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Model E VST Instrument
The name Moog is synonymous
with the word synthesizer. Bob Moog began building
modular synthesizers in the late 60’s, which
sold for thousands and thousands of dollars. These
monster modular synthesizers made incredible sounds
that had never been heard before, but unfortunately,
they were way out of reach for most musicians because
of their price and complexity. There was also a
problem with reliability which involved tuning the
oscillators, the sheer size of the units and lack
of portability. When the Minimoog first came out
in 1970 it sold for $1,495. It was the first really
affordable synthesizer available that had some of
the basic features and sound of the modular but
could be programmed without patchcords and was portable.
The Minimoog was a realistic alternative to the
massive modulars and quickly became one of the classic
must have synths of all time. Since its release,
the Minimoog has been used by legendary artists
and synth pioneers like Keith Emerson, Jan Hammer,
Chick Corea, Rick Wakeman, Pink Floyd, Tangerine
Dream and many others. You can hear it on countless
#1 hits and it is still being used all the way up
through today as the definitive synth bass sound.
Even though its main claim to fame was its punchy,
deep bass sound, if programmed properly, it could
be incredibly versatile as well, creating wonderful
analog bleeps and bloops.
The last Minimoog was made in
1981, so finding one in good condition became more
difficult and finding qualified technicians and
parts even more difficult The Minimoog has even
been remanufactured by other companies like Studio
Electronics, who recreated one and called it the
Midimini which sold for $2,195. This was a great
alternative to having the original and it is still
available as the SE-1, but it has the same limitations
of the original hardware synth. Since computers
and software have become so much more powerful in
the past few years, it is now possible to have something
like a Minimoog modeled in software right inside
Cubase VST, SX or Nuendo.
If you are not already familiar
with VST instruments, they are part of “The
System”. Cubase is the center of your studio
where you can record and edit your MIDI and audio
tracks with additional capabilities for automated
mixing, real-time EQ and FX. The system refers to
the numerous additional elements that can “plug-in” into
Cubase. VST instruments are similar to the way the
audio plug-ins work in the VST mixer for your audio
tracks, but they are really more like a virtual
rack of MIDI modules that you can load up and play
right inside of Cubase VST, SX or Nuendo.
Improvements and Advantages
Now, Karl Steinberg, the man
who created VST himself, brings you the Model E.
He designed a Minimoog type of synthesizer that
is modeled in software as a VST instrument. It is
very similar to the original design as far as sound
and structure goes but it has vast improvements
over the original hardware synthesizer and quite
a few additional new features. First of all, the
original Minimoog was monophonic, so you could only
play one note at a time, which made it great for
basses and lead lines, but what about chords? Talk
about tedious. In the past, people were known to
record multi tracked multiple passes of individual
notes just to make chords. The Model E can produce
up to 64 voices for each one you put into your VST
rack so now you can play chords with Minimoog type
sounds. The Model E is also multi-timbral, so you
can play up to 16 parts with each synth in your
rack. This is like having 16 polyphonic Minimoogs
in one synth! The original Minimoog was not programmable
either, so there were no presets. Every time you
wanted to play a new sound, you had to remember
where to move the knobs. Imagine trying to do that
now for each song. The Model E has up to128 presets
in each bank and there are 5 banks of sounds included
that you can load up. MIDI did not exist back in
1970 so the Minimoog never had MIDI. There were
some modification kits that could give it MIDI and
some other ways to MIDI-fy it with CV and gate converters,
but as with any MIDI instrument today the common
complaint remains about the timing and feel of MIDI.
What’s wrong with MIDI? MIDI coming out of
any sequencer means that you are dealing with your
computer operating System, MIDI interface and cable
going out of the interface into the keyboard. This
can introduce many timing issues and delays along
the way, which you can feel in the music. Since
the VST instruments are built into Cubase, there
is no physical output. The output and input to the
synth is entirely in software, so it is a direct
connection to the synth resulting in timing that
feels much better and tighter than any existing
hardware can achieve.
Besides having more features,
there are many more advantages of having a synthesizer
in software. One of the most important advantages
is stability. A Minimoog was made out of many, many
physical parts that were prone to wear & tear,
warm up time, tuning problems and ultimately failure.
This meant expensive replacement parts, the cost
of service, plus you had to do without your synth
for a few days while it was being repaired. Now,
all those hardware oscillators, pots, filters, switches
and circuit boards can be recreated or modeled in
software and used right inside Cubase VST maintaining
an all digital path.
