Steinberg Virtual Bassist Operation Manual

 
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Virtual Bassist terminology
Styles
A Style is a set of grooves and phrases (called Parts and Fills) and in-
cludes bass selection, FX and Groove Match settings suitable for a 
particular musical genre. Each Style consists of 13 Parts triggered by 
the white keys between D1 and B2 and 6 Fills triggered by the black 
keys F#, G#, Bb in the same key range.You can load a Style by dou-
ble-clicking it in the Style Browser. Virtual Bassist loads a showcase 
Style when started....

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Fills play at a predefined bar position and for a predefined length. If 
you want Fills to switch in the same way as normal Parts, select Key 
Change Quantize on the Settings page. In this mode Fills will change 
according to the quantize setting in the same way as normal Parts.
Remote Keys
Remote Keys are special functions assigned in the Remote Range 
that influence the performance of Virtual Bassist. These keys include: 
Single Note Mode (C1), Stop (C#1), End (D#1), 4/5 String Mode...

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The Play page
This is Virtual Bassist’s main page, here you can set all of the general 
playing parameters of the instrument, load and save Styles and Parts 
and choose and modify your bass and its overall sound.
If you haven’t got a MIDI keyboard connected to your host application or 
if you just want a quick impression, you can make Virtual Bassist play by 
clicking on the frets of the bass on the Play page. The Chord Display will 
show you the pitch chosen.  

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Loading and saving Styles
On the right hand side of the Virtual Bassist’s Play page is a Browser 
listing the available Styles.
Load
To load a Style you can either: 
•Double-click its name in the list or …
•Click the Load button on the bottom right of the Browser and use the 
standard load dialog to locate and open the Style. 
Save
To save a Style click Save (the left button at the bottom of the 
Browser section) and use the standard Save dialog to enter a name 
and location for the...

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Auditioning styles
Each Factory Style comes with an audio preview. The previews were 
made using Virtual Bassist with Steinberg’s Virtual Guitarist and 
Groove Agent to give you an example of how the Style might sound 
with guitar and drums.
There are two ways of previewing:
Listen
In the Style Browser, click on a style (it becomes highlighted). Click 
Listen and Virtual Bassist will play a preview for as long as you hold 
the mouse button.
Auto
Clicking Auto activates the...

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Play page controls
Most of the controls you need to play and alter the performance of 
Virtual Bassist can be found on the Play page.
Four or five string
Use this switch to choose between a standard four string or five string 
bass (which has an additional low B string). In 5 string mode Virtual 
Bassist will play licks including notes on the low B string, whenever 
possible.
•You can switch between 4-string or 5-string mode using the MIDI 
remote key C#2.
MIDI In
The MIDI In LED...

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Latch mode
With latch mode On, Virtual Bassist will play Parts continuously from 
the moment you play the first key until you press the stop button of 
your sequencer or play the C#1 Stop or D#1 End remote keys.
If you only want to play a lick here and there, set latch mode to Off and 
Virtual Bassist will only play while the keys on your MIDI keyboard are 
held.
Latch mode is turned On or Off for the duration that your sustain pedal 
is pressed.
Using the sustain pedal in...

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Retrigger mode
With Retrigger mode activated, every time a Part key is played the 
Part will begin to play again from the beginning, regardless of the cur-
rent bar position.
When Retrigger Mode is Off, Part changes will be performed playing 
the appropriate melodic and rhythmic phrasing of the Part for the cur-
rent position in the bar.
Activating Retrigger mode does only make sense for showcases or a 
quick overview of the Parts of a Style. When performing or arranging with 
Virtual...

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Swing
Swing allows you to adjust the feel of Virtual Bassist’s performance. 
Technically speaking, Swing allows you to move the offbeats of a bar 
to an earlier or later position. Turning Swing to the left moves the off-
beats back, turning it to the right moves them forward. Virtual Bassist 
will play exact triplets when setting Swing to -100 % or +100 %.
The Swing controls on the Play page and the Groove Match page are ac-
tually the same. Swing controls the depth of the...

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Early/Late
This control is used to adjust the overall timing of the Virtual Bassist in 
relation to the rest of the instruments in your project. Turning to the left 
(Early) will give you an aggressive groove, playing slightly ahead of the 
beat, turning to the right (Late) produces a more laid back groove. 
The maximum timing deviation is very modest and will hardly be audible 
if only Virtual Bassist is playing. However, in conjunction with other 
tracks, especially those that have...