User Manual

ARTURIA – B-3 V – USER MANUAL 5
1 INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on purchasing our virtual organ, B-3 V. We are confident that
it will give you many hours of playing and producing pleasure.
B-3 V is the newest addition to our extensive family of instruments that recreate
hard-to-find classic keyboards and synths. In addition to bringing the authentic
and instantly recognisable sound of the tonewheel organ to your studio, we
have added some 21st century features that were never available in the
original!
The instrument upon which this virtual model is based was a staple of popular
music from its creation in the 1930s and remains popular today for its unique
character. Since finding and maintaining a real tonewheel organ is both
difficult and costly, we’re confident B-3 V will bring you all of the benefits with
none of the hassle!
1.1 What is B-3 V?
B-3 V is a recreation of a classic tonewheel organ and rotary speaker, though
it adds a number of additional features that were never available on the
original instrument.
The original instrument works by having 91 tonewheels, each rotating near an
electromagnetic pickup. Each key is connected to a fixed set of tonewheel
outputs and the drawbar settings control how these are mixed together before
being sent to the preamplifier.
The tube preamp shapes the sound a little bit further (filtering and distortion),
also factoring in the position of the expression pedal which acts not only as a
volume control but affects the frequency response of the preamp as well, and
finally the output of the preamp is connected to the speaker.
The speaker being simulated is a rotary model. It contains a power amplifier
that drives a rotating horn and a stationary woofer firing into a rotating drum
reflector. The speaker actually determines many interesting spatial and
frequency shifting effects in addition to the sound shaping effects of common
loudspeakers.
1.2 History of the original instrument
The tonewheel organ was first released in the 1930s and various models were
produced over the following 40 years. The different models generated sound
by creating an electric current by rotating a metal tonewheel near an
electromagnetic pickup, then amplifying that signal.
Originally aimed at churches as a more compact and affordable alternative
to conventional pipe organs, the original organs found favour first with gospel