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Hi there. I have my virtual organ put together and up and running for about ten days now. I love it!!! Currently I am running the free version of hauptwerk. Can you give me some thoughts on the basic and the advanced versions? I am so new to this that some guidance will help me to decide which version to get. Thank you so much. If you want to see a picture of my organ for fun, I think I might have successfully loaded a picture into my profile but it is sideways unfortunately. Lol
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The difference between the Hauptwerk Basic and Advanced may be found here:
https://www.hauptwerk.com/learn-more/editions/
The most important difference is the maximum amount of memory supported. This will be a factor in determining which sample sets you'll be able to use. The Basic version will limit you to the smallest instruments.
The other important difference is the voicing capabilities. If you wish to be able to voice your sample sets, you'll need the Advanced version. -
Since the pricing differential is not insignificant, one might consider first checking out if the "Basic" version meets one's needs. If not, a further upgrade from Basic to Advanced is only slightly more (about US$20) than having gone to the Advanced version from the outset.Originally posted by Admin View Post
FWIW, I've found the Basic edition has more than met my own needs (home-only playing for personal enjoyment). Sure, there are a few sample sets where I can't load every single rank, but I rarely use those sets anyhow. There are plenty of outstanding sample sets that fit nicely within the memory limitations.
For example, one can load most of Piotr Grabowski's free organ samples - which are consistently superb - in the Basic edition. I've made donations to encourage him and suggest others who appreciate his efforts do the same ;-)
Donnad, have fun with your new set up! - OneWattComment
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Thank you for your helpful reply:)Comment
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You could go with GrandOrgue. It's free and there are no restrictions on the size of sample sets. There are some great free sample sets available as well.Comment
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Excellent point. In fact, if memory serves, those marvelous Piotr Grabowski samples sets are also available for GrandOrgue too.Originally posted by tbeck View PostComment
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Yes they are. In fact he has just released a new sample set and the GrandOrgue version will be available within a few days. The Giubiasco sample set has become one of my favorites.
The Friesach sample set is larger and quite versatile. An even larger symphonic sample set is the St. John Cantius, Cracov.
The newer sample sets feature multiple releases with sampled tremulants, with blower, tracker and stop action noises (which I don't load... to me they are literally noise). I believe they are as good as many of the expensive commercial sets.Comment
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Do his sample sets run on the free version of Hauptwerk?Originally posted by OneWatt View PostComment
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I haven't used either one, but is there a reason why you pointed out GrandOrgue by name and not mentioned JOrgan? I'm kind of curious because both are free and lots of support exist for them.Originally posted by tbeck View PostComment
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Well, not answering FOR tbeck - he can do that himself - but I think that Piotr Grabowski's excellent sample sets were mentioned as quality, free sets (donation-ware) for Hauptwerk first, so the response was that GrandOrgue has many fine sample sets, too, is free, and also has versions of Piotr's sets freely available. You are welcome to mention jOrgan, which I certainly need to check out one of these days. Peace! :)-- I'm Lamar -- Allen TC-4 Classic -- 1899 Kimball, Rodgers W5000C, Conn 643, Hammond M3, L-102 - "Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself." (Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest​ -) ​ParacelsusComment
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As a jOrgan enthusiast and a creator of some high quality VPO’s for it, using recorded samples, I hope you do investigate it. Although jOrgan is my favourite VPO program, it is the case that it cannot match the alternative VPO Programs regarding the quantity of good “sample sets” it has on offer. This is the penalty of a free program, where there is no commercial return for all the work involved, and no way of protecting that work from “unauthorised” use. So any VPO’s that are created, exist only by the enthusiasm and generosity of the creators.Originally posted by Silken Path View Post
I have worked hard to devise a system of making samples which deals successfully with background noise without degrading the actual sound, and am finally satisfied with the result. I can truthfully claim that after 60 years of looking for a pipe organ substitute which allows me to hear sounds closely resembling what I heard as a teenager learning to play a small tracker pipe organ, jOrgan has helped me achieve that goal. GrandOrgue and Hauptwerk would also allow me to hear those samples, but to have the same success with those programs would involve much more work on my part. (At 79 years of age, for me that is a significant factor!)
