User's

Manual
Version 1.0
 Red Bass User's Manual

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................1
About the Bass.......................................................................................2
Note to users of Scarbee Black Bass......................................................2
User License Agreement..........................................................................3
Install....................................................................................................5
Register ................................................................................................5
Thomas Hansen Skarbye – The Bassist and Producer...................................6
Nils Liberg – Script Developer...................................................................7
Playing bass notes on a keyboard..............................................................8
Automatic string selection....................................................................8
Manual string selection........................................................................9
Key layout..............................................................................................9
Articulations.........................................................................................10
Sustains, mutes and harmonics...........................................................10
Hammer-on / pull-off.........................................................................10
Fast grace note up.............................................................................10
Slides..............................................................................................10
Buzz-trills, trills.................................................................................11
Trill tails...........................................................................................11
Pickup clap.......................................................................................12
Release samples................................................................................12
Playing techniques.................................................................................13
Index and middle finger alternation.....................................................13
Extended hammer-on / pull-off...........................................................13
Cross hammering..............................................................................13
Chords.............................................................................................13
Chord slides......................................................................................14
Instrument reset...................................................................................15
Main menu and instrument settings.........................................................16
FX Presets........................................................................................16
EQ...................................................................................................16
Release ...........................................................................................16
Chords.............................................................................................17
Alternation.......................................................................................17
Noise levels......................................................................................17
Controllers........................................................................................18
Help................................................................................................18
Differences between Red Bass and Black Bass...........................................19
Production Credits & Thank You's............................................................20
Copyright Disclaimer..............................................................................21
 Introduction
Scarbee Red Bass is built on the samples of J-Slap'n Fingered, but has been
reprogrammed to take advantage of our highly advanced scripting technology
originally developed for Black Bass. Three pick-up settings: Bridge, Both and
Neck have all been recorded in both a fingered and slapped version - without
the use of compression, tubes or EQ to ensure maximum flexibility in the
sound production. It features an extensive set of playing techniques, for
example:
● sustains
● mutes
● harmonics
● hammer-on & pull-off
● fast grace notes
● slides (in most any speed you could want)
● trills
● buzz-trills
● cross hammering
● chords
● chord slides
● index and middle finger alternation
● multiple sets of release samples: loose, tighter and tight.

Red Bass was designed to make it very easy to use all these while playing live.
Except for the trills and cross hammering you can trigger all of the articulations
and techniques above without the need for any keyswitches.

The full strings of the bass have been sampled in order to reproduce the timbre
changes that occur when you move between low and high frets on the string of
a real bass. This results in a very rich sound with all the natural overtones.

It should be noted that Red Bass is much more than just a collection of
samples. It features a sophisticated script which takes care of many things
automatically for you, for example:
● string selection
● a fretboard display updated dynamically as you play
● alternation between index and middle finger
● chord recognition1
● random alternation between three different types of release samples

Furthermore, the script enables you to configure all settings including EQ, load
and store FX presets, and access documentation covering every aspect of the
instrument directly through the instrument performance view.

1 This ensures correct string selection even if the chord notes don't arrive at exactly the same time,
and that the base note of a chord is played with index finger while the other notes are played with
middle finger samples.

Scarbee Red Bass 1

 About the Bass
The instrument we used was an excellent and expensive danish hand built bass
that has the features of a classic funky late ´70s bass: The same shape and
dimensions of the back of the neck, the same pick-up placement, the same
wood (body made of ash; neck and fingerboard made of hardrock maple),
Dunlop 6110 "jumbo" frets and bone nut.

Neck

1-piece hard rock maple, reinforced with graphite

Wood:
bars.
Attachment: Bolt-on with threaded steel bolts & inserts.
Fingerboard: Hard rock maple, black dot position markers.
Scale: 34" (863.6mm).
Radius: Compound 7 ¼"/12".
Frets: 21, "jumbo" frets (Dunlop 6110).
Nut: Brass.
Truss-rod: Single, adjustable at body.
Tuning gears: Hipshot HB-1s.
Finish: Matt satin acrylic, clear.

