Steinberger VSTi Virtual Bassist User's Manual
Virtual Bassist
Operation Manual
by Wolfram Knelangen
The information in this documentation is subject to change without notice and
does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies
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 Steinberg
Media Technologies GmbH. All product and company names are ™ or ®
trademarks of their respective owners.
© Wizoo Sound Design GmbH & Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2005.
All rights reserved.
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Table of contents
4 On bass…
5 Congratulations!
6 What is Virtual Bassist?
7 How does Virtual Bassist work?
8 What you can and can’t do with Virtual Bassist
8 Register your software!
9 The Steinberg Key
11 System requirements (PC version)
11 Installing Virtual Bassist (PC version)
12 System requirements (Mac version)
12 Installing Virtual Bassist (Mac version)
13 Activating the Steinberg Key
14 Setting up Virtual Bassist as a VST Instrument in your host application
15 Setting up Virtual Bassist as a DXi2 instrument
16 Using Virtual Bassist in an AU compatible application
16 Virtual Bassist stand-alone and ReWire
17 Latency
17 Using a single button mouse (Mac)
18 The first test
19 Playing Virtual Bassist
19 Using a MIDI keyboard
21 Virtual Bassist terminology
23 The Play page
24 Loading and saving Styles
25 Auditioning styles
26 Play page controls
32 Guitar controls
34 Chord recognition
36 The Groove Match page
37 The Macro Groove display
40 Micro timing settings
42 The Part Browser
44 The Amp & FX page
45 The Amp section
47 FX section…
49 The effects
56 Effect routing
57 The output section
60 Effect management
62 Bonus feature: Creating your own phrasings
63 Plug-in version of the effect board
64 MIDI Controller assignments
65 Assigning MIDI controllers in Virtual Bassist
66 The Settings page
70 Credits
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On bass…
The Virtual Guitarist product line has changed the way many people
produce their music – or talk to guitarists. Because of the success
and positive recognition of Virtual Guitarist from hobby to high-profile
users, Virtual Bassist has been an obvious item on the to-do list for a
long time. In the end, it took three years for it to finally hit the shelves.
As a Virtual Guitarist user, you will notice that the long wait brought improvements as well. The engine we now use as a foundation is much
more flexible and intelligent. That said, the heart of Virtual Bassist is deliberately not rocket science or artificial intelligence – it’s real recordings. Whatever you create with it is based on real performances by a
real musician, with real feel, real skills and real meaning. We’ve just
added flexibility, control and intelligence to allow you to tell the bassist
what to play and how to sound. To some of you, that may be the most
important innovation.
To cut a long story short: We love the sound of Virtual Bassist, we love
how easy it is to work with. We are very proud of the innovative Groove
Match feature that allows possibilities we haven’t even thought of. We
love the great amp and the FX and we know that Virtual Bassist always
does for you what we trained it to do.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Gorges
Executive Producer
Virtual Bassist
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Congratulations!
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Virtual Bassist is your own personal bass player, allowing you to
choose between 30 fulfilling styles with perfect sound, perfect timing,
and the ability to flexibly adapt the playing to suit most musical needs.
Virtual Bassist will easily add professional-sounding bass guitar tracks
to your projects, without the need for a real bass player, and you get a
perfect take every time. Even if you use real bassists in your music as
well, Virtual Bassist has the big advantage of enabling you to experiment with and alter your bass parts at any time, in any place, without the
need for special recording equipment. You can even lay down tracks on
your laptop computer while sitting in the park or use the Virtual Bassist
effects to process your own bass recordings.
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What is Virtual Bassist?
Technically speaking, Virtual Bassist is a software instrument that can
be used stand-alone or in any VST, DXi, AU or ReWire compatible
host application under Windows or Mac OS X. Virtual Bassist comes
with a variety of electric bass guitar Styles, each fitting a certain musical style and is ready-to-go with the correct sound and phrases as
well as a selection of Fills and controls.
