Vintage Clav pickups in Logic Pro for iPad

The original D6 is equipped with two electromagnetic pickups, much like those found in electric guitars—one below the strings (lower) and one above the strings (upper). In contrast to the fixed pickups of the original instrument, Vintage Clav pickups can be set to arbitrary positions and angles.

Unlike the original D6, Vintage Clav has a stereo output that you can configure with the Key Stereo and Pickup Stereo knobs.

Also central to the D6 sound are the color switches. The four tone controls of the D6 are switchable high or low pass filters that change the preamplifier EQ response in the original instrument.

Try moving pickup positions while repeatedly striking a note to hear the effect that the pickup position has on the overall tone. Interesting, phaser-like effects can be achieved by automating the pickup positions.

Settings with both pickups placed near the upper end of the strings and active Brilliant and Treble color switches result in a weak fundamental tone. Therefore, you mostly hear the overtones of the chosen model. These can be “out of tune,” particularly for models such as Wood, which has strong inharmonic content. Move the pickups halfway along the strings with the lower and upper Pickup Position sliders, and deactivate all color switches to circumvent this detuned effect.

You can cross over the pickup positions. This may lead to a hole (silent or very quiet notes) in your keyboard range. This is due to phase cancelations between the pickups. If you encounter this phenomenon, adjust the position of one or both pickups—until the quiet or silent notes are playable.

Pickup parameters

Pickup Mode pop-up menu: Choose to activate one or both pickups. Lower and Upper activate a single pickup. The Lower-Upper (out of phase) and Lower+Upper (in-phase) options activate both pickups, which run in parallel. Choose Lower+Upper for a richer sound. Choose Lower-Upper for a thinner sound.
Tip: Experiment with different pop-up menu options and different color switch settings.
Pickup L PosL slider and field: Use to move the lower pickup position for the low strings.
Pickup L PosH slider and field: Use to move the lower pickup position for the high strings.
Pickup U PosL slider and field: Use to move the upper pickup position for the low strings.
Pickup U PosH slider and field: Use to move the upper pickup position for the high strings.
Pickup Stereo knob and field: Use to spread the two pickup signals across the stereo spectrum when both pickups are active (Upper+Lower or Upper-Lower modes). Higher values move the signals of both pickups away from the center position—one further to the right and the other further to the left. Set this parameter to the maximum value for extreme left/right panning.
Key Stereo knob and field: Set the range for key scale modulation of the panning position. In other words, the played keyboard note position determines the panning position. Set this parameter to the maximum value for extreme left/right panning which starts from MIDI note number 60 (C3). The higher or lower you play, the further away the sound is from the center pan position.
Note: You can use both stereo spread types at the same time. They are automatically mixed.
Level knob and field: Set the overall output level.
Note: MIDI controller 11 (Expression) scales the output level—unless it is assigned to control Wah or Damper parameters.
Damper slider and field: Mute the strings. The Damper parameter can also be controlled with a MIDI controller. See Vintage Clav misc parameters.

Adjust a pickup angle

In this example, only the Lower pickup is active.

In Logic Pro, adjust the Pickup L PosL slider while leaving the Pickup L PosH slider value untouched.
This changes the angle between the two ends of the pickup, which is similar to that used on an electric guitar.

Reposition a pickup

In this example, only the Lower pickup is active.

In Logic Pro, adjust both the Pickup L PosL slider and the Pickup L PosH slider to the same value.
This effectively moves the pickup to a new position along the strings.

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Helpful?

Logic Pro User Guide for iPad

Vintage Clav pickups in Logic Pro for iPad

Pickup parameters

Adjust a pickup angle

Reposition a pickup