group is where to ask my various questions. From scanning through a few topics, it's not clear this is the right place for newbie builder questions, but maybe I'm wrong. I hope so.

Anyway, here are the first few questions I have:

I'm not an organist, but am reasonably proficient with computers and A/V gear. I've read Hauptwerk Explained and found it quite informative.

First question. After I finish building this, and years down the road if the church needs service on the instrument, how can they find someone if I'm no longer around? (We're in the greater Portland, Oregon, area.

Another question is relates to software updates. The church does not have a connection to the Internet. Can I download an upgrade on another computer, save it to either a USB stick or a DVD, then take it back to the church and install the update? If not, can I take the organ's computer to somewhere with an Internet connection, install the update, and the take the computer back to the church?

I run Linux on my machines at home. I do have a virtual machine running Windows 7. Will that be adequate to start with the free version of Hauptwerk. I'm sure it won't be as good as using a native computer, but would it work at all? From reading Hauptwerk Explained, and from other things I've heard over the years, I expect eventually to look for a Mac for the project.

Thanks for any help, including where I should be asking these questions if here is the wrong place.

by OregonOrgan
Jan 19, 2018 02:30 PM

Replies (6)

RE: New Builder Questions


Hello fellow Oregonian,

I helped install and play a Hauptwerk organ at my church not too far from Portland. I prefer not to have the PC connected to the internet. In the past I've taken the PC home and did all the updates there and then brought it back. However, it's working very well right now, so I have no plans to do any more updates for the time being.

There are many much more knowledgeable people than I that can answer your other questions. I would recommend visiting the Hauptwerk forums for more help... http://forum.hauptwerk.com/

Also, visit John's website if you'd like to consult a local guy (Vancouver) who helped me a ton... http://kinkennon.com/
by Tweedle_Dee
Jan 20, 2018 08:22 PM

RE: New Builder Questions


Thanks, Tweedle Dee. I appreciate yoru advice. I'll checkout the Hauptwerk forum, and also look into kinkennon.com.

I'm glad to know updates can be done away from the bulk of the instrument.

As I said, I'm more of a Linux guy than a Mac guy. Are you using a PC? If so, have you noticed an issues related to latency?
by OregonOrgan
Jan 20, 2018 08:30 PM

RE: New Builder Questions

OregonOrgan wrote:

Thanks, Tweedle Dee. I appreciate yoru advice. I'll checkout the Hauptwerk forum, and also look into kinkennon.com.

I'm glad to know updates can be done away from the bulk of the instrument.

As I said, I'm more of a Linux guy than a Mac guy. Are you using a PC? If so, have you noticed an issues related to latency?

High latency is usually caused by a cheap audio interface or a driver problem I believe. I use a MOTU24Ao via USB and have perfectly acceptable latency and have never heard a complaint from other visiting organists. My first Hauptwerk home setup had very high latency, but I was using my crappy laptop soundcard!

by Tweedle_Dee
Jan 20, 2018 09:32 PM

RE: New Builder Questions

Tweedle_Dee wrote:

High latency is usually caused by a cheap audio interface or a driver problem I believe. I use a MOTU24Ao via USB and have perfectly acceptable latency and have never heard a complaint from other visiting organists. My first Hauptwerk home setup had very high latency, but I was using my crappy laptop soundcard!

I'll keep that in mind as I move ahead.

I have some free time this morning, so I'm moving my questions over to the Hauptwerk forum.

Thanks for your replies.

by OregonOrgan
Jan 26, 2018 12:17 PM

RE: New Builder Questions

OregonOrgan wrote:

Our church's Rodgers organ (360, I think, vintage 1987) has finally decided it wants to retire. A new one will be very expensive, so I'm looking for other options. My first question for this group is where to ask my various questions. From scanning through a few topics, it's not clear this is the right place for newbie builder questions, but maybe I'm wrong. I hope so.

Anyway, here are the first few questions I have:

I'm not an organist, but am reasonably proficient with computers and A/V gear. I've read Hauptwerk Explained and found it quite informative.

First question. After I finish building this, and years down the road if the church needs service on the instrument, how can they find someone if I'm no longer around? (We're in the greater Portland, Oregon, area.

Another question is relates to software updates. The church does not have a connection to the Internet. Can I download an upgrade on another computer, save it to either a USB stick or a DVD, then take it back to the church and install the update? If not, can I take the organ's computer to somewhere with an Internet connection, install the update, and the take the computer back to the church?

I run Linux on my machines at home. I do have a virtual machine running Windows 7. Will that be adequate to start with the free version of Hauptwerk. I'm sure it won't be as good as using a native computer, but would it work at all? From reading Hauptwerk Explained, and from other things I've heard over the years, I expect eventually to look for a Mac for the project.

Thanks for any help, including where I should be asking these questions if here is the wrong place.

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.

by jtadams
May 3, 2018 07:47 AM

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.

by OregonOrgan
May 3, 2018 10:26 AM

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