Musically speaking, Virtual Bassist plays itself, all you have to do is select the chords or root notes via a MIDI keyboard. You can control the
phrasing and many other play parameters in real time, using either the
mouse or a MIDI controller.You can adapt licks to your projects seamlessly via the Groove Match function and customize the sound using
the comprehensive selection of bass effects.
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How does Virtual Bassist work?
Virtual Bassist doesn’t use single-note samples or synthesis to imitate
reality. The result would be extremely artificial, if you’ve ever tried to
simulate bass playing on a MIDI keyboard you’ll know exactly what
we’re talking about.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Virtual Bassist concept is much simpler. It is
based on a huge library of audio tracks recorded by real living bass
players. This means the results are genuine bass recordings—and not
some MIDI trickery.
Virtual Bassist’s approach makes it possible to choose from these recordings in real-time when you change a chord or any other parameter. Tempo changes are no problem as the bass recordings have been
processed in such a way that enables them to be played at any tempo.
In addition, you can manually manipulate Parts to create your own or
adapt them to fit your music using the Groove Match function. The 13
Parts and 6 Fills available in each Style are all examples of what’s possible, we’ll take a closer look later.
Just like in real life, Virtual Bassist has its own amplifier and FX pedals
to beef up your sound and at the end of the signal chain is a selection
of speaker cabinets in all popular configurations. The state-of-the-art
Virtual Bassist technology even allows you to select the type and the
position of the microphone in front of your cabinet.
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What you can and can’t do with Virtual Bassist
Virtual Bassist has many advantages when compared with a real
player:
• Virtual Bassist is convenient and available at any time.
• Virtual Bassist is cheap and easy and you won’t need a studio to record in.
• You can save time because there’s no setup, tuning, preparation, microphone
positioning, or audio recording.
• Virtual Bassist doesn’t play wrong notes and there aren’t any timing problems.
• You can work with several bass players simultaneously.
• You can control the sound and phrasing of the bass.
• Virtual Bassist supports your creativity, allowing you to experiment as much as
you want, and gives you the possibility to create tracks that couldn’t be played
on a real bass guitar.
• It’s possible to make alterations at any stage, even after recording or during
the mixing process. You can change the instrument, phrasing and sound without having to recreate a recording from scratch.
Despite all of these advantages, it’s important to remember that Virtual
Bassist is a computer program and will inevitably have some disadvantages when compared to a real player. It would be impossible for Virtual Bassist to provide everything a real musician might theoretically be
able to offer, although the included Styles cover a broad range and will
be capable of suiting most needs.
Register your software!
Before getting carried away with the software, which we’re sure you
will do, please take a moment to complete and return the registration
card enclosed with Virtual Bassist. This will entitle you to technical
support, and we’ll also keep you up to date with the latest news and
updates.
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The Steinberg Key
Please read the following section before installing the Virtual Bassist
software.
Included with the Virtual Bassist package, you will find an activation
code for the Steinberg Key (sometimes referred to as a “dongle”), a
hardware copy protection device that is part of the Virtual Bassist copy
protection scheme. Virtual Bassist will not run if there is no Steinberg
Key present or if this key has not been properly activated. You can either separately purchase a new Steinberg Key for use with Virtual Bassist, or use a key previously bought for use with a Steinberg application.
If you have a Windows PC and have never used a dongle on your computer before, the installation routine may initiate a restart of Windows after
installation of the key drivers. After the restart, the key must be plugged
into the USB port for the installation routine to continue.
If you already own software that requires a Steinberg Key, it should be
plugged into the computer’s USB port after installing Virtual Bassist and
restarting the computer! When the key is plugged into the USB port, Windows will automatically recognize it as a new hardware device and will
attempt to find drivers for it – these necessary drivers won’t be present
until Virtual Bassist has been installed and the computer restarted.
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The Steinberg Key
The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which your Steinberg
software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg products use the same type of key and you can store more than one license
on a key. Licenses can also (within certain limits) be transferred between keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software.
