Hauptwerk AU/VST Plug-in Tutorial

Reaper
 1

Tutorial: Applying real-time reverb with Reaper on Mac OS X or Windows (with audio via the Hauptwerk
VST Link, MIDI via the Hauptwerk VST Link)
This tutorial features Cockos' Reaper version 4.76. In this tutorial MIDI is routed between Hauptwerk and Reaper via the Hauptwerk VST Link,
since Reaper fully supports MIDI sys-ex via VST.

Part 1: Setting up Hauptwerk and Reaper

 Launch Hauptwerk.
 Go to the 'General settings | MIDI ports | MIDI IN ports' screen tab. Make sure the MIDI ports that your MIDI organ console is
connected to are ticked for 'Console MIDI IN'. Select 'Hauptwerk AU/VST Link ' for 'Sequencer MIDI IN':

 Go to the 'MIDI OUT ports' tab. Make sure the MIDI ports that your MIDI organ console is connected to (if your console needs MIDI
output for solenoid-actuated/illuminated tabs, etc.) are ticked for 'Console MIDI OUT'. 'Hauptwerk AU/VST Link ' should be ticked for
'Sequencer MIDI OUT':

It's important to understand that MIDI IN/OUT to/from your MIDI organ console goes directly to/from Hauptwerk, not via the VST host. The host
is effectively side-chained via a MIDI loop (unlike conventional AU/VST instrument plug-ins where MIDI to/from MIDI keyboards would go via
the host to the AU/VST instrument).

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 2

 Go to the 'General settings | Audio outputs' screen. Make sure 'Hauptwerk AU/VST Link' is selected as the audio output:

 Exit Hauptwerk (so that you can set up devices in Reaper to avoid conflicting with Hauptwerk).
 Launch Reaper (either 64-bit or 32-bit is fine, although 64-bit should give slightly higher performance). If a 'You have not yet
selected an audio device' prompt appears then click Yes:

 The Reaper Preferences window will then appear with the 'Audio | Device' node pre-selected. Select your audio interface in the
right-hand pane. Make sure 'Request block size' is set to 1024 (for best performance, or 512 if lower latency is especially important)
and that 'Request sample rate' and 'Request block size' are both ticked:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 3

 Still in the Preferences screen, select the 'Audio | MIDI Devices' node in the left-hand pane:

 Double-click on any enabled port entries in the top (MIDI input) and bottom (MIDI output) panes and untick 'Enable …' to disable all
of them, one-by-one, thus making sure that all midi ports (input ports and output ports) are disabled in Reaper:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 4

 This step only applies if you're using Windows: select the 'Plug-ins | VST' node in the left-hand pane. Make sure that the path
Hauptwerk's VST plug-ins were installed to is shown in the 'VST plug-in paths' settings, otherwise click the Add button to select and
add it. The default installation location for Hauptwerk's VST plug-ins is: 'C:\Program Files\Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ VST Link
Plug-In'. Click the 'Re-scan' button if you needed to add to the path:

 Click OK to close the Preferences window.

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 5

Part 2: Creating a Reaper template project

 Select 'File | New project' in Reaper:

 Go to 'Insert | Virtual instrument on new track …' and select 'VSTi | VSTi: Hauptwerk VST Link 64-bit (Milan Digital Audio) (32 out)'
(or 32-bit if using 32-bit Reaper):

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 6

 Click OK.
 The 'Build Routing Confirmation' prompt will then ask whether to add tracks for all 16 stereo outputs from Hauptwerk:

 Click Yes (although the additional tracks will only be useful if you're using multi-channel audio output in the Hauptwerk Advanced
Edition). Tracks will appear in Reaper for MIDI (the first) track and then one for each of the 16 stereo audio outputs from the
Hauptwerk VST Link plug-in:

 Launch Hauptwerk.
 Load St Anne's.