Body

Wood: Finest select Danish White Ash.

Pickups : Lindy Fralin (vintage edition).
Controls: 2 X volume, 1 X active bass,1 passive treble.
Preamp: Aguilar OBP-1 passive/active.
Bridge: Badass Bass ll.
Straplocks: Schaller.
Finish: High gloss, polyester.
Strings DR MR-45 "Hi-Beam".

Note to users of Scarbee Black Bass

Red Bass was designed to mimic the functionality of Black Bass as closely as
possible, but using the samples from the J-Slap'n Fingered library. As a
consequence most material in this manual is equal to that of the Black Bass
manual. If you know Black Bass well you can safely skip ahead to the section
near the end that explains the various differences between Black Bass and
Red Bass.

Scarbee Red Bass 2

 User License Agreement

This SCARBEE End User License Agreement accompanies SCARBEE audio samples, programs and its
documentation and other related explanatory materials (hereinafter called "the Content"). The term
"Content" shall also include any upgrades, modified versions or updates of the Content licensed to you
by SCARBEE. This copy of the Content is licensed to you as the end user.

BY INSTALLING OR USING SCARBEE Red Bass, YOU ARE AGREEING TO ALL THE TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND CONSENT TO BE BOUND BY AND BECOME A PARTY TO THIS
AGREEMENT.

1. License Grant, Use, and Restrictions. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement,
SCARBEE hereby grants you a nonexclusive, non-transferable to use the Content, provided that you
agree to the following:

YOU MAY: (a) install the Content to a different computer; (b) physically transfer the Content from one
computer to another (your own computers ONLY – not computers belonging to friends or colleagues
you share studio facilities with); (c) make backup copies of the Content.

YOU MAY NOT: (a) copy the Content to additional sites over a network or make additional copies for
use on additional networks or sites or distribute copies of the Content to others; (b) rent, lease or grant
sub-licenses or other rights to the Content; (c) resell the Content as a used product to someone else
because this is a non-transferable license. The license to use this product is granted for a single user
only. (d) electronically transfer or post SCARBEE Red Bass to another person or group of persons over
the Internet or place them in a computer network to be accessed by multiple users. (e) extract samples
from the content using any kind of programs including third party utilities or by re-recording a
sound/sample from the Content with the purpose of creating own sample sets – commercial or not. (f)
give the serial number to any other person, organization or company or in any way transfer it from one
computer to another over a network or copy or relocate the serial number to additional sites over a
network, doing so will effectively void your use and license of the Content and its content.

This License does not specifically entitle you to any updates, enhancements, or improvements to the
Content. SCARBEE may release these at times, and from time to time, at its sole discretion.

2. Title, Copyright, and Other Rights. The Content is owned by SCARBEE, and its samples and
programming are the valuable trade secrets of SCARBEE. The Content is also protected by Copyright
Law of Denmark and International Treaty provisions. You may use trademarks only to identify output
produced by the Content, in accordance with accepted trademark practice, including identification of
trademark owner's name. Such use of any trademark does not give you any rights of ownership in that
trademark. Except as stated above, this Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights
in the Content.

3. Disclaimer of Warranty. The Content is being delivered to you AS IS and SCARBEE makes no
warranty other than that the Content shall conform to the specifications in the documentation during a
warranty period of twelve months from delivery.

4. Limitation of Liability. APART FROM ABOVE, SCARBEE AND ITS DISTRIBUTORS DO NOT AND
CANNOT WARRANT THE PERFORMANCE OR RESULTS YOU MAY OBTAIN BY USING THE CONTENT OR
DOCUMENTATION. SCARBEE AND ITS DISTRIBUTORS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
AS TO NON INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL SCARBEE OR ITS DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST
SAVINGS, EVEN IF A SCARBEE REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY THIRD PARTY.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or special
damages, or the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on how long an implied warranty may
last, so the above limitations may not apply to you.