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If you already own a Steinberg Key (e.g. for Cubase or Nuendo), you can
load your Virtual Bassist license onto that, using the activation code
supplied with Virtual Bassist. This way you need only one USB key for
both your host and Virtual Bassist (see below).
The Steinberg Key must not be plugged in before or during the installation of Virtual Bassist if this is the first time you use such a key. In this
case Windows will register it as new USB hardware and try to find drivers that won’t be present before Virtual Bassist installation.
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System requirements (PC version)
To run Virtual Bassist you’ll need:
•A PC with an 800 MHz Pentium or Athlon processor (1.4 GHz or faster
recommended).
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended).
• 500 MB of hard disk space.
• Windows® XP Home or Professional.
• Windows MME compatible audio hardware (an ASIO compatible audio card
is recommended).
• If you want to use Virtual Bassist as a plug-in, you’ll need Cubase or Nuendo
(version 1.5 or higher) or another VST 2.0, DXi 2 or ReWire compatible host
application. Please note that some features may not be supported in other
host applications.
•A Steinberg Key and an available USB port.
• Monitor and graphics card supporting 1024 x 768 resolution.
Please also observe the system requirements of your host application.
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Installing Virtual Bassist (PC version)
To install Virtual Bassist on your PC:
1.
Switch on your computer and wait for Windows to start.
2.
Insert the Virtual Bassist CD ROM into your CD ROM drive.
3.
Open the Windows Explorer, or the “My Computer” window, and
double-click on the CD ROM drive icon.
4.
Double-click on the Virtual Bassist Installer icon to run the installation
program, and follow the on-screen instructions.
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System requirements (Mac version)
To run Virtual Bassist you’ll need:
•A Power Mac G4 867 MHz computer (Power Mac G4 Dual and 1.25 GHz or
faster recommended).
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended).
• 500 MB of hard disk space.
• Mac OS X version 10.3 or higher.
• CoreAudio compatible audio hardware.
• If you want to use Virtual Bassist as a plug-in, you’ll need Cubase or Nuendo
(version 1.5 or higher) or another VST 2.0, AU or ReWire compatible host
application.
Please note that some features may not be supported in other host
applications.
•A Steinberg Key and an available USB port.
• Monitor and graphics card supporting 1024 x 768 resolution.
Please also observe the system requirements of your host application.
Installing Virtual Bassist (Mac version)
To install Virtual Bassist on your Mac:
1.
Switch on your computer and insert the Virtual Bassist CD ROM.
2.
If the CD window doesn’t open automatically, double-click on the
Virtual Bassist CD icon on your desktop.
3.
Double-click the Syncrosoft LCC.mpkg file to run the copy protection
installation program and follow the on-screen instructions.
4.
Depending on the format you want to install, open the folder “Virtual
Bassist VST”, “Virtual Bassist AU” or “Virtual Bassist ReWire”. Please
read the corresponding *.rtf file in there. Double-click the *.pkg file to
run the Virtual Bassist installation program and follow the on-screen
instructions.
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5.
After installing the plug-in copy the folder “Virtual Bassist Content” to
your system hard drive in the folder “Library/Application Support/
Steinberg/”.
If you copy the content to another directory on your hard drive you will
have to run the “Set VB Content Location” application in the “Virtual Bassist Content” folder on your hard drive, otherwise VB will not find its data!
Activating the Steinberg Key
Whether you purchased a new key with Virtual Bassist, or if you want to
use one you bought with a different Steinberg product: your Steinberg
Key does not yet contain a valid license for Virtual Bassist. You must
download a license to it before you can launch Virtual Bassist! Use the
activation code supplied with the program in order to download a valid
Virtual Bassist license to your Steinberg Key. This process is the same
for existing and new keys. Proceed as follows:
1.
After installation and restarting the computer, plug the Steinberg Key
into the USB port.
If you are unsure of which port this is, consult the computer’s documentation.
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2.
