Combo F VST
Combo F VST
Combo F VST
OWNER'S MANUAL
VERSION 1.0.1
1. INTRODUCTION
Combo Model F is a virtual combo organ, modelled after a well-known combo organ from the
1960s: the Farfisa Mini Deluxe Compact.
Note that Farfisa does not endorse Combo Model F, nor is Farfisa in any way associated or affiliated with
Martinic.
1.1. Features
Combo Model F is available as a VST * 2.4 or an Audio Units (AU) instrument, which means it
needs to run inside VST or AU hosting software. Combo Model F has been tested in the
following hosting software:
Ableton Live 8
ACID Pro 7
AU Lab
AudioMulch 2.0
Cantabile
Cubase 5
Digital Performer 7
DSP-Quattro 3
If your hosting software is not on the list, then don't worry. There is a big chance it will work
anyway, because (in theory) Combo Model F should work in any VSTi/AUi-capable host.
Combo Model F runs on Windows XP (SP1 or newer), Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS X
10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard), or 10.7 (Lion). Combo Model F does not
have any other special requirements regarding your computer; if your VST hosting software
runs on it, then Combo Model F will too. Although not required, a MIDI keyboard will come in
handy.
Also not a requirement per se, but you will probably want to add an amplifier/cab simulator to
your effects chain, right after Combo Model F. Any guitar amp simulator that gives you a more
or less clean sound should do.
2. BASIC CONTROLS
After loading Combo Model F (ComboF) in your hosting software you will see the settings
window containing various rocker switches (or tabs), knobs, and sliders, and the 4-octave
keyboard below it. In the settings window you can switch the tabs on or off, adjust the bass
volume, or play the keyboard, all using the mouse. You can also tweak various other settings
that are “under the lid”.
For an in-depth description of the function of the various tabs, please refer to chapter 3.
Tuning and Settings.
2.1. Help
All the way down in the bottom left corner you will find two small buttons. The button on the
right is labelled Help?. You can open this Owner's Manual from within the Combo Model F by
left-clicking on this button.
2.2. About
If you close the settings window (see chapter 3. Tuning and Settings), then you will find the
Martinic logo ( ) on the left, just above the keyboard. When you left-click on it the about box
is displayed, which will tell you the exact version of Combo Model F that you are running.
The left button of the two small buttons in the bottom left corner is labelled Settings, and
when you left-click it the settings window is opened (or closed). An alternative way of opening
the settings window is to double-click anywhere on the upper part of beige top.
To close the settings window, left-click on the small button labelled Close in the upper right
corner of the window. However, you don't have to close the settings window; by leaving it open
you will have access to the settings at all times. If you save your project containing Combo
Model F with the settings window open, the next time you load the project the settings window
will still be open.
In the left part of the settings window you will find various tabs and a bass volume knob. If
you close the settings window you will see smaller versions of the same controls. Both sets of
controls offer exactly the same functionality. The only difference is that in the settings window
you can actually read the labels. Note that the settings window also features a couple of extra
tabs that have no small counterparts.
The black tab labelled Extend Bass and the grey tab labelled Grey Keys together control the
bass voice. With both tabs off, there is no bass voice, and the grey bottom octave plays the
same voice as the other octaves. With the grey keys selector on, the grey bottom octave plays
the bass voice.
With the extended bass on, but the grey keys selector off, there is an extra octave below the
original 4 octaves that plays the bass voice. If you then also switch on the grey keys selector,
the bass voice continues into the grey octave.
The bass volume knob lets you adjust the volume of the bass voice.
3.2. Vibrato
The 3 blue tabs control the vibrato effect. The tab labelled Vibrato switches the vibrato effect
on or off, the tab labelled Light/Heavy controls the depth, and the tab labelled Slow/Fast
controls the speed.
There is also a vibrato speed slider (in the top of the settings window, on the right), which lets
you adjust the difference between slow and fast.