5. This contract shall be exclusively subject to the laws of Denmark. If any one stipulation of this
License contract should be or become invalid, completely or in part, this shall not affect the validity of
the remaining stipulations. The parties undertake instead to replace the invalid stipulation with a valid
regulation which comes as closely as possible to the purpose originally intended. Place of jurisdiction is
location of the national sales company or agent. SCARBEE can also, however, at its free discretion,
open proceedings at the registered address of the Licensee.

Scarbee Red Bass 3

 6. Termination. This Agreement shall automatically terminate upon failure by you to comply with its
terms. This Agreement may only be modified in writing signed by an authorized officer of SCARBEE.
Upon termination, you shall immediately cease all use of the Content and return or destroy all copies of
the Content. Except for the License granted in Section 1 and except as otherwise expressly provided
herein, the terms of this Agreement shall survive termination. Termination is not an exclusive remedy
and all other remedies will be available whether or not the license is terminated.

SCARBEE constantly monitors other Soundware and Software releases to check for copyright
infringements, and will prosecute all piracy and copyright violations to the fullest extent of the law.

All questions concerning this Agreement should be directed to:

SCARBEE

e-mail: [email protected]

©2007 SCARBEE. All Rights Reserved. All Trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Scarbee Red Bass 4

 Install
Installing Red Bass from DVD:

– Insert the DVD

– Copy the ”Scarbee Red Bass” folder to the destination Hard Disk.

That's it! Now it is installed.

These instrument files included are:

● Scarbee Red Bass 1.nki Fingered - Bridge mic

● Scarbee Red Bass 2.nki Fingered - Both mics

● Scarbee Red Bass 3.nki Fingered - Neck mic

● Scarbee Red Bass 1 – Combi.nkm Fingered and slapped – Bridge mic

● Scarbee Red Bass 2 – Combi.nkm Fingered and slapped – Both mics

● Scarbee Red Bass 3 – Combi.nkm Fingered and slapped – Neck mic

You can now load it in Kontakt 2 by opening one of the files above. Enjoy!

Register
Enclosed with this product you will find a Red Bass Serial Number. Please take
time to register on our site www.scarbee.com to gain full access to many extra
features.

By registering you will be able to get:

– Free technical support
– Free updates
– Extra documentation and files
– Special offers for upgrades

Also, on our site www.scarbee.com you will be able to listen to and download
some amazing demo songs, check out the other libraries from us and access
the Scarbee Web-Shop to immediately acquire them from anywhere on Earth.

Scarbee Red Bass 5

 Thomas Hansen Skarbye – The Bassist and Producer
When I was a boy, I wanted to be a great Magician – I wanted to amaze the
audience and leave them wondering, "how did he do that?" Years later, I am
still very fond of "illusions" in any media. I watch almost every movie that
raises the bar of Special Effects and I share true interest in computer and
console games with my sons – for the same reason. These days my magic
wand and top hat are the Scarbee Sample Libraries.

I have played in various funk bands

as a bassist during my younger
years, but started soon to compose
music for TV documentaries and
aimed for a career as a film
composer. After composing,
producing music on more than 150
commercials for TV and Cinema
(even working with Oscar winning
director Bille August), I began to
create Sample Libraries and Virtual
Instruments as I wanted better
sounds to use for my productions.
These products are used by top
artists around the world on albums and live.

Due to "Tunnel Carpal Syndrome" (weak wrists) I invented an artificial way of

playing bass using software in 1998 and released the Scarbee J-Slap & J-
Fingered in 2000.

Originally planning a fretless bass release – I instead decided to take a break

from the basses and do some "easy" vintage keyboard sounds to use in my
productions. Ironically it took me 5 years to complete the Vintage Keyboard
Collection and the Vintage Keyboard FX plugin! Not exactly an easy job as I
expected, but this is me in a nutshell – I go into something, dig deeper and
deeper and slowly revealing the secrets and soul of the instrument and can not
stop until the job is done.