If this is the first time a copy protection device is plugged in, it will be
registered as a new hardware device, and a dialog will appear asking
you whether you would like to find drivers for the device manually or
automatically.
Choose to find drivers automatically. The dialog closes and you may have to reboot
your computer.
3.
Make sure that your computer has a working internet connection.
License download is made “online”. If your Virtual Bassist computer isn’t connected to
the internet, it’s possible to use another computer for the online connection – proceed
with the steps below and see the help for the License Control Center application.
4.
Launch the “License Control Center” application (found in the Windows
Start menu under “Syncrosoft” or in the Macintosh Applications folder).
This application allows you to view your Steinberg Keys and load or transfer licenses.
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5.
Use the License Control Center “Wizard” function along with the activation code supplied with Virtual Bassist to download the license to
your Key.
Simply follow the on-screen instructions. If you are uncertain about how to proceed
consult the help for LCC.
When the activation process is completed you are ready to launch
Virtual Bassist!
Setting up Virtual Bassist as a VST Instrument in your host application
This section describes how to set up Virtual Bassist with Cubase SX
as your host application. However, the same procedure applies to
most VST host applications, you should consult your host’s documentation if you need further help.
Make sure the host program has been correctly installed and set up to
work with your MIDI and audio hardware (e.g. MIDI keyboard and an
audio card).
To set up Virtual Bassist:
1.
Open the VST Instruments window.
2.
Click the “No Instruments” label and select Virtual Bassist from the
pop-up menu.
3.
Wait for a few seconds while Virtual Bassist loads its default Style.
The Virtual Bassist window will open automatically.
4.
In the VST host application, select Virtual Bassist as the output for a
MIDI track.
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Setting up Virtual Bassist as a DXi2 instrument
The information in this section refers to using Virtual Bassist within Cakewalk SONAR. We assume that you have correctly set up both SONAR and
your available MIDI and audio hardware. Should you wish to use Virtual
Bassist within another DXi2 compatible host application, please refer to
its documentation.
Proceed as follows to activate Virtual Bassist:
1.
Make sure that SONAR is receiving MIDI data generated by your external MIDI master keyboard. You can check this visually with the
“MIDI In/Out Activity” tray icon.
2.
In SONAR, open the “Synth Rack” window from the View menu.
3.
Click the Insert button (or select the Insert option on the main menu).
4.
Open the DXi Synth submenu and select “Virtual Bassist” from the
pop-up menu.
5.
By default the “Insert DXi Options” dialog appears. To create one MIDI
track and connect an audio track to Virtual Bassist’s 1+2 outputs, activate the options “Midi Source Track” and “First Synth Output”.
Refer to your host application’s documentation for further details.
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6.
Clicking the “Connection State” button in the Synth Rack will activate/
deactivate Virtual Bassist. By default this is automatically activated
when DXi SoftSynths are loaded.
7.
Double-click on the “Virtual Bassist” entry or click the “Synth Properties” button in the tool bar of the Synth Rack to open the Virtual Bassist
window.
8.
In SONAR, select the previously created MIDI track “Virtual Bassist”.
Virtual Bassist will now receive MIDI data from the selected track.
Make sure that the MIDI channel of the currently selected SONAR track is set to the
channel on which Virtual Bassist is to receive MIDI data.
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Using Virtual Bassist in an AU compatible application
You can use Virtual Bassist in any AU host application (e.g. Logic).
The Virtual Bassist AU version is installed in the folder “Library/Audio/
Plug-ins/Components” and lets Virtual Bassist work in an AU environment – without any performance loss or incompatibilities.
For Logic Pro 7 proceed as follows:
1.
Open the Track Mixer and choose the desired Instrument channel.
2.
[Command]-click the I/O field and, in the pop-up menu that appears,
choose Stereo.
3.
In the sub-menu that appears, select AU Instrument, then Steinberg
and then Virtual Bassist.
Virtual Bassist is now loaded as an AU instrument and ready to be
played!