Also, jOrgan is probably not as easy to get going, at least for new users. For that reason, I recently created the jORGAN DISCOVERY website to help people get started. It includes links to recordings which showcase what jOrgan can produce. I have drawn attention to its existence in the Announcements section of the Organ Forum.
John ReimerComment
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To answer Horseshoe, I don't know if the Grabowski sample sets run in the free version of Hauptwerk because I don't use it. I don't see any reason to use the free version of HW with all of it's limitations instead of free GrandOrgue without those limitations.
And to Leisesturm, I didn't mention jOrgan because I don't believe the default sound engine, FluidSynth, sounds anywhere near as well as the sound engines of GO or HW. Also, the developer is no longer supporting jOrgan and no else has stepped up to the plate. So jOrgan is basically unsupported at this time.
Someone had ported some of the earlier sample sets of Piotr Grabowski to jOrgan/FluidSynth and in a side-by-side comparison, GO undoubtedly is superior. jOrgan is a fantastic MIDI switching system, but until someone comes up with better sound technology, I won't be using it.
And by the way, thanks Silken Path. Piotr Grabowski does release all of his sample sets for both HW and GO. The sample formats are identical, but of course the definition files are different.Comment
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Well, I don't think any Piotr's current sets will run in the Hauptwerk free or basic version, but I'm not positive about that.
Several of them will run in Grand Orque in 8 GBs RAM and use all of it to load the biggest possible organ, so that's a consideration. I haven't tried GO recently. I'm still smarting from buying the HW Advanced version and then being too poor to get an organ for it. :)
Ah, I see that the green Positif can run in 1.4... Not too inspiring.
Piotr's samples have kept me learning names of stops in different languages, but I haven't found that perfect organ yet. Just my well-worn opinion, but I think that the Walcker Wilderwank is one of the nicest organs I found that runs in the free version. (Other than the Mosely organ that comes with Hauptwerk.)
http://www.pbrd.nl/index.php/vo/samp...ker-wildervank
I wonder if St. Annes' can be switched to 24-bit in the Advanced version?Last edited by Silken Path; 06-20-2018, 08:57 PM.-- I'm Lamar -- Allen TC-4 Classic -- 1899 Kimball, Rodgers W5000C, Conn 643, Hammond M3, L-102 - "Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself." (Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest​ -) ​ParacelsusComment
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Two matters here are inviting comment.Originally posted by tbeck View Post
It is true that Sven Meier has stopped his development of jOrgan. But he has left it in excellent shape. There is some question of its usefulness with recent versions of Mac, but until Mac users tell us of their difficulties, we can't do much about it. The jOrgan Discussion Forum indicates that there is as much use of jOrgan as ever.
I too find the particular VPO's mentioned here, disappointing, but not because of any problem with jOrgan. They have been set up with only 3 samples per octave, and I believe that to be inadequate. jOrgan is quite capable of using 12 stereo samples per octave, but few if any VPO creators are prepared to spend the time involved. My practice is to use 6 mono samples per octave, with very effective sound-stage spread being provided by the soundfont technology. I am very pleased with the result. Perhaps my 79 year old ears have something to do with it. But I don't think so. I am very fussy about what sound actually pleases me.
I speak both as a musician and as an ex-engineer. As a player, I find that the use of release samples makes nonsense of staccato playing, unless a number of alternative release samples have been provided. And as an engineer, I rue the extra complexity which those extra release samples require, plus the extra demands on RAM requirements. I think this is the main reason I prefer jOrgan as a very economical VPO program for both user and VPO creator, allowing the use of very basic computers indeed for the users, and making fewer demands upon the VPO creators.
John ReimerComment
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To clarify, all of Piotr Grabowski's sets run in Hauptwerk (both Free and Basic).Originally posted by Silken Path View Post
It's a matter of how large a sample set one can load - which is limited based on the impairment-by-design feature of Hauptwerk's memory constraints.
Some of them run in their entirety in Free. Most of them run in their entirety in Basic. A few of them require Advanced to load all of the ranks. For those sets, unless using the Advanced version, you would need to decide which ranks you will rarely use and therefore not be loading - and instead load the rest of them.
Hopefully this helps someone avoid confusion on this issue down the road - OneWattComment
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