There's a new "B3" in town

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David Polich
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There's a new "B3" in town

Post by David Polich »

AIR instruments just released a new Hammond B3 VI - DB 33. If you have an iLok, you can download a 14-day trial for free.

But before you do...honestly, I just feel I have to warn my fellow Motunationers. DB 33 is without question the worst B3 VI I've ever heard. It sounds like a Magnus home organ run through a cheap fuzz box. No low end. Keyclick is totally wrong. Leslie fast speed is weak and wobbly sounding. This makes NI's "Vintage Organs" sound aweome by comparison.

I'm really surprised, because most of AIR's other products - Velvet, Strike, etc...are pretty good.
I guess no one there at AIR really understands what a Hammond is supposed to sound like.

For me, GSI (Genuine Soundware)'s VB3 is still the king of the B3 VI's. It's still 32-bit and likely always will be, but you can use 32 Lives to wrap it so it will work as 64-bit VI in DP.
Last edited by David Polich on Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by James Steele »

My old B4II by NI is still working in 32 Lives (knock on wood!) :)
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by cbergm7210 »

I gave it a whirl and I do indeed prefer the ol' B4 through AT3 cab.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by musicman691 »

cbergm7210 wrote:I gave it a whirl and I do indeed prefer the ol' B4 through AT3 cab.
Is there that much of a difference between the AT3 cabinet and the one in B4II?
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by cbergm7210 »

musicman691 wrote:
cbergm7210 wrote:I gave it a whirl and I do indeed prefer the ol' B4 through AT3 cab.
Is there that much of a difference between the AT3 cabinet and the one in B4II?
Myself and others on this board have noted an improvement using the AT3 Leslie over the B4II's, definitely.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by SixStringGeek »

I gave up and bought a Hammond XK3C. Clearly, the market can't sustain a reliable B3 VI and I'm tired of worrying about it. Plus - real drawbars n switches n stuff. So...organ problem solved. I'm really starting to gravitate back to hardware for certain things just because of this kind of nonsense (OK, so the Kronos is a linux box at heart - but at least it remains supported and isolated from the Apple upgrade march).

I notice that VB3 v2 is available...inside a Crumar Mojo. Seems Gsi has joined forces with Crumar and gone into the hardware business (also has a neo-vent clone called Burn - another hardware box).
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by philbrown »

SixStringGeek wrote:I gave up and bought a Hammond XK3C. Clearly, the market can't sustain a reliable B3 VI and I'm tired of worrying about it. Plus - real drawbars n switches n stuff. So...organ problem solved.
I keep a Roland VK-8m around for the same reasons. I really like the different distortion choices on it too.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by HCMarkus »

ANYTHING through the Ventilator sounds wonderful.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by Prime Mover »

cbergm7210 wrote:Myself and others on this board have noted an improvement using the AT3 Leslie over the B4II's, definitely.
While the SOUND of the AT3 cabs might be better, I like to speed up and slow down the rotor on a whim, and AT3s acceleration is RIDICULOUSLY slow and has no settings. Maybe it's more authentic (though I suspect that a real Leslie can be adjusted with some tinkering) but it completely kills it for what I do.

These days I'm often running B3s into a Marshall sim anyway, though, I end up leaning more towards a Jon Lord type of sound for the serious stuff I do. No rotor.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by musicman691 »

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is PSP's L'Otary Leslie simulation. I've tried it and it's pretty decent and has all kinds of adjustments for speed and acceleration/deceleration. There's even a setting for the volume of rotor air noise. Like a real Leslie when mic'd up real close and the mic gain is turned up.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by cbergm7210 »

musicman691 wrote:One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is PSP's L'Otary Leslie simulation. I've tried it and it's pretty decent and has all kinds of adjustments for speed and acceleration/deceleration. There's even a setting for the volume of rotor air noise. Like a real Leslie when mic'd up real close and the mic gain is turned up.
Yes, running the NI B4II through AT3, L'Otary or Melda mVintageRotary cab's provides one with a variety of options. Good stuff, mate. Thanks for reminding, MM691.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by cbergm7210 »

Ran across these "naked" B4II presets...could come in handy for running through other cabs:

http://www.lelotusbleu.fr/catalog/produ ... ucts_id=94
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by burp182 »

Has anyone tried the Hammr+ B3 from Sound Dust in England? I stumbled across this on a deep dive into the Spitfire Audio website (under the "Extended Family" banner well down the products page) as part of the Dustbundle grouping. Went to the website and was quite impressed with what I heard in the video demo along with the extended capabilities they built into the instrument. You can get the Hammr+ by itself from their site for 30 pounds.

Most curious if anyone has tried it (or even heard of it before this). Not well advertised, to say the least. But watch the video and see what you think.
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by BobK »

burp182 wrote:Has anyone tried the Hammr+ B3 from Sound Dust in England? I stumbled across this on a deep dive into the Spitfire Audio website (under the "Extended Family" banner well down the products page) as part of the Dustbundle grouping. Went to the website and was quite impressed with what I heard in the video demo along with the extended capabilities they built into the instrument. You can get the Hammr+ by itself from their site for 30 pounds.

Most curious if anyone has tried it (or even heard of it before this). Not well advertised, to say the least. But watch the video and see what you think.
I picked it up a few years ago. I'm no B3 expert, and in fact I rarely use organ. But it sounds very good to me.

My previous favorite was Native Instruments B4 II (which I realize I could probably use with 32 Lives if I really wanted/needed to).
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Re: There's a new "B3" in town

Post by towerproductions »

I still use NI B4 II as well with J-Bridge which has worked great with that and few other 32b plugins I still use and is a steal for $12 . I haven't tried the B4 with PSP's L'Otary Leslie yet so will have to try that out, as I do have it but have only used it on guitar so far and it sounds great with that.
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