Audio interface for Hauptwerk

[Cristian Jorge Amadeo Kus]

Hi,
I recently got my midi pedalboard, assembled it, got everything running, and i found that the sound was pretty terrible using my onboard audio card. I was wondering if getting a audio interface would help with the issue, i would like at least to sound like those Hauptwerk videos on youtube. I'm on a budget so i was considering getting this: BEHRINGER U-PHORIA UMC202HD
Any advice?
thanks

[Moller Artiste]

Hi,
I recently got my midi pedalboard, assembled it, got everything running, and i found that the sound was pretty terrible using my onboard audio card. I was wondering if getting a audio interface would help with the issue, i would like at least to sound like those Hauptwerk videos on youtube. I'm on a budget so i was considering getting this: BEHRINGER U-PHORIA UMC202HD
Any advice?
thanks

I'm using an 8 channel PreSonus Firestudio Project for my MIDI/audio device. It has been in operation about 3 years and I have had no problems with the unit. Allen

[Cristian Jorge Amadeo Kus]

Hi thanks for reply, but what i don't understand is would it actually help? I don't understand why i can hear nice hauptwerk recordings on youtube with my cheap headphones, but when i use hauptwerk myself it sounds so bad.

[Doddy.van.Straaten]

Hi thanks for reply, but what i don't understand is would it actually help? I don't understand why i can hear nice hauptwerk recordings on youtube with my cheap headphones, but when i use hauptwerk myself it sounds so bad.

Do you use the same PC for viewing those nice youtube videos? If you play a CD on the PC does that sound good or bad? If the answer is that the quality is still poor then you obviously have a soundcard issue.

If it is only Hauptwerk that is the problem, then investigate your installation - a description of the problems will help here as we cannot possibly judge what the problem is without a full and exact description of what is not working for you. Symptoms, sounds - describe what is actually happening. What version of Hauptwerk are you using?, what instruments do you have loaded on Hauptwerk?

is the soundcard part of the PC's motherboad or a seperate sound card installed on the PC bus? If so, does the specification of the soundcard meet the minimum requirements specified by Hautwerk for correct operation, do you have enough memory installed on the PC, does your PC have enough processing power to actually run Hauptwerk correctly?

[Cristian Jorge Amadeo Kus]

Do you use the same PC for viewing those nice youtube videos? If you play a CD on the PC does that sound good or bad? If the answer is that the quality is still poor then you obviously have a soundcard issue.

If it is only Hauptwerk that is the problem, then investigate your installation - a description of the problems will help here as we cannot possibly judge what the problem is without a full and exact description of what is not working for you. Symptoms, sounds - describe what is actually happening. What version of Hauptwerk are you using?, what instruments do you have loaded on Hauptwerk?

is the soundcard part of the PC's motherboad or a seperate sound card installed on the PC bus? If so, does the specification of the soundcard meet the minimum requirements specified by Hautwerk for correct operation, do you have enough memory installed on the PC, does your PC have enough processing power to actually run Hauptwerk correctly?

Hi
Yes i'm using the same pc and the bad quality seems to happen with any vst organ sampler i tried (Hauptwerk, Grandorgue, Kontact 5), but other audio sounds normal(videos, ect). What i mean that it sounds bad is that it's just low quality as if it was 8 bit. I'm running on a i7 7700hq with 16gb of ram, also tested a pc with i5 3570k and 8 gb of ram, both cases with their onboard sound cards, and the result was pretty much the same. It's not that it's impossible to use, but it's ugly. I got to 10ms response time using asio4all driver. I tried the StAnnesMosely organ that comes with Hauptwerk and also the Strassburg free organ from piotrgrabowski.pl
the version of Hauptwerk is 4.1.1.012

[andyg]

Internal soundchips aren't really designed to meet the demands of things like virtual instruments. They're intended for playing back straightforward audio. So you should probably invest in a decent quality ASIO capable audio card or external audio interface. ASIO4ALL is good, but doesn't always work well or sometimes at all. 10ms in ASIO4ALL might be pushing a Realtek chip (which it almost certainly will be) to its limits. Consider increasing the buffer size up from what it is to see if things improve, the latency will increase, of course. But... this is pipe organ emulation and it would be natural to have rather more than 10ms delay in real life. If you can't yet cope with, say, 50ms, then a bit of practice will soon sort that out! I've had to play pipe organs with almost half a second delay and some with different delays from different pipe chambers - that's challenging!

Back to ASIO4ALL - I have a high spec laptop that it just won't work with but a lower spec laptop where it works fine with around 20ms latency. A proper ASIO card and driver combination will let you get down to that 10ms with ease - the ones in this PC will go down to less than that! You'll also find that the DACs in the ASIO capable cards will be higher quality and the overall sound will be better.