Some of the other advantages
of having a synth in software are that you don’t
have to plug them into a power outlet, which is
a great source for ground loop hum in any studio.
You also don’t have to plug into a MIDI interface
or use MIDI cables and deal with the negative aspects
of physical MIDI connections, cables and timing
issues. Best of all, you don’t have to use
any audio cables which are susceptible to picking
up noise from lights and power cables and also take
up more channels in your mixer. You don’t
even have to record your MIDI or audio performance
into audio tracks into Cubase because the audio
shows up right in your VST mixer. Now, when you
add EQ and FX to your synth tracks, everything stays
in the digital domain for a cleaner, better sounding
signal.
Similarities
Much like the original Minimoog,
the Model E has 3 oscillators for making thick and
fat sounds by detuning each one of them slightly.
You have a choice of a 6 waveforms, with the possibility
of using an oscillator as a modulation source. Noise
is also included in the mixer section, which is
good for more than just making wind sounds. Noise
can give basses a sharper attack, flute sounds an
overblown effect and drum sounds more snap.
Loading up
and playing the Model
E
Go to panels in Cubase VST or
devices in Cubase SX or Nuendo and click onto VST
Instruments. The rack will appear where you can
load up to 8 or more different instruments. You
could load up 2, 3, 4 or more Model E’s if
you like. You can also load different banks of sounds
into each one, giving you access to hundreds of
sounds simultaneously. I always have 2 Model E’s
loaded in my VST instrument rack and people always
wonder why. I do this because I load up a different
bank of sounds in each one. This way I have instant
access to many more different sounds.
Output and Channel
To play the Model E from your
MIDI keyboard, go to the main arrange page or project
page and make a new MIDI track or choose an existing
one that is unused. Next, click on the output column
to the right of your tracks in the track list or
from the output window in your track inspector and
choose the Model E.
.
You might see other numbers
in the parentheses like (V2) or (V3) which refers
to the instrument’s position number in the
instrument rack if you have more than one instrument
or other instruments loaded at one time.
Which Channel should
I choose?
This is really important. The
Model E is multi-timbral which means that you can
play up to 16 parts on each synth. For some VST
instruments like the LM-4 and the Pro 52 the MIDI
channel doesn’t matter. For the Model E the
channel does matter when you start adding more parts,
want to use different preset sounds for each track
and especially when you want to tweak the sounds.
Now you can play the Model E from your MIDI keyboard.
If you want to add another part, make another MIDI
track and set the output to the same Model E. Be
sure to set the MIDI channel to 2. Now you have
2 Model E parts and you can add more up to 16.
Where is the audio?
So, where is the audio coming
from or going to? Look in your VST channel mixer
and scroll over to the right, just before the groups.
You will see new gold colored channel strips that
say ModE. This means that you can play the instrument
and run it through all the VST EQ, FX and Plug-ins
as you would any audio track.
More Outputs
In the VST mixer, you will also
notice that there are ModE 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and
8. This means that you can assign different sounds
to different outputs to the VST mixer. On the Model
E front panel you can click on output and send different
preset sounds to stereo outputs 1 through 4. Now,
you can add EQ and effects to the sounds differently.
Choosing programs and
playing the knobs
You can choose the sounds or “patches” directly
from the Model E front panel. Just click on the
first arrow next to the number of the patch to click
through by banks of 10. You can click on the second
set of arrows to click through presets one by one.
If you prefer, you can also click right in the red
LCD numbers window to scroll through the patches
as a list of names.
Now that you have loaded up
the Model E, you should start tweaking the sounds
with the knobs. It is really important to be sure
you are on the right channel so that when you start
playing the knobs, you will be affecting the sound
you want. If you look at the lower left hand corner,
you will see which channels are receiving MIDI (1-16).
Over to the right a little more, you will see which
channel you are actually on and which program and
patch sound name you are also on. If you have something
playing back on channel 2, you will see the MIDI
channel 2 lighting up green, so if you want to tweak
that sound, make sure you are on channel 2 in the
red LCD as well. This way, when you start playing
the knobs, you will be affecting the right sound
you want to edit.
One tip on playing the knobs,
like everything else in VST, is that when you play
it in a circular motion, the further away you move
the mouse from the knob the more it slows down.
If you need smooth filter sweeps, remember to move
away from the center, then play the mouse. On the
other hand, playing quickly directly on the center
of the knob can give you stepped filter effects
which can also be very cool.