The Red Bass project started in 2007 just after the

release of Black Bass. Many users of J-Slap‘n
Fingered emailed me and asked if it was possible to
use the BB programming with JSF. To begin with I
did not think this was possible – but slowly I was
convinced by Nils Liberg that it could be possible –
if we only were prepared to spend some time on it.
At the same time I was involved in some bass
programming for a funk producer – using J-Slap and
Fingered it was hard for me to go back to that “old”
programming now that I had become used to the
wild luxury of the Black Bass fretboard display and
intelligent script. So eventually, I decided to start the conversion – which
proved to be just as time consuming and difficult as I had expected, but at the
same time extremely rewarding.
Please enjoy our bass – we sure put a lot of love in it!

Scarbee Red Bass 6

 Nils Liberg – Script Developer
I was contacted by Thomas in the autumn of 2006 to create a
Kontakt 2 script for what would later become Black Bass. After
having completed it we realized that this system also had the
potential of significantly increasing the playability of J-Slap and
Fingered. It took quite some effort to translate JSF to work like
Black Bass, but I like to believe it turned out very well in the
end.

My goal with the script has been to make the instrument so

easy to play that the user will never feel it's too much trouble to
use any of the articulations. It feels doubly rewarding to have been able to put
all my creativity into something that I know will finally be used as part of and
benefit another person's creative expression. It is my hope that you will find
Red Bass an inspirering instrument to use.

Nils Liberg is an experienced script developer and is the author of a widely

used script development environment for Mac/PC.

Scarbee Red Bass 7

 Playing bass notes on a keyboard
With stringed instruments a certain note can often be played on multiple
strings, and so the player has to choose. For example, G2 can be played on all
four strings of the bass with each string having its own very distinctive sound.
Many sample libraries and virtual instruments take the simplistic route of
recording only one sample per note (from the lower playing positions), which
means that the user gets a very limited instrument.

Red Bass on the other hand includes samples of all the different strings each
note can be played on, thus capturing the sound of the whole instrument. In
our view the samples at higher frets is an integral part of the instrument and
adds spice and variation to the sound.

When a real bass player is about to play a note he/she typically chooses the
string on which the note can be played with minimum effort. That is, without
moving the left hand too much. On a keyboard it's difficult to manually perform
this string selection in real-time and laborious to do it after recording, so we
came up with a way to let the Red Bass script do it for you.

Automatic string selection

The figure below shows the main view of the instrument user interface. Note
the white dotted line above the fretboard. It represents the position of the left
hand on the bass neck – the playing position. When you play a note on the
keyboard Red Bass automatically chooses a string that minimizes the need to
move the playing position (the left hand), similar to a real bass player. This
way you can get the full sound of the bass with minimum effort. Eg. if you play
an octave interval the correct strings will automatically be used.

That's the basic operation, but the automatic string selection also takes many
other things into account such as when to use open strings and what special
rules to use for each articulation.

Playing pos ition

Main menu
(left hand)

Name of las t triggered articulation. Markers s how the notes being played
and on which s tring/fret. The s ymbols are
s pecific to each articulation.

Articulation specific symbols are displayed on the fretboard on the selected

string/fret as shown above, and the text label below the fretboard shows the
name of the last used articulation. Each string is monophonic so a new note
interrupts any earlier one on the same string – just like on a real bass. Simply
trying out Red Bass oneself is perhaps the best way to understand how it
works.

Scarbee Red Bass 8

 Manual string selection
It is also possible to control the string selection manually. Each string has an
associated keyswitch: E0, A0, D0, G0 – picked to be easy to remember. In Red
Bass a keyswitch affects the following note or remains active for as long as you
hold it pressed. To return to the normal mode of operation just release the
keyswitch. It's possible to combine more than one string keyswitch. For
example you can hold A0 and D0 pressed simultaneously to make A and D be
the preferred strings.

