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Native Instruments B4 II User's Manual

1. 28 B4 Il as Instrument Plug in eere ee eere eene 29 VST AO IU T EU IL 29 Audio UniS PUS tae te ete 31 DARA PIUS 35 Usine BAWIIN Pro TOOS 36 B4 II Ill The User Interface eru peso 37 Usine FP IBSOLS Cla betae WEB 41 Saine 42 The Preset VIEW nae ular 43 46 MIDI RESPONSE 48 The BAasan effects unb E ERN CH VE ER PERI 49 SI 50 ModE iu 55 Creating Your Own 56 Manual VieW CONMOIS i ba qum ca 56 62 Expert View CONTIOIS us 6 Drawbar Programming 022222 74 IETS OY 4 Rc 76 Appendix Keyboard and Mouse Control 7
2. 54 Manual View 38 Microphone 86 BA II REA 72 balante 66 cred 72 all E 66 rotator 65 Separatlo sd oes axo 66 530 22 9 72 66 Ec 28 MIDI lt 46 5 54 MIDI Controller reception 48 MIDI TIO d eed ior 44 MIDI interface 28 MIDI note reception 46 MIDI velocity 48 63 Minimizing Latency 24 cht 20 N NU 14 30 0 Open File button 15 Organ 38 62 Output Device 26 Output Latency uses 26 P mc CE 66 Pedal 61 POPC USS OM 58 GECA 59 69 Etc 59 harmonic selection 69 EE 59 69 orga va 75 er tr oen 18 29 Preset 46 Preset number ees 40 Presets ete 41 10 45 export 45 45 program change
3. d NOIL gt gt Use this option if you have mdi d NEIN NM MIN ll access to the Internet another computer SAVE REGISTRATION FILE e Transfer the HTML to another computer where you have internet access via floppy disk CDR e Open the HTML file in your internet browser e he HTML page contains a link for the registration page on the Native Instruments website When you click on this link an internet connection Will be established according to your system settings e On the first online page you are asked if it is your First Registration at Native Instruments or if you want to do an Additional Registration Register Product Additional Registration Log in with your existing username and password ta add this registration to your account First Registration Your first product registration Select new username e Depending on the option you have chosen on the first online page you now get a login page asking for your username and password or a form where you can fill out your address data Please fill out all required fields and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the registration e Within a few minutes you will receive an email from the Native Instruments registration system containing the Authorization key The Authorization key 15 available in the email body and additionally as text 14 attachment This e
4. column shows the currently set controllers for the parameters shown the Name column Click on the controller number to change Its value Press enter to commit the change The MIDI channel for incoming controllers can be defined with the Controller Channel dial on the bottom of the Setup View The Mode column sets the behaviour of the B4 parameters that can be operated by a switch If Mode 15 on one complete switch release cycle toggles the State of the respective parameter If Mode is off the down state of the switch represents one state of the control in your B4 and the up state represents the other The Mode function 15 not available for controls that need continuous controller input like dials or drawbars Let s assume you want to control your rotor brake with a footswitch With toggle active you have to press and release the footswitch to set the control into brake mode and press and release again to switch back to run mode In switch mode down press switches the brake on and letting go of the B4 11 51 footswitch means run mode It depends parameter to be controlled on your personal taste which Mode setting you should choose For the rotor brake both settings can be useful but you will probably want to use things like Percussion on off with toggle mode Export and import of controller maps is provided via the following commands SMID LEARN LOAD MIDI Learn With this
5. 62 B4 Il Keyclick amount adds an initial bite to the sound that 15 a popular part of the tonewheel sound The bite provided by higher keyclick volumes will add definition to the organ tone especially good for soloing and is useful when the B4 needs to cut through a dense mix The original B3 15 not velocity sensitive With the B4 however you can add variable velocity sensitivity by turning the Velocity knob This is a nice feature to play accentuated riffs and can greatly enhance your organ voice The Leakage parameter simulates a crosstalk between the tonewheel outputs As the value increases the separation of the different tonewheels will decrease resulting in a wider frequency range of the produced tone This simulates an ageing effect Tonewheels tend to get leaky and dolfed in badly maintained B3 organs over the years Use it to your advantage when the sound has to be a bit trashy The Sustain knob in the Pedal Bass section provides control over the volume envelope of the bass pedal sounds If turned completely to the left the bass pedal notes sound only as long as the incoming MIDI note signals dictate The further the knob 15 turned to the right the longer the notes will sound even after the key pedal has been released If you are using a MIDI pedal controller you can use this as a playing aid for held notes The String Organ switch changes the decay characteristics of the bass sustain function In String mode it
6. etd te 50 Audio Interface 2b A dio UNITS 20 31 Plug in Installation 9 Authorization 9 Mo TTE 9 B RC 50 66 oe s 41 bank 60 41 BASS TOLO 72 DUTO TT 22 C puede etas otiose ue 64 BOX editado 65 BaSS sessi 65 65 vet 65 AZZ 65 EAC NNUS 65 gt 65 Rotator 122 Closed 64 Rotator 122 Open 64 Rotator 147 Open 64 SCIECE Olek convas 64 TWANG 65 65 Complete button 13 Control 40 Controllers 51 CC CUM 52 53 export controller map 52 import controller map 52 interactive assignment 52 Invert drawbars 53 Eoo dtu sea ar tux us 52 Miele Rt 51 Rie Kontrol 2 iu ase eta Lois 53 toggle or switch 51 53 Core 20 CUDASO e bi
7. two forms virtual instruments and audio effects Most of you will use II as a virtual instrument but that shouldn t discourage you from also using it as an effect Just plug B4 II into any audio track to use the various cabinets and speakers for signal processing The instructions in the following section can be used to get started with II instrument and your host VST 2 0 Plug In Using the B4 Il in Cubase SX 3 Launch Cubase go to the Devices menu option and select the VST Instruments menu option or press 11 on your keyboard e A window showing the instrument rack appears Click on an empty slot and choose from the available list of instrument plug ins fol B4 Blues The plug in will now appear in your list and automatically be turned It will also create a set of audio channels in your VST mixer that will be used for mixdown within your project This will allow you to mix pan and process B4 II s output just like any other existing audio track in your Cubase song e Click on the Edit button to call up the II interface Here you can control and edit all the features and functions that B4 II has to offer e Now go to the Project page and add a MIDI track if you do not have one already created Siz d OE Go to the Output parameter section for this MIDI Track and click on the field This will create a list of available MIDI out ports to assign to this MIDI trac
8. 4 F 2 a 7 Drawbars and their Harmonics B4 Il 75 Practice Now that we ve reviewed the technical and historical aspects of the tonewheel organ let s use this information to create some useful sounds with the B4 We will use the upper manual to experiment with the organ sound although all of the following concepts will work equally well with the other manuals The only exception is pedalboard programming as the drawbars provided for the bass pedals are missing the highest three drawbars Let s start with a very basic setting Select the Manual view and turn off all of the effects the Percussion Rotator and Vibration switches and the Drive dial This will allow us to hear the pure tone generation without any interference Now push in all of the drawbars and pull out the 8 bar which is the fundamental tone You can now hear the pure frequency of a note The white programming drawbars provide octaves above the fundamental tone If you pull out the white bars you will hear tones 4 two 2 and three 1 octaves above the basic tone Notice how the drawbars act like a mixer allowing you to add the harmonics tones to the output sound The first brown drawbar 16 will also give an octave sound but below the fundamental tone Using the octave drawbars alone and especially the higher octaves 2 and 1 you can produce cheesy organ sounds popular with 60 s and 705 bubblegum pop and a
9. 7 8 PAS DUE OF ce 8 5 224 8 Installing Be MINOS 8 MacOS Audio Unit plug in Installation 9 RTAS aevi teo 9 Product Authorizallofi ccs 9 What is the Product Authorization 9 Conducting the Product 20 0 7 11 Method A computer has direct access to the internet 11 Method B Internet Connection on another computer 13 Method C No Internet Connection 15 Registration SUDDO pev Rex 17 Audio ITER ACES uoce ood ve Exe cvs Tuo Ed Den van ad cara dT west 18 Standalone teda vd En Dau E DEN 18 WOLFE ADOUI Mr a 20 NAS standalone 25 Soundcard Audio 2 20 25 ROUNE 27
10. Second 4 and Third 2 2 3 On the B4 any of the 9 Drawbars can be used as the source for the percussion sound The positions corresponding to the B3 settings are labeled 2 and 3 Note Just like on the B3 the B4 percussion effect Is single triggered meaning that it only starts with the first key pressed and does not retrigger with any notes played legato Only after all upper manual keys are released will percussion trigger again B3 players know how to take advantage of this in their playing technique B4 11 69 Vibrato The Vibrato Mix control determines the type of effect This is continuously variable from Vibrato Mix knob right through Chorus Mix knob centered to almost no effect Mix knob left The Vibrato Depth control determines the amount of vibrato applied to the sound Note The Vibrato And Chorus knob on the Manual View as with the original B3 allows only Vibrato or Chorus effect to be selected at depth settings of 1 2 or 3 The B4 implements continuous controls to provide more subtle use of the vibrato and chorus effects Reverb The Reverb section provides control over the room simulation of your B4 First of all you can switch between a Studio and a Spring reverb The Studio reverb has a clean and smooth character while the spring reverb 15 modeled after the classic reverbs used In guitar amplifiers Both settings can produce lush and harsh sounding reverb effects Simply experimen
11. primarily using lower drawbars with just a touch of higher harmonics and the addition of the percussion sound The difference in use is based on details jazz cats will make a significant number of changes to the Rotator while playing while a house player will typically leave the Rotator at the slow setting using the organ sound as a grooving pad A jazzer will breathe life into the performance by pumping the expression pedal but house music Velocity Sensitivity 15 used for accenting the groove The following settings will give you one of an infinite number of settings used in this genre 8 asp 5 4 2 VA 1 1 B a i a E 1 E n i 3 6 4 3 E 3 a 2 4 2 1 3 2 Finally let s look at a drawbar setting that will be useful for pulling off rock solos addition to the rock pad sound listed above we will want to add both percussion and keyclick sounds The percussion sound is added using the Perc switch but the keyclick has to be added using the Keyclick control on the Organ View Turn up the level of Keyclick and you will hear a bite at the attack of each note This combined with the percussion and a slight bit of overdrive will give you a sound that will bite its way through any mix The above tips are just a start The tonewheel organ system has been in use for several decades and players are still finding new settings t
12. OPERATION MANUAL information in this document Is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Native Instruments Software Synthesis GmbH The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media No part of this publication may be copied reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded for any purpose without prior written permission by Native Instruments Software Synthesis GmbH All product and company names are or trademarks of their respective owners User s Guide written by Thomas Loop Michael Kurz Darwin Grosse Native Instruments Software Synthesis GmbH 2004 All rights reserved B4 Is a trademark of Native Instruments Software Synthesis Nf Native INSTRUMENTS Germany USA Native Instruments GmbH Native Instruments USA Inc Schlesische Str 28 5631 A Hollywood Boulevard D 10997 Berlin Los Angeles CA 90028 Germany USA info native instruments de info native instruments com www native instruments de www native instruments com Of Contents About the Native Instruments B4 eee ee eene eee 5 EUST cece 5 Installation under Windows XP 1 7 Software Installato cane tlc btt va Ct D PRU ER RE 7 sada
