Phat.Boy and
Steinberg's Cubase VST.
Now that Steinberg
are offering a range of plug-in instruments such as Neon, the Model-E
and the Pro-Five, one of the questions we're being asked is "can
these be controlled by the Phat.Boy in real time?" The answer is a
big YES.
Below is a simple
example of how any Phat.Boy can be used to control the major
parameters of the Model-E (or any other synth that responds to
standard CC's) with some simple re-mapping within Cubase
itself.
Set the Phat.Boy to
Mode III. In this mode the Phat.Boy transmits standard MIDI
continuous controllers (CC's) from its knobs. Knob 1 transmits CC 1,
knob 2 transmits CC 2, knob 3 transmits CC 3 etc up to knob 13 which,
rather obviously, transmits CC 13.
Each knob is physically
numbered on the Phat.Boy's front panel.
Presuming that you
have a Cubase VST arrange page open and that you have the Model-E (or
any other plug in instrument) active lets do some very simple MIDI
mapping within Cubase so that the Phat.Boy's knobs (CC' 1-13) can
control the synth. At the bottom of this page you'll find a complete
list of the CC's that the Model-E responds to along with a list of
parameters that these CC's control.
Open the
Options
window and select
MIDI
Setup and then
System
This will take you to
the MIDI System
Setup page
Double click on the
box labelled Controller and type in the number 1. This relates to CC 1 (knob
1 on the Phat Boy). You'll notice that when you've closed this box
you'll see the word Modulation appear, this is because the MIDI standard denotes
that CC 1 normally defaults to modulation, it's the controller the
mod wheel on your keyboard transmits.
Now double click on
the box labelled Mapped and type in 74.
Again double click on
the box labelled Controller and type in the number 2. This relates to CC 2 (knob
2 on the Phat Boy).
Now double click on
the box labelled Mapped and type in 71.
Again double click on
the box labelled Controller and type in the number 3. This relates to CC 3 (knob
3 on the Phat Boy).
Now double click on
the box labelled Mapped and type in 40.
When you have closed
the MIDI System Setup
knobs 1 and 2 on the
Phat.Boy will now control the Filter Cut Off and Filter Emphasis and
knob 3 will control VCA Envelope Attack of the Model-E .
You can re-map all of
the Phat.Boy's knobs as you wish following the pattern above and
using the parameter table below. When you get to CC 7 (knob 7) and CC
10 (knob 10) leave these as they are and they will control volume and
pan respectively. When the mapping has been completed be sure to save
your settings as part of a song.
Utilise the Steinberg
Overlay Card and Grease Pencil that came with your Phat.Boy to
re-label the function of each of the Phat.Boy's knobs after
re-mapping.
For a full list of
parameters that the Pro-Five will respond to check the instruments
MIDI section within the manual and use the Mapping function within Cubase to allow control of this
instrument also.
Model-E controller
chart.
Parameter
|
MIDI
CC
|
Parameter
|
MIDI
CC
|
Oscillator
Modulation
|
34
|
Filter Modulation
|
12
|
Tune
|
9
|
Keyboard Control 1
|
13
|
Glide
|
5
|
Keyboard Control 2
|
14
|
Osc 3 Noise
|
35
|
White/Pink Noise
|
27
|
Mono Mode
|
126
|
Filter Cut Off
|
74
|
Osc 3
|
36
|
Filter Emphasis
|
71
|
Range Osc 1
|
28
|
Filter Amount
|
18
|
Range Osc 2
|
29
|
Filter Envelope
Attack
|
37
|
Range Osc 3
|
30
|
Filter Envelope
Decay
|
38
|
Frequency 2
|
31
|
Filter Envelope
Sustain
|
39
|
Frequency 3
|
33
|
VCA Envelope Attack
|
40
|
Waveform 1
|
24
|
VCA Envelope Decay
|
41
|
Waveform 2
|
25
|
VCA Envelope
Sustain
|
42
|
Waveform 3
|
26
|
Envelope-Release On
|
43
|
Osc 1 Volume
|
20
|
VCF Velo
|
15
|
Osc 2 Volume
|
21
|
VCA Velo
|
19
|
Osc 3 Volume
|
22
|
Spread
|
44
|
Noise Volume
|
23
|
Volume
|
7
|
2 Pole/4 Pole
|
11
|
Pan
|
10
|
If you're a
Phat.BoyV2 owner many of the parameters that you will wish to control
will be accessible directly from the Phat.Boy's knobs without
re-mapping. For a full list of the parameters that the Phat.Boy V2
transmits please visit our specifications page.
Back to Phat.Boy Home