Recording the knob movements
All those knobs are on there
for a reason. Tweak them! It will make your synth
parts more interesting if they evolve throughout
the song and it is fun. As you know, when you click
on “Write” in the VST mixer, you can
record all the movements in the mixer, eq, fx sends,
plug-ins (actually the first 16 parameters) etc… With
the virtual instruments it is different probably
because there are more than 16 knobs on the Model
E front panel and mostly because the knobs send
sysex through MIDI. Remember, the VST instruments
are just like any other MIDI instruments you have
as a keyboard or a rack mount module, except that
the MIDI and audio connections are internal. If
you are going to record knob movements in any VST
instrument, you must record on to a MIDI track.
To record the movements with
your mouse, first be sure to go to your Options
MIDI Setup Filtering and uncheck Sysex.
Cubase defaults to filtering
Sysex (checked means on so it is filtering Sysex.
Uncheck it so that you do not filter Sysex since
you want to record it). Next make a new MIDI track
and choose the same Model E as your output. Now
hit record in Cubase (the transport bar) to record
your knob movement performance onto this new track.
I prefer to keep this automation track or recorded
performance on a separate track other than the one
with the MIDI notes, since it will be easier to
undo, edit or move around the knob performance parts
separately.
Moving and recording
knob movements with an external MIDI fader box
Instead of using a mouse to
play one knob at a time, think of how much better
it would be if you could play cutoff and resonance
simultaneously or as many other parameters as you
have fingers. There are many external MIDI fader
boxes that you can use to tweak many different knobs
at once and it is really worth the investment since
you can also use it to control the VST audio mixer
channels. The Steinberg Houston or Mackie Control
are great for automating the VST mixer audio channels
and also because they already include some presets
for the Model E. Best of all, they have a display
where you can see the parameters by name for the
knobs you are about to tweak. There are plenty of
other controllers available that you can use such
as the Phat Boy or MIDIMan Oxygen 8 but they do
not have LCD displays where you can see the names
for each parameter. If you need to program your
fader box to play the knobs, it is very easy. Page
36 of the manual shows a chart of which standard
MIDI controller plays which knob in the Model E.
I have a JL Cooper Fadermaster
and it only took me 1 or 2 minutes to program the
faders to play the parameters I use most often:
Filter cutoff, resonance, envelope amount and Amplifier
attack, decay and sustain. You could also use Keyfax
Phat Boy or Native Instruments 4 Control, which
have rotary knobs, just like the original keyboard.
This preset will also work for the PPG since the
controllers to the same type of knobs are similar.
There are also a lot of newer
MIDI keyboards that have 4 or more sliders that
are programmable to send standard MIDI controller
numbers. It is easy to program these as well, but
a dedicated fader box is nice.
Using the VCO as a modulator
LFO’s (low frequency oscillators)
are a great way to get more expressive sounds or
wacky sound effects. Instead of setting an oscillator
or VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) to the “lo
Range” to act like a LFO, you can set it to
the audio range of 32, 16, 8, 4 or 2 to use it to
get some bright, spikey FM like sounds by sending
it to modulate the pitch or filter cutoff frequency.
Double Bends
We’re not talking about
bad side affects of deep sea scuba diving here,
we are talking about how guitarists play 2 notes
at the same time and bend the second note up and
down to get a cool dynamic detuned effect. Play
a note with one hand and adjust the fine tune of
an oscillator with the other using the mouse.
Using the Spread knob
One of my favorite features
of the Model E is the Spread knob. The more you
turn this up, the more the notes you play become
scattered to the left and right as you play. This
makes sounds move around the stereo field more,
which can give your music a sense of space. It’s
quick, easy and automatic, but it makes it sound
like you did something that was difficult to program.
Check out this mp3 of a bass
line with Spread turned all the way up.
Hear
Spread in action!
Velocity Sensitive
Another cool feature of the
Model E is that it is velocity sensitive for the
amplifier (VCA) and also for the filter cutoff frequency
(VCF). Turning up the VCF Velocity knob will make
your sounds more velocity to filter sensitive, so
the harder you play a note, the brighter the sound
gets. To really hear this effect, depending on the
sound you are starting with, you may need to turn
the Filter Cutoff and Filter Amount knobs down a
bit.
Check out this mp3 of a bass
line with VCFVelo turned up on the same bass line
as before.
Hear
VCFVelo in action!
About the writer:
Costa Kotselas worked for
Steinberg for many years as a product specialist
and content producer for cubase.net. Costa has
also been working as a consultant to some of the
world’s top film composers and is now offering
intensive weekend “learn cubase” seminars.
For more details check
out http://www.learncubase.com or
you can email him at costa@learncubase.com
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