Roland VK-8 owner manual Giving the sound a metallic character Ring Modulator, Spring Reverb Shock

Playing the Organ

3 While playing the keyboard to produce sound, place your hand over the

D Beam controller.

The timbre will change when you move you hand over the D Beam controller.

About the Effects

Throughout the history of rock organ, a wide range of performers have developed unique effects and used them in their music. The VK-8 can not only simulate several of these unique effects, but also lets you enjoy effects provided by no other instrument.

Giving the sound a metallic character (Ring Modulator)

By changing the frequency of the ring modulator’s internal oscillator, you can give the organ voice an unpitched metallic character, like that of a bell.

In hard rock of the past, extreme effects such as ring modulation were sometimes applied to the organ. It appears that organ players tried all sorts of things in an attempt to hold their own against the radical performance techniques used by electric guitarists.

By applying ring modulation, you can create a complex harmonic structure that was not present in the original audio signal. This complex harmonic structure has a certain bell-like character. The term “ring” comes from the fact that when a ring modulation circuit is constructed as analog circuitry, the circuit is shaped like a ring (circle).

Stopping the rotation of the tone wheels (Wheel Brake)

It is possible to stop the rotation of the tone wheels of the organ. This produces an unexpected result, whereby the pitch of the organ voice gradually falls until the sound ceases entirely.

The technique of stopping the tone wheel rotation was occasionally used by performers on tone wheel organs. Since the amp of a tone wheel organ was an analog circuit that used vacuum tubes, the sound was still audible for a time after the power was turned off. However, when the power was turned off, the tone wheels would begin slowing down, and you would hear the pitch continue to fall. Innovative performers used this effect in their music.

Spring Reverb Shock

Organs of the past used spring reverb units to add a reverb effect to the sound. When a physical shock is applied to a spring reverb unit, the springs collide with each other, producing a crashing sound. Some performers even utilized this in their organ sound.

The VK-8 lets you simulate this reverb impact sound.

When the D Beam controller is responding, the D Beam [ON] button’s indicator will blink.

NOTE

When the “SPRING SHOCK” function is assigned to the D Beam controller or the control pedal, please be aware that raising the reverb level excessively will produce a high-volume impact sound. If you want to reduce the volume of the impact sound, use the [REVERB] knob to adjust the reverb level (p. 37).

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