13. 15 changed The range of this setting 15 1 to 20 seconds The Spread setting determines the difference between the left and right microphone signals by moving the microphones apart a certain distance This provides a perceived width or stereo spread when the Rotator is spinning With Spread at minimum both mics are in the same place As Spread 15 Increased they move around the speaker cabinet in a circle but in opposite directions With Spread at maximum they are at opposite sides Bass Rotor These control work exactly like the Treble Rotor controls but this time they affect the bass rotor The Single Dual switch offers the possibility to have 2 Rotators running in a stereo setting A single Leslie cabinet is already stereo per se but sometimes more is better With the Dual setup you get 2 complete Rotators spinning In opposite directions and with slightly different speeds for that extra wide sound Finally the Distance control sets the apparent distance between the microphones and the rotors This affects the amplitude modulation of the mic d sound the change in volume as the rotor horn passes the microphone When the microphones are at a small distance there is a lot of amplitude modulation making the sound pulsate 12 B4 II Angle and Distance Controls overhead view Rotator Doppler effect and Amplitude Modulation Sx of the Rotator Sound MN Distance determines C The Spread contr
14. Smoke on the Water was no guitar but a Hammond organ played through a Marshall amp Play harder play louder Reaggae Well known artists Toots and the Maytals The Wailers Desmond Dekker Peter Tosh 82 BA II Hammond can already be heard on legendary Studio 1 recordings from the times when reaggae still was called ska Transistor Well known artists Pink Floyd The Doors Can Iron Butterfly At that time a Hammond Leslie combo was as expensive as a family car But there were alternatives transistor organs made by Vox Farfisa and others The above mentioned bands helped these organs to gain a psychedelic underground reputation Indian Harmonium Well known artists Nitin Sawhney Panjabi MC Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan The Harmonium has a big role in Indian music You can hear it all over the place from classical Raga music to modern Bollywood Bhangra productions B4 1 83 Appendix The B4 Signal Flow Transpose Pedal Sustain Valocity Tonewhee Leakage Tonewhee Select Keyclick Amount Pere Volume Perc Decay Pere Harmonie Vib Mix Vib Depth Amplifier Select Drive Studio Spring Amount Time Size Rur Stop Bright SlowlFast Slow Speed x2 Fast Speed x2 Accelaration xz Spread x2 Balance Pan Distance Air Bass Treble Volume 84 B4 Il ig Nc 19 22 20 Audio MIDI Settings 2b Audio INpUt acce ecco conuat tet 53
15. Split Learn Upper Keyboard Split Learn Lower Keyboard Split On the resulting menu choose Set Upper Keyboard Split to define the upper split point This key and all above it will play the upper manual from now on The keys below it play the lower manual Similarly use the menu entry Set Lower Keyboard Split to set the split point between the bass pedals and the lower manual When Keysplit is activated the split points are shown with markers on the upper manual in the Keyboards View To delete your keyboard splits right click again on the upper manual and choose No Keyboard Split from the resulting menu B4 Il 47 TENE C Transpose 12 CI Transpose Transpose 12 Keyboard Split Set Upper Keyboard Split 51 Set Lower Keyboard Split Learn Upper Keyboard Split Learn Lower Keyboard Split alternative can modify split points on the Setup View Each manual can also be transposed up or down by one octave by right clicking on the respective on screen keyboard and choosing the appropriate transposition settings from the context sensitive menu This also works for the pedals MIDI Response The MIDI response of the B4 15 similar to any standard MIDI instrument Once you have MIDI reception set correctly you will find that the B4 will respond to the complete range of MIDI notes As you play beyond the range of the Stan
16. Track Add similar Tr Mono Audio Track TEA Ede vupriedie n Stereo Audio Track ess d CE C Eee Irach Surround Er R Modify Conductor Track b Aux Track 3EA Add Multiple xU ael Instrument Track Master Fader Track Unassigned TEI Apple DLSMusicDevice stereo B4 ll stereo Native Instruments 9 ID ther Nat nstrument E fi 1 19 im im e Create MIDI track by selecting Project Add Track MIDI Track In Digital Performer s track overview window or in the sequence editor window assign the ouput of this MIDI track to 11 1 a MIDI channel The plug in is now ready to use The mixer of Digital Performer will allow you to mix pan and process B4 II s output just like any other existing audio track al None bL a4 12121 FATCH IAC Driver B4ll 1 2 EN 41 1 4 Mew Device Group 41 1 5 BA II with your keyboard record enable the MIDI track which you have routed to 11 make sure MIDI Patch Through is enabled in the Studio menu of Digital Performer Double click on the II slot in Digital Performers mixing board to call up the B4 interface you can control and edit all the features and functions that II has to offer Note f the product does not appear in the list of available Aud
17. euin 29 D Delete keyboard split 47 Different Types Of ASIO 23 Digital Performer 33 DirectSound ia edet ns 20 Drawbars display options 54 tes 74 Fundamental 74 lower manual drawbars 58 pedal drawbars 57 pipe 1 5 POSITION 54 upper manual drawbars 58 MET 59 63 20 35 Plug in Seb 8 B4 1 85 Effect plugin 49 Expert 39 67 Expression pedal 6l Out Form button 16 Full screen mode 55 G Garage Band 34 H tm odas 74 Interface nasii aiit 25 K Keyboard delete keyboard split 47 set lower keyboard split 47 55 set upper keyboard split 47 55 ossa dicem cda 46 transposition 48 55 Keyboard split 46 Keyclick 63 L Lately a 20 zig oy 21 6 31 Low Latency Drivers 21 Manuals MIDI channel
18. in the Manual View and choosing the respective option in the pop up menu Upper Lower Keysplit If you want to control multiple B4 manuals with one keyboard you can define keysplits Click into the value field and move the mouse up or down to change the note number Upper Lower Keysplit Learn This mirrors a command from the context sensitive right click menu of the Manual View Click the button and press a key on your MIDI keyboard to set the splitpoint between pedals and lower manual Upper Lower Keysplit On Off Click to toggle the upper lower keysplit on and off Lower Pedal Keysplit you want to control multiple manuals with one keyboard you can define keysplits Click into the value field and move the mouse up or down to change the note number Lower Pedal Keysplit Learn This mirrors a command from the context sensitive right click menu of the Manual View Click the button and press a key on your MIDI keyboard to set the splitpoint between lower and upper manual Lower Pedal Keysplit On Off Click to toggle the upper lower keysplit on and off You can also define keysplits in the Manual View Right click on the upper manual to bring up the menu Please refer to the corresponding manual section for further information Full Screen mode If you want to see the B4 without any distractions from underlying windows and other OS controls click the Full Screen button It is located to the right of the Control Center To lea
19. needed for the plug in AU Audio Units This plug in format 15 exclusively for the Macintosh OS X platform and 15 tied closely with the operating system More About Latency As with any digital device including hardware signal processors that convert audio to data and back again a computer adds a certain amount of delay latency when processing audio signals Fortunately with today s computers and low latency sound card drivers this delay can be so small that you can t hear it e g under 3 milliseconds which is about the same delay caused moving your head one meter further away from a speaker However typical 20 B4 Il computers are generally not set up for low latency attempting to play in real time through B4 will probably be unsatisfying because of the delay Any computer based audio system has some delay between the audio input and output As a result if you re playing a MIDI keyboard through B4 II you may hear an annoying delay between the time you hit a key and hear a sound Even the most powerful computer can only do a certain number of calculations per second generating and processing sounds demands a lot from a computer 50 It s important to minimize any computer based delays Fortunately three main factors make delays virtually insignificant assuming you have a suitable computer setup see System Requirements multi GigaHertz computers are so fast they dramaticall
20. to automatically search for the VST plug in folder or manually select the VST plug in folder of your choice Please select the option that best suits your installation requirements Note If more than one host program for VST 2 0 plug ins 15 installed on your computer the Installer lets you install to multiple VST folders by shift clicking them If you decide to install them at a later date simply copy the B4 VST dll file into the VST plug ins folders of these programs Windows If the VST plug in files are not visible in the Windows Explorer select the Show All Files option This option is located in the Explorer menu View gt Folder Options on the View tab below Hidden Files Optionally you can set up your programs so that they all use the same VST plug ins folder 4 11 7 DXi 2 plug in Setup DXi 215 a plug in interface for software synthesizers and instruments based on Microsoft DXi technology Sonar from Cakewalk and Fruity Loops are the most well known host sequencers that support DXI Installation e Insert the Installation CD into the CD drive of your computer e Use the Windows Explorer to view the contents of the CD and double click the B4 Il exe file to start the installation e Continue B4 II installation until you come to the Choose plug ins page Tick the checkbox DXi plug in The installation program copies the B4 plug in to your hard disk and registers it as a DXi 2 plug in for use 2 compa
21. use plug ins with ProTools independently from additional TDM hardware In this case the host processor alone performs all of the computations for the plug in e aunch Pro Tools e Create a new Instrument track File gt New Track Locate the channel mixer Windows Show mix e he dark grey box at the topmost section of the Instrument channel is the RTAS insert section Click on the first empty slot to show all avallable RTAS plug ins e Choose plug in Instrument gt B4 Il from the menu EQ Dynamics b b P Delay Dither Ableton Live mono Instrument X 4 1 mono stereo Click mona e A MIDI node is automatically created and after record enabling the MIDI track you will be able to play B4 with your MIDI keyboard Please refer to your Pro Tools manual for more information on how to record the output of the B4 II 36 BA Il The B4 User Interface EMEN T te E um ou m oon A Ml Sp SLOW ood FAST LLL ML qmm Pm TP Dart e The 4 Manual View You can adjust all of the front panel controls with your mouse Additionally you can test the current sound by clicking on the keys of either manual or the foot pedals The B4 Control Center The B4 Control Center
22. 46 1 44 Selector 41 60 STOFO xe cA EYE 41 SIEGE 44 Preset selection 60 Presets 40 43 Preset storage 42 Presets 43 Program Change 46 TOO S 36 Register 11 Registration 9 10 70 59 70 reverb pre post 70 reverb 512 70 reverb time 70 signal TOW ent tle dunes 70 spring length 70 spring 70 studio 70 1 72 Dass 72 61 51 1 72 speed 61 72 treble rotor 72 FOULS 28 RTAS 20 25 Plug in installation 9 S Sample 26 Samples Buffers 22 Save Registration File 14 Set lower k
23. 9 Appendix B Recommended Reading and Listening 80 Appendix C The B4 Signal Flow ee eere eee eee eee 84 IV About the Native Instruments B4 Introduction The B4 in perspective Congratulations on your purchase of the Native Instruments B4 The 4 combines the classic and robust tonewheel organ and rotating speaker sound with the convenience of software The original B3 organ set many standards with its beefy sound and unique interface This instrument spans all genres from R amp B to Jazz House to Gospel and is a valuable tool for any player or producer The Native Instrument B4 honors this standard and provides a software that maintains the classic look lush tone and famous presets of the original B4 1 5 Of course there number of advantages the B4 has over the original tonewheel organ including e Reduced size and weight e Increased preset storage e Velocity sensitivity e MIDI automation of all parameters e Multiple organ models in one package e Integrated reverb e ample selection of cabinet models The Native Instruments B4 integrates seamlessly into the computer based virtual studio It is important to note that the B4 is not another sampled organ but a complete software model of the tonal characteristics of the original tonewheel and rotating speaker and cabinet system Effects like harmonic foldback tones re
24. DI data to the software We ll describe each mode in detail but first let s look at the various interface drivers and plug in formats used by different operating systems and programs Standalone Application Il works in standalone mode with ASIO MME DirectSound and Core Audio The software computer combination acts as an instrument similar to a hardware digital synthesizer The table shows you which drivers are available under which Operating System MacOS X ASIO 2 0 DirectSound MME Core Audio Plug In Used as a plug in is not a standalone program but rather a program module that can be integrated into a host program such as a sequencer plug in mode allows you to integrate it seamlessly with the sequencer Furthermore it has many other uses as a plug in 18 B4 Il MIDI sequencing of and audio mix down of the MIDI tracks within a single program e Comfortable automation of parameters in sequencer Further processing of II signals using additional plug ins e Sample accurate timing with MIDI controllers when used as VST 2 0 plug in Restoring of all plug in settings when the host document such as a song file of the sequencer is loaded e ntegration with other instruments into a virtual studio Some shortcuts key commands do not work in all sequencers This is due to the fact that the host capture keys for themselves and do not pass them on to the plug in Thi
