PHYSICAL MODELING ORGAN AND ELECTRIC PIANO USER'S MANUAL Firmware version 1.41 - Hardware rev. C www.Crumar.
Congratulations! You are now the lucky owner of a Crumar Mojo 61, one of the finest digital keyboards of the modern era. The Mojo 61 is a high quality instrument that was entirely conceived, developed and built in Italy with premium quality parts. This instrument is the the result of years of research in sound design, quality electronics and has been assembled with first class craftsmanship.
CHAPTER SUMMARY: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
1. THE SOUNDS OF MOJO 61 VB3-II virtual tonewheel organ This is the exact same software that powers the Crumar Mojo and presents the same parameter set. VB3-II is the result of 12 years of study, research, experimentation and development of the simulation of a vintage Hammond B3 organ. It is the evolution of the GSi VB3 1.4 which is still available as a plugin for digital audio workstations.
Tines Electric Piano There's no keyboardist without a good Rhodes electric piano sound. And the Mojo 61 offers what can be considered the best fusion between sound fidelity and playability. This synth engine is based on more than 10 years of experience on the physical modeling simulation of a Rhodes electric piano, everything in the "body" of each single note from the attack transient to the very last decay is purely simulated.
Acoustic Grand Piano This sample-set comes from the factory sample library of the GSi Gemini and is based on the GSP-01 "Adaptive Sample Player" synthesis engine. It features a special "Physical Modeling Piano Harp Resonance Simulator" that adds natural resonances to the sound mimicking the behavior of a real piano harp. This is the only sound of the Mojo 61 that is mostly based on pre-recorded material and has no editing parameters.
2. THE EFFECTS Tremolo / Auto-panner / Wha-Wha Mojo 61 offers electric pianos and organs, so how could we miss such important effects in the chain? The Tremolo is a must in mono mode when combined with the Reed EP, and sounds great in square stereo with the Tines EP. And the Wha-Wha sounds so funky in combination with each and every piano sound. Stereo Phaser This is a 4-stage stereo phaser (two individual phasers slightly shifted), and offers parameters such as LFO speed and depth.
3. THE COMMAND PANEL – part 1 In this chapter we get familiar with the command panel of the Mojo 61; for a better readability, the panel has been split into three parts. Numbers are used to reference to each control later in this manual. Fig. 1 - Command Panel part 1 1. Volume knob. 2. Drive knob, adjusts the overdrive level when the Rotary Speaker effect is active on VB3 and when a Static Amp is active on Combo organs or Electric Pianos. 3.
4. THE COMMAND PANEL – part 2 Fig. 2 - Command Panel part 2 8. Presets for the upper manual. 9. Upper manual selector / Upper HOLD function. 10. The drawbars. These are used for all organ sounds the Mojo 61 offers. 11. Presets for the lower manual. 12. Lower manual selector / Lower HOLD function. 13. This LED indicates the status of the “Pedal-to-lower” function that can be enabled and disabled by pressing button n. 14 and then button n. 12. Since firmware 1.
5. THE COMMAND PANEL – part 3 Fig. 3 - Command Panel part 3 16. Knobs for adjusting the Reverb level and the amount of key-click produced by VB3 and the Combo organs. 17. Equalizer section, works on top of everything. 18. Multi-function button n. 1. 19. Multi-function button n. 2. 20. Multi-function button n. 3. 21. Multi-function button n. 4. 22. Instrument type selection. Press this button to cycle between the four basic sounds (VB3, Pipe organ, Combo organ, Electric piano) from top to bottom.
6. THE REAR PANEL Fig. 4 - Back panel part 1. 1. Analog, line level, balanced, stereo audio output. Use your jack cords to connect the Mojo 61 to your amplification system. Preferably, use balanced cables. 2. Output level selection. The optimal choice is to leave this selector in the middle position (+4 dB); if you're connecting it to a home “consumer type” hi-fi system, use the “L” position (-10 dB); for more power use the “H” position. 3.
