Please follow the installation instructions in the RETRIGGER / HOLD SWITCH paragraph below.

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1 . n. 170&;56'/ / 935 S outh E mpire B lvd Coos B ay, OR fax: dieter@ kksound.com NOTE: This online version of the Vibe Wizard manual does not include all pictures and diagrams. We removed nonessential illustrations to reduce file size for faster loading. Please contact us if you would like to receive a complete manual. MIDI Vibe Wizard Thank you for buying the NEW! MIDI Vibe Wizard unit. Some important notes upfront: # You HAVE to install and connect the supplied RETRIGGER / HOLD SWITCH. Your Vibe Wizard will not function correctly without it. Without this switch: The Staccato Function does not work. With the HOLD LED light ON, the Vibe Wizard will play notes with infinite sustain (no note off). Please follow the installation instructions in the RETRIGGER / HOLD SWITCH paragraph below. # Your damper has to be adjusted to press fairly tight against the bars and it has to dampen each bar with about the same amount of pressure. Closed hook pins on the damper side are required. Open string pins do not allow for the required damping pressure. They should be replaced with hook pins. Call us to order replacements. The Vibe Wizard has built-in hangers. Open the lock screws, pull out the hangers and attach the unit to the outer left sidepiece of the vibraphone frame. Set and lock the hangers in place with the screws. Audio section Midi Value wheel Midi control section The Midi Control section: Midi sensitivity adjustment panel Here you can adjust all the Midi Parameters and functions. The Midi Control Section features 5 function buttons, a display with several functions, the cursor < left, and > right buttons and the value wheel.

2 Cursor buttons: > < The cursor underlines a display function value number in the display. Use the > button or the < button to move the cursor to right or left. Move the cursor to the display function you want to adjust and change its value by turning the value wheel. The numbers in the display indicate the values of the different available functions (parameters) they are called parameter values. Function buttons: Hold on/off Split on/off Midi on/off Save Parameters in the display: There are 13 adjustable parameters in the display: 10 in the main menu and 3 in the hidden menu. Choose a parameter with the cursor and adjust its value with the value wheel. Function buttons in detail: Hold: On: When the Hold LED light is on, the hold is controlled by the Retrigger/Hold switch. Your Midi sound will sustain as long as the damper pedal is pressed. Of course, only sounds that are sustainable will be sustained (strings, organ, flute etc). A drum sound or a marimba sound cannot be sustained by nature. Off: When LED light is off, the hold is controlled by the actual sustain of the vibraphone bar. As long as the bar is ringing the Midi signal will sustain. This mode is designed for mallet damping playing technique. Keep in mind that once the signal of the bar falls below a certain level, the Midi signal will shut off. It depends on the sensitivity setting of the trim pots in the adjustment panel and it depends on the threshold setting in the hidden menu (see below). Split: The split function allows you to divide your vibe into 2 sections (or ranges). The split point is user-definable. Like this you can program i.e. a bass sound to the low octave and a melody sound to the upper 2 octaves. Both ranges can be individually adjusted in Midi channels and second layers (see below) but keep in mind that the hold and staccato functions are programmable in the lower range only. They it will be active and the same in both split ranges. Before you enter the split mode, set the sound and parameters of the lower split range in your main menu. These parameters will remain active for your lower split range after the split function is activated. The higher split range can be programmed as follows: Activate the split function by pressing and HOLDING the split button. Hit the highest tone of your lower split range while you hold the button. Then release the button. The split menu will appear in the display. NOW MOVE THE CURSOR FROM THE PROGRAM FIELD TO THE MIDI CHANNEL A (ChA) FIELD. Assign a midi channel to the upper range here. Note: It has to be a different Midi channel than the one which is set in your main menu in order to hear two different sounds in your 2 split ranges. Of course your sound-module has to be programmed accordingly, to play the sound you have chosen on this Midi channel.

