5 Playing Techniques. Native Instruments SCARBEE PRE-BASS

5 Playing Techniques

5.1 Index and Middle Finger Alternation

Separate sample sets for right hand index finger and middle finger playing has been recorded for many articulations 1 . The alternation between these two is performed automatically. When you play slowly, you only get index samples, and when you play faster, Pre-

Bass alternates between index and middle finger samples as a real bass player would. You can configure the speed threshold for when alternation is to start (see Alternation in the settings).

The alternation can also be controlled manually by using key switch

C0 to activate index finger and C#0 to activate middle finger sam ples. Like the other key switches these affect the following note or remain active for as long as they are held pressed. Pressing any of these key switches will inhibit the automatic alternation.

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5.2 Extended Hammer-on / Pull-off

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Legato

Normally hammer-on and pull-off are triggered by playing an interval of one or two notes up or down legato with the previously held note. However, it is possible to use the same articulations for larger intervals. To do this, activate Extended Hammer-on / Pull-off mode by pressing the F#0 key switch.

For example if you play A1, hold it pressed and then play E2 while holding the F#0 key switch pressed the E2 will be played as a whole-note hammer-on on the same string as the A1 even though the interval is a fifth.

Please note that the extended mode affects the automatic string selection—the script will try to stay on the same string even if the target note is not near the current playing position.

% The articulations with two alternations are sustains, mutes, harmonics, fast grace notes and release samples.

5.3 Cross Hammering

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You can get cross hammering by combining a string key switch with the extended hammer-on / pull-off mode described above.

When this key switch combination is activated you no longer have to play legato to trigger a hammer-on. Instead, any note will trigger a whole-note hammer-on.

Let’s say you want to cross hammer E2 on the A string. In order to do this, hold the E0 and F#0 key switches pressed (E string + ex tended mode), and then play E2 on the keyboard.

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5.4 Chords

Normally chords work well in the default mode. However, in some special cases the automatic string selection can fail since the script cannot see into the future. The notes of a chord never arrive at exactly the same time but typically some milliseconds after each other, and in a more or less random order. The string selection is usually performed one note at a time, but in unfortunate situations the optimal string for the chord note which comes first can be a suboptimal choice for the chord as a whole – it might be even better to use that string for a chord note which arrives just milliseconds later.

To solve this problem we provide a chord mode which is activated by key switch D#0. When the chord mode is active the scripts waits for all the notes in the chord to arrive before it decides on what strings to use. Only then is playback started.

The longer the script is allowed to wait for new notes in a chord the sloppier a user can play them and still have them recognized as a chord. But the longer the script waits the longer will also the playback of the notes be delayed. So there is a trade-off between allowing for sloppily played chords and latency.

In fact the script waits for extra notes in the same way even when chord mode is not active, but then a much shorter waiting time is used (the default is 0.5 ms)—so short that one cannot hear it. It is not possible for a human to play chords that tightly, but if you align notes in your sequencer and make the first and last note be close enough that will make it possible for the chord to be recognized.

Hence, for live playing you can use D#0 to activate chord mode, but if you choose to align notes after recording you don’t have to use the key switch. It’s up to you as the user.

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In addition to proper string selection, another advantage of having a played chord recognized as a unit as opposed to a series of individual notes is that the lowest chord note is automatically played using index finger samples and higher notes using middle finger samples, just like one would play it in real life.

5.5 Chord Slides

Playing a whole chord legato with an earlier chord would be difficult, so instead we came up with a single finger technique to make it easier to perform chord slides. In order to play a chord slide first play the chord. Then press the sustain pedal and play the target note to which you want to slide (just as before the velocity of this note determines the slide speed).

The Pre-Bass script will determine the interval between the target note and the note in your chord that is closest to the target note. This interval is then used as the slide interval.

For example: let’s say you play the chord G1-D2-G2. To slide up a whole note you can press

A2 while holding the sustain pedal pressed. The chord note nearest A2 is G2 and the interval is a whole note up which is then used as the slide interval. As an alternative to A2 it would also be possible to use A1 (a whole note up from the chord base note) or E2 (a whole note up from the middle chord note). To slide up one octave you would play G3 (one octave up from the nearest note, G2).

Note that a chord slide will only be performed when it is possible to slide the interval for all notes in the chord.

5.6 Percussive Slides

It’s possible to perform percussive slides by playing extra notes on the same string a note is being slided on at the same time as the slide is being performed.

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