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Chapter 15 Vintage B3 397
Vintage B3 Percussion eect
Vintage B3 emulates the (Key) Percussion features of the original B3. The Percussion function is
available only for the upper manual. The eect adds the second or third harmonics to the attack
envelope of a note. These harmonics quickly fade out, leaving the chosen draw bar tones.
The Percussion eect is polyphonic, but is only (re)triggered after all keys have been released.
If you release all keys, new notes or chords sound with percussion. If you play legato, or sustain
other notes on the upper manual, no percussion is heard.
Important: Percussion controls are spread across two windows. Click Main in the control bar,
then click the Control button at the lower right to view the Percussion, Harmonic, Time, and
Volume switches in the Main window. Click the Options button in the control bar to use the
advanced percussion controls in the Options window.
Percussion eect parameters
•
Percussion switch (Main window): Turn on to activate percussion for the upper manual.
•
Harmonic switch (Main window): Determines which harmonic is heard (the button toggles
between the 2nd and 3rd harmonic).
•
Time switch (Main window): Switch between a slow or fast decay. The time is set with the Time
knobs in the Options window.
•
Volume switch (Main window): Switch between a low or high decay level. The level is set with
the Volume knobs in the Options window.
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Mode switch (Options window): Choose Mono to trigger the percussion eect with each key
press. Choose Poly for a polyphonic percussion eect which is only (re)triggered after all keys
have been released. If you release all keys, new notes or chords will sound with percussion. If
you play legato, or sustain other notes on the upper manual, no percussion is heard.
•
Perc on Preset switch (Options window): Set to B0 to simulate the B preset key restriction.
Choose All if you want percussion to always be available.
•
Time knobs (Options window): Rotate to set an independent percussion decay time for the slow
and fast Time switch settings. When the Slow knob is set to maximum, the percussion doesn’t
decay at all.
•
Volume knobs (Options window): Rotate to set an independent low and high decay level for the
low and high Volume switch settings. This is an improvement from the B3, where Time and Vol
could only be turned on or o.
•
Upper Level knob (Options window): Rotate to set the balance between the upper (percussive)
manual and the lower manual/pedals. On the B3, percussion is available only if the B preset
key is selected (see Use Vintage B3 preset keys).
•
Velocity knob (Options window): Rotate to set the percussion velocity sensitivity (unlike the
original B3, which is not velocity sensitive). Engaging percussion on a B3 slightly reduces the
volume of the normal, nonpercussive registers.