3 If you like, you can program a second sound layer (see below) for the upper split range only. If you programmed an interesting setting, press the save button to save this split setting for your next session in the according program you are currently in (1-8 shown in the upper left field in the display). A short LED blink will confirm the save command. You can always turn the split function off by pressing the split button (LED light off). Now your entire vibraphone will play the sound that is programmed in the Main menu for the lower split range. Note that the 8 programs can all be programmed with different split settings and each one can be turned on or off by pressing the split button. Midi: This button turns the Midi send on (LED light on) or off (LED light off) Stacc: Decay adjustment function to staccato the notes. Press the Stacc button (LED light on) to activate. This function allows for shortening the decay of the midi notes. In other words, once activated and adjusted, it will staccato each note according to the value in the staccato display field. Available values are 1-99, with 1 being the shortest and 99 the longest. The real staccato effect will happen with values between 5 and 15. Higher values will actually be not be a noticeable staccato or, if set above 50 or so, it will actually elongate the tones. In order to play samples like flute, trumpet or saxophone you need to activate the staccato function. Otherwise fast played single tones will blend into each other. Which would in return result in a muddy sound. Note that the staccato function is assigned to the entire range of your vibraphone. The pedal - hold (your damper pedal) will overwrite the staccato via the Retrigger/Hold switch as does the optional sustain switch (see below). You can turn the staccato function off by pressing the staccato button (LED light off). Note that the 8 programs can all be programmed with different staccato settings and each one can be turned on or off by pressing the staccato button. Save: Press the save button to save your programming information to one of the 8 available banks (see Prog below). A short blink of the save LED will confirm the successful save command.

4 Display Parameters in detail: M ain Menu Program 1-8 Midi channel layer A octave shift 2up - 2down layer A Staccato value Maximum velocity Main Menu: Trigger-start level Minimum layer B Midi channel Transpose velocity layer B layer B octave shift 2up - 2down layer B Prog: Program Banks 1-8. Your Vibe Wizard has 8 user programmable banks. You can save split settings, layer settings, maximum minimum velocity settings, velocity curve settings (see below) etc. Like this they are available at a convenient and quick turn of the value wheel. ChA: 1-16 Midi Channel of sound layer A. Your Midi allows for layering 2 individually adjustable sounds. You can either layer two different sounds or you can octave-double or transpose double the existing sound. (See: Sound Layer A and B below) Okt.: (upper display field): -4 to +4 octave shift of sound layer A. You can shift layer A four octaves up or down, 0 is no shift. Stacc: 1-99 staccato value. Here you can adjust the decay time of the midi notes (see above). Note that the staccato function is assigned to the entire range of your vibraphone. It will be active in both sound layers and split ranges once it is turned on. When the pedal - hold (your damper pedal) or the optional sustain switch (see below) is pressed, it will overwrite the staccato function until released. Max: Adjust the maximum velocity value here. Midi velocity is measured in 127 steps. 0 is actually no sound at all, 1 is the softest and 127 is the loudest. The maximum velocity is active in both layers and both split ranges. Tip: Many sound modules sound better if the maximum velocity is set a little lower than 127.

5 Triglev: Adjust the start-volume-level of layer B here. If you program it to a value of 80, for example, the layer B will just kick in at the velocity value of 80. In other words, it just kicks in when you play quite hard. In this case softer and medium attack notes will not trigger the layer B. Note: This value does react differently on higher or lower sensitivity settings of the trim pots in the adjustment panel. Plus it depends on the velocity curve setting in the hidden menu (see below). ChB: off / 1-16 Midi Channel of sound layer B. Set this parameter to off if no second sound layer is wanted. Your Midi allows for layering 2 individually adjustable sounds. You can either layer two different sounds or you can octave-double or transpose-double the existing sound. (See: Sound Layer A and B below) Okt. (lower display field): -4 to +4 octave shift of sound layer B. You can shift layer B four octaves up or down, 0 is no shift. Transp: Transpose layer B up in half tone steps. Min: Adjust the minimum velocity value here. Midi velocity is measured in 127 steps. 0 is actually no sound at all, 1 is the softest and 127 is the loudest. If you set this value to 40, for example, all tones played with a velocity value below 40 will sound with a velocity value of 40. Everything above 40 will be unchanged. The minimum velocity is active in both layers and both split ranges. Tip: Different sound modules react differently in respect to velocity. In most cases it may give you a more comfortable dynamic feel if this value is raised up a little. Note: This value does react differently on higher or lower sensitivity settings of the trim pots in the adjustment panel. Plus it depends on the velocity curve setting in the hidden menu (see below). Sound Layer A (ChA) and B(ChB): You can assign a second sound layer (ChB) in addition to the main or first-layer (ChA). Here you can either octave-double or transpose-double the same sound as assigned to ChA or you can assign a completely different sound on a different Midi channel. Octave doubling and transpose doubling: Assign the same Midi Channel as present on ChA to the second layer, ChB. Now you can shift the ChB to a different octave in the Okt. parameter (lower display field). Or you can transpose it in the Transp. parameter. Or you can do both. Assign a different sound to ChB: Assign a different Midi Channel as present on ChA to the second layer ChB. Note: Your sound-module has to be programmed accordingly to play the sound you have chosen on this Midi channel. You can octave-shift or transpose the sound on ChB. In any case you can assign a start-volume-level (Triglev.) of layer B. If you program it to a value of 80, for example, the layer B will just kick in at the velocity value 80. In other words, it just kicks in when you play quite hard. In this case softer and medium attack notes will not trigger the layer B. Note: This value does react differently on higher or lower sensitivity settings of the trim pots in the adjustment panel. Plus it depends on the velocity curve setting in the hidden menu (see below).

6 Hidden Menu: Press the left (<) and right (>) cursor button simultaneously to enter the hidden menu. Press the left (<) and right (>) cursor button simultaneously AGAIN to return to the MAIN menu. Here you find another 3 parameters. TR - Trigger repeat function TH - Threshold setting CU - Velocity curve setting. The TR (trigger repeat) function and the TH (threshold) function are designed to prevent false Midi trigger signals. If your system tracks cleanly, you don t have to touch these two parameters. Note: If you save one of the 8 banks, the setting of the hidden menu will be saved along with it. In other words you can adjust different hidden menu settings for all 8 banks. Trigger repeat function: TR This is a safety parameter, which sets the repeat-attack velocity setting. Here you can adjust the velocity value by which a second attack on one (1) ringing tone-bar has to be higher than it s current velocity reading in order to be recognized as a new attack signal. This is a safety function. If you are experiencing double triggers (a second attack on a ringing tone is played by the Midi even if you did not re-hit the bar) you can adjust this parameter to a higher value to clean up the signal. Factory setting is the minimum setting 2. This is the most sensitive and most responsive setting. A second attack on one (1) sounding tone-bar has to be a minimum of 2 velocity steps higher than it s current velocity reading. If the current velocity reading is 100, the next attack has to be played with a minimum of 102. Note: All this is just relevant at fast repetitive impulses on ONE tone-bar in DAMPER UP mode. In other words, only if no note-off signal has been issued between two impulses on the SAME tonebar. You can of course re-hit a bar at ANY velocity if a note-off signal has been present in between two attacks. More about this note-off issues in the Retrigger/Hold switch paragraph. All this may sound very confusing to you - but don t worry! Most likely you will never have to touch this function. It is just a safety feature. Threshold Setting: TH 4-99 This is a safety parameter as well. Here you can adjust a minimum velocity-value, which has to be reached in order to trigger a Midi Signal. Factory setting is 4 - which is the most sensitive setting available. A Midi signal has to have at least the velocity value of 4 to be recognized and played. Midi velocity values under 5 are usually too quiet to be heard at all. Exceptions are some not velocity sensitive sounds - like many organ sounds. If you experience crosstalk (another tone as the one you played is triggered along with it) you can adjust this parameter to a higher value to compensate and clean up. Remember, if this value is raised up to much, you are making your entire vibraphone less sensitive to very light attacks. If you do not experience cross-talk problems, just leave this parameter at it s minimum setting. Note: This value does react differently on higher or lower sensitivity settings of the trim pots in the adjustment panel. Plus it somewhat depends on the velocity curve setting in the hidden menu (see below). Velocity Curves: different velocity curves are available, with the 3 being the linear one. Curve 1: Starts at a velocity value of 20 and ends linear.