Virtual Bassist stand-alone and ReWire
Virtual Bassist can be used as a stand-alone application, independently of any host application. This makes it possible to use Virtual
Bassist in sequencer applications that do not support one of the provided plug-in formats of Virtual Bassist (i.e. VST, DXi, AU), but allow
for data exchange using ReWire.
ReWire2 is a special protocol for streaming audio and MIDI data between two computer applications. When using ReWire, the order in
which you launch and quit the two programs is very important, as the
first audio application launched will capture the sound card resources.
Proceed as follows:
1.
First, launch the sequencer application you wish to use (e.g. Ableton
Live, ProTools). If your sequencer supports ReWire, it will provide a
way to assign audio and MIDI channels for the exchange of data. See
the documentation of your host application for details.
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Now, launch Virtual Bassist as a stand-alone application. You can launch the program
just like any other application on your computer through the Start menu or desktop icon
(Windows) or by double-clicking the application symbol in the Applications folder (Mac).
You can also double-click the Virtual Bassist program file in the installation folder.
2.
Now when playing a Style with Virtual Bassist, the sound is streamed via
ReWire to the assigned mixer channels in your host. Note that you are
now running two completely separate applications. When you save your
sequencer project, this will include the overall channel and bus configuration, but none of the settings in Virtual Bassist! To retain your Virtual
Bassist settings, choose the Save Bank command from the Virtual
Bassist File menu. You may want to choose a file name that indicates
that the file contains settings created for a particular sequencer project.
Similarly, when you re-open a project in your sequencer application and
have launched Virtual Bassist, use the Load Bank command in Virtual
Bassist to reload any settings pertaining to this particular project.
Latency
Although Virtual Bassist is practically latency-free, high latency times
(the delay between pressing keys on your MIDI keyboard and hearing
a sound) can occur when you play Virtual Bassist via your MIDI keyboard in real time.
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This is often caused by the audio card or the MIDI interface, although
it won’t be an issue when playing back a project with a Virtual Bassist
MIDI track. To get rid of annoying real time latency, we recommend
you to replace your current audio card with a professional audio card
for which an ASIO driver is available. Most soundcards built into offthe-shelf computers don’t use an ASIO driver and usually produce
large latencies of up to several hundred milliseconds.
Using a single button mouse (Mac)
Throughout the Virtual Bassist manual, references will be made to
right clicking (i.e. on a mouse with more than one button, clicking with
the button on the right). If you have a mouse with only a single button,
you get the same result as when right-clicking by holding down the
[Ctrl] key on your keyboard and clicking.
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The first test
At this point, you’re probably itching to get your hands on Virtual
Bassist, so let’s get started:
1.
Activate Virtual Bassist (as described in the previous section). Virtual
Bassist automatically loads a showcase Style. The “Latch” button on
the Play page will be activated.
2.
Press the D1 key on your MIDI keyboard (to select a Part) and play a
chord or note in the two octaves between C3 and B4 (the Pitch
Range). Virtual Bassist will play a basic groove. Because the “Latch”
button is activated, playback will continue when you release the key(s).
3.
Pressing white keys between D1 and B2 (the Remote Range) on your
MIDI keyboard will select Parts, increasing in complexity from left to
right.
4.
Pressing black keys (F#, G#, Bb) in the Remote Range will trigger
Fills.
After playing a Fill Virtual Bassist will return to playing the last Part chosen.
5.
To stop Virtual Bassist immediately press C#1 or press D#1 to end
playback with a sustained note, lasting one bar.
The MIDI LED in the Virtual Bassist window lights up when Virtual Bassist receives MIDI information.
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Playing Virtual Bassist
There are several ways to play Virtual Bassist:
• You can play chords and notes and vary the expression using keyboard velocity, MIDI controllers and sustain pedal.
• If you don’t have a MIDI keyboard you can enter notes and other MIDI events
using a MIDI editor provided by your host application.
• Virtual Bassist can be used to replace tracks of existing projects and MIDI
files to improve the way they sound.
