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Chapter 15 Vintage B3 419
Vintage B3 Sustain controls
The time it takes for a note to fade out to silence, after the key has been released, is called the
release time in synthesizers. Vintage B3 provides control of this parameter, known as sustain in
organ terminology.
Sustain parameters
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Upper Manual slider: Drag to control the sustain (release) phase of the upper register.
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Lower Manual slider: Drag to control the sustain (release) phase of the lower register.
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Pedals slider: Drag to control the sustain (release) phase of the pedal register.
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Mode buttons (Controls view only): Click to choose one of two sustain behaviors:
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Smart: Cuts the sustain phase of released notes when you play new notes.
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Normal: Allows polyphonic sustain phases. All released notes will continue to sustain, even if
new notes are played.
Note: Smart mode allows for long sustain times, even in the bass register, which would cause
rumbling dissonances if you used normal mode.
Vintage B3 Condition controls
Technical limitations of electromechanical draw bar organs, with tonewheels, can cause some
strange tonal artifacts, such as crosstalk. These quirks form an integral part of the B3’s charm. You
can adjust a number of parameters to dene the age and condition of your Vintage B3.
The key contacts of electromechanical tonewheel organs tend to saw a little on the busbar, thus
introducing a short click sound. Corrosion of the key contacts or busbar increases the length and
level of this click. This aspect of the B3’s design causes irregular scratching noises (commonly
referred to as key click) when striking and releasing keys. Hammond fans like these clicking noises
because they introduce a transient, percussive quality to the note.
Vintage B3 allows you to adjust the volume and sound of the key click. The tonal color and
volume of clicks are altered randomly, and independently, from the click on and click o (release)
volume settings.
Condition parameters
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Click Minimum/Maximum sliders: Combined, these sliders determine a range for click duration,
which can vary between a short “tick” and a longer “scratch.” A random click duration (that falls
within the dened range) is used as you play.
Note: Even if both parameters have identical values, there is a random variation in sound that
makes some clicks seem shorter than the value set with Click Min.
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Click Color slider: Drag to set the tonal color of the click. This acts as a global control for the
treble portion of the click sound, which overrides (but works alongside) the random click
color variations.
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Filter Age slider: Drag to set the center frequencies of the lters, which emulates aging
capacitors. The high frequency output signals of the B3’s tonewheel generators are passed
through bandpass lters. The center frequency of these lters changes as the capacitors (used
for ltering) get older.
Note: This colors the sound of the jitter applied by Random FM and the background noise
resulting from leakage. Filter Age also inuences the intonation of the organ, if you use a
pitch bend.