25. PIUPSIN 29 What 15 the Product Authorization 9 88
26. Qut 1 Qut 1 Channel 122 Right Built in Qut 2 Emn Channel 8 4 Left Te B 1 m Channel 15761 Left Channel 576 Right prc Using the drop down menu Output 1 2 is assigned to an output from a multi output sound card If your sound card offers multiple outputs you can choose which ones connect Click on Outputs to select the outputs from drop down menus Similarly use input to select the audio input if you wish to use II as an effect If you experience a humming or buzzing maybe even feedback when you start Il it is likely that you have the B4 s input set to your computer s built in microphone Please select another input or disable input altogether by choosing not connected from the drop down menu B4 11 27 Audio Setup SoundCard MIDI Input Interface Apple Driver Bus 1 M Audio Reuztation Series Port 1 Output Interface Apple Oriver IAC Bus 1 M Audio Keystation Series Port 1 off If your MIDI interface offers multiple ins and outs you can choose which one connects to B4 II When you click on the MIDI tab you ll see a list of MIDI I O Initially each one will be Off This field is a toggle click on Off to turn an input or output On click on On to turn an input or output If you enable more than one input they will be merged 28 B4 Il B4 Il as Instrument Plug in Plug ins come
27. acts like a plucked bass string sloping the volume to zero after a key 15 pressed In Organ mode the volume 15 held at full volume for the complete hold phase Tube Amp Settings and Indicators The Tube Amp Overdrive Indicator Tube provides feedback as to the amount of overdrive produced by the tube amp model As overdrive 15 increased the depicted tube will glow brighter Tube Amp Drive determines the preamp level sent to the main tube amp model At high levels this will force the tube amp into overdrive and can add a beefy Rock sound to the organ B4 63 The Tube Amp Volume sets the output level sent from the amplifier model This determines the overall volume of the organ and 15 used to provide volume compensation between presets This is strictly a volume adjustment and has no effect on the tone of the amp The Bass and Treble knobs control two shelving equalizers helping to shape the sound of the amp Tube Amp Bass boosts or cuts the bass frequency range and can give amplifier distortion a fuller sound The Tube Amp Treble setting affects the high frequency tones sent through the amplifier This can be used to reduce the high frequencies of the output sound and create a more mellow output from the B4 Cabinet Settings The last part of the Tube Amp controls is the Cabinets panel Here you choose the different cabinet models available as a tonal addition to your organ sound Below are descriptions with some comme
28. al determines the distance between the microphones At the minimum setting the mics are side by side At the maximum setting they are at opposing sides of the Rotator Operation of Spread and Distance controls B4 73 Drawbar Programming Basics Theory The key to understanding drawbar programming is to understand the use of harmonics Harmonics are the basis of complex sound generation and are present in almost every sound you hear The most basic sound is the pure sine wave It consists of the fundamental tone only The fundamental is the base frequency of a pitch For example the frequency of the A above middle C is 440 Hz The sound of a pure sine wave Is not very interesting although it can be used for deep bass sounds We can make the basic sound more interesting by adding harmonics frequencies that are related to the fundamental tone The first harmonic is a tone one octave above the fundamental By mixing some of this first harmonic with the fundamental we get a brighter and more complex sound Harmonics can be manipulated in two different ways either by starting with a simple tone and adding harmonics additive synthesis or by starting with a complex sound and removing harmonics subtractive synthesis Most synthesizers use subtractive synthesis to create sounds but the B4 and any real tonewheel organ uses additive synthesis to create its sound This is one of the reasons that tonewheel
29. ality of your Hammond organ for example because the tones weren t pure any more you had to get a specialist to replace the filter capacitors in the tonewheel generator and calibrate the tone filter circuits With the B4 you can quickly switch between different tonewheels by selecting a set from the menu it activates instantly B4 Il 67 Just like the old tonewheel organs the has no master tune control because tonewheels run at a fixed synchronous speed that cannot be changed The only way to change the master tuning is to change the transmission ratios in the tonewheel generator something that s completely impractical in hardware but easily achieved with the B4 s replaceable tonewheel generator You can now choose the B3 Classic Tonewheel Set in different tunings The B3 classic set is in standard 440Hz tuning You can also choose the tunings 436Hz 444Hz 448Hz and 452Hz Another important aspect of musical instruments is age The filter capacitor in Hammond tonewheel generators deteriorate with age which leads to an Increase in leakage and rattle in the basic tone sound To simulate organs with different degrees of ageing there are Sets with varying amounts of purity or dirt Hammond was not the only maker of classic electric organs Another famous company build the Continental whose organs were played by many of the great bands of the sixties and seventies such as The Doors and The Animals Another well known manufacturer
30. ar grounds the Percussion Decay switch toggles between two preset decay speeds for the Percussion effect overriding the preset setting Using the Percussion Harmonics switch you can choose between two different drawbars producing the Percussion effect Again you will override the preset value on the Expert View that has more than two settings to choose from On the lower right of the B4 Manual View you will find two additional Knobs REVERB DRIVE With the Reverb dial you can set the amount of reverb signal getting mixed into the output signal The Drive knob can be found both on the Manual View and on the Organ View in the tube amp section You can use it to set the overdrive amount of the built in tube amplifier model This control provides a wide range of settings be it clean jazz bluesy crunch or downright heavy rock distortion Be sure to check the Organ View for a selection of different authentic cabinet models that complement the overdrive sound B4 59 Bank Switch This rotary switch selects one of 10 banks of presets Ready for immediate use there are all the popular sounds for jazz rock and classical play as well as some more extreme settings A change to the bank selection will cause an immediate change to the preset use the drawbar effects and Rotator settings displayed Each bank holds 12 presets one on each Preset Selector key Upper Preset Selectors Just like on the o
31. automatically transmitted to the registration form The first step 15 to send your System ID to Native Instruments and register your product Choose one of the following options A DIRECT ONLINE REGISTRATION 1 L lul uu 2 aerie if you have direct access to the 7 c e nm Internet trom this computer this EE STI tee 90 e 4 is the tastest way to register your DIM 1 0 2 product ELI ae gt e first online page you are asked if it is your First Registration at B4 Il 11 Native Instruments if you want to do an Additional Registration e Depending on the option you have chosen on the first online page you now get a login page asking for your username and password or a form where you can fill out your address data Please fill out all required fields and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the regis tration Register Product Additional Registration Log in with your existing username and password to add this registration your account First Registration Your first product registration Select a new username On the last online registration page your Authorization Key 15 directly shown tn the browser Please copy the full number 12 x 5 digits and paste it to the registration tool Within a few minutes you will also receive an email from the Native Instruments regis
32. control panels simply show the latency that results from choosing particular setting in milliseconds rather than showing samples buffer 22 B4 z A I Jms ia In this screen shot note Creamware s ASIO control panel simply lets you choose the desired latency buffers are adjusted behind the scenes within the Creamware Scope application in this case to 128 samples The Device Setup panel in Cubase confirms the latency which 15 about 4 ms but doesn t indicate the buffer size Warning Different Types Of ASIO It s extremely important to use the ASIO driver written for the card you re using There are also generic ASIO drivers typically called for Windows ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Driver or ASIO Multimedia Driver They will usually be found a drop down menu in the host program where you choose the desired ASIO driver If you re not sure which one to use try them all and choose the one with the lowest latency There should be an obvious dramatic difference when you use the correct ASIO driver B4 1 23 Tips On Minimizing Latency Set latency to the highest comfortable value 256 samples buffer is very responsive yet gives your computer some breathing room 512 Samples may also be acceptable anything more will create too much delay If you can t get reliable audio with 512 samples it s time for a better computer If your ASIO Control Panel show
33. control you can assign MIDI controllers interactively First you select the parameter to be re assigned on the controller assignment list Then click MIDI Learn and move the desired knob or fader on your MIDI hardware Another way of assigning MIDI controllers to B4 controls is to right click on the B4 parameter on any View and to choose MIDI Learn from the pop up menu Then you will have to move the knob or fader on your hardware controller and the new assignment 15 done CC Dump The current value of all panel controls is sent out as MIDI Controller messages Use this if you have MIDI controller hardware with endless encoders displaying the current value of individual controls To round up the controls for MIDI controller management we have Load This command imports a saved controller map Save Here you can save the current controller map to disk Be sure to save your customized controller maps so that you can easily restore them in case of a system crash The Load Controller Map Save Controller Map functions are also available via the file menu of the standalone version Under Windows the filename extension for a controller map 15 bcm Interfacing RUBIO SETUP 52 B4 II Rig Kontrol 2 Active This is for proud owners of the Native Instruments Rig Kontrol 2 Activate this option if you want to control the with the Rig Kontrol Please be sure that no Guitar Rig is running when activating Rig Kontrol for
34. d Reading Keyboard presents The Hammond Organ Beauty in the B by Mark Vail published by Miller Freeman Books ISBN 0 87930 459 6 Keyboard Magazine June 1999 Article Master Class featuring Joey DeFrancesco Hammond Organ Complete Tunes Tones and Techniques for Drawbar Keyboards by Dave Limina ISBN 0 63401 433 1 Hammond Links on the WWW The Absolute Beginner s B 3 Newsletter http theatreorgans com hammond faq files b3 letter txt Jimmy Foster http www jimmyfoster com Joey DeFrancesco Master Class http www keyboardmag com master joeyd joeyd shtml Hammond and Leslie FAQ http theatreorgans com hammond faq The History of the Hammond B 3 Organ http theatreorgans com grounds docs history html 80 B4 II Leslie Speakers and Hammond Organs Rumors Myths Facts and Lore http www mitatechs com leslierumors html The Hammond Forum http www zeni net hf The International Archives for the Jazz Organ IAJO http lajo jwolf com Hammond Tonewheel Organ WebRing http u webring com hub ring hammond Suggested Listening Organ Ized All Star Tribute to the Hammond Organ The 3 The Best of Organ Trio Jazz Any recording by Jimmy Smith Any recording by Jimmy McGriff Any recording by Joey DeFrancesco Emerson Lake amp Palmer Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery Santana Santana Abraxas The Best of Booker T amp the MG s Green Onions of course Sly amp the Fam
35. dard B3 s keyboard range the notes will roll over or repeat their lower values Unlike real tonewheel organs the B4 will also respond to MIDI Note Velocity input If your keyboard 15 able to send velocity messages and if the current preset is set to respond to velocity changes by having the Velocity knob on the Organ View turned up you will find the output levels affected by how hard you strike the keys 48 15 also able to have all of the on screen controls manipulated by MIDI controller messages The MIDI controllers used are listed on the Setup View They can be changed to your needs You can do this either on the Setup View which 15 described in the next section of this manual or by right clicking on the control and choosing MIDI Learn from the pop up menu Afterwards just move the hardware controller you want to assign to that specific B4 control and you are done Hint The B4 can be used with any programmable MIDI controller box The comes with templates in the form of MIDI Sys Ex files for various hardware controllers The B4 as an effects unit You can route any audio signal through the B4 tone shaping sections The external sound gets in just before the amp section and is mixed with the tonewheel signal This opens up a world of possibilities for shaping external sound with the beefy tone engine of B4 A AUDIO MIDI SETUP B4 11 49 In standalone mode the external sig