[Doddy.van.Straaten]

Hello Cristian

Andy G is 'on the button' so to speak. I did not use the internal PC audio chip either. Although from your original post, I think you have already worked that out for yourself.

Since you have stated that you have an i7 7700hq. the choice is to either purchase the USB connected device you already mentioned, or if you have the space, installing an internal sound card using the i7's PCi Express internal bus.

There are many to choose from on Amazon . . . https://www.amazon.com/pci-express-s...20sound%20card

If you go the internal sound card route then please make sure you have the processing capacity and physical memory required to load the Hauptwerk software samples on the soundcard itself (see below for Hauptwerks Audio Forum web link) you might want to have a look here before you purchase anything.

http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewforum.php?f=3

[John Kinkennon]

I am not aware of an internal PCIe soundcard which will provide a quality ASIO output. Not saying there isn't one, but likely it will cost a lot more than the $20 cards. A two channel external USB audio interface (for ASIO audio) can be had for $99 to $150. Look at Presonus or Focusrite for example. I love my Behringer studio monitors, but folks including myself have had problems with the Behringer interfaces. ASIO4All is NOT a substitute for a quality interface either. Not meaning to be the Grinch here. For those fortunate enough to own a Mac they already have quality two channel outputs at the headphone jack. Apple's Core Audio works fine with virtual instruments such as Hauptwerk.

[Doddy.van.Straaten]

For those fortunate enough to own a Mac they already have quality two channel outputs at the headphone jack. Apple's Core Audio works fine with virtual instruments such as Hauptwerk.

See the OP's problem . .

https://www.organforum.com/forums/sh...l=1#post495360

[Cristian Jorge Amadeo Kus]

I am not aware of an internal PCIe soundcard which will provide a quality ASIO output. Not saying there isn't one, but likely it will cost a lot more than the $20 cards. A two channel external USB audio interface (for ASIO audio) can be had for $99 to $150. Look at Presonus or Focusrite for example. I love my Behringer studio monitors, but folks including myself have had problems with the Behringer interfaces. ASIO4All is NOT a substitute for a quality interface either. Not meaning to be the Grinch here. For those fortunate enough to own a Mac they already have quality two channel outputs at the headphone jack. Apple's Core Audio works fine with virtual instruments such as Hauptwerk.

I was about to settle with the UMC202HD, which has native Asio driver. Is it a bad card? Otherwise i might just the the Scarlett solo.

[Doddy.van.Straaten]

Both of these are recording devices. Besides, it may be prudent not to spend any money unless you diagnose the underlying problem.

As John McKennon has pointed out, further supported by posts on the Hauptwerk forum, MACs have very good audio output quality.

I suggest you register on Hauptwerks forum if you have not already done so and post a mail to Martin Dyde outlining your problem.

[John Kinkennon]

Since the UMC202HD is a generation newer than the Behringer models which had been problematic for some of us, it is possible that the UMC202HD may prove perfectly satisfactory. I've had good experiences for the most part with Behringer but the previous interfaces were an exception.

Both the UMC202HD and the Scarlett Solo are appropriate choices to use with Hauptwerk. I use the larger Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 and it works well. These interfaces are not just for recording but they can certainly do that as well. They provide both input and output using the ASIO audio specifications.

[Doddy.van.Straaten]

Since the UMC202HD is a generation newer than the Behringer models which had been problematic for some of us, it is possible that the UMC202HD may prove perfectly satisfactory. I've had good experiences for the most part with Behringer but the previous interfaces were an exception.

Both the UMC202HD and the Scarlett Solo are appropriate choices to use with Hauptwerk. I use the larger Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 and it works well. These interfaces are not just for recording but they can certainly do that as well. They provide both input and output using the ASIO audio specifications.

John, he has not got Hauptwerk running correctly in the first place, had he not investigate that problem first before splashing out on what may be a fools errand?

[Cristian Jorge Amadeo Kus]

Hi, thanks everyone for your insight,
This is me playing a fugue with Hauptwerk: https://soundcloud.com/cristian-jorg...ptwerk/s-0EcAB
It actually sounds quite better than just playing in real time. I'm not sure what to make of this information.

[John Kinkennon]

John, he has not got Hauptwerk running correctly in the first place, had he not investigate that problem first before splashing out on what may be a fools errand?

It is never a fool's errand to install an external audio interface, typically USB, for a Hauptwerk installation when using a PC instead of a Mac. That's a basic requirement whether or not it solves all the user's issues. In ten years of Hauptwerk use and active participation on the HW forum I have yet to stumble onto a successful installation that utilized native Windows PC audio. So my advice is based on experience with HW, AV, and a career doing electronics and UNIX support. Start with the appropriate equipment or Hauptwerk will become an extremely frustrating experience.