Best Hammond B3 VI

[Prime Mover]

Too bad VB3:

A) is only 32bit
B) doesn't play nice with DP
C) has TERRIBLE amp emulation
D) has some weird global settings (many important settings can't be changed between different instances).

I found VB3 to be unusable. I know Guido is working on a new version, but he's been saying that for years now. I'll stick with B4II.

[toodamnhip]

Too bad VB3:

A) is only 32bit
B) doesn't play nice with DP
C) has TERRIBLE amp emulation
D) has some weird global settings (many important settings can't be changed between different instances).

I found VB3 to be unusable. I know Guido is working on a new version, but he's been saying that for years now. I'll stick with B4II.

Use it in VE Pro and avoid the DP drama. This things just sounds real. I love it. It has character to it.

[David Polich]

I just downloaded the VB3 demo last night and am running it without issues in DP 8.05 64-bit
(thanks to 32 Lives, which wraps 32-bit VI's so they will run as 64-bit).

I have to play around with it some more before making a call on buying it. I still have B4II running as a wrapped 64-bit VI in DP. If I lose that install for some reason it would be nice to
have an alternative organ available.

I have Vintage Organs but never liked it. It's just too "sampled" sounding. Plus, in the first release of VO most of the organs were several cents out of tune, NI fixed that but it didn't
help my initial impression.

[dado]

Just used yesterday my B4 II and it works on Mavericks

[midilance]

I've got both B4II and VB3 running, courtesy of 32 Lives, in DP.

[mhschmieder]

As a side note, for anyone who owns the Hammond XK-1, XK-3c, or the new XK-1c, I personally ported a couple of dozen or so of what I considered the best patches from B4 II to each of those three hardware Virtual Organs (I just switched from XK-3c to XK-1c this week, so am now on my third generation of Virtual Organs from Hammond-Suzuki).

I have the XK-1 and XK-1c in SysEx format, and the XK-3c in ".SET" format. These overwrite all the patches, but the new XK-1c has an advantage in having a separate Factory Set from User Set (64 patches each, in eight banks of eight), and this time around the Factory Set is well-programmed and worth keeping.

Not sure if the SK-1 and SK-2 can read the SysEx from the XK-1c or not.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention this, because one of the reasons people liked the B4 II was the patch list -- though many also preferred the original version of the plug-in.

I spent most of the day Sunday painstakingly reprogramming my custom patches on the XK-1c. It took almost twelve hours to program 64 patches in depth. I took the best from my own custom patches, B4 II, and the couple of dozen XK-3c/XK-1 presets that were worthy of preserving (especially the church organ patches) and weren't duplicated in the XK-1c Factory Set.

[Prime Mover]

I just like B4II because it's the only thing that I can get to sit right in the mix. I found myself constantly fighting VB3, maybe even more than NI virtual organs. So much of it is the cab sims. With VB3, I'd start to turn up the drive and it made me want to kick a puppy. I guess if paired with a third party amp sim and Leslie I could learn to like VB3, but then I'd also have to deal with its bizarro global settings. B4II has the best built in amp and cab sims by far. And honestly, I haven't even really been all that find of using it with Amplitube sims. What can I say, maybe it's inauthentic, but I love being able to change the acceleration time of my rotary. I can't wait for Guido to finally finish the new version of VB3, it'll probably blow me away. But I just can't talk positively about the original, there was just something about it that didn't feel right.

[dave pine]

it's rediculass someone hasn't come out with an incredable B3 VI... 64 bit

[mhschmieder]

Considering that the best Leslie sim is $500 (Neo Instruments Ventilator II), it's no surprise no one has done a good one purely in software yet. Vent II is around the corner and I'll buy it as soon as available, but the Leslie in the new SK-series and XK-1c is very good and way more advanced than anything before it. Some people buy the Vent and run their software organ VI's through it.

[James Steele]

Just used yesterday my B4 II and it works on Mavericks

^ This! I think I posted earlier, but B4 II works fine in DP 8.05 and Mavericks with 32 Lives.

[mikehalloran]

I got an email on this yesterday. I know it's samples, not modeling but I like many of the sounds that are in the demo. For $99, doesn't appear to be a bad buy.

http://www.uvi.net/en/vintage-corner/retro-organs.html

[bayswater]

I got an email on this yesterday. I know it's samples, not modeling but I like many of the sounds that are in the demo. For $99, doesn't appear to be a bad buy.

http://www.uvi.net/en/vintage-corner/retro-organs.html

Agreed. The demo sounds were pretty good. I wonder how many of them are buried somewhere in Mach Five?

[Dan Worley]

I got an email on this yesterday. I know it's samples, not modeling but I like many of the sounds that are in the demo. For $99, doesn't appear to be a bad buy.

http://www.uvi.net/en/vintage-corner/retro-organs.html

+1

They did a killer job on this. Very impressive. I'm in.

[Babz]

At least some of these are included with MOTU Electric Keys (which I already have, and which has excellent electric pianos and other instruments):

http://www.motu.com/products/software/e ... the-b.html

but it's hard to tell because EK uses generic names for its B3 patches, based on drawbar settings (like "828868447" -- which tells me very little about the patch).

One thing I like about a sampling approach is it is one of the best ways to get the true sound of the Leslie.

Babz

[David Polich]

At least some of these are included with MOTU Electric Keys (which I already have, and which has excellent electric pianos and other instruments):

http://www.motu.com/products/software/e ... the-b.html

but it's hard to tell because EK uses generic names for its B3 patches, based on drawbar settings (like "828868447" -- which tells me very little about the patch).

One thing I like about a sampling approach is it is one of the best ways to get the true sound of the Leslie.

Babz

Disagree. That is essentially mic'ing the Leslie and recording snapshots - but at what position? You end up with static recordings of the Leslie, not the organ itself. That's a terrible
idea. Recording amps that the organ is plugged into is just as bad.

An amplifier/speaker reacts fluidly to its input. The greater the input, the more there is a
tonal, harmonic and inharmonic, and distortion change. You can't emulate that with a sample
of an amp or rotary speaker. You need to just record each drawbar of the organ directly, then
have at least a rotary speaker or amp emulator to feed the result into. It seems UVI does include D.I. samples in their product, but based on most of the demos, which are poorly
performed by people who are obviously not organists, it is difficult to tell how good the
D.I. samples are.

Emu put out a sampled organ module many years ago..the samples included slow Leslie and
fast Leslie recordings. When you pushed the mod wheel forward on your controller keyboard,
you essentially crossfaded from the slow to the fast Leslie samples, which introduced phase
cancellation at the "in between" point between the slow and fast samples. It really sounded
bad. If this is what UVI has done, and they don't include a rotary speaker emulation, then
that phase cancellation is going to happen with their product as well.

I've spent a few days with VB3 and I think I'm going to get it. Speaking as someone who
owned a Hammond B-2 and a Leslie, I think it's a really good emulation. Including the overdrive on the Leslie. As with many other products, don't go by the presets. With a bit
of tweaking you can get great sounds.

Btw, Guido (of GSI) isn't very good at posting updates on his website. His disclaimer about
DP refers to DP7, I believe.