The Specification of the Caen instrument

Requirements

The screen resolution of the virtual console is optimized for the 1280x1024 px. The stop jambs are available in two forms: optimized for a single touchscreen, and optimized for a dual touch screen. The memory requirements and HDD space usage are given below.

Screenshots

virtual console	stop jamb for a single touch screen	stop jamb for the left touch LCD	stop jamb for the right touch LCD	bellows and pressures	rank voicing - available also in the Hauptwerk Basic edition

Sample set versions, resolution and memory usage

The samples are available in 24-bit/48kHz resolution, encrypted to prevent the misuse by a third hand. Multiple release samples available: there are 3-4 release samples for the staccato, shorter and longer tones. The sample set is available in three versions: wet, surround and dry.

Wet version

Recording with the original reverberation icluded. AB stereo recording technique was used to capture the sound of the instrument. Multiple releases supported for each sample. The reverberation time is about 5-7 seconds. However, the clarity of the reverberation is unexpectedly high which makes the instrument stand out of the reverb very well. This version of the sample set is therefore well suitable for practicing music.

• RAM consumption:  16-bit, all loops, all releases, memory compression - 6.1 GB, Hauptwerk and OS excluded. All this would fit into 8 GB of RAM, allowing some room to load a portion of the most important stops (fonds or reeds) in 20-bit depth.
• RAM consumption: 16-bit, first loop only, all releases, memory compression - will fit into 6 GB including the OS and Hauptwerk itself.
• HDD requirements: at least 15 GB of free space.
• Screen resolution: at least 1280x1024 px.

Surround version

While the traditional wet sample sets are composed of samples with 2 channels (left, right), the surround recording uses 4 independent channels for each virtual pipe (for each sample). Imagine standing in the church heading the organ. You hear the organ in front of you, but you also hear the reverberation of the church which is all around you, comming to your ears from all the directions. This is how the surround sample set is formed. The sound of the organ is captured by the "front" microphones, the church response by the "rear" microphones. 4 channels are extracted from the recording. Two channels are used to supply the sound of the organ for the front speakers, while the 2 other channels offer the diffused (reflected) sound comming to you from the church. You can use these two channels to feed your surround (rear) speakers. In this way, the realism of the reproduction is greately increased, since you may feel as being "inside" the sound field, experiencing not only left-right dimension of the sound, but also the front-back dimension. You hear the sound of the organ, but also the sound which returns to you from the church nave. Please note, that at least 4 speakers are needed to reproduce the multi-channel audio. Remember to set up the Hauptwerk audio outputs well to accomodate the four channels. The ranks which are designed for the rear channels are marked with the word "rear".

The beta-tester comment on the difference between the Wet and Surround versions: The Wet version is extremely clear and merciless in revealing all the hesitations and errors of the performer - ideal for practicing music. On the other hand, I think it is important to stress that the Surround version adds a lot of warmth to the set and gives more spacious sound.

• RAM consumption: 16-bit, all loops, all releases, memory compression - 11.6 GB, Hauptwerk and OS excluded.
• RAM consumption: 24-bit, all other features enabled : about 22 GB of RAM (reported by user).
• HDD requirements: at least 27 GB of free space.

Dry version

The recording was done close to the pipes so it contains almost no reverberation. The samples were panned in the Hauptwerk ODF to make the spacial differences among divisions and pipes. This sample set may be used well in self-reverberant spaces (such as churches) or it may be mixed with the digital reverb. By the addition of digital reverb you can virtually "move" the organ into various spaces according to your need and your liking. You may try the convolution reverberation using the IR´s offered by our Hauptwerk.cz partners.

• RAM requirements:
  • 24-bit depth -- 3.58 GB while all loops, all releases and the memory compression enabled.
  • 20-bit depth -- 2.67 GB
  • 16-bit depth -- 2.1 GB

FAQ

Why does the virtual organ sound too much out-of-tune? Many users experience pain with the tuning and temperament of the sample sets. If the organ sound too much out of tune to your ears, please do not use the Original Organ Tuning. This tuning features the organ exactly as it was recorded, with all the mistuned pipes. However, there is a special information inherent to samples about their exact pitch. Consequently, Hauptwerk can use it to repitch the pipe. Therefore, to hear the organ in tune, please use any other temperament from the Temperament menu of Hauptwerk (for example equal one which would be most appropriate for Caen). Then, the organ will sound in tune. Nevertheless, still some pipes may be slightly out-of-tune. This is caused by the special feature of Hauptwerk, called random pipe detuning error. Each time the organ is loaded, some pipes are deliberately mistuned by Hauptwerk to emulate the imperfection of every organ. Each time, different pipes may be chosen by Hauptwerk for mistuning. If you do not like this feature and if you wish the organ sound exactly in tune, then, please disable the random pipe detuning mechanism. This is done from the Hauptwerk Organ Settings menu (when the sample set is loaded), using the Audio Engine tab, selecting the Random pipe detuning adjustment textbox, entering any low value into the box. The default is 100, if you wish to disable the function completely, then overwrite it with 0.

Are the G.O. stops  not giving any sound? - do not forget to switch on the fool lever marked Cop. G.O.

Do the stops with the red labels not give any sound? - do not forget to enable the foot levers marked by the red color. These are the appels for every manual and the pedal.

What to do when I hear hiss, especially in the release tails? the samples were denoised perfectly. The hiss is emanating from the digital quantization at lower bit rates. Please, reload the sample set, adjusting all the ranks to 20- or at best 24-bit depth. When loaded in 24-bit depth, the sample set will be virtually noiseless. The remaining noise is the blower noise. If you do not like it, then disable it in the rank adjustment dialog, or lower its volume using the user voicing tab of the sample set.

Why does the swell pedal always return to the default position after I move my hardware pedal controller? The swell pedal is normally mapped automatically to the Hauptwerk virtual controller called "swell general pedal". This works well in many installations. However, in some cases, users report that their swell MIDI controller attaches automatically not to the Caen swell pedal, but to the Caen swell shutters - which causes the problem described.
When the organ is loaded, please go to the Organ menu, open the continuous control dialog box (Connect Continuous Control MIDI inputes to Organ Continuous Controls) and there, on the left side, locate the Swell pedal entry (towards the end of the list) and on the right side of the dialog box attach your continuous controller (pedal) to this entry. Then, locate the Swell shutters entry and delete any continuous controller mapped to it. The configuration is done.