7 Any signal with a velocity value below 20 will be played with the value of 20 (similar to the minimum velocity setting in the main menu). Everything above that will be handled linear. Curve 2: Starts at a velocity value of 50 and ends linear. Any signal with a velocity value below 50 will be played with the value of 20 (similar to the minimum velocity setting in the main menu). Everything above that will be handled linear. Curve 3: Linear. Calculated evenly raising velocity from soft to loud. Note: It is calculated and may not feel linear. Curve 4: Rises a little bit faster than linear. Tones reach their maximum velocity already at less than hard attacks. Curve 5: Rises a lot faster than linear. Tones reach their maximum velocity already at medium attacks. Note: The Velocity curves will react differently on higher or lower sensitivity settings of the trim pots in the adjustment panel. They will also react different on different sound modules. If you save one of the 8 banks, the setting of the hidden menu will be saved along with it. In other words you can adjust and assign different velocity curves for all 8 banks. Re-trigger / Hold Switch: 3.5mm input socket This supplied switch HAS to be installed and connected properly. Without it, your Midi unit will not function correctly. Without this switch: The Staccato Function does not work. With the HOLD LED light ON, the Vibe Wizard will play notes with infinite sustain (no note off). One of the biggest challenges in designing the Vibraphone Midi was to allow for re-triggering fast repetitive impulses on one (the same) tone bar correctly and reliably. To explain this in detail, we have to get a little more technical. Imagine you are playing a keyboard. If you press one key, a note-on information is send along with other data like velocity, etc. In order to play the same key a second time you have to release this key and then replay it. The release of the key sends a note-off signal. Now the next note-on information can be sent and recognized. This is necessary for the Midi gear to understand the Midi commands and to work properly. Using the vibraphone bar instead of a keyboard key is of course a different issue. If you play FAST rolls (repetitive attacks) on ONE tone-bar, this bar does not send reliable note-off signals between the attacks. Even with the damper up, the previously played sound will still be ringing when the next attack is played. We were able to program the Vibe Wizard to reliably recognize these repeated attacks on one tone bar, as long as the DAMPER PEDAL IS UP. However, if the damper is pressed down and the bar is sustaining, there is no reliable way to electronically recognize a second attack without a definite note-off signal in between. This is why we designed the RETRIGGER / HOLD SWITCH. With this switch in place, the re-trigger capability on a sustaining tone bar is blocked whenever the damper pedal is pressed. Without it, your Midi would have a very hard time to recognize a second attack on a sustaining bar. Or, even worse, it would sometimes read non existing attacks (like simple peaks in the waveforms of a loud sustaining bar) and replay these notes by itself. With this switch you get a RELIABLE performance even though it is kind of a detour. Now your Midi does simply not accept any repeated attack on a SUSTAINING bar (damper down) until the damper is released and a note-off signal is issued. Please install this switch properly. Whenever the Midi does strange things, like everlasting holds or false re-triggered tones, check this switch, its position and its connections first. The Retrigger / Hold switch doubles as a HOLD switch. When the Hold LED light is on, the hold is controlled by switch. Your Midi sound will sustain as long as the damper pedal is pressed. Of course,