The 2 yellow tabs control the Multi-Tone Booster voice. With the tab labelled M.T. Boost off,
the white voice tabs can be used to select a voice. With the Multi-Tone Booster on, the white
tabs are bypassed, and you get the Multi-Tone Booster voice.
The 4 green tabs are the footage tabs. Combo Model F uses additive synthesis, and using the
footage tabs you adjust the harmonics mix. You can think of it as an equalizer, where the 16
tab controls the low frequencies, 8 and 4 the middle frequencies, and the 2⅔ tab the high
frequencies.
Note that at least one of the footage tabs should be on, or else you will get no sound.
The 3 white tabs are the voice tabs. You can select one voice at the time, or you can combine
them in any combination.
Note that at least one of the voice tabs should be on, or else you will get no sound. Note also
that the voice tabs are bypassed if the Multi-Tone Booster tab is on (see 3.3. Multi-Tone
Booster).
Although Combo Model F offers only a limited number of footage and voice tabs, the total
number of different sounds it can produce is no less than 100, Multi-Tone Booster and bass
voices included.
3.6. Tuning
You can adjust the tuning independently for each of the 12 notes in an octave. The tuning for
the same note in different octaves is always the same, so when you detune the F # by -0.3
cents, all F# notes in all octaves will be detuned -0.3 cents.
You can adjust tuning values using the mouse by dragging the slider handle left or right, or
you can left-click anywhere on the slider to move the handle directly to that position, or you
can use the scroll wheel. For higher precision, hold down the Ctrl key while moving the slider.
You can also right-click (or -click on Mac OS X) on a slider to enter a value using the
computer keyboard. To reset a slider to its default value, double-click on it.
You can change all 12 tuning sliders at once by holding down the Shift key while clicking on
any one of the tuning sliders. You can semi-randomly detune the organ by holding down the
Alt key while clicking on any one of the tuning sliders.
Above the tuning sliders you will find a toggle switch labelled Lock. If you lock the tuning, then
it will persist when you select another preset, or when you load a preset or a preset bank.
However, you can still change the tuning by hand, or using automation.
For optimal quality Combo Model F's internals need to be recalculated when you change the
tuning. Because recalculating the internals uses a lot of CPU resources, may want to disable
quality control in some situations (e.g. when you are automating the tuning using a LFO).
You can toggle quality control on or off by left-clicking on the miniature toggle switch labelled
QC Bypass. You will find this toggle switch a little to the right above the tuning sliders.
While ComboF's internals are being recalculated the quality control LED will momentarilly turn
on, unless you bypass quality control, in which case the LED will stay on.
If your VST hosting software has an option to inform plug-ins of offline rendering, then enable
this option. This will ensure optimal quality during offline rendering.
3.9. Volume
The volume adjust and volume pedal sliders together determine the output level of Combo
Model F. By default the volume pedal is linked to your MIDI expression pedal (CC #11, see
chapter 4.2. Default MIDI Map), so it can be used to add dynamics to your performance. The
volume adjust can be used to change the overall volume.
The Dolce and Principale voices are rather soft when compared to the Strings and the Multi-
Tone Booster voices. If you enable the auto adjust toggle switch (right above the volume
sliders), then the volume is automatically raised when using only the softer voices, so the
overall volume stays the same.
Combo Model F has an internal noise gate, that automatically kicks in when no keys are
playing. You can turn off the noise gate using the noise gate toggle switch above the volume
sliders.
A real-world Compact has up to 4 contacts for each key. When you depress a key these
contacts will not sound all at once, but they will rather sound one after another, especially
when you depress the key very slowly. To mimic this behaviour Combo Model F uses the
velocity from your MIDI keyboard to control how fast the individual key contacts will sound.
You may want to adjust the attack and release settings to match the velocity curve of your
MIDI keyboard.
By default Combo Model F receives MIDI data on all 16 channels, but you can also select one
particular channel.
By default Combo Model F's most-used controls are mapped to a standard set of MIDI Control
Change (CC) numbers (see chapter 4.2. Default MIDI Map). However, the buttons of your MIDI
keyboard may well send out other CCs.