36. e permanently Method B Internet Connection on another computer Important This method requires a valid email address to complete the Product Authorization since the Authorization Key will be send to you by email e Windows Start the Registration Tool from the start menu Native Instruments gt B4 II Registration Tool or from the product in stallation folder default path C Program Files Native Instruments ffi Native Instruments B4 II B4 II an Simpli Software k B4 II Registration Tool Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 Native Instruments Homepage e MacOS Start the Registration Tool from the B4 II installation folder default path Applications BA B4 Il 13 Network 2 Applications B 1 intosh 2 Applications OS 9 LJ Xpress a 0 3 Controller Maps t B ES Developer L4 Battery 3 Demo Files t 1 Digidesign Databases Battery 2 3 Presets Diaidesia er Log files Best Service P gt Registration Tool MANN x C bia Fisk Andia click on the Save Registration File button opens a Save dialog for saving a HTML file Save the HTML file to any storage medium The first step is to send your System ID to Native Instruments and register your product Choose one of the following options 2 SEND REGISTRATION FROM NE I ANM LI ALL Sea geese 2 ANOTHER COMPUTER Ties piires cow ot
37. e these result in the easiest and fastest way of receiving the Authorization Key Method A B4 II computer has direct access to the internet Important This method requires a valid email address to complete the Product Authorization since the registration code will be sent to you by email e Windows Start the Registration Tool from the start menu Native Instruments II Registration Tool or from the B4 II instal lation folder default path C Program Files Native Instruments B4 f Native Instruments B4 II 4 Simpli Software k B4 II Registration Tool Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 Native Instruments Homepage e MacOS Start the Registration Tool from the B4 installation folder default path Applications BA Network Applications 0 2 4 B4 Il TTE 3 Applications 0 9 gt 3 Xpress Controller Maps i Home amp 3 Developer gt 2 Battery 3 Demo Files dPod 7 Digidesign Databases gt 2 Battery 2 1 Presets 4 tra L3 Digidesig er Log files gt Best gt Registration Tool i Bin Fie a ib click on the Register Now button opens the Native Instruments registration webpage Therefore your standard Internet Browser will be opened and an internet connection will be established according to your system settings Your System ID will be
38. echniques and effects combinations for their sound Experiment try impossible settings and fully exercise the 4 5 capabilities You will find that the seemingly simple B4 interface can be used in an incredible number of musical applications 78 B4 ll Appendix Keyboard and Mouse Control Keyboard control standalone Mode Function Preset 1 Preset 1 Preset 12 Preset 12 F1 Vibrato Lower on off F2 Vibrato Upper on off Percussion on off FA Percussion Volume F5 Percussion Decay F6 Percussion Harmonic Organ view F9 Expert view F10 Preset view Fii Setup view F12 Full Screen mode Learn lower keysplit Learn upper keysplit Space Rotator slow fast Shift Space Rotator stop run Alpabetic Keys Numeric Keypad 1 Numeric Keypad 2 Numeric Keypad 3 Numeric Keypad Enter Numeric Keypad O play notes Audition 1 Audition 2 Audition 3 Play Pause MIDI file playback Stop MIDI file playback Mouse control Mouse button Function LEFT Value adjustment RIGHT Context menu for MIDI Learn etc LEFT Fine value adjustment LEFT Undo stored value LEFT RIGHT swap linear circular movement B4 79 Appendix Recommended Reading and Listening Suggeste
39. ected from the upper manual change the settings for the entire instrument Presets selected from the lower manual only change the lower manual and the pedal drawbars Selecting a preset will immediately move the drawbars to the stored setting Note Unlike the B3 there is no Cancel preset On the B3 the Cancel preset allowed direct manipulation of the drawbars to determine the sound of the organ With the B4 the drawbars are always active they reflect the sound of the current preset and are always editable Banks are selected using the Bank Select Control on the wooden end block of the upper manual Selecting a new bank will immediately change the preset in use and therefore change the drawbars to match the newly selected preset B4 11 41 Of course you can also use the preset section displayed in the Control Center to change presets or navigate to the Preset View to get a better overview over your currently available presets Organ and Expert View Use the preset menu arrows buttons to change and the Store button to overwrite presets B4 Blues Scanner Full Bar Latin Soft Organ Theatre Organ The Cat Presets can also be selected using MIDI Program Change commands Program numbers determine the bank and program to be selected For example Program Change numbers 1 12 are in Bank 1 13 24 are in Bank 2 etc At any point you can change the current sound of each manual by adjusting the manual drawbars The drawbar
40. ed in order to make permanent use of the software We recommend that you take notice of this chapter first then proceed with the software installation as described the following chapters and finally return to this chapter What is the Product Authorization The Product Authorization includes a full registration After having completed the authorization you can make use of all online services related to the registered product On the Native Instruments website you can read online tutorials get technical support participate in the NI forums and download updates requires the Product Authorization in order to use the software perma nently You can run II for days without any limitations As long as the software runs unauthorized a message at every program start reminds you that the authorization has not been completed yet and indicates how many more days the software is running without an authorization The Product Authorization is performed by a small application called Registration Tool The Registration Tool generates a so called System ID which serves as request code for receiving an Authorization Key The System ID is based on some hardware components of your computer system the operating system version and the serial number you have entered at the B4 I installation B4 11 9 Note Exchanging your audio card MIDI interface or external equipment will not start the request for a new Authorization Key Only excha
41. ettings for later use If you are running the B4 in standalone mode the Load and Save functions are also available via the File Menu The Preset View Raggae Basi Raggae Basie Basic 6 Basic ll 1 Hi Gain Basic 1 Hi Gain Basic Il c Transistor Basic 31 Oye Como Va Transistor Basic 11 Made In Japar 21 House Basic 33 No 4 No Cr 22 House Basic 1 34 Wu 23 Harmonium Basic I 35 24 Harmonium Basic 11 38 Winwoot Organizing the library of organ sounds In the upper part of the Preset View you can see the preset list Click on a preset to load it With the page buttons below the presets list you can flip through all 7 pages containing all 120 presets The Left button flips one page backwards and the Right button flips one page forward You can also use the mouse to drag and drop presets to new locations the list By doing this the other presets will be shifted to new locations With this function you are not going to overwrite existing presets B4 43 If you want to rename a preset double click its name and type a new one To store a preset you should use the Store To command This important command lets you store presets in a location other than your currently selected preset After clicking Store To you select the desired preset slot on the preset list and your new sound will get stored Be careful though you will overwrite
42. eyboard split 47 55 Set upper keyboard split 47 55 51 Sine 74 5 1 72 software 6 leg e 39 Soundcard sia edt et 25 DOMMES seo du 46 Stand alone Application 18 25 Store S 41 String mode 63 ze tc ids pa ee d dere es 63 Swell Pedal 61 System ID 10 System 8 T Tonewheels 6 68 6 68 FaEFTISd 68 Harmonium aaa 68 neues 67 TUNIS S eap 68 5 05 48 55 Treble 72 d feu 64 CLIVE diede 63 64 C EN EX 64 64 B4 1 87 Velocity 63 78 VID PALO 56 70 Ce DUN 70 MP SERE 70 View 37 tata 20 VST 2 0
43. fer Method A or Method B for shortest return times and most comfortable operation Please note the following instructions to fullfill the Product Authorization e Windows Start the Registration Tool from the Windows start menu Native Instruments II lt gt B4 Il Registration Tool or from the product installation folder default path C Program Files Native Instruments BA Native Instruments B4 II Simpli Software Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 e MacOS Start the Registration Tool from the B4 II installation folder default path Applications B4 II Network 2 Applications 0 2 BAM E 241 d 3 Applications Mac OS 9 Xpress MJ 1 Controller Maps Home amp 4 Developer 3 Battery 3 Demo Files I dPod 3 Digidesign Databases gt Battery 2 gt gt 3 Presets xma gt 4 3 Best service Tool Ce A CE Bia Fisk Andia A click on the Fill Out Form button opens a local HTML file in the operating system s standard browser or another program which you have defined as standard application for opening HTML files The first step is to send your System ID to Native Instruments and register your product Choose one of the following options LL LI LIN Fee OFFLINE REGISTRATION rol This allaws you to fill nut an ite
44. here are some tips on living with latency About Samples and Buffers Audio cannot be handled continuously by a computer but has to wait its turn while other operations are being carried out As a result sound cards create a buffer which can hold a certain number of samples where data can be Stored and released as needed to create a smooth flow of data An analogy would be if you had a hose that didn t deliver water continuously but in bursts So you use a holding tank to store the water coming In from the hose and have a valve the tank that releases a steady amount of water a smooth continuous flow If the tank buffer is large then you can store more water in case the hose goes dry for a bit But it will take longer to fill the bucket which 15 equivalent to latency A smaller tank takes less time to fill but the hose had better deliver water on a pretty continuous basis All ASIO audio interfaces and sound cards Include a control panel where you can adjust latency This may be given as the number of samples per buffer as shown tn the Terratec EWX control panel For example the Terratec EWX ASIO control panel lets you choose a particular number of samples buffer The display then shows the resulting latency In this case 256 samples buffer has been selected giving latency of just under 6 ms at 44 1 kHz Setting this to 128 samples buffer will reduce the latency but may stress out your computer more Some
45. ially identical except where indicated Note that if you change your audio interface you will almost certainly need to re adjust these settings Call up the Audio MIDI Settings setup dialog from the Setup menu You ll see three tabs for Soundcard Routing audio output patching and MIDI Soundcard Audio Interface Audio Setup SoundCard _ Routing Interface ZEEE Sample Rate sue F Output Device Output Latency fo Digidesign HW Soundflower 16ch Soundflower 2ch USB audia system Cancel Audio MIDI Settings dialog Interface Choose the fastest interface protocol supported by your interface which will be ASIO or Core Audio For Windows you can also use DirectSound and Multimedia also called MME but expect a significant delay between the time you play note and the time you hear it Windows only Avoid using any drivers listed as emulated as they provide poorer performance than other drivers For example although DirectSound drivers generally outperform MME drivers MME drivers will outperform emulated DirectSound drivers B4 11 25 Sample rate The drop down menu will display compatible sample rates for your audio interface 44 1kHz is the same sample rate used for CDs and Is the most universal choice However some audio interfaces offer 48kHz and 96kHz accepts to 96kHz sample rates These higher rates stress your c
46. ie cabinets did not have the brake feature was later introduced and became a much used feature Expression Pedal The Expression Pedal or Swell Pedal is used to dynamically vary the instrument s volume for expressive playing Note The Expression Pedal setting is not saved with presets it is a performance control only B4 Il 61 Organ View Controls a ET 3 am CHA zu 1 51 4 22 de IL gt jil 5 f 1 T m m PM 1 HM I f Wf 2 SUW 1451 sme CA 1 ROTATOR The Organ View Panel The Organ view is split into several sections Organ Tube Amp Microphones the cabinets selector and an overview of the Manual View settings reviewed above The Organ section sets details in the tone generation model In the Tube Amp section you can control the tone of the Amplifier model and the Microphone section deals well with microphone details For extra fine control while working with knob or slider positions hold down the Shift key while clicking on a control This will increase the mouse movement needed to move the selected control Apart from the Manual view the Organ view 15 the one you will probably spend most of the time on It displays the most commonly used controls for shaping your organ sound Organ Controls
