Finally full control of B-3 Tone wheel organ in Analog Lab

Software Instruments Analog Lab
#1

I was getting frustrated with the B-3 Tone wheel organ in Analog Lab. My issues: (1) the Leslie speaker does not react to the modulation wheel and (2) though you can control the drawbars for the upper manual via midi you can’t do it for the lower manual.

For most people the latter issues is not relevant as there are key switches from C-1 to Bb-1 which gives you access to the presets of the lower manual Tone wheel voicing. So you can just choose your voicing upfront while your keyboard is set to very low octaves and switch to higher octaves to play your song. Also if you program your DAW there is no problem as you can access the key switch notes in your piano roll without a problem.

But if you are an organ player and you just want to play in Analog Lab like you would on your organ that is highly annoying. Changing the voicing is part of playing. If you can’t it is like piano players not having their pedals. :man_shrugging:

Issue (1) is solved quickly. As you can go to “Keyb. Settings” and assign the modulation wheel to the “fast” button of the rotary effect. Works like with every other organ VST. :sunglasses: While you are at it: If your keyboard features Aftertouch give yourself a treat and assign Aftertouch to the “brake” button. It makes it so much more fun to play if you can slow down the Leslie while playing with a fast Leslie.

Issue (2) took me a minute to figure out. But if your keyboard provides you with pads you might be able to edit how those behave. I set my pads to midi channel 2 and programmed them to play Db-1 to Bb-1. Why not program C-1 also? Because this setting is for all drawbars pushed in which results in mute and nobody needs mute while playing. It might be a good idea to set up all other pads for CC midi messages so you have more controls you can access in Analog Lab via midi learn.

I saved those midi settings to a dedicated preset in my keyboard so I can access it when I want to play Analog Lab’s Tone wheel organ.

This is quite a long post. Sorry for that. Actually, I made a video about all this. But it is in German. Sorry again!

5 Likes
#2

Nice tips. Personally I’ve always preferred the Leslie fast/slow to be triggered by the sustain footswitch.

I’ve tried hard to love the Arturia B3 considering all the tweakability. Unfortunately I can’t because the Leslie emulation is literally the absolute worst I’ve ever heard. Which disappoints me because fundamentally I’m an organist more than a keyboardist.

1 Like
#3

Originally I wanted to control the Leslie with the sustain footswitch. But Analog Lab wouldn’t offer me the “assign” option. :man_shrugging: I could have changed the CC number of the sustain pedal in the preset editor for my keyboard but I wasn’t up to it.

The Leslie emulation: Right. There are a few options with different types of speakers and running them “open” or “closed” but the slow Leslie is always kind of lacking.

I’ve got the B5 organ from Acoustic Samples which is quite good. But the UVI workstation always annoys me with its ridiculous long loading times. :man_shrugging: That is the reason why I wanted Arturia’s B-3 organ to make work for me. It’s starts in an instant. So your music idea is not gone till you set up your system.

1 Like
#4

Yeah I’m spoiled really by the B3 plugin which comes as standard with Apple Logic Pro. And right out of the box the sustain pedal switches the Lesie between slow and fast. But I like options too which is why I have been disappointed by the Arturia B3. The actual drawbars and percussion sound fine but the Leslie is just not good enough.

1 Like
#5

Hi @Jon_Vincent

Have you tried the Rotary CLS-222 plugin at all?
It’s really rather good and you might prefer it.

HTH!

1 Like
#6

Though I was a Mac User for some years I am a PC guy through and through now. So not spoiled at all. :wink: