Native Instruments B4 II - Manual (Page 58)

58 – B4 II
Lower Manual Drawbars
9 drawbars setup the 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 is the possibility to get 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.