47. ily Stone Greatest Hits The Spencer Davis Group Gimme Some Lovin Paul Schaeffer amp the Party Boys of Rock n Roll The World s Most Dangerous Party among thousands of great recordings B4 11 81 Jazz Well known artists Jimmy Smith Jimmy Mc Griff Barbara Dennerlein Funk Brothers Brother Jack Mc Duff Jazz was the first contemporary musical genre using the Hammond in a completely new context Laurens Hammond originally presented his organ as a portable and affordable replacement for the church organ Thus it got introduced into the gospel music of the black community and finally into jazz Rock Well known artists Procul Harum Keith Emerson Rick Wakeman Stevie Winwood The guitarists were having fun with more and more powerful amps Therefore the keyboard folks had to look around for something louder then a piano the Hammond Soul R B Funk Well known artists Booker T and the MG s Stax The Funk Brothers Motown James Brown Prince Sly and the Family Stone Black music embraced the Hammond right from the start House Well known artists The KLF Armand van Helden David Morales The classic house organ sound was produced by cheesy preset boxes Casio CZ 101 Yamaha DX 21 etc Now it finds its way back into the virtual original Please switch velocity on for house music Hi Gain Well known artists Deep Purple Uriah Heep Spooky Tooth The second guitar of
48. ing wooden bass tones to full orchestral sound The drawbars include the 16 5 1 3 8 4 2 2 3 and 2 settings in other words just like the first six drawbars from the other manuals Because preset selection will change the drawbars to the new settings the drawbars always represent the current bass pedal sound If you would like to stay true to the original B3 you can go to the Setup View and switch on the 2 Pedal Drawbars feature By doing this you will have only two drawbars 16 51 3 for the pedals Note This setting does not mean that only two of the six drawbars are active but that the two drawbars control a mixture of tones B4 II 57 5 9 drawbars setup sound for the lower manual channel Two brown drawbars called 16 and 5 1 3 in organ parlance provide the sub octave tone for a powerful sound The white drawbars 8 4 2 and 1 mix in the pure octave harmonics The black drawbars 2 2 3 1 3 5 and 1 1 3 provide extra timbral coloration The combination of these tones allows a huge range of different sounds to be created As with the pedal drawbars the current preset Is always represented with the drawbars Upper Manual Drawbars 9 drawbars control the upper manual as with the lower manual In total three different sounds are always available the pedal lower and upper drawbar settings Again there 15 the possibility to ge
49. io Unit plug ins inside your Audio Units host application then it is not installed correctly Please refer to the previous section on installing the plug in for Mac platforms for more assistance on setting this up After having loaded an Instrument from the library you should be able to trig ger it via MIDI using a keyboard controller B4 II s sound will generate through B4 11 33 Digital Performers mixer directly to your sound card If the plug in does not receive MIDI or generate audio then make sure to check the following two areas Make sure MIDI Patch Through 15 enabled in the Studio menu of Digital Performer The MIDI channel of your MIDI track must correspond to the receive channel of the loaded instrument Make sure that the instruments track output Is correctly set Make sure that you have properly configured your sound card for use with Digital Performer please refer to your Digital Performer manual for more information Use in Garage Band Launch Garage Band Press the button to create a new Software Instrument Track From here you can choose the icon you wish to use Double click the instrument track icon or press the the Track Info From the Info window expand the Details triangle underneath the Instrument icon to expose the track settings Icon to get From the Generator drop down menu choose B4 from among Audio Unit plug ins Clicking on the pencil icon next to the Manua
50. is Farfisa known through Pink Floyd Can Tangerine Dream or Stereolab With your B4 you also have three Continental tonewheel sets two Farfisa sets 68 BA II a Harmonium simulation right at your fingertips Percussion The Percussion Volume control determines the amount of percussion effect in the sound The use of percussion provides a lightness to the sound and is particularly useful for jazz and house organ sounds Percussion Volume has only two positions on the B3 Soft and Normal On the B4 this is continuously variable over a wide range The position corresponding to the B3 setting Soft 15 labeled 5 and Normal 15 labeled N Note When setting Percussion to the Normal volume on a stock B3 the overall volume of the upper manual drops This is regarded as a drawback by most players and 15 not reproduced on the 4 The Percussion Decay control determines the speed at which the percussive sound decays Percussion Decay only has two positions on the B3 Fast and Slow On the B4 this 15 continuously variable through a wide range The position corresponding to the B3 setting Fast setting Is labeled F and Slow is labeled S Percussion Harmonic controls the drawbar used for the percussion tone This control has 9 steps representing the 9 harmonic drawbars available for percussion generation The Percussion Harmonic Selector has only two positions on the classic B3
51. is always displayed and contains the interface to guide you around your virtual organ You can quickly select presets with the Preset Menu and switch to the different views to accomplish the tasks at hand The View Selection MANUAL ORGAN EXPERT 9 PRESET rur Switching around the interface There are five views the B4 Each displays different types of performance and or programming controls B4 Il 37 The Manual View is organ keyboard view which includes all three manuals the upper and lower as well as the pedals the three drawbar sets the expression pedal and the performance switches This 15 a good view to use when you are doing manual drawbar editing and want to be able to manually strike the keys These editing controls are covered more detail in the Creating Your Sound section of the manual e oe or no 4 4 4 4 2 d 151 15 pi 1 H 3 2 e 1 4 7 1 4 i gt 4 i M 4 D 2 lt gt 3 3 2 4 114 T m LOWER on ROTATOR BRAKE won wcono The Organ View displays the most important editing controls used for programming your B4 It includes many of the program functions from the Manual View but does not display the keyboard manuals or pedals The Organ View has several editing sections providing con
52. k Choose B4 from the list Note If a product does not appear in the list of available VST instru ments inside Cubase then you may need to enable it manually via the Devices plug in information window If the product does not show up B4 11 29 there then it may not be installed correctly Please refer to the previous section on installing the plug in for both Windows and Mac platforms for more assistance on setting this up After having loaded an Instrument from the library you should be able to trig ger it via MIDI using a keyboard controller B4 II s sound will generate through the VST mixer and directly to your sound card If the plug in does not receive MIDI or generate audio then make sure to check the following areas e Make sure MIDI thru is enabled in Cubase e The MIDI channel of your MIDI track must correspond to the receive channel of the loaded instrument e Make sure that you have properly configured your sound card for use with Cubase please refer to your Cubase manual for more information Using B4 Il in Nuendo 3 e Launch an empty or current project in Nuendo e Click on the Devices menu and choose VST instruments from the menu options or press 11 on your keyboard e window showing the instrument rack appears Click on an empty slot and choose B4 II VST from the available list of installed plug ins 0 B4 Blues The plug in will now appear your list and auto
53. l drop down menu will open the B4 interface for editing B4 Il can now be played using an external MIDI keyboard m Y Details Generator HA 4 bk Manual HH 4 3 Effects Compressor 0 100 Equalizer Manual 34 BA Il DXi 2 plug in is a Microsoft DirectX technology based plug in format Use in Sonar 4 e Launch Sonar e In the synth rack choose B4 II DXi 2 Loading the DXi 2 plug in in the synth rack e Route a MIDI track to the DXi 2 Plug in by selecting B4 in the Out drop down list Keine omni 1 84 111 Assign a MIDI track to the B4 I DXi Plug in After having loaded an Instrument from the library you should be able to trig ger it via MIDI using a keyboard controller B4 II s sound will generate through Sonar s mixer and directly to your sound card If the plug in does not receive MIDI or generate audio then make sure to check the following two areas e Make sure MIDI Patch Through is enabled in the Studio menu of Sonar The MIDI channel of your MIDI track must correspond to the receive channel of the loaded instrument Make sure that the instruments track output is correctly set Make sure that you have properly configured your sound card for use with Sonar please refer to your Sonar manual for more information B4 35 Using B4 II with Pro Tools The RTAS format is an interface protocol for Mac OS and Windows that allows you to
54. l depends on your sound card If you adjust the interface for an acceptable amount of latency you may hear glitches and clicks in the audio output that can only be fixed If you increase latency MME Multi Media Extension This is the standard Windows audio driver Most sound cards support this interface and work with it quite well However MME 15 even less suitable than DirectSound for real time applications due to its comparatively high latency Core Audio This audio interface for MacOS X 15 integrated tightly into the operating system and works with external audio hardware as well as the Mac s integrated audio output Plug In Details VST Virtual Studio Technology Like ASIO this cross platform plug in technology was developed by Steinberg It is the most common plug in format and many programs are optimized to work with VST plug ins DXi2 DirectX Instrument 2 Based on Microsoft DirectX technology this plug in interface for software synthesizers and instruments 15 designed for low latency and high performance on the Windows platform Cakewalk Sonar and Image Line FL Studio are the most well known hosts that support DXI RTAS Real Time Audio Suite This interface protocol from Digidesign allows using plug ins with ProTools or other Digidesign compatible software Unlike traditional TDM effects that depend on using Digidesign hardware RTAS plug ins are native This means the host processor performs all computations
55. lso useful for adding a bit of humor to modern dance mixes The following setting is a good example of a typical cheese organ sound 6 BA 16 558 4 5 z 3 T Now let s work with some of the other harmonics Again reset the drawbars with only the 8 bar pulled out Then start adding tones using the black drawbars Notice how the sound becomes more angular and there 15 less of a pure tone nature to the sound In fact you can even eliminate the 8 drawbar and only hear the high harmonics Since there is no fundamental in the produced tone the note is only implied By varying the amount of fundamental you can get a variety of standard jazzy organ sounds Now for some more useful settings Here is a patch that 15 often used by rock organists Note that the lower tones carry the entire weight of the sound This gives a very ballsy sound and reinforces the bass a typical rock combo Dial in a bit of overdrive to add the grungy sound of an overdriven tube amp to complete the sound Church organists and soap opera stylists will use a fuller range of drawbars This can give the illusion of a great pipe organ especially when combined with the Rotator Turn on the Rotator set the speed to Slow and use the following patch to create the Days of Your Life B4 Il 77 Both jazz organists and house producers tend to use similar drawbar setting
56. mail also contains the password which 15 required for using the online services e Transfer the text attachment to the computer where you have installed Il e Start the Registration Tool again and use the Open File button in the Registration Tool to open the email attachment which you previously have saved to hard disk FILE e Click on Complete button PASTE FROM FILE r After pasting the Authorization click COMPLETE After completing the Product Authorization the Registration Tool looks like this Now the II Product Authorization has been completed The authorization message at every start has disappeared and you can use the software permanently Method No Internet Connection available Important Following this method you will have to fill in a form which you send to Native Instruments You will receive the Authorization Key either by email recommended by postal mail or by fax If you do not provide Native Instruments with a valid email address in the form be prepared to type in the Authorization Key manually about 60 digits B4 Il 15 If you do not access to the internet or if you do not have a working email address the Product Authorization can also be done via postal mail or fax Although Native Instruments goes after a fast handling of your authorization requests it is generally recommended that you pre
