Native Instruments Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet User Manual
USER MANUAL
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is
subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication
may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior
written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments.
Manual written by: Thomas Hansen Skarbye
Edited by: Patryk Korman
Document Version: 1.0 (02/2010)
Product Version: 1.0 (02/2010)
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in
making this a better product.
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Native Instruments GmbH
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info@native-instruments.de
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© Native Instruments GmbH, 2010. All rights reserved.
Table Of Contents
1 Introduction(Clavinet).......................................................................................................6
2 Introduction(Pianet).........................................................................................................9
3 Controls(Clavinet).......................................................................................................... 12
3.1 SustainPedal.......................................................................................................12
3.2 PitchBend............................................................................................................ 12
3.3 BassString...........................................................................................................12
3.4 Mute....................................................................................................................13
3.5 “OffCenter”StringStrike...................................................................................... 13
3.6 Click....................................................................................................................13
3.7 Pickups................................................................................................................14
3.8 FilterSwitches...................................................................................................... 15
3.9 OriginalNoiseAdjustment.....................................................................................16
4 Controls(Pianet).............................................................................................................17
4.1 SustainPedal.......................................................................................................17
4.2 Click....................................................................................................................17
4.3 OriginalNoiseAdjustment.....................................................................................18
4.4 Tremolo................................................................................................................ 18
Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet - User Manual – IV
5 Effects(ClavinetandPianet)...........................................................................................19
5.1 Reverb.................................................................................................................. 19
5.2 Delay....................................................................................................................20
5.3 Pan......................................................................................................................20
5.4 Auto-Wah..............................................................................................................21
5.5 Compressor..........................................................................................................21
5.6 Chorus..................................................................................................................22
5.7 Distortion.............................................................................................................22
5.8 Phaser..................................................................................................................23
5.9 Amp.....................................................................................................................23
6 Credits...........................................................................................................................24
Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet - User Manual – V
1 Introduction (Clavinet)
Scarbee Clavinet is a unique and totally authentic reproduction of the most funky keyboard
ever made, recreating not only its signature sound but also the unique dynamic response of
the original instrument. It has a big round twanging bottom and a wiry and tight top end. For
many, this is as close as they will ever get to a sound which could compete with the cut of
an electric guitar. The sharp tone and the percussive playing style made it a rst choice for
many funk recordings, where it complemented funk guitar rhythms like no other instrument.
These days, it’s a testament to the unique and legendary status of the original instrument
and the music to which it was part of. Virtually every synthesizer you power up has a program
called “clav.” Thankfully, the Scarbee Clavinet preserves the true sound of the instrument
for generations of keyboard players to come. Of course, as most electro-mechanical instruments, the original instrument had it’s shortcomings: it was quite a heavy beast considering its
svelte dimensions. Now Scarbee Clavinet weighs just a few grams ;). The original instrument
suffered from the usual wear and tear you might expect from an instrument of this design.
Most commonly, strings rusted, went out of tune and broke, keys broke under performance
stress or froze due to wear in the rubber key guides, and rubber hammer tips split, causing
notes to stick or sound dead. The Scarbee Clavinet was in perfect condition when sampled
and will sound that way forever. No tuning problems, no broken strings, no hammer tips to
cut up and install—just load it and play. The original instrument’s output lasted only as long
Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet – User Manual – 6
as the 9 volt battery powering its preamp. No battery meant no sound. Just like the single
pole pickups found on electric guitars, the original instrument’s pickups had a tendency to
amplify transformer noise and any other type of hiss and hum within range, leading to a
niche business for the instrument’s tweaking with improved RF shielding inside the instrument’s housing. The original had a very specic sonic envelope, and it could not be used in
conjunction with a piano style sustain pedal. Now that Scarbee has poured the funk machine
into the more uid environment of a sampler, the original’s classic tone is available for far
more experimental approaches to synthesis, from envelope alteration to lter modication
to layering to just about anything your imagination can bring to bear. The sound is one of
the most easily identiable and unique amongst classic keyboards. Although its legendary
status and popularity have led to frequent imitation and sampling, until now the essence and
vibrant dynamics of the original keyboard have never truly been captured. Just as we did with
the MARK I, the A-200 and Scarbee Pianet, the Scarbee Clavinet delivers the sound of the
original in the kind of vivid and inspiring detail which—once you’ve started playing—you will
see you want to play on, and on, and on.
How much detail is there in the instrument?
In order to accurately reproduce the original keyboard’s dynamics, both the sustained and
release sounds have been sampled at up to 20 different sustained velocities—including
samples of the occasional ‘off center’ string strike, a well known characteristic of the original
instrument. All samples are full length (no loops) and with the Clavinet, Scarbee introduces
“Horizontal Release Technology,” whereby release samples are chosen from the wave pool
depending on how long a key has been held. This allows a staccato played note to create a
different release tone than a note sustained for a longer period. To achieve this, each key
sampled on the Scarbee Clavinet has 24 release samples assigned to it! This was the only
way to reproduce the very special action and soul of the original instrument. We sampled each
of the four standard pickup settings: Lower, Upper, Both (out of phase) and Both, each in a
standard version and a version with mutebar switched ON, resulting in 8 unique sounds! We
also made it possible to switch Standard/Mute modes with the Mod-Wheel. In addition we
have created a set of Impulse Responses for the KONTAKT 4 Convolution effect, which offers
you an exact simulation of the original and very special Filter/EQ on the original instrument.
Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet – User Manual – 7
RESTORATION
From the start we had decided to sample the black and metal colored “road” model of the
original instrument because it was better shielded and more recent. And I managed to get
a great looking instrument, it looked almost new. I spent the Christmas holidays to change
strings and hammers, which seriously stressed my back. Then I started the initial recordings,
but it just didn’t sound as good as the recording clips I had from my friend Christian Vinten’s
recently restored version, the classic wooden one. I went to see my friend Preben Lyngmark,
who had two of the wooden ones in his repair shop and we compared both models directly,
with the result that they did sound different. We discovered a slightly different preamp and
modied the road one’s amp to our liking. But still the sound was not right—probably due to
the metal case of my version. Although Preben did a great job (as usual), we never got the
road version to sound as good as the wooden one, so one day I called Christian and begged
him to lend me his instrument for a few months...(it took a year before I returned it). Preben
now replaced a single transistor in the preamp to reduce noise a little bit. Another problem
was that sometimes the switches wouldn’t work. Fortunately we could xed that. The original
is driven by a 9 Volt battery (!) and we had to change it quite often to avoid bad sound...
Changing the rubber hammers was easy, but the green yarn (wow), each string had to be put
through very gently and in exactly the right way, was a headache. If any of this got broken, it
would have been a complete disaster, the yarn is the damper of the strings! The strings came
in four sizes: three different bass gauges and one treble string. It was no fun at all to replace
those. Tuning the instrument was also quite cumbersome; some of the strings were very hard
to turn and you had the feeling they would break any second. I had to retune pretty often
while sampling, but in the end the instrument sounded as if it came directly from the factory.
Scarbee Clavinet and Pianet – User Manual – 8
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