• You can use several instances of Virtual Bassist. You can use as many Virtual
Bassists simultaneously as your host application and computer allow. There’s
nothing wrong with using one Virtual Bassist to play the basic groove and at
the same time use another to add additional licks or Fills.
Using a MIDI keyboard
When using a MIDI keyboard to play Virtual Bassist there are two
ranges (or zones) used for different purposes.
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The Pitch Range
The keyrange between C3 to B4 on your MIDI keyboard is called the
Pitch Range and controls the pitch of the played Parts, Fills or Single
Notes. In this range you can play notes or chords and Virtual Bassist
will intelligently follow your playing. Playing any note in the Pitch Range
with a high velocity (>125) produces an eighth or a quarter bass note,
depending on the Style. This Accent is handy for varying your
basslines in real-time.
The Remote Range
The keyrange between C1 and B2 is called the Remote Range and
triggers Parts, Fills, Single Note mode, Stop and End as well as a few
other useful features. The functions of each key can be freely assigned in the Parts Browser which is explained below. By default the
Remote range is assigned as follows:
Key Function Description
C1 Single Note Mode When active, any MIDI notes or chords played in the
Pitch Range will produce a single sustained bass note.
C#1 Stop Virtual Bassist immediately stops playing.
F#, G#, Bb Fill Triggers a Fill.
D#1 Short End (1bar) Plays an ending note with a length of one bar.
D#1 Held End Holding the D#3 key will allow you to control the
length of the final End note. When you releasse the
key the End note stops playing.
C#2 4 or 5 strings Toggles between bass guitars with either four or five
strings.
D#2 Chord/Note Determines whether a Part will play melodic bass
lines or whether it will play the rhythmic pattern of the
Part using only the root keys of the note or chord chosen in the Pitch Range. Sometimes octave notes are
also played when appropriate for the Style.
Note that you can swap the order of the Pitch and the Remote Range in
the Keyboard Layout section of the Settings page (see page 68).
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Virtual Bassist terminology
Styles
A Style is a set of grooves and phrases (called Parts and Fills) and includes bass selection, FX and Groove Match settings suitable for a
particular musical genre. Each Style consists of 13 Parts triggered by
the white keys between D1 and B2 and 6 Fills triggered by the black
keys F#, G#, Bb in the same key range.You can load a Style by double-clicking it in the Style Browser. Virtual Bassist loads a showcase
Style when started.
Parts
A Part is a bass groove or phrase varying in rhythmic and melodic
structure triggered by the white keys (D1 to B2) in the Remote Range
of your MIDI keyboard. The Parts from D1 to B1, named Basic 1 to
Basic 6, tend to be simpler in their rhythmic and melodic nature. The
Parts from C2 to B2, called Complex 1 to Complex 7, are more complex and more Style specific. When playing Parts, Virtual Bassist will
quantize the changes to the nearest 16th note by default. You can
change this quantize setting on Virtual Bassist’s Settings page.
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Fills
A Fill is a special kind of Part that plays for a predefined time (for example 1 bar). After that, Virtual Bassist will return to playing the Part
that was playing prior to the Fill. Fill Parts are found on the F#, G#, Bb
keys of the Remote Range (D1 to B2).
If you want Virtual Bassist to play a different Part after it has completed a Fill just hit the appropriate white key for that Part after the Fill
key has been played.
A Fill will repeat as many times as the Fill key has been played. So if
you want a Fill to play three times, hit the Fill key three times.
If a Fill key is the first key played after Virtual Bassist has been stopped,
the Fill will play repeatedly until another Fill or Part is played.
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Fills play at a predefined bar position and for a predefined length. If
you want Fills to switch in the same way as normal Parts, select Key
Change Quantize on the Settings page. In this mode Fills will change
according to the quantize setting in the same way as normal Parts.
Remote Keys
Remote Keys are special functions assigned in the Remote Range
that influence the performance of Virtual Bassist. These keys include:
Single Note Mode (C1), Stop (C#1), End (D#1), 4/5 String Mode
(C#2) and Chord/Note Mode (D#2).