57. matically be turned on It will also create set of audio channels your VST mixer that will be used for mixdown within your project This will allow you to mix pan and process II s output just like any other existing audio track in your Nuendo project e Click on the Edit button to call up the B4 II interface Here you can control and edit all the features and functions that B4 II has to offer e Now go to the Project Editor page and create a MIDI track if you do not have one already created e Go to the Output parameter section for this MIDI Track and click on the field This will create a list of available MIDI out ports to assign to this MIDI track Choose B4 II VST from the list Also make sure you assign the MIDI input port to correspond to whatever MIDI controller your are using 30 BA II Record enable the MIDI track Note If a product does not appear in the list of available VST instruments inside Nuendo 3 then you may need to enable it manually via the Devices plug in information window If the product does not show up there then it may not be installed correctly Please refer to the previous section on installing the plug in for both Windows and Mac platforms for more assistance on setting this up After having loaded an Instrument from the library you should be able to trig ger it via MIDI using a keyboard controller The plug in s sound will generate through the VST mixer and directly to your sound ca
58. nal comes from the audio input of your soundcard Please refer to the Setup View section of this manual for more information The FX plugin version of B4 will receive audio input from the host software it Is running in Please refer to the respective section of this manual and to the documentation of your sequencer or plugin host for information on how to route audio into the B4 FX plugin The B4 is not only an organ but a full fledged simulation of a tube amp and rotator rig including a variety of classic cabinets and microphones Electric guitars will feel right at home when plugged into the B4 Feel free to experiment and use synthesizers vocals or whatever audio signal you have You will get a plethora of nice sounds from this approach Setup View NT The technical MIDI side of the 50 B4 Il The Setup View is for assigning MIDI controllers managing controller maps and for setting some further details affecting the behaviour of your B4 Controller assignment Name Pedal Orawbar 8 Pedal Orawbar 4 Pedal 2 2 3 Pedal Orawbar 2 Lower Draubar 16 Lower Orawbar 5 1 3 Lower Draubar 8 Lower Drawbar Lower Drawbar 2 2 3 Lower Drawbar 2 Lower Drawbar 1 3 5 Lower Drawbar 1 1 3 Lower Drawbar 1 Upper Crawbar 16 Upper Draubar 5 1 3 Upper Orawbar 8 On the left you have the Controller Assignment list representing the current controller map
59. ncer software Drawbar options B4 53 2 Pedal Drawbars When active the pedals get only two drawbars 16 and 51 3 This does not mean that only two of the normally six drawbars are active but that the two drawbars control a mixture of tones This emulates a feature of the original B3 Upper Drawbars On Left When this control is active the upper and lower drawbar sections swap their positions in all views Pedal Drawbars In Middle Activate this if you want the pedal drawbars between those for the upper and lower keyboard Percus Disables 1 Drawbar When active and Percussion switched on the 1 drawbars for the lower and upper manuals are deactivated Note The stock B3 organ has nine contacts for every key one for every drawbar For the percussion effect one contact has to be used so that one drawbar has to be dismissed As the Percussion effect Is only available on the upper manual this control does not apply for the lower Manuals setup MIDI Channel Assign individual MIDI channels for the three manuals and for the controllers Click on the value and move the mouse up or down to change it Use this if you are in the luxurious situation of having multiple MIDI keyboards for controlling your B4 54 BA II Transpose With the Transpose switches you can transpose each of the three manuals one octave up or down Alternatively you can switch the octaves of the respective manuals by right clicking them
60. nental tonewheels are welcome Plexi Another British sound from the sixties This is a 4 x 12 with an on 5 dynamic microphone and an additional off axis condenser Can you say Heavy Rock Lead 800 This setup is similar to the Plexi setting only more on the modern side You will get increased presence with a more aggressive sound Bass VT This is a simulation of a famous bass guitar setup It can sound very beefy and sports a horn speaker for some extra presence Direct With the direct setting the cabinet is replaced by a D I box It simulates plugging the rotator output directly into the mixing desk Microphone Settings MICRO HU AUNES The output of the Rotator 15 picked up by pairs of virtual microphones models of physical microphones that can accurately reflect the real world output of the Rotator The Rotator control balances the mix between the rotor signal and the Amp Cabinet output without rotor Use this knob to determine how strong the rotor sound is present your signal B4 65 The Balance control determines the relative mix between treble and bass speaker outputs This provides control of the tonal characteristics of the speaker output and therefore the entire plug in When turned all the way to the right you hear only the treble rotor Fully left and only the bass rotor is heard With the knob centered you get an even mix of the two rotor
61. nging a basic hardware component your computer or installing a new operating system might produce a new Product Authorization request In this case the Registration Tool will reflect the change by displaying a new System ID and you have to repeat the Product Authorization The System ID has to be sent to Native Instruments in order to receive the Authorization Key which allows the permanent use of II Since the Product Authorization is part of the license agreement II will stop launching after 30 days if it was not authorized until then Of course it is also possible to complete the Product Authorization after 30 days In this case the software will launch again as soon as the Product Authorization has been completed Note The data transfer at the online Product Authorization is done via a secure connection using 128 bit encryption Native Instruments keeps your personal data like email and postal address in confidence No data will be passed to a third party THIS I5 TOUR SYSTEM ID 88888 88888 88888 88888 88888 88888 88888 88888 cory FAQ 1 REGISTRATION Registration 10 Conducting the Product Authorization Native Instruments has set a high value on making the authorization procedure as easy and comfortable as possible In the following sections we describe three methods of conducting the Product Authorization We recommend Method A and Method B sinc
62. nts concerning sound character Please use the comments as only rough guidelines Most of the cabinet models can be very variable in sound depending on the settings of other B4 parameters Feel free to experiment Rotator 122 Open This cabinet has an open direct sound and 15 well suited for everything rock Rotator 122 Closed If you are looking for that typical jazz flavor use this cabinet Rotator 147 Open This one also provides very nice jazz tones The microphones are placed off axis this model and the sound 15 a bit softer than with the closed 122 model Rotator 147 Closed Yet another setting similar to the Rotator 122 closed Again the microphones are placed off axis and the sound character 15 more on the soft side 64 Citrus This setting simulates on axis condenser microphone a guitar cabinet and represents a well balanced all around tone Tweedman An on axis dynamic microphone picking up a 4 x 10 guitar box It 5 nice for a jazzy sound with pleasant bass tones Think Jimmy Smith Jazz you are looking for that dirty Jimmy McGriff sound this cabinet can come close It simulates a 2 x 12 speaker setup with a condenser microphone Twang This can sound soft and warm A nice cabinet for ballad work sporting an on axis condenser microphone and a model of a well known 2 x 12 guitar rig AC Box A British sounding guitar setup using both a dynamic and a condenser microphone Farfisa and Conti
63. oduct Authorization has been completed The authorization message at every II start has disappeared and you can use the software permanently Registration support If you run into problems during the Product Authorization the Native Instruments registration support team will be happy to help you In this case send a support request on the NI website using the following URL http www native instruments com registersupport info Please describe the occurred problem as accurate as possible and provide the registration support team with the necessary details to solve the problem B4 11 17 Audio Interfaces Audio interfaces which include software routines called drivers allow B4 and other programs you have installed if present to communicate with your computer s audio hardware This section describes how to use various audio interfaces with Il There are two main ways to implement B4 II As a standalone device that requires no host software The application s audio and MIDI connections interact directly with your computer s audio MIDI hardware interface As a plug in that works conjunction with a host program such as sequencing or hard disk recording software In this case the host program interacts directly with the computer s hardware interface B4 connects to the host program via virtual patch cords The audio outputs appear as signals in the host s mixer and the host passes MI
64. omputer more but offer somewhat better high frequency response If you are using standalone choose whichever rate you prefer When used as a plug in with a host program e g Cubase Digital Performer Logic Sonar etc the host will determine the sample rate Output Device Use ASIO written specifically for your audio interface not ASIO DirectX or ASIO Multimedia unless no other choices are available or for the Mac Core Audio Output Latency This field displays the output latency For some drivers you can adjust the latency individually using a fader Adjust latency for the fastest possible setting that gives consistent audio performance The CPU may not be able to keep up with fast settings result ing in possible crackles or pops in the audio Slower settings will give more consistent audio performance but the amount of delay may be musically unsatisfying Experiment with the latency setting until you find the best compromise be tween consistent audio performance and fast response quick way to adjust latency is as follows select any instrument and play it while moving the Latency slider Move the Latency slider to the left until you start to hear clicks in the audio output Now move the slider to the right until the clicks disappear This is the opti mum setting 26 B4 Il Routing Audio Setup Gee E Cue i Channel 1 2 Left Built in
65. ontrols and Program Changes received on MIDI channel 2 are used by the lower manual Program Changes received on channel 2 are the equivalent of selecting a preset from the lower manual Notes and Controls received on MIDI channel 3 are used by the bass pedals Program Changes received on channel 3 are treated as if received on channel 2 You can change these default settings by choosing different MIDI channels on the Setup View Please refer to the corresponding section in this manual for further information Using this method for handling MIDI data it is easy to maintain production control from your sequencer or multiple MIDI keyboards When using keyboard splits the MIDI information received on MIDI channel 1 is sent to the different manuals based on the keyboard split locations In all cases the upper manual 15 controlled using the highest MIDI notes and the pedals are controlled with the lowest notes Using the keyboard split mode it 15 easy to play all three manuals live with just one keyboard allowing a skilled player to simulate the complex manual control of a hot B3 player Setting Split Points To split the notes received on MIDI Channel 1 between the B4 s upper and lower manuals right click with your mouse on the desired key on the on screen keyboard 46 Transpose 12 Transpose Transpose 12 Ho Keyboard Split Upper Keyboard Split F4 oet Lower Keyboard
66. organs have a very different sound from their synthesizer cousins There is a series of harmonics called the natural harmonics that are related to the fundamental in a specific way These harmonics mixed together will describe something like a sawtooth wave a moderately buzzy sound The natural harmonics of middle C for example are 3 amp E E F f 4 4 T T Ei Ea aS L3 d AS a The first 8 harmonics of Middle C 4 II would be convenient if tonewheel organs used harmonics to describe the drawbars settings However the terms used for describing the harmonic content of organs historically comes from pipe organs where the use of various lengths of pipe determines the tonal characteristics Hence organs have come to use pipe length rather than harmonic number to describe sound settings Additionally it is quite useful to have tones that are not part of the basic harmonics series to fatten up the resultant sound On the tonewheel organ the brown drawbars provide tones which are not natural harmonics of the fundamental frequency but belong to the harmonic series starting one octave below That s why they are often called sub harmonics The pipe length settings and their relationship to the natural harmonics are described the following graphic UPPER Manual b E i i he i P P P P o d 5
