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The
Native Instruments B4 keyboard. Click image to enlarge the view.
The
Native Instruments B4 control. Click image to enlarge the view.
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July
12
Native Instruments Reinvents
the Tone Wheel
VST-compatible
application emulates B3 organ and rotating speaker
by
David Nagel
Executive
Producer
Native
Instruments will be releasing a new tonewheel organ synthesizer
for the Macintosh within the next month or so. The B4 is a VST-compatible
B3 and rotating speaker emulator that the company says produces
sound "virtually indistinguishable from the original hardware."
It's based on the same NSP technology as the company's Reaktor modular
system for synthesizing and sampling sounds, as well as producing
effects.
Unlike
a sample-based instrument, the Native Instruments B4 uses modeling
to produce such details as harmonic foldback, drawbar crosstalk
and loudness robbing. It's designed for a variety of sound styles,
including rock, jazz and house. A rear panel gives access to numerous
adjustment parameters, which allow the sound to be tailored for
particular applications. Features include:
- 91 tonewheels
- Nine drawbars
per manual
- Two manuals
and pedal keyboard
- Scanner vibrato/chorus
- Percussion
on any harmonic
- Adjustable
keyclick
- Tube distortion
sound
- Rotary speaker
- Many parameters
for fine tuning the sound.
The
Native Instruments B4 works as a stand-alone application or as a
plugin with any VST 2.0-compliant sequencer.
The
B4 should be available within the next month, though no firm ship
date has been set. It will cost $199 for the Mac and Windows versions.
A demo will be available on Native Instruments' Web site soon, according
to the company. For more information, visit http://www.nativeinstruments.com.
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