Another way of controlling the string choice is by using keyswitches F4-B4 to

specify which frets you prefer. The F4 key corresponds to the first fret, F#4 to
the second fret and so on. To make it easier to learn we made the fret
keyswitches match the corresponding note on the E-string of a bass (F is the
first fret on this string, F# the second and so on). By pressing and releasing
one of these keyswitches you move the playing position and at the same time
trigger a fret noise sample (different noises are used depending on how far
your move). You can also lock the playing position by holding one of these
keyswitch pressed while playing. As will be shown later it is also possible to use
a Midi Controller for fret selection.

Key layout
Here is a schematic of the keys in Red Bass. The red keys are keyswitches and
the blue ones mapped to normal samples2. This is just an overview.
Instructions on how to use each keyswitch and what it does is given in the
following text sections.
Playing Position keyswitches
Keyswitches Normal bass notes (F4 to B5 → fret 1 to 22)

Chord mode (D#0)

Pickup hit and tight releas e toggle (F0)
Extended hammer-on/pull-off (F#0)
Buzz-trill / Trill (G#0)

Index finger (C0) Pickup clap (A#0)

Middle finger (C#1)

A s tring (A0)
G s tring (G0)
E s tring (E0)
D s tring (D0)

2 The B string was only sampled between B0 to D#1. Playing a key in that interval will automatically
select the B string. Only basic articulations like sustain, mutes, hammer-on and pull-off are available
on this string. Slides are not available.

Scarbee Red Bass 9

 Articulations
Sustains, mutes and harmonics
Sustain is the default articulation. For velocities below 40 you get mutes
instead and for velocities below 15 you get harmonics where available and
mutes otherwise. Enough velocities layers have been recorded to achieve
natural transitions from soft to hard playing. Please note that harmonics are
mapped to the string/fret where they are played on a real bass and not to the
pitch of the sound.

Hammer-on / pull-off
Legato To trigger a hammer-on or pull-off you simply play a half- or whole note either
down or up legato (overlapping the earlier note). If a hammer-on or pull-off is
not available (eg. when playing a note legato downwards from fret 1) you will
get a sustain instead.

Fast grace note up

Fast legato up A fast grace note is triggered in the same way as a hammer-on, one needs to
play the legato note very quickly after the previous note. Eg. play a C2, hold it
pressed and press a D2 quickly after (between 15 and 60 milliseconds).

The velocity of the lower note – the pre-hit note – is used as the velocity for
playing the fast grace note sample. This allows you to play the second note at
any velocity which can help because one often ends up hitting it a bit harder
since it has to be triggered so fast.

It was an old dream since year 2000 to be able to trigger fast grace notes in an
intuitive way and now it has finally come true – no keyswitches are necessary!

Slides
Legato Slides are available in two, for some strings three, different speeds. To trigger
a slide play a note legato while holding the sustain pedal pressed. If you played
a short slide of one or two semitones the slide will end automatically. For
+ longer slides you need to press the target note once again when you want the
slide to end.

If it's not possible to slide the played interval without going outside of the
available frets a sustain will be used instead. The velocity of the target note
determines the speed of the slide. There are three recorded slide speeds:
● Velocities 1-30 trigger the slowest slide sample
● Velocities 31-60 trigger the middle slide sample
● Velocities 61-127 trigger the fastest slide sample

If you trigger a speed which is not available the closest matching speed will be
used instead.

Scarbee Red Bass 10

 Below there is a table of ranges where each type of slide sample is available.
You typically don't have to think about this since they are remapped
automatically, but it's here for completeness.

Fingered Slap
Slow slides up E string: Fret 0-9 E string: Fret 0-9
A string: Fret 0-9 A string: Fret 0-9
D string: Fret 0-9 D string: Fret 0-9
G string: Fret 0-11 G string: Fret 0-11
Middle slides up E string: Fret 0-9 E string: Fret 0-9
A string: Fret 0-9 A string: Fret 0-9
D string: Fret 0-9 D string: N/A
G string: Fret 0-11 G string: N/A
Fast slides up E string: Fret 0-9 E string: Fret 0-9
A string: Fret 0-9 A string: Fret 0-9
D string: N/A D string: N/A
G string: N/A G string: N/A
Slow slides down E string: Fret 4-21 E string: Fret 4-21
A string: Fret 4-21 A string: Fret 4-21
D string: Fret 4-21 D string: Fret 4-21
G string: Fret 3-21 G string: Fret 5-21
Middle slides down E string: N/A E string: N/A
A string: N/A A string: N/A
D string: N/A D string: N/A
G string: N/A G string: N/A
Fast slides down E string: Fret 4-21 E string: Fret 4-21
A string: Fret 4-21 A string: Fret 11-21
D string: Fret 4-21 D string: N/A
G string: Fret 3-21 G string: N/A