67. peating in octaves at the high and low extremes of the keyboard and loudness robbing the same tone triggered with multiple keys compressing the tone volume are faithfully reproduced as critical characteristics of the instrument This attention to the details of sound production make the B4 a stunningly realistic and useful musical instrument 6 Installation under Windows Software Installation e Insert the B4 II CD into the CD drive e Use the Windows Explorer to view the contents of the CD e Start the installation by double clicking B4 II Setup exe e The setup program will suggest C Program Files Native Instruments Product Name as the path for the destination folder You may also choose another folder if you wish Installed Folders Files and Links The setup program creates a new folder called B4 in the installation directory Program Files Native Instruments This folder contains the files required to operate the software If you do not choose a different program group during the installation links to the Product and a ReadMe file are added to the Start menu under Programs Native Instruments VST plug in Installation e Insert the Installation CD into the CD drive e Use the Windows Explorer to view the contents of the CD To start double click the B4 II Setup exe file When the choice 15 given by the installer select VST plug in from the list of components to install e You can now choose
68. rd If the plug in does not receive MIDI or generate audio then make sure to check the following two areas e Make sure MIDI thru is enabled in Nuendo e The MIDI channel of your MIDI track must correspond to the receive channel of the loaded instrument e Make sure that you have properly configured your sound card for use with Nuendo please refer to your Nuendo manual for more information Audio Units Plug ins Use in Logic 7 e Launch Logic and create an audio instrument track or set an existing audio or MIDI track to an audio instrument track by clicking on it holding down the mouse button and choose Audio Audio Instrument c nst 1 16 2 ae Audiolnst 1 Double click the audio instrument track to open the environment win dow Logic scrolls automatically to the first instrument bus in the Logic mixer e Choose the II Audio Unit plug in in the appropriate insert slot of the instrument mixer bus either in the arrange or mixer window To B4 11 31 do so click onto the insert slot hold down the mouse button and choose Stereo gt AU Instruments Native Instruments gt B4 Il plug in e The interface opens and now appears in the instrument slot and 15 ready to use The instrument mixer channel will allow you to mix pan and process the software s output just like any other existing audio track in Logic e f the interface 15 not already open double click on the mixer s inser
69. riginal organs these 12 inverse colored keys are used to select presets However the presets now provide complete recall for all settings affecting the organ drawbars Tube Amplifier and Rotator Unlike the B3 there is no cancel preset all presets implement actual stored settings and the drawbars reflect the current tone settings As discussed earlier the Upper Preset Selectors control the setting of all B4 manuals upper lower and pedal Lower Preset Selectors These 12 Inverse colored keys can be used to recall alternative drawbar settings for the lower manual and bass pedals Again there 15 no cancel preset all presets implement actual stored settings 60 B4 II Rotator Controls SLOW The rotating speaker simulation Rotator speeds up and slows down realistically when operating this switch which responds to the MIDI Mod Wheel control The rotation speeds and acceleration characteristics can be adjusted with complete flexibility in the Expert View The Rotator effect can also be disabled for straight organ sounds by using the rotor brake When switching the brake to Stop you will hear that it does not simply switch the effect but that the rotor decelerates down to a complete halt Switching to Run accelerates the rotor back to speed The best way to use the Rotator features is having two footswitches one for switching the speed and one for the brake Note The first generation Lesl
70. s The Pan control can place the treble to one side and bass to the other side of the stereo output In the extreme positions one side will be pure bass and the other pure treble Center is neutral with both treble and bass going equally to both stereo channel Balance Control side view Treble Rotor microphones determines the Bass Rotor microphone location relative to the two speaker sections Pan Control side view Treble Rotor determines the relative lacation of each stereo Bass Rotor microphone Operation of Balance and Pan controls Finally the Air control adjusts the level of early reflections in the room response of the B4 microphone model Use this if you are looking for a relatively roomy and a bit more indirect sound character 66 B4 Il Expert View Controls lr ps can e MT T Advanced controls on the Expert view The Expert View also displays the regular performance controls on the lower part of the screen However it is more geared for programming sounds Tonewheel The B4 goes beyond what is possible with an old Hammond organ in many ways One important feature is that it is equipped with a replaceable tonewheel generator as standard This means you can easily take out the whole set of 91 tonewheels and replace them with a new set In this way you can quickly change the basic sound of the organ In the old days if you weren t happy with the sound qu
71. s The Expert View 15 geared towards in detail editing The Presets Menu 12 4 Let s see what s on menu The Control Center s presets menu provides control over the B4 keyboard presets Unlike the original tonewheel organs the Native Instruments B4 stores multiple sets of presets for recall The Control Center is always visible independently from the currently activated view Presets can be recalled by entering a number in the Preset Number field on the left side By clicking on the preset name you can choose a preset from the drop down list 40 B4 II Up Loads the previous preset the list Down Loads the next preset on the list Store Immediately stores the current setting in the current preset and overwrites it The Preset View gives you more controls for handling presets and 15 described in the next section of this manual Using Presets The B4 puts a broad range of organ sounds at your fingertips giving you rapid access to a library of 120 presets divided into 10 banks of 12 presets each Individual preset hold the drawbar settings and every other user adjustable parameter that defines the instrument s sound Manual View pats amp 9 10 BANK In the Manual View presets can be selected by hitting one of the reverse image keys the keys on the left side of the keyboard that have black naturals and white accidentals Presets sel
72. s are automatically changed when a new preset 15 selected so they always correspond directly to the current sound Saving Presets Programming the B4 can allow you to create new and unique organ sounds As described below you can use the drawbars to determine the sound played with the keyboard manuals Additionally the Organ and Expert View settings can add realistic detail to the sound Learning to use these setting is at the heart of creating a personal organ speaker voice Once you ve created a sound you want to keep you can save the settings as a preset To save an edited sound as a preset you need to click on Store in the Control Center or use the controls on the Preset View There you will also find the Store To command letting you store presets to new locations in the preset memory parameter settings except expression pedal swell are stored in the given memory location 42 BA ll Exporting Presets In sequencers the preset memory Is saved as part of the song that uses the B4 plug in But you will probably also want to export your presets to a file Der 1 LOAD SAVE LOAD SINGLE SAVE SINGLE You can save all 120 presets in memory as an export file using the Save function on the Preset View If you only want to export the current sound as a single preset you can use the Save Single function These files allow you to share presets with other B4 users or to store s
73. s latency in milliseconds you ll find that anything over 10 ms or so gives an audible delay 5 ms is a good compromise between speed and minimum stress to your computer Download your sound card s latest drivers from the manufacturer s web Site This can make a huge difference in performance If you are recording a host application and using software synthesizers use your program s freeze function if available to disconnect some synths from the CPU Or render a soft synth s output as a hard disk audio track then remove the soft synth as audio tracks are less taxing on the computer Hint If you retain the MIDI track driving the soft synth which places virtually no stress on your CPU you can always edit the part later by re inserting the soft synth Sometimes there are two latency adjustments A Control Panel for the sound card sets a minimum amount of latency and the host can increase from this value if needed Or the host may lock to the control panel Setting 24 B4 II BA standalone When used as a plug in the host program has already set up its audio and MIDI connections and B4 simply plugs to these However with standalone operation II communicates directly with your audio interface It s therefore necessary to specify audio and MIDI settings as well as the preferred driver protocol of course plug in format is not an issue Setup for Mac and Windows machines is essent
74. s table provides you with an overview of which interfaces are supported by which host programs Plug in Interface Host Program Windows VST 2 0 Plug in Cubase Nuendo Sonar Audio Units Note Some hosts include wrappers that allow running 11 with a choice of plug in protocols Try each one as one may offer better performance than another Example With Sonar running B4 Il as a instrument allows using multiple outputs while running it as a VST instrument provides more automation options Interface Details The interfaces described below represent different ways B4 can communicate with your sound card Available interfaces depend on your computer the audio interface sound card you re using and your computer platform B4 supports Windows XP or MacOS X Choose the fastest interface protocol supported by your interface which will likely be ASIO with Windows or Core Audio for Mac For Windows you can also use DirectSound and Multimedia also called MME but expect a significant delay called latency between the time you play a note and the time you hear it ASIO Audio Streaming Input Output This cross platform plug in protocol B4 Il 19 was developed by Steinberg is highly recommended for its low latency multi channel audio card support and high performance DirectSound Developed by Microsoft this is a is a component of DirectX 5 0 or higher for Windows How well DirectX works wel
75. t gt 9 form that be printed and sent e9 o s o ILI Be intone 9 gt to on 4 The HTML contains all information Native Instruments requires for completing the Product Authorization and registration Please fill in the required data and print it out or write a letter containing the data 16 B4 Il If you write letter please attend to legible handwriting to avoid mistakes at the Native Instruments registration team Illegible email or postal addresses can cause problems with the Authorization Key delivery Send the form to Native Instruments using one of the following contact ad dresses Native Instruments GmbH Native Instruments USA Registration 5631 A Hollywood Boulevard Schlesische Stra e 28 Los Angeles CA 90028 10997 Berlin USA Germany Fax 49 30 6110352400 Fax 1 323 372 3676 You will receive the Authorization Key via email recommended fax or mail Start the Registration Tool again and either copy the Authorization Key from the email and press the Paste from Clipboard button in the Registration Tool or use the Open File button in the Registration Tool to open the email attachment which you previously have saved to hard disk If you have received the Authorization Key by mail or fax type It manually Click on the Complete button Now the 11 Pr
76. t slot to call up the B4 interface Here you can control and edit all the features and functions that the product has to offer Note does not appear in the list of available AU instruments inside your AU host application then you may need to rescan your plug ins using the AU Manager from within Logic 7 Logic menu Preferences If the product does not show up there then it is not installed correctly Please refer to the previous section on installing the plug in for the Mac platform for more assistance on setting this up After having loaded an Instrument from the library you should be able to trigger it via MIDI using a keyboard controller Il s sound will generate through the mixer and directly to your sound card If the plug in does not receive MIDI or generate audio then make sure to check the following two areas sure the Instrument track 15 selected in the Arrange window he MIDI channel of your MIDI track must correspond to the receive channel of the loaded instrument sure that you have properly configured your sound card for use with Logic please refer to your Logic manual for more information 32 B4 Il Use Digital Performer 4 6 e Launch Digital Performer and create an instrument track by selecting Project gt Add Track Instrument Track gt B4 Il Edit Region Audio Project Studio Setup Windows Help mE 4 Thu 6 20 c Add Track Midi