7. CONNECTING CONTROL ACCESSORIES There are three additional Jack sockets on the back of the Mojo 61 that are used to connect pedals or the “half-moon” 3-way switch. Fig. 6 - Pedal inputs. 9. Half-Moon or Foot Switch input socket. Here you can connect our dual foot switch or our half-moon switch; the latter can only be attached to the optional lower manual keyboard, and is activated by pushing buttons n. 3 and n. 4 together.
9. ALL ABOUT VB3 VB3 is the first instrument that can be selected by pushing the button n. 22 labeled TYPE. It is the simulation of a tonewheel organ and is the main sound engine of your Crumar Mojo 61. Just like the original organ, it consists of three manuals, the upper, the lower and the pedalboard, even though we have only one physical keyboard and one set of 9 drawbars. Nevertheless, Mojo 61 offers some smart solutions to make it fun and easy to play even without the additional lower keyboard.
DRAWBARS We assume you already know what drawbars are and how they affect the sound of a tonewheel organ. If you don't, we invite you to search the web and read one of many documents that explain how tonewheel organs work. Our sole intention, in this chapter, is to explain that the 9 drawbars can work for both the upper manual and the lower manual, and the first 3 work for the pedalboard. Fig. 8 - Drawbar function table. Have a look at figure 8.
THE HOLD FUNCTION Probably you've noticed that, next to the labels “Upper” and “Lower”, there's a smaller label that reads “HOLD”. This is a special function that, when activated, momentarily disconnects the drawbars from the sound, allowing you to adjust the drawbars without affecting the sound, and get instantly to the new registration, as if it were a stored preset, the exact moment you deactivate the HOLD function.
10. PLAYING THE PIPE ORGAN Press the TYPE button n. 22 to shift to the next sound, the Pipe Organ. This is a one manual organ with 9 stops, 3 couplers and the tremulant motor. One important thing: remember to increase the Reverb level a bit when playing this sound! Fig. 10 - Pipe organ stops. The drawbars, in this case, will function as on/off switches, just like the “stops” of a real pipe organ that can be pushed in (off ) or pulled out (on).
11. COMBO ORGANS Back in the seventies many bands that could not afford an electro-magnetic tonewheel organ used to buy smaller and less expensive transistor organs, mostly made in Italy. Two of the most famous models are perfectly imitated by your Mojo 61. Use the TYPE button n. 22 to activate the Combo organ sound. Deciding which Combo organ is activated from the Type button is done via the Editor web-app or a button shortcut explained later in this manual. DRAWBARS Fig.
12. ELECTRIC PIANO Push the TYPE button n. 22 to activate the piano and start playing a little bit before going on with the reading of this manual. You will probably notice that playing the electric pianos of the Mojo 61 has a particular vibe.
13. APPLYING EFFECTS TO COMBO ORGANS AND ELECTRIC PIANOS The Multi-function buttons numbered 18, 19, 20 and 21 can be used for accessing the effects and other useful functions. When playing a Combo Organ you can switch FX1 and FX2 by using respectively buttons n. 20 and n. 21. Choosing which effect is associated to FX1 or to FX2 is done from the Editor web-app but can also be done using a button shortcut explained later.
15. ACCESSING THE EDITOR Mojo61 editor offers many parameters that can be adjusted to obtain the desired sound or to change some global settings of the instrument. There are two ways to access the editor: 1. The remote MIDI editor, accessible through the MIDI-USB port and a computer or mobile device connected to the Internet.
Any modern mobile device (tablets and smartphones) or any modern computer (desktop or laptop) can be used to access the Editor web-app. The execution speed of the Editor depends on the CPU power of your device. When the Mojo 61 is on, use your device's network options to start scanning for existing Wi-Fi networks. The Mojo 61 should cast an SSID that starts with "Mojo-xxxxxxxx" where the "x" are replaced by an hexadecimal serial number that is unique to each unit.
16. USING THE EDITOR The Mojo 61 Editor is interactive: it can be used to adjust all sound parameters and other functions. Parameters are generally presented under the form of horizontal sliders for more convenience when using the app from a touch device. However, the app can also be used with the mouse from a conventional computer. An in-line help can be recalled by tapping on the question mark icon on the top right corner, or on the parameter names in the editing pages.
