Introducing Console Craft Motion & Announcing the Free Release of Console Craft Professional.
Dear Hauptwerk Community,
I am excited to share a major update regarding Console Craft, the modern ODF editing suite for Hauptwerk sample set creators, along with a special announcement for the entire community.
The Problem: Realistic Key & Pedal Animations
One of the most persistent visual challenges for sample set creators is faithfully reproducing the down state of a manual key or pedalboard note.
Because you cannot easily photograph a key mid-press during recording, most creators resort to placing a drop shadow or dark overlay over the key image to simulate movement. While functional, this lacks true mechanical realism. A physical key doesn't just get darker, it pivots down on a hinge, creating true perspective warping. The difference in visual realism between a flat shadow overlay and genuine perspective-driven key movement is night and day.
Introducing: Console Craft Motion
To solve this exact challenge, I am launching Console Craft Motion, a specialized tool designed specifically to transform organ manual keys and pedalboard notes from their up state to a realistic down state.
By applying true perspective warping and key-hinge mechanics rather than standard dark overlays, Console Craft Motion allows you to generate authentic, high-quality key press graphics in seconds, raising the standard of realism for Hauptwerk sample set UI design.
Download @ https://consolecraftapp.gumroad.com/l/ilamlo
Video Demo @ https://youtu.be/pPfIGxRAd5I
Big News: Console Craft Professional is Going Free.
In addition to introducing Motion, I have decided to release Console Craft Professional, with its complete, uncompromised feature set, 100% free to the community.
The app is currently 95% complete and actively undergoing final testing to ensure stability before public release.
Here is a glimpse of what is included in the Console Craft Professional release:
Custom Graphical Interface & Display Pages
Multi-Page Custom Consoles: Support for up to 6 custom console tabs with unique background images and dual landscape/portrait placement rules per control.
Style Library & Pixel Precision: Multi-stage image support, custom masks, and custom keyboard/pedalboard graphics to replace Hauptwerk defaults (with automatic page fallbacks).
Global Setup & Architecture
Organ Metadata & Layouts: Flexible scaling with native dual-layout support (landscape/portrait) that auto-adapts to multi-monitor or touchscreen setups.
Audio Engine Configuration: Output sample rate adjustments from 22,050 Hz up to 96,000 Hz.
Combination Systems: Built-in general (20) and divisional (20 per division) combinations, master capture switches, steppers, and safe automatic schema migrations for older projects.
Ranks, Samples & Voicing
Flexible Rank Unification: Core rank definitions supporting multi-rank stops, rank borrowing/unification, percussive vs. sustaining behaviors, and silent external ranks for physical pipework or MIDI expanders.
Native Sample Referencing: Auto-populates folder paths and pitch data for both standard .wav and encrypted .hbw packages.
Acoustics & Voicing Controls: Deep per-rank adjustments across key compasses, including volume, fixed/randomized pitch detuning, harmonic filters, wind modulation, and custom reverb-tail truncation.
Dynamic Sample Selection: Automatic staccato/portamento sample selection based on note duration, plus distinct release sample choices (short vs. medium vs. main).
Divisions, Couplers & Wind Dynamics
Expanded Divisions: Up to 16 divisions (7 standard manuals/pedal + 9 non-standard internal divisions) with independent MIDI routing.
Physical Wind Simulation: Comprehensive wind reservoir modeling, including bellows resonance, damping, and pressure drops under load, or an optional 6" static supply.
Couplers & Action Logic: Standard and custom couplers with arbitrary mutations, reiterating triggers, tracker-style coupling levels, and compound division routing.
Enclosures & Expression: Swell box models featuring shutter inertia lag, internal pressure/leakage physics, and per-rank frequency response filtering.
Controls, Tremulants & Realism
Synthetic & Sampled Tremulants: Synthetic depth/frequency models alongside real tremmed-sample rank switching with note re-triggering.
Noise Mechanics: Dedicated key-action noise ranks (press, release, sustain) with random/fixed pitch triggering, plus sound effects for blowers, clunks, and ambient noise pools.
Pistons & Reversibles: Reversible pistons and momentary hold-to-trigger controls for theatre organ effects.
Dedicated Workflow Enhancements
Package & Rank Browsing: Automated package detection that populates sample paths and noise rank fields directly, eliminating the need for manual XML editing.
Real-time Preview & Validation: In-app audio/MIDI previews for rank voicing and tuning, plus a plain-English "Validate Project" check before launching in Hauptwerk.
Workflow Safety: Visual layout editing for alternate orientations, round-trip XML importing, automatic project snapshots on export, and a raw XML paste fallback for custom edge cases.
What's Next?
We are putting the final touches on testing to ensure everything runs smoothly. Stay tuned for the official download link coming very soon.
Thank you all for your support of Console Craft. I look forward to seeing the incredible sample sets the community builds with these new tools.
