Dale Ramsey Music

Today, I am happy to say I played my first pieces on the new Hauptwerk vitrual organ. When I last posted, I had assembled and attached and “wired” all the hardware together. We were ready for software installation and configuration of the console. Not having done anything with MIDI before, I was nervous. Turns out, I was quite right about my state of nerves. This is a language all its own. Most of my experience with electronics and computers were of little use to me. I had to lean every so heavily on the manufacturer’s configuration software. Luckily (how often have I used that word!) it worked…finally.

The “minor detour” was again computer related. This time, the DVD/CD optical reader wouldn’t work. Frustrating! I had just gotten it back with a fix of a major problem: a replaced motherboard. At least this was simple and easy. I jumped in my car and went about 8 blocks to Office Max and bought a new one for $48.00. Back in business. Now I could load the necessary software.

The first attempt at configuring the keyboards was partially successful. I was able to make sounds. That was exciting! However, only the Great keyboard and pedal worked properly. The Swell division would play only with strange consequences. First, it would not play at all unless the Sw. to Gt. coupler was engaged. Then, it played–but it played everywhere: on the Sw., the Gt., the Ch., and the pedal–even though I didn’t have those couplers engaged. I double and triple checked the wiring set-up, and there were no mistakes. It had to be that crazy configuration process or the manufacturer’s software that was wrong.

That’s when I wrote for help. Again, luck was with me. The folks at Classic Midi Works had available a complete configuration file for download that matched my exact set-up. All I had to do was download it, and plug it into the configuration software at the right moment. There it was. All was well.

The marriage of Hauptwerk and gear from Classic Midi Works was complete. The organ played like an organ should, mostly. Still a few bugs to work out. 1) The swell shoe works backwards, for one. I am certain that can be straightened out. 2)The touch screen aspect of the monitors need to be calibrated. At the moment, they work, but the location of the touch is way off. That is a matter of running the monitor’s configuration software to square it all up, I’m sure. I have two monitors, and it was fun to discover how to place the two panels of stop jams on either side of the keyboards. Figured that one out.

Much progress. Much happiness. Some work left to do, but I am very pleased. I’ll have some things to say about the organ itself: how it sounds, how it works, etc. in a future post. Soon…