Single Note Mode
Single Note Mode is activated by pressing C1 on your MIDI keyboard.
Once Single Note Mode is activated all MIDI keys played in the Pitch
Range will trigger single bass notes allowing you to play your own
bass lines with Virtual Bassist.
Accents
Playing a MIDI note in the Pitch Range with a high velocity (125 and
above) will start the Part with (depending on the Style) either an
eighth or a quarter bass note called Accent. This Accent is handy for
varying your basslines in real time.
Aftertouch Vibrato
Applying aftertouch will automatically produce vibrato in Virtual Bassist.
To set the Vibrato rate click the Steinberg logo on the top right hand
side of the instrument and adjust the Rate knob on the Settings page.
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The Play page
This is Virtual Bassist’s main page, here you can set all of the general
playing parameters of the instrument, load and save Styles and Parts
and choose and modify your bass and its overall sound.
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If you haven’t got a MIDI keyboard connected to your host application or
if you just want a quick impression, you can make Virtual Bassist play by
clicking on the frets of the bass on the Play page. The Chord Display will
show you the pitch chosen.
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Loading and saving Styles
On the right hand side of the Virtual Bassist’s Play page is a Browser
listing the available Styles.
Load
To load a Style you can either:
• Double-click its name in the list or …
• Click the Load button on the bottom right of the Browser and use the
standard load dialog to locate and open the Style.
Save
To save a Style click Save (the left button at the bottom of the
Browser section) and use the standard Save dialog to enter a name
and location for the saved Style.
If the Styles listing is not displayed, click the Styles button at the top of
the Browser.
Depending on the speed of your computer a Style may take a few seconds to Load. The chord display will show a message saying “Loading”.
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Auditioning styles
Each Factory Style comes with an audio preview. The previews were
made using Virtual Bassist with Steinberg’s Virtual Guitarist and
Groove Agent to give you an example of how the Style might sound
with guitar and drums.
There are two ways of previewing:
Listen
In the Style Browser, click on a style (it becomes highlighted). Click
Listen and Virtual Bassist will play a preview for as long as you hold
the mouse button.
Auto
Clicking Auto activates the automatic preview mode. With Auto active
a Style preview will play any time you click a Style in the Browser. The
preview will play for as long as you hold the mouse button.
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The Parts Browser on the Play page
Clicking on a Part in the Play page Browser displays the key assignments of all of the Parts, Fills and Remote Keys used in the selected
Style. All features in the Remote Range can be renamed and their key
assignments changed. When a Part, Fill or Remote Key is played it will
become highlighted in the Parts Browser.
The Parts Browser on the Play page is identical to that featured on the
Groove Match page, see page 42.
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Play page controls
Most of the controls you need to play and alter the performance of
Virtual Bassist can be found on the Play page.
Four or five string
Use this switch to choose between a standard four string or five string
bass (which has an additional low B string). In 5 string mode Virtual
Bassist will play licks including notes on the low B string, whenever
possible.
• You can switch between 4-string or 5-string mode using the MIDI
remote key C#2.
MIDI In
The MIDI In LED lights up red to indicate that Virtual Bassist receives
MIDI data from your host application or MIDI keyboard. When you play
notes on your keyboard but the LED does not light up, this means
Virtual Bassist is not receiving any MIDI data.
Chords/Note
You can switch between Chords or Note mode during a performance
by playing MIDI note D#2 on your MIDI keyboard or host application.
The Chords/Note mode selector determines whether a Part will play
melodic bass lines or the rhythmic pattern of the Part using only the
root keys and octaves of the note or chord chosen in the Pitch Range.
Changing this setting will not affect every Part of a Style.
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Latch mode
With latch mode On, Virtual Bassist will play Parts continuously from
the moment you play the first key until you press the stop button of
your sequencer or play the C#1 Stop or D#1 End remote keys.
