Hauptwerk.cz

a Virtual Pipe-Organ Project

Hauptwerk.cz is a project concerned with the recording, documenting and archiving of the sound of significant musical instruments. The research is localized in the Institute for Classical Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the responsible person for the project is Jiri Zurek, Th.D. It is a satellite of the project CLAVIS which is concerned with the documentation and research of the cultural heritage of the Czech lands.

Hauptwerk software and its virtual models of musical instruments

Hauptwerk is a sophisticated piece of software developed by Martin Dyde which is designed to provide very accurate pipe organ simulation. The sampled real-world organs may be reproduced faithfully in your PC using Hauptwerk.

"Hauptwerk is a generic computer simulation of a pipe organ. It is a computer program into which you can load different pipe organs and play them using a MIDI keyboard or keyboards. In place of, or in addition to MIDI keyboards, you can use a sequencer to control the organ. It is a specialised form of 'virtual sampler', some other examples of which have recently become available with the rapid increase in computer processing power. It receives MIDI data and produces pipe organ sounds using recordings that have been made of a real pipe organ, hence giving very realistic results.

Unlike many home keyboards and professional synthesizers, which are often sample-based, Hauptwerk has been designed to take advantage of the high processing power and relatively low cost of computer memory to give a far more accurate rendition of an organ than is possible on most keyboards, synthesizers or samplers. Whereas synthesizers and samplers usually use a few small samples, recorded at intervals across the keyboard and time-stretched to provide the remaining notes, Hauptwerk uses a large recording for every pipe in the organ..." (Martin Dyde)

For more information about the software, please, see Martin's web site: www.crumhorn-labs.com The full but limited version of Hauptwerk (shareware) is available from Martin Dyde's site.
For more information about the organ sounds available, please, see the link below.