Buzz-trills, trills
A buzz-trill is the sound of a real bass player moving his finger back and forth
over a fret quickly. A trill on the other hand is a sequence of repeated hammer-
on and pull-offs. Buzz-trills and trills are activated by pressing the G#0
keyswitch. Buzz-trills are available on the D and G string and trills on the G
string.
● Velocities 1-59 give trills on G string and buzz-trills on D string.
● Velocities 60-127 give buzz-trills

Note that unlike the other keyswitches G#0 only affects the following note
even if it were to be held pressed. We made it like this to make it easier to
trigger a single trill without accidentally affecting other notes.

Trill tails
Trill tails are based on the same samples as trills except that their attack has
+ been removed in order to make it possible to use them after any other
Legato (down)
articulation – as a tail. They are available on the G string.

To trigger a trill tail press the G#0 keyswitch to activate trill mode and then
play a pull-off (a half- or whole note legato down). Please note that the
keyswitch must be pressed just before the pull-off note and not earlier or you

Scarbee Red Bass 11

 will get a trill or buzz-trill instead of a sustain on the preceding note.

Here's an example of how a trill tail can be performed: play A3 and hold it
pressed, play the G#0 keyswitch, play a legato down to G3. The G3 legato
note is played back as a trill tail.

Pickup clap
Play A#0 to get the sound of a pickup clap. Please note that A#0 behaves
more like a normal note than a keyswitch – the A#0 itself triggers the sound
and it does not affect other notes.

A real bass player typically hits the pick-up with his/her right hand on snare
drum hits (2/4) to keep the beat – or as some advanced players: hit the
pick-up as a flaminco guitarist in between notes for a funky, unique bass
groove.

Release samples
A release sample is played whenever a note is released. With one exception:
when a note is played legato (overlapping the earlier note) a release sample is
not played for the earlier note. There are two sets of release samples tight and
Toggles loose/tight
loose.

The loose samples are noisier and adds character to the sound, whereas the
tight samples represent a more tightly played type of release which is less
prominent and cleaner. In the settings you can setup how often you want to
hear each one of the types.

So which type should one use then? Well, it depends on the style and what
kind of bass player one wants to imitate. The professional and often hired
studio musicians usually have a very fine dampening technique – so you rarely
hear the releases – even when they are playing fast. These bass players, who
you hear on so many albums, mute the stings with a combination of the left
and and right hand to avoid ringing and other noise from the bass.

However – even they sometimes decide to play a bit more relaxed and then
you will hear more of the release sound. In more rock oriented songs you will
play much more relaxed and even appreciate the raw sound of loose
dampening.

In the settings you can specify whether you want both types of release or just
the tight by default. The F0 keyswitch can then be used to alternate between
the default mode and other one.

Scarbee Red Bass 12

 Playing techniques
Index and middle finger alternation
Separate sample sets for right hand index finger and middle finger playing has
been recorded for many articulations3. The alternation between these two is
performed automatically. When you play slowly you only get index samples and
when you play faster Red 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 keyswitch C0 to

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

Extended hammer-on / pull-off

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's
+ possible to use the same articulations for larger intervals. To do this activate
Legato Extended hammer-on / pull-off mode by pressing the F#0 keyswitch.

For example if you play A1, hold it pressed and then play E2 while holding the
F#0 keyswitch 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.

Cross hammering
You can get cross hammering by combining a string keyswitch with the
extended hammer-on / pull-off mode described above. When this keyswitch
+ 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 keyswitches pressed (E string + extended mode) and then play
E2 on the keyboard.