If you only want to play a lick here and there, set latch mode to Off and
Virtual Bassist will only play while the keys on your MIDI keyboard are
held.
Latch mode is turned On or Off for the duration that your sustain pedal
is pressed.
Using the sustain pedal in Latch mode
Using a combination of Latch settings and sustain pedal with Virtual
Bassist will give you a lot of flexibility when arranging and performing.
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Try experimenting with the possibilities described below to get an
understanding of how useful the sustain pedal can be.
Latch Mode On Sustain pedal
pressed
Latch Mode Off Sustain pedal
pressed
Latch mode is disabled for as long as you press
the sustain pedal. While the sustain pedal is
held any notes played in the Pitch Range will
produce single notes. Virtual Bassist will return
to playing normal Parts when the sustain pedal
is released.
Latch mode is enabled for as long as you press
the sustain pedal. Any Parts played while the
pedal is held will play until you release the sustain pedal.
If you don’t have a sustain pedal you can assign Latch to a different MIDI
controller. To do this right-click on the Latch parameter and assign a
MIDI controller from the drop-down list or use right-click and choose
MIDI Learn, move the MIDI controller of your choice and this controller
will be detected and used by Virtual Bassist.
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Retrigger mode
With Retrigger mode activated, every time a Part key is played the
Part will begin to play again from the beginning, regardless of the current bar position.
When Retrigger Mode is Off, Part changes will be performed playing
the appropriate melodic and rhythmic phrasing of the Part for the current position in the bar.
Activating Retrigger mode does only make sense for showcases or a
quick overview of the Parts of a Style. When performing or arranging with
Virtual Bassist, it is strongly recommended to turn Retrigger mode off.
Speed
Virtual Bassist automatically follows the tempo of your project, including all tempo changes. The Speed parameter in Virtual Bassist allows
you to change the playback speed to half, normal or double the speed
of your project tempo. This can be useful for example if you happen to
be working on a track that is 80 BPM but are running your host application at 160BPM. It might also be quite interesting creatively to have
your bass playing at double or half speed.
Half = 1/2 Virtual Bassist plays at half the tempo of your project.
Normal = 1 Virtual Bassist plays at the same tempo as your project.
Double = 2 Virtual Bassist plays at double the tempo of your project.
The red LEDs under the Speed control indicate the current position in
the bar.
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Swing
Swing allows you to adjust the feel of Virtual Bassist’s performance.
Technically speaking, Swing allows you to move the offbeats of a bar
to an earlier or later position. Turning Swing to the left moves the offbeats back, turning it to the right moves them forward. Virtual Bassist
will play exact triplets when setting Swing to -100% or +100%.
The Swing controls on the Play page and the Groove Match page are actually the same. Swing controls the depth of the Micro Groove parameters found on the Groove Match page, see page 40.
Variance
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Virtual Bassist’s timing and feel are always perfect and reliable. However, given that these two words are rarely used to describe the timing
of a musician, Virtual Bassist also allows you to adjust how accurately
the player will play. Variance adds timing and sound variations so
every note sounds slightly different.
A setting of 0% produces a very accurate performance, while at a value
of 100% the performance is loose and uneven.
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Early/Late
This control is used to adjust the overall timing of the Virtual Bassist in
relation to the rest of the instruments in your project. Turning to the left
(Early) will give you an aggressive groove, playing slightly ahead of the
beat, turning to the right (Late) produces a more laid back groove.
The maximum timing deviation is very modest and will hardly be audible
if only Virtual Bassist is playing. However, in conjunction with other
tracks, especially those that have been quantized it will become clearly
noticeable.
Bass Selector
This seamless selector allows you to change the basic sound of the
bass guitar being played. You can choose between the sound of a
modern bass guitar with active pickups, a classic model as used in
70’s rock and pop or a vintage bass with flatwound strings for that
legendary Motown sound. Just move the silver sphere on the circle to
the sound of your choice, or experiment with in-between positions.
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