Keyswitches on Vintage Organs?

Johnbee
Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member

I've had Vintage Organs for a few years now but I never used it much. Is there any way to use keyswitches for vibrato and Leslie tone cabinet control. I want to be able to use keyswitches to activate/deactivate those functions in a DAW if it's possible.


Any help would be appreciated. Please be as detailed as possible in your response.

Thanks;

John Bowen

Best Answers

  • Nicki_NI
    Nicki_NI Product Team Posts: 23 mod
    edited January 2023 Answer βœ“

    Hello John,

    there are no key switches for complete sound settings in Vintage Organs. The key switches C0-B0 act as drawbar preset selectors, similar to how it's implemented on actual B3's.

    Depending on the DAW you're using, you could set up one or more MIDI notes to be transformed to MIDI CCs, and then use these MIDI CCs to automate parameters like Leslie On/Off or Vibrato On/Off.

    There's actually a Multi Script in KONTAKT that could be used for this purpose, it's called "Note Numbers To CC".

    Hope this helps,

    nicki

  • jm302music
    jm302music Member Posts: 2 Member
    Answer βœ“

    Greetings, all! I realize that I'm chiming in here way too late. But I came to this message thread hoping to find the same answer (ie, "which MIDI note toggles the vibrato?"). And I was also disappointed to see that the answer is "there isn't one!" 😁 I did discover that there's a fairly simple workaround, though, which lies in the 12 presets which ARE accessible through MIDI notes.

    First, I I just set up preset 12 by arranging my drawbars the way I wanted and turning vibrato OFF, then saved my changes. I then opened preset 11, set up the drawbars the same way as preset 12, but turned vibrato ON.

    After those changes, the only difference between presets 11 and 12 was that one had vibrato on and one had vibrato off. I was then able to use the assigned MIDI notes to switch back and forth between those presets, effectively allowing me to use the MIDI notes as a vibrato ON/OFF toggle.

    Hope that helps anyone who finds this same thread!

    Joel

Answers

  • DunedinDragon
    DunedinDragon Member Posts: 363 Pro

    It's in the documentation of the Vintage Organ in the documents folder wherever you have it installed. There's not much there other than saying it uses C0-B0. You'll just have to experiment to find out what they do by default. I know they're tied to whatever presets you have defined for your organ presets so you can control whatever each keyswitch does.

  • Johnbee
    Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member

    I appreciate your comment, DD. πŸ˜€ I've already experimented with the presets and all they seem to control is the drawbar settings. I just want to have a situation where the rotor is going slow in 4 bars and fast in the next 4. It seems crazy that they wouldn't have made a keyswitch provision for that. Real organists do it all the time.

    John B

  • Gee_Flat
    Gee_Flat Member Posts: 906 Guru
    edited January 2023

    Keyswitches are applied to groups, while the Leslie is an effect that is being applied to select groups or maybe all groups. I don't own this instrument so I can't help with regards to editing.

    In regards to the Leslie you said 'tone' in your original post, but in your comment above you said speed.

    If it's the speed you can adjust the acceleration so that the Leslie is applied instantly or smoothly while applying midi controller like 'Sustain Pedal'.

  • Nicki_NI
    Nicki_NI Product Team Posts: 23 mod
    edited January 2023 Answer βœ“

    Hello John,

    there are no key switches for complete sound settings in Vintage Organs. The key switches C0-B0 act as drawbar preset selectors, similar to how it's implemented on actual B3's.

    Depending on the DAW you're using, you could set up one or more MIDI notes to be transformed to MIDI CCs, and then use these MIDI CCs to automate parameters like Leslie On/Off or Vibrato On/Off.

    There's actually a Multi Script in KONTAKT that could be used for this purpose, it's called "Note Numbers To CC".

    Hope this helps,

    nicki

  • Gee_Flat
    Gee_Flat Member Posts: 906 Guru

    Hahaha, I've only seen Nicki comment on these boards twice since I've been here, and it always follows a comment I make using the word 'Edit' regarding instruments he created.

    I'm sensing a pattern here Nicki.😊

  • Nicki_NI
    Nicki_NI Product Team Posts: 23 mod

    There's no pattern involved. I'm just trying to help people out whenever I can, that is all.

  • Johnbee
    Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member

    Thank you very much, Nicki and thank you to all who've responded. I was hoping it would be easier but if it's not built in, it's not. Oh well.....

    πŸ˜€JB

  • Gee_Flat
    Gee_Flat Member Posts: 906 Guru

    The script - also created by Nicki - should make it pretty painless or I don't think it would have been recommended.

    But like I said, adjusting the acceleration to 100 should take you from slow to fast with out gradually speeding up or slowing down.

  • Johnbee
    Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member

    I'll play around with it next time a have some time time to spare. The project in question I was working on I've created a "work around" for so I wouldn't want to change it now anyway, but for the future...........

    Thanks

    πŸ˜€JB

  • Johnbee
    Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member
    edited January 2023

    Also, I might add, I'm not real familiar with Hammond B3s or C3s as far as their operation. I know some points about them (like the infernal "Start Button") but I've never really owned one or played one. They are fascinating to me though. When I was a kid my family had one of their chord organs in our living room which my Mom played the ****** out of.

    πŸ˜€

  • jm302music
    jm302music Member Posts: 2 Member
    Answer βœ“

    Greetings, all! I realize that I'm chiming in here way too late. But I came to this message thread hoping to find the same answer (ie, "which MIDI note toggles the vibrato?"). And I was also disappointed to see that the answer is "there isn't one!" 😁 I did discover that there's a fairly simple workaround, though, which lies in the 12 presets which ARE accessible through MIDI notes.

    First, I I just set up preset 12 by arranging my drawbars the way I wanted and turning vibrato OFF, then saved my changes. I then opened preset 11, set up the drawbars the same way as preset 12, but turned vibrato ON.

    After those changes, the only difference between presets 11 and 12 was that one had vibrato on and one had vibrato off. I was then able to use the assigned MIDI notes to switch back and forth between those presets, effectively allowing me to use the MIDI notes as a vibrato ON/OFF toggle.

    Hope that helps anyone who finds this same thread!

    Joel

  • Johnbee
    Johnbee Member Posts: 22 Member

    Joel-You may have come in late for this one but it just so happens that I recently (this month 10/23) reposted the same question. Having no response I opened a support ticket and a wonderful person named Packie has been helping me greatly. The secret is to right click on what you want to change and choose "Learn MIDI Automation". Then go to your controller and pick a fader or knob and move it as you're playing a note (or several notes) on your controller. The info you offer is helpful too and I will try that next session, but I still need to figure out how to record those into automation in my DAW so I can, for instance, toggle the rotor into the final mix of a song.

    Thanks so much again!

    John B

  • jm302music
    jm302music Member Posts: 2 Member

    Hey, John, thanks for sharing the solution from the support ticket, too! Very helpful, especially for other kinds of automations that I may need to do in the future.

    Joel

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