8 only sounds that are sustainable will be sustained (strings, organ, flute etc). A drum sound or a marimba sound cannot be sustained by nature. The Retrigger / Hold switch also blocks the staccato function automatically whenever the damper pedal is pressed. It of course has to be like that otherwise you would not be able to play a sustained note because the Vibe Wizard is programmed to staccato each tone according to the programmed value. You may have to adapt your pedal technique accordingly. For most, more responsive and faster pedal work is required. In other words, if you want to re-hit a sustained chord or single tone, get the pedal UP a split second before you re-hit the bar(s). This sends the necessary note off information. It takes a little practice but once you mastered the proper pedal technique it will become second nature. There is a way around this damper-pedal-technique issue. You can use the vibe like a mallet cat. In other words don t use the vibraphone s damper pedal at all but a sustain switch instead. Please read the Sustain Switch paragraph. Retrigger / Hold Switch Mounting Instructions: The Retrigger / Hold Switch can be mounted (semi) permanently or non-permanently with a quick mounting technique using the supplied clamp. Permanent installation: Use the supplied strips of dual-lock. This is the ½ wide black, self-adhesive material with white protective foil on both sides (we locked the 2 parts together already). This fastening system works like industrial strength Velcro. It features an extremely high holding power. It locks in itself. 1) Locate the position of the switch following the diagram below. Make sure that the 3.5mm socket on the switch is accessible. The switch should be mounted with a 1/16 (1mm) distance gap between its tip and the damper - arm (see diagram below). 2) Remove the white protective film on ONE side of the dual-lock strips and stick both strips to the back of the retrigger / hold switch housing. 3) Make sure that all the vibraphone bars are properly in place and the height and action of the damper is adjusted the way you want it. 4) Remove the remaining white protective films on the dual-lock and stick the switch to the frame rail following the diagram below. 5) If necessary, you can re-open the dual-lock by wedging a dull knife in between the 2 dual-lock layers. Non-permanent installation: Please use the supplied mounting clamp. 1) Locate the position of the switch following the diagram below. Make sure that the 3.5mm socket on the switch is accessible. The switch should be mounted with a 1/16 (1mm) distance gap between its tip and the damper arm (see diagram below). 2) Test procedure: Mount the switch with the clamp to check accessibility of the clamp-screw. If the halftone tone resonators are in the way, you can install the switch on the opposite side of the frame-rail (closer to the damper). 3) Stick the supplied rectangular soft rubber piece with it s adhesive backing to the switch. Make sure to apply it to the switch-side, which faces the frame rail. 4) Stick the supplied square Velcro piece to the other side of the switch to protect it from being scratched by the clamp. 5) Install the switch in a position following the diagram below.

9 Sustain Pedal Input: 3.5mm input socket (see photo above) Here you can connect an OTIONAL sustain pedal (not supplied). You need a pedal with a such-called momentary pushbutton switch action. Like a doorbell; when you press it, it is ON - when you release it, it is OFF. In the contrary to a light switch which locks in either ON or OFF position. The pedal switch has to be a normally-open-type. This means that the electrical contacts are open whenever the pedal switch is released (not activated) and closed when it is pressed. There are nice models available which look like the sustain switch of a piano (for use with Master Keyboards). You need a special cable with a mono 3.5mm plug on the Vibe Wizard end. If you like to use your vibraphone for Midi only (like a Mallet Cat) connect the sustain pedal and use it INSTEAD of your vibraphone s damper pedal. In other words, don t use your vibe s damper pedal at all! Leave it UP and untouched all the time. The advantage of this method is that it allows you to re-trigger a sustaining Midi note (you sure remember that the Vibe Wizard accepts re-triggered signals as long as the damper pedal is up). But keep in mind, in this case the acoustic tone bar will NOT actually be sustained, just its Midi signal. Audio Section: Your Vibe Wizard contains a 3 channel mixer to precisely balance the 3 octaves (wide bars- medium size width bars and narrow width bars) Low octave F-F volume Mid octave F#-E volume bass treble High octave F-F volume bass - treble Master Volume Here you can adjust volume, bass and treble of the 3 octaves of your vibraphone individually. The bigger knob left of the power switch is the audio master volume. The filter frequencies of the individual octave ranges have been carefully set to match the corresponding octave frequency range. We recommend cutting the bass on both, the mid and high octave, in order to eliminate the mallet impact thud (a low frequency mallet impact noise, acoustically present, especially in the higher tone range). Tip: Keep a note of your preferred setting handy. There are three 3.5 mm phono output sockets on the left side of the Vibe Wizard. In a studio situation, with enough mixer channels available, these individual octave outputs allow you to stereo panorama your audio vibraphone signal. Use special 3.5mm mini plug to ¼ cables to connect each of the 3 (high oct. - mid oct. - low oct.) outputs into 3 mixer channels. Now you can adjust each octave separately in EQ and Panorama. Note: The individual tone controls and volume on the audio section of the Vibe Wizard will still be effective.

