About My Hauptwerk Home Organ

12-18-2005
I've been able to make a couple microphone recordings of the Home Organ. I don't have top quality recording equipment, but the result is not too bad. It at least gives an idea of the sound of the organ live. Unfortunately, there is a whole lot of background noise. The mikes picked up just about everything. The most noise is from the furnace blowing air into the room. It's just too dog-gone cold now to shut it down.

Each tune is recorded dry and then with the room's Lexicon reverb system on.

The HW/computer recordings sound a lot better than the miked ones, but the actual sound of the live organ is really a lot better than the recordings might suggest.

12-14-2005
I have finally gotten a Hauptwerk Organ playing from my Rodgers console. After quite a bit of tweaking, the sound is VERY nice. I now like the sound of the live organ through speakers better than the sound I hear through headphones.

So far, the mp3 files of this organ are recorded through Hauptwerk's recording process. I will be trying to record the live organ using microphones, but I'm not sure yet how well that will work.

The organ is as completely dry as I can make it, so the mp3 files have no reverb and are not intended to be examples of great organ sound. But rather the mp3's will give a way to compare the computer recorded sound to the live sound, eventually (I hope).

The specs of the organ are provided showing where the various ranks come from. Also, the ODF (organ definition file) is offered for download. I've included some photos of the organ setup.

Home Organ MP3 Files for Download

PHOTOS

Comments	Photos
The left side of my home organ case. The larger M-Audio powered speaker on top is used for the Hauptwerk organ. The other smaller M-Audio powered speaker are for the room reverb system. (Duplicated on the right as well)
A front view of my home organ case. Ten pairs of stereo speakers are on shelves behind the wooden screens. They reproduce the ranks from the 4 Ahlborn modules, 4 ASR-10 samplers, and 2 Viscount modules.
The right side of the organ case duplicates the speakers on the left side.
This is a view of the back of the Rodgers console with the Gateway GT5012 computer.
The 17" LCD display of the Hauptwerk Home organ.
Some of the electronics. The top two modules are Ensoniq DP-4's which are used to delay the outputs of the Ahlborn and Viscount modules to match the latency of the Hauptwerk organ.
More electronics. Another DP-4, the low echo mixer, two midi patch bays, and a mixer for the room reverb system. The ASR-10 samplers have compatible latency and don't need delaying.
The Hauptwerk organ goes through the M-Audio speakers facing front, AND through these large RTR speakers facing to the sides.
With the grill cloth removed, the 24" woofer, 15 midranges, and 18 tweeters are shown. Note the yard-stick for size comparison.