77. t the B4 to act even more like the original B3 organ On the Setup View you can activate the Perc disables 1 Drawbar feature The stock B3 has nine contacts for every key acting on the tonewheels behind the 9 drawbars When the Percussion effect see below is active one of those contacts has to be sacrificed rendering the 1 drawbar inactive Percussion Switches The four switches on the top right hand side of the front panel control the use of the Percussion effect The Percussion switch activates a circuit which amplifies one of the upper drawbars and lets it decay over time The result is a highly characteristic sound that is indispensable for jazz and many other styles 58 B4 Il When activating Percussion original 1 tone becomes silent The default setting for the B4 does not account for this You can however activate the Perc disables 1 drawbar feature on the Setup View to get your B4 act like the original in this aspect The speed of decay and the percussion volume can be adjusted the Expert View As an enhancement over the original B3 the B4 allows any drawbar to be selected as the source for the percussion tone The percussion effect Is only available on the upper manual The Percussion Volume switch toggles between two preset volume levels Soft and Normal for the Percussion sound This switch will override the setting of the Volume dial sitting on the Expert View On simil
78. t to find settings that fit your style The Time dial is your main control for the reverb time It spans a wide range of decay times from a few hundred milliseconds up to several seconds The Size parameter sets the dimensions of the simulated room For the Studio reverb higher settings increase the pre delay of the reverb algorithm With the Spring reverb a higher size value equals a longer spring The Reverb gets its signal from the tube amplifier With the Pre Post you can control how much of it is being fed into the cabinet and how much goes into 70 the signal chain after the Rotator Have a look at the following diagram to get a better understanding of the reverb signal flow Tube Amp Reverb ft i Pre t i Reverb Signal Flow Rotator Controls BA Il 71 Treble Rotor The indicator lamp provides visual feedback of the current treble rotation rate The Slow speed sets the rotational speed of the treble rotor when the Rotator Speed switch 15 set to Slow This setting is continuously variable between O and 85 rom When the knob 15 centered you get a typical chorale effect The Fast speed setting determines the speed of the treble rotor when the Rotator Speed switch 15 set to Fast This setting is variable from 85 to 700 rom When the knob 15 centered you get a typical tremolo effect The Accel control sets the rate of change acceleration or deceleration when the Rotator Speed switch
79. the It cannot be used for both at the same time The default state of this control is off Furthermore you can only use the Rig Kontrol 2 with your B4 in standalone mode Audio Input Active This control enables disables the audio input from your sound hardware into the standalone version It is only available for the standalone version Audio MIDI Setup This brings up the setup window for selecting the audio and MIDI interfaces Please refer to the respective manual sections in the first part of this text for further information This control is not available in the plugin version of B4 The host software takes care of all things audio and MIDI for the B4 plugin Controller Options Xk3 MIDI Compatibility Switch on if you want to control the B4 with the Hammond controller hardware This piece of kit uses its own protocol to communicate with the B4 Invert MIDI Drawbars When using MIDI controller to control the drawbars this control inverses the effect of pulling pushing the drawbar CC Dump On Program Change When this switch is active every received program change sends out the current value of all panel controls as MIDI controller messages You can use this if you have MIDI controller hardware with endless encoders displaying the current value of individual controls The controller dump will happen when you switch a preset via the B4 interface and if you initiate a program change via your MIDI hardware or seque
80. the last command that got undone with the Undo function is executed again 1 i RATION LOAD SINGLE SAVESINGLE File Operations Load This command imports all 120 presets from a preset file into the 45 preset memory This is how you load presets from NI or other B4 users Save Save option exports all 120 presets from the BA s preset memory to a preset file Under Windows the filename extension for file with 120 presets is b4a Load Single This command will import a single preset from a preset file The contents of the file are loaded as the current sound setting without affecting the preset memories It is loaded into the preset buffer Save Single This command exports the current sound setting as a single preset to a preset file Under Windows the filename extension for a file with one preset is 4 B4 11 45 Keyboard Splits Unlike most instruments the B4 must implement multiple keyboard ranks called manuals in organ parlance This is accomplished in two ways either by responding to multiple MIDI channels or by supporting keyboard splits When using multiple MIDI channels No Keyboard Split the default response to MIDI information is as follows Notes Controls and Program Changes received on MIDI channel 1 are used by the entire instrument Program Changes received on channel 1 are equivalent to selecting a preset from the upper manual preset keys Notes C
81. the preset that formerly dwelled in that location The B4 also sports small MIDI file player You can use it via the following controls Audition Buttons We have prepared some MIDI recordings to help you test sounds Pattern one plays a short jazz pattern with number two it is blues and rock for number three Play Toggles playback of the currently loaded midifile on and off This acts as a combined play pause button Stop Stops playback of the currently loaded midifile Open Midifile Opens a midifile to be played by your B4 organ The next bunch of buttons deal with managing the preset list and with import and export of presets to and from disk 44 B4 Il LIST OPERATION STORE TO COMPACT LIST PROTECT List Operations Store To After clicking Store To you select the desired preset slot on the preset list and your current settings are stored into that preset slot Delete This command deletes the currently selected preset leaving an empty preset slot Compact List This command pushes all empty preset slots to the end of the list All presets will get renumbered accordingly Protect If toggled on this option prevents all presets from being overwritten The memory 15 protected Undo By clicking Undo the last command the preset view gets undone You can step back up to 30 commands When you save the list as a complete package the undo stack gets deleted Redo By clicking Redo
82. tible host programs After the installation the software appears as a plug in the host program RTAS plug in installation e Launch II Installer from the CD e Select the Custom installation type e Select only RTAS from the list of components to install Installation under MacOS X Installing B4 Il in OS X e Insert the Installation CD into the CD drive of your computer e Double click the installation program B4 II Installer to start it e he start screen appears first After clicking Continue and confirming the license agreement a dialog opens where you can select the installation location and the destination folder The installation program suggests a path for the II folder if you do not select a different destination the II folder is created on the first hard disk You can choose between Easy Install where both the standalone and plug in versions are installed or Custom Install where you can select which versions you want to install 8 4 II MacOS Audio Unit plug in Installation e Launch the B4 II Installer from the CD e Select the Custom installation type e Select only Audio Unit from the list of components to install RTAS plug in installation e Launch the B4 II Installer from the CD e Select the Custom installation type e Select only RTAS from the list of components to install Product Authorization Part of the II installation is a Product Authorization which has to be fullfill
83. tration system containing the Authorization key The Authorization key is available in the email body and additionally as text attachment This email also contains the password which 15 required for using the online services The product is now authorized The Authorization Key for the current hardware setup is Please copy the entire Authorization Key both lines to the clipboard and paste it inta the appropriate field of the Registration Taal The Authorization Key has also been been sent to the following email address marius wilhelmiignative instruments de e Start the Registration Tool again and either copy the Authorization Key from the email and press the Paste from Clipboard button in the Registration Tool or use the Open File button in the Registration Tool to open the email attachment which you previously have saved to hard disk 12 B4 11 Once you receive the email with your authorization key please the entire key and paste it into the field below or open the file that was attached to the mail PASTE FROM CLIPBOARD Click on the Complete button PASTE FROM zz FILE After pasting the Authorization Key click COMPLETE COMPLETE EMIT After completing the Product Authorization the Registration Tool looks like this Now the 11 Product Authorization has been completed The authorization message at every start has disappeared and you can use the softwar
84. trol over various tonal organ parameters the modeled tube amp plus various cabinet model and microphone options 38 E ERI The Expert View displays an additional set of controls for the tonewheel models percussion and vibrato details reverb and the rotary effects The major organ controls like the drawbars the Rotator controls and the vibrato percussion buttons are also available in the Expert View These settings are also covered in more detail in the Creating Your Sound section of the manual Raggae Basi 4 44115 37 Marquee Raggae Basi 26 Mallets 38 B4a606 Basic 21 39 6 Basic 01 7 Hi Gain Bas 18 Hi Gain Basic Transistor Basic 20 Transistor 21 House Basic 22 House Basic Il 23 Basic 24 Harmonium Basic 11 38 Winwood n Preset View shows everything you need to organize your organ sound library It also includes a simple midifile player and options for import export of presets B4 11 39 Last but not least the Setup View helps you with setting up various MIDI channel options and with assigning MIDI controllers to the dials and switches of the B4 You will also use it for setting up MIDI channels keysplits and manual transpositions Most of the time you will work with the Manual and Organ Views as these contain the more performance oriented control
85. ve full screen mode click the button again or press the escape key on your computer keyboard B4 11 55 Creating Your Own Sounds Manual View Controls DES I i eee LIT 4 The organ in all its glory The B4 provides complete editing functions for all three manuals upper lower and pedal This programming is provided by the drawbars and controls on the Manual View panel and the adjustments located on the Organ and Expert Views Using these edit functions you can create new and exciting sounds to accentuate your music The front panel controls are Vibrato Switches The trademark sound produced by the patented Scanner Chorus Vibrato system can be switched on and off for the upper and lower manuals independently The bass pedals use the same setting as the lower manual 56 B4 Il Vibrato Setting The Vibrato Setting switch allows for quick changes to the depth of the chorus or vibrato effect The switch has six settings V 1 C 1 V 2 C 2 V 3 C 3 These settings determine the depth and mix of the Scanner Chorus Vibrato effect In fact changing these switches will change the Depth and Mix settings found on the Expert View V stands for Vibrato effect and C is Chorus The number indicates the depth of the effect Pedal Drawbars 6 Drawbars setup the sound for the bass pedal channel Anything 15 possible from pure deep sine bass to groov
86. y reduce latency e Many sound cards and audio interfaces include drivers optimized for low latency Nl s software has been optimized to function as efficiently as possible Use Low Latency Drivers Drivers are pieces of code that handle communications between your computer and audio interface whether built into a computer or attached via USB or FireWire The more efficiently they transfer data between audio interface and computer the lower the latency II works with two low latency driver types e ASIO Advanced Streaming Input Output This cross platform protocol was originally developed by Steinberg e Core Audio Mac only This low latency protocol was created by Apple for the Macintosh starting with OS X If your audio interface does not support one of these protocols you will likely hear an audible delay if you play through B4 in real time Although II can work with the DirectSound and MME drivers common in Windows machines you will probably not have a satisfying playing experience How Low Can You Go 1 5 ms of latency approaches the theoretical minimum because it will always take some time to convert a keyboard press into MIDI data than convert B4 s digital audio out to analog However note that ultra low latency settings higher sampling rates make your computer work harder which may limit the 4 11 21 polyphony or number of effects you can add while still retaining glitch free audio So

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