Here is how you can learn Combo Model F to respond to the sliders, knobs and buttons of your
MIDI keyboard:
When the MIDI learn status LED is no longer lit up you are ready. You will have to repeat these
steps for each control you want Combo Model F to learn.
You can also learn Combo Model F to use to pitch wheel to temporarily "bend" one of ComboF's
controls up or down. Controls that support the pitch wheel are the knee lever, volume adjust,
volume pedal, vibrato speed, and vibrato on/off. When the pitch wheel is in its neutral (center)
Next to the MIDI learn button you will find two small buttons labelled Sus (“sustain”) and PB
(“pitch bend”), which toggle sustain pedal (CC #10) and pitch bend support on/off. Note that
if you link the pitch wheel to a control, you can no longer use the pitch wheel for pitch bend,
and vice versa. The same goes for the sustain pedal and CC #10.
When you save your project containing Combo Model F, the learned MIDI map will be saved
along with the other settings. However, if you load a new instance of Combo Model F, the
default MIDI map will be loaded again. By clicking on the tiny button labelled S (“save”) you
can save your customized MIDI map as the new default. That way the next time you add
Combo Model F to a project, it will automatically load with your customized MIDI map.
If you need to revert to the default MIDI map while you are in the middle of a project or
session, then click on the tiny button labelled L (“load”), and your MIDI map will be loaded
without affecting any other settings. If you hold down the Alt key while clicking on the load
button, the original default MIDI map will be loaded.
If you somehow don't want Combo Model F to have any MIDI mappings at all, then make sure
the MIDI learn button is not active (i.e. the status LED is off), and click on the tiny button
labelled C (“clear”).
4. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION
Combo Model F can receive MIDI data on all 16 channels, or on one specific channel (see
chapter 3.13. MIDI Channel).
Combo Model F will respond to Note On/Off messages within the C2..C7 range. It supports
both Note On and Off velocity. However, velocity is not used to vary the volume of the played
notes, as is the case with most (software) synthesizers. Instead it is used to mimic the key
contacts of a real-world Mini Compact (see chapter 3.12. Key Contacts).
Combo Model F supports Control Change (CC) values in both 7-bits (standard) and 14-bits
(MSB/LSB) resolution, depending on the control the CC is mapped to. Combo Model F
optionally supports the sustain pedal (CC #64) to sustain notes, provided that CC #64 is not
mapped to another control (see chapter 3.14. MIDI Learn).
Combo Model F supports Program Change messages for selecting one of the 32 presets (see
chapter 5. Presets).
4.1. Panic
The left-most white tab is labelled Panic, and when you left-click on it all notes will
immediately stop playing.
When Combo Model F receives an All Notes Off message, it will also immediately mute all
notes.
CC Control
- Bass volume [MSB]
- Bass volume [LSB]
- Extended bass on/off
- Grey keys selector
- Vibrato slow/fast
- Vibrato light/heavy
1 Vibrato on/off
16 All Booster on/off
17 Multi-Tome Booster on/off
12 16′
13 8′
14 4′
15 2⅔′
18 Dolce
19 Principale
20 Strings
73 Vibrato speed
- Knee lever* [MSB]
- Knee lever* [LSB]
- Volume adjust [MSB]
- Volume adjust [LSB]
11 Volume pedal [MSB]
43 Volume pedal [LSB]
Is your MIDI keyboard sending out very different CCs altogether? Don't worry; you can learn
your MIDI keyboard and Combo Model F to get along with each other (see chapter 3.14. MIDI
Learn).
Combo Model F comes with 32 factory presets, which will give you an idea of the kind of
sounds it is capable of.
Combo Model F
Version 1.0.1
© 2010-2012
www.martinic.com/combof
This software is freeware. You can use this software without any restrictions in all your commercial and non-
commercial projects. You can freely redistribute this software, provided that a) you do not charge anything for
this software, and b) you redistribute the original, unaltered installer or ZIP archive.
This software is provided “as is”, without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held
liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.