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.
Normally the string selection is performed one note at a time, but in
unfortunate situations the optimal string for the individual chord note which
happen to come 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.

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

Scarbee Red Bass 13

 To solve this problem we provide a chord mode which
is activated by keyswitch 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 keyswitch. It's
up to you as the user.

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.

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 Red 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 if it's possible to slide the
interval for all notes in the chord.

Scarbee Red Bass 14

 Instrument reset
Red Bass randomly chooses between different types of release samples, fret
noises and when to insert pickup-hits. This randomness gives more variation
and a more realistic sound. However, it is also good to be able to predict the
behaviour – to know that your song will sound exactly the same each time you
play it. This is possible by using the B-1 keyswitch to reset the instrument. In
order to get the same result each time you play back your song insert a B-1
keyswitch note in the beginning of the song.

The velocity with which this keyswitch is played determines the random
sequence of values which controls release samples, fret noises and timing of
pickup-hits. You can use any velocity, but please note that if you change the
velocity of this initial B-1 keyswitch note you will get a completely different
sequence of release samples, fret noises and pickup-hits.

Scarbee Red Bass 15

 Main menu and instrument settings
FX Presets
The instrument comes with a number of factory
presets which can be loaded by simply selecting
them from the preset menu (see image).

Be aware that whenever you load an effect

preset any customization of the Red Bass insert
effect parameters you might have done can be
overwritten.

You can also save your own presets. To do this edit the insert effects
parameters in Kontakt to your liking and then choose one of the ”Save...”
menu items from the preset menu. Please note that due to a Kontakt 2
limitation scripts cannot load new effects but only change parameters of
already loaded ones. This has been worked around by loading all kinds of
effects and bypassing the ones which are not necessary. The status of the
bypass buttons is stored in each preset and restored when one is loaded.

Presets are stored within the Kontakt 2 instrument file (.nki file) so in case you
later download an update to Red Bass that file will lack any customized presets
of yours, which is useful to be aware of. However, you can transfer a preset
from one instrument to another by using the native preset feature in Kontakt 2
and then choose ”Save...” from the menu to reintegrate it into the script preset
system.

EQ
In this section the Bass, Middle and Treble can be
adjusted. Beware that loading an FX preset can
change the EQ.

Release
The Decay knob in the upper right corner controls
how much more silent a release sample becomes
for each second longer you hold a note pressed.
The unit is dB / second. Eg. if it is set to 15 dB/s
then the volume of a release sample of a 2 s long
note will be turned down 30 dB.

There are two types of release samples: loose

and tight. The tight samples are played more carefully and are less noisy than
the loose ones. You can set the default release mode to be one of:
● Random mode – use random mix of loose and tight samples
● Tight mode – use only tight samples

By using the F0 keyswitch you can switch to the non-default mode at any time.
Eg. let's say the default mode is set to Random mode. Then you will sometimes
get loose release samples when playing. If you want only tight release samples

Scarbee Red Bass 16

 for some passage of a song you can hold F0 pressed during that time to
temporarily toggle to Tight mode.

The loose / tight knob controls the probability of getting either loose or tight
release samples. Turn it up to increase the chance of getting tight samples.

Chords
The illustration below shows how the notes of a
chord never arrive at
exactly the same time –
there is always a period
of time between the
first and last last note.
As long as this period of
time is shorter in
milliseconds than the
Sloppiness knob value shown to the right, the chord
will be properly recognized and automatic string
selection will work optimally.

If on the other hand the period of time between notes gets longer than the
Sloppiness value the automatic string selection is performed note by note
which in some cases can yield suboptimal results for chords.

By increasing the sloppiness the tolerance for sloppily played chords increases,
but at the same time the latency is increased by the same amount leading to a
less responsive instrument. For this reason it's preferable to use a high
sloppiness setting only when one is about to play chords and a low value
otherwise in order to minimum latency.

