DB-33 Organ Page Controls

The Organ page holds the controls that effect the tone of the organ itself. These controls are also the most likely to be manipulated while the instrument is played.

Tonewheels

Tonewheel organs are based on a system of spinning, serrated metal wheels whose motion is translated into sound by magnetic pickups. Their condition effects the overall tone of the organ.

Tonewheels control

The Tonewheels control sets the condition of the tonewheels, and even provides a couple of non-standard choices.

 

Tonewheel	Description
Dirty	Worn-out tone generator. Drifting pitch, leaking
Used	Like Dirty, but not as extreme
New	Brand-new tonewheels. Clean tone
Syn 1	Triangle wave, for emulating synthesized organ sounds
Syn 2	Square wave, for emulating synthesized organ sounds

Scanner Vibrato

Like many vintage organs, DB-33 features vibrato/chorus to animate the organ sound.

 

Scanner Vibrato controls

On-Off

Turns the chorus/vibrato effect on and off.

Vibrato and Chorus

Sets the chorus/vibrato effect’s mode. The following options are available:

 

Wave Shape	Description
V1, V2, V3	Vibrato (pitch modulation) effect. Higher numbered modes offer stronger modulation
C1, C2, C3	Chorus (timbral modulation) effect. Higher numbered modes offer stronger modulation

Drawbars

The most often-used set of controls on most tonewheel organs, drawbars are used to manipulate the mixture between the various harmonics generated by the tonewheel mechanism.

 

Drawbars

From left to right, each drawbar controls a different part of the harmonic spectrum, ranging from low fundamentals to high harmonics.

When a drawbar is pulled out (downward), the volume of the corresponding harmonic is increased. When pushed in, (upward) it is decreased.

Key Click

Originally an artifact of the mechanical nature of tonewheel organs, DB-33 gives you control over the clicking sound made when a key is played.

 

Key Click control

Turn the knob to set the level of click, from zero to full.

Percussion

DB-33’s percussion feature adds a short burst of additional harmonics at the beginning of each note played.

 

Percussion controls

On/Off

Turns the percussion feature on and off.

Loud/Soft

Sets the volume of the added harmonic burst.

Short/Long

Sets the length of the harmonic burst.

3rd/2nd

Sets the harmonic that is added, either the 3rd or 2nd harmonic.

Master Level

This control sets the overall volume level. To control the level of signal going to the rotary speaker simulation (thus affecting tonal character), use the Organ control in the Input section of the Cabinet page. See DB-33 Cabinet Page Controls. for more information.

 

Master Level control

Turn this knob to set the overall output volume. This control is set, by default, the MIDI CC 7.

Rotation Speed Switch

This control switches the speed of rotation for the rotating speaker cabinet.

 

Rotation Speed switch

Move this switch to the left (Slow) to set the rotating speaker cabinet to slow rotation. Move the switch to the right (Fast) for fast rotation. Move it to the center (Brake) to stop the rotation, or to slow it temporarily before switching to another speed.

The exact speed of each of the Rotation Speed switch’s modes is set in the Speed Control section in the Cabinet page.