Kurzweil PC3K8 - KB3 Program Structure; KB3 Mode

6-4
Program Mode
KB3 Program Structure
KB3 Program Structure
There’snothingquitelikethesoundoftheclassicHammond™B‐3tonewheelorgan,especially
whenplayedthroughaLeslie™rotatingspeakersystem.We’vedoneextensivetestingand
analysiswithseveraltonewheelorgans,andcreatedourownmodelstoemulatetheunique
tonewheelsound.Weeventookinto
accountthewaythatolderorgansstarttosounddifferent
(andarguablybetter)asthei rcapacitorsbegintoleak—andweincludedaparameterthatlets
youvarytheamountofgrunge(leakage)inyoursound.
KB3programsuseoscillatorstoemulatethetonewheelsound.Eachoscillatoroperates
independently,andhas
itsownpitchandamplitudecontrol.Youcancontrolhowmany
oscillatorsareusedforaKB3program.Therearetwooscillatorspervoice,foratotalof256.You
canuseupto91oftheminaKB3program(the92ndisreservedtoproducekeyclick).Because
theoscillatorsstartrunningassoonasyouselectaKB3program,therearealwaysvoices
available—unlikeVASTprograms,whichstart“stealing”noteswhenyoureachthepolyphony
limit.
Theoscillators—we’llcallthemtonewheels fromhereon—aredividedintoan upperandlower
group.Theuppertonewheelsusethe
samplesinthePC3K’skeymapstogeneratesound,while
thelowertonewheelsusesinewaves.YoucanchangethekeymapofaKB3program’supper
tonewheelstoproducealargearrayofsounds.Bychangingthekeymapfromsinetoasaw
waveitispossibletoemulatethe
soundofclassiccomboorgansliketheVox™andFarfisa™
models.
KB3 Mode
KB3programsaredifferentenoughfromVASTprogramsthatweusethetermKB3modeto
describewhat’sgoingonwhenyouplayaKB3program.WheneveryouplayaKB3program,
youareinKB3mode.TheblueLEDintheKB3buttonwilllightwhenthecurrentprogramis
a
KB3program.
IfyouwanttocreateyourownKB3program,startbyeditinganexistingKB3program.
YoucanplayKB3programsonlyonasinglechannelatatime.