When chord mode has been activated by the D#0 keyswitch the left sloppiness
setting is used. And when chord mode is not active the normal sloppiness
setting to the right is used. In other words, D#0 temporarily activates a higher
latency which makes the string selection for chords more reliant and as soon
as the keyswitch is released the low latency is restored again.

Alternation
When you play notes quickly after each other
automatic alternation between
index and middle finger
samples takes place. When
you play slower only index
finger samples are used.

You can specify the threshold for what the script

should consider fast playing by setting the
Alt. Time knob. When you play a note there will be automatic alternation only if
the period of time since the last note is lower than this.

With the default setting automatic alternation starts when notes are played at
shorter time intervals than 1 second.

Noise levels
Here you can adjust the volume for different
types of string noises:
● release samples

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 ● fret noise
● pickup hits (PU hits)
● pickup/string clap (PU clap)

Controllers
In addition to keyswitches it is also possible to
control some parameters using MIDI Controllers:

Playing position – an alternative to the F4-B4

keyswitches. When it is set you can use that
controller to move the playing position. Unlike
the keyswitches this will not trigger fret noises
and one cannot lock the playing position this way
since there is no analogue to holding a key pressed.

Slide mode – by default CC#64 (sustain pedal) is used to activate slide mode,
but here you can specify another controller to be used if desired.

Chord mode – normally the D#0 keyswitch is used to activate chord mode.
Here you can specify a controller to use instead. Setting it to anything but
None will disable the D#0 keyswitch.

Help
For quick reference you can find documentation
for articulations & playing techniques, settings
and the script UI directly in the performance
view. Select a help topic from the menu and a
help text appears to the left.

Scarbee Red Bass 18

 Differences between Red Bass and Black Bass
This overview shows how Red Bass compares to Black Bass:

Black Bass Red Bass

Pick-up mics humbucker (1) bridge, both and neck (3)
Buzz-trills short and long short
Release loose, tight 1 and tight 2 loose and tight
Pickup hit noise automatic or manual manual
Slide up available on all frets on fret 0-9
Slide down available on all frets on fret 4-21
Slide up range 1 octave 1 octave
Slide down range 1 octave full string
Slide triggering legato playing with legato playing with sustain
sustain pedal pressed pedal pressed, but for
slide intervals greater than
two seminotes the slide
has to be manually ended
by playing the target note
a second time
Index / middle available available, but middle
finger samples have a
shorter duration than
index finger samples.
Number of samples 4 003 6 092
Size 3 GB 2 GB
Size of download 1.2 GB 747 MB
(compressed)

Scarbee Red Bass 19

 Production Credits & Thank You's
Producer, Bass Player & Programmer
Thomas Hansen Skarbye

Script Developer & User Manual

Nils Liberg

Instrument Graphics
Stefan Kengen

Cover Artwork & Design

Anne Skarbye

Beta Testers
Jules Bromley and Stefan Kengen

Thank You's
My wife Anne – for all your work, support and love. To Nils Liberg, you have
been fantastic and one of the finest and brightest persons I have ever met –
you should be proud of yourself! To Christian Celinder for building fantastic
basses! Native Instruments for their powerful Kontakt 2.2.3 engine, Klaus
Simone for his help in healing my soul, Jules Bromley for his beta feedback and
Stefan Kengen for the Red Bass instrument graphics – it looks so cool, the
great friends from Gaya Musik: Kim, Steffen and Victor. Big thanks to Garth
Hjelte from Chickensys – could not have done it without Translator. To all
Scarbee users – thanks for your support. Finally to my sons Nikolaj, Oscar and
Victor – I love you so much.

Scarbee Red Bass 20

 Copyright Disclaimer
All product and company names, brands and logos mentioned in this document
are exclusive property of the respective owners. Some product names,
descriptions and images are cited for the sole purpose of identifying the
specific products that we used to develop Scarbee Red Bass. Scarbee is in no
way related to or affiliated to any of the mentioned companies.

© 2007 SCARBEE.

All rights reserved.

Scarbee Red Bass 21