And yet ANOTHER virtual B3 in town

[David Polich]

I bought iK Multimedia’s B3-X the day it was
released. With my jam points I got the
price down to $110. Pretty good deal.

Honestly I think it sounds great. What I don’t
dig as much is the CPU hit..35-45% in DP
9.52 running at 512 with no other plugins or VI’s running.
Admittedly, my 2010 Quad 2.8ghz is long in
the tooth. Still, the CPU hit is high enough that
I have to first disable all plugs and then record
the organ, then track it as audio and remove it.

In comparison, GG Audio’s Blue 3 uses about
8% CPU and Arturia’s B3-V2 uses a whopping
2%. Even Acousticsamples B5 uses around
10%.

Anyone else here using iK’s Hammond B3-X,
and are you seeing higher than expected CPU
usage?

[terrybritton]

There is quite a lot of discussion about that organ at the Cantabile 3 forum that you might enjoy following:

Starts here: https://community.cantabilesoftware.com ... e/3330/424

Is continued here: https://community.cantabilesoftware.com ... a-b3x/4787

I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you post questions there even if not a Cantabile user. (You could always say you use the free lite version!)

Cantabile is software like MainStage for live performance, so I am certain these folks have tamed