WI-FI PASSWORD The default password for connecting to the Mojo 61 is "00000000", it can be changed to any word of a max. length of 8 characters. It's preferable to use only letters and numbers and avoid special characters. Setting a custom password prevents others to connect to the Mojo 61 while we are performing on the stage. However, the Wi-Fi radio in the Mojo 61 is powered enough to serve a connection in a range of max.
17. BRIEF EXPLANATION OF ALL ORGAN PARAMETERS – Generator: select a tonewheel generator from this list. Each generator is based on actual values as measured from real console organs of the B/C/A series. – Generator Shape: select between OFF (no shaping) or 3 levels of CUT and 3 levels of BOOST. These will modify the amplitude chart of the generator values according to different positions along the generator. This parameter does not apply any equalization to the sound.
Parameters for the Rotary speaker are: – Horn slow / fast: adjust the speed offset of the horn for when the speed is on slow or on fast. – Bass slow / fast: same as above but for the bass rotor. – Horn up / down: adjust the acceleration and deceleration times of the horn for the transitions between the slow and fast speeds.
– Dry Leak: some of the dry sound coming from the speakers does not reach the rotating elements and is mixed with the rotating sound. Use this parameter to adjust the amount of dry signal you want to be mixed in. – Bass Port: a real Leslie cabinet has a hole in the back that serves for two reasons: 1) lets the heat from the motors ventilate out from the cabinet and 2) acts as a bass tuning port, like those found on modern speakers.
Notes on the rotation speeds. All sliders in the edit pages, whenever moved, displays the readout in either MIDI or actual value, when available. As for the Rotary speaker's rotation speeds and times, values are shown in Hz and Seconds. To convert Hz to RPM (revolutions per minute), just multiply the Hz value by 60. For example, the horn, when the Horn Slow parameter is set at 64, rotates at 0,77 Hz which translates in 46,2 RPM. All the speed values can be varied between 50% and 150% of the center value.
18. SHORTCUTS Some of the functions that are normally accessed from the Editor web-app can also be accessed using key-combinations on the command panel. Here's a summary: – Switch between the two Combo Organ sounds: use UPPER PRESET A for Combo Type “F” and UPPER PRESET B for Combo Type “V”. – Switch between the four Piano sounds: use UPPER PRESET A for Tine Piano and UPPER PRESET B for Reed Piano; use LOWER PRESET A for Clavi Piano and LOWER PRESET B for Acoustic Piano.
19. THE USB PORTS The Mojo 61 includes 2 Type-A “host” USB 2.0 ports. These are mainly used for updating the software or for accepting external accessories. An interesting use for a USB system port is the possibility to connect a “Class-compliant USB-MIDI device”, i.e. one of the many MIDI devices that don't need special drivers when they are connected to a conventional computer.
20. MIDI FUNCTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION CHART Mojo 61 has a very functional and complete MIDI implementation. It can send and receive messages related to each single control and each single parameter; all physical controls located on the control panel have fixed MIDI CC assignments, while all sound parameters accessible from the Editor web-app can be freely assigned by the user.
21. MIDI MAP PARAMETER NAME C.C. NUMBER REMARKS Volume 7 Drive 76 Reverb 91 Key-click 75 Bass 8 Middle 9 Treble 10 Drawbar Upper n.1 12 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.2 13 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.3 14 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.4 15 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.5 16 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.6 17 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.7 18 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.8 19 For all organs Drawbar Upper n.9 20 For all organs Drawbar Lower n.
KEYBOARD VELOCITY Mojo 61 can send notes with or without velocity according to the instrument selected with the Type button n. 22. If VB3 or Combo Organ is selected, notes are sent with a fixed velocity value of 127 but the first key contact is used (fast key triggering). If Pipe Organ or EP is selected, velocity is sent. Key-off velocity is always sent. Any transposition or octave shifting applied to the internal sound generator is also applied to the transmitted note messages.
Last update: June 2021.