10 Midi Sensitivity Adjustment section: 37 trimpots (little potentiometers for adjustment with a small Phillips head screwdriver - accessible through access holes in the front panel). Here you adjust the Midi sensitivity of each tone bar individually. Note: the sensitivity of your unit has been factory set on a Musser M55 vibe. The individual trimmers are open by ¼ turn each. This factory setting provides a little less than half of the available sensitivity. Use the supplied Phillips head screwdriver; carefully insert it into the corresponding hole for the tonebar you like to adjust. First, turn the screwdriver all the way counterclockwise to the trimmers zero position. Pull out the screwdriver and re-insert it with the arrow on top pointing to a 9 o clock position. For your reference: arrow to 9 o clock = zero Midi sensitivity = tone off-no signal. Now turn the screwdriver clockwise while hitting the corresponding tone-bar and adjust the sensitivity to your liking. The arrow provides you with a reference for the position of the trimpot. The factory setting of the individual trimmers is ¼ turn clockwise from the trimmer s zero position. If the trimmer is turned all the way counterclockwise to its zero position and the screwdriver is then reinserted with the arrow pointing at 9 o clock, the factory setting is arrow at 12 o clock. The turning range of the trimmers goes from a 9 o clock to about a 4.30 o clock position position is the highest sensitivity setting. Note: The sensitivity should be set AS LOW AS POSSIBLE for your playing style. Too high settings may introduce cross-talk or double-trigger problems (you play one attack but the Midi plays two or more just by itself). Inputs and Outputs: Your Vibe Wizard features the following Inputs and Outputs: On the back: INPUT - 25 pin male connector for F-F (22 notes) INPUT - 25 pin female connector for F# - D# (15 notes) On the right side: MIDI IN this input allows for cascading 2 or more Vibe Wizard units. In case an instrument with more than 3 octaves is used two Vibe Wizard units can be chained together via this input. MIDI OUT - 5 pin female socket - connect this output to your sound modules Midi In. SUSTAIN mm socket - connect an optional sustain pedal (see above) RETRIG mm socket - connect the supplied Retrigger / Hold switch here On the left side: High Oct. 3.5 mm socket. Individual OUTPUT for high octave F-F. Use this output in a studio setup to panorama your high octave more to the right. Mid Oct. 3.5 mm socket. Individual OUTPUT for middle octave F#-E. Use this output in a studio setup to panorama your middle octave to the center. Low Oct. 3.5 mm socket. Individual OUTPUT for low octave F-F. Use this output in a studio setup to panorama your low octave more to the left.

11 Main Audio Out ¼ socket connect this output to your audio amplifier for full range 3 octave F-F. DC 12 volt socket connect the supplied power-supply here. The Vibe Wizard should be supplied with 12 volt DC, polarization is irrelevant. Do not worry about the 10.5 volt print on the supplied power-supply. This is an extra strong type and in reality it provides the unit with 12 volt.