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 7

 Turn on some stops and click some keys. You should hear the pipe sound through Reaper and see the level meters move in
Reaper's tracks/mixer:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 8

 Make sure the first track ('Hauptwerk VST Link …') is selected in Reaper then click on 'in'/'out' button on the track (next to the
speaker icon) and select 'Record: output | Record: output (MIDI)'. This tells Reaper that the track should record MIDI from
Hauptwerk:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 9

 Click on the 'HW 01/02' track's 'in'/'out' button and change its selection to 'Record: output | Record: output (stereo)'. This tells
Reaper to record audio from the Hauptwerk output, including any reverb effects that you might have applied:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 10

 If you're using multi-channel audio output with the Hauptwerk Advanced Edition, then repeat the last step for each of the remaining
'HW 03/04', ..., 'HW 31/32' tracks:

 Go to 'File | Project templates | Save project as template ...' and name the template 'HauptwerkReaperTemplateProject' or similar,
so that you can use it as a starting point for all future projects:

Part 3: Setting up a Reaper project for the virtual organ (sample set)

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 11

 Select 'File | Project templates | HauptwerkReaperTemplateProject '(or whatever you named your template) in Reaper:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 12

 Go to the 'File | Project settings … | Project Settings' screen tab. Tick 'Project sample rate' and set the sample rate setting to the
same as that of the sample set (virtual organ) you will be using for this project (usually 48000 Hz or 44100 Hz; for St. Anne's you
should select 44100 Hz):

 Click OK.
 Launch Hauptwerk.
 Load St Anne's.
 Turn on some stops and click some keys. You should hear the pipe sound through Reaper and see the level meters move in
Reaper's tracks/mixer:

If you want to apply reverb to this organ:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 13

 In Reaper, click on the 'fx' button for the 'HW 01/02' track/mixer channel strip. An 'Add FX to: Track 2 "HW 01/02"' window will
appear:

 Select 'VST | VST: ReaVerbate (Cockos)'. Click OK. This adds Reaper's basic algorithmic reverb effect to the first two audio output
channels from Hauptwerk.

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 14

 Play some keys in Hauptwerk and move the 'Room size' slider in the ReaVerbate plug-in and you should be able to hear the
reverb's character change:

 Instead of using the 'VST | VST: ReaVerbate (Cockos)' plug-in, you could alternatively use the 'VST | VST: ReaVerb (Cockos)' plug-
in, which provides convolution-based reverb (more realistic but a bit more involved to use). If you have other reverb/convolution
VST plug-ins installed you could use those instead too. On Mac OS X 'AU | AU: Apple: AUMatrixReverb' is another popular
algorithmic reverb, which will be present on OS X if you have Garage Band (part of iLife and the Mac Box Set) installed:

 Close the window when you're happy with the reverb settings.
 If you're using multi-channel audio output from Hauptwerk, you can also add reverb to some or all of the other audio output
channels from Hauptwerk by clicking on the 'fx' buttons for the other track/mixer channel strips. Each Hauptwerk stereo output
(track/mixer strip) can have different effect settings, so you can make the reverb slightly different for each channel pair, for example
to make different pipes/ranks sound like they are sounding from different positions in the virtual acoustic space.
 When you're happy with the reverb settings, save the project with a meaningful name that includes the name of the virtual organ
you configured it for ('File | Save project as …'). Then you can load that Reaper project whenever you want to use that particular
virtual organ so that the reverb is configured appropriately for that particular organ:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 15

 Repeat the steps in part 2 of this tutorial for any other organs (sample sets) for which you want to apply reverb (or you can instead
just create one project for each distinct combination of sample rate and reverb settings, for example you might create a project
named 'Hauptwerk44100HzOrganWithCathedralReverb').

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 16

Part 4: Recording audio from Hauptwerk including reverb effects applied in Reaper

 Make sure Hauptwerk is running with the organ you want to use loaded (for example St. Anne's).
 Make sure Reaper is running with the project for the organ you want to use loaded (for example 'StAnnesWithBasicReverb' from the
example in the previous part of this tutorial).
 Make sure that the circular red button is not lit on the first 'Hauptwerk VST Link ...' track in Reaper. Click on it to turn it off it is lit.
This ensures that MIDI will not be recorded.
 Make sure that the circular red button is lit on the 'HW 01/02' track. This ensures that audio will be recorded for the track:

 If you're using multi-channel audio output from the Hauptwerk Advanced Edition, repeat the last step to ensure that recording is
armed for all of the remaining 'HW 03/04', ..., 'HW 31/32' tracks.

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 17

 Click on the circular red record button on Reaper's transport bar (in the middle of the screen, above the mixer strips):

 Draw some stops and play some keys in Hauptwerk so that some sound is produced, then press the stop button on Reaper's
transport bar. Reaper will ask you whether to save the recording. Click 'Save All':

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC

 18

 Exit Reaper and Hauptwerk when you're finished with the recording(s).
 You can then find the resulting audio recordings (in .WAV format) in the 'REAPER Media' sub-folder of your operating system's
home folder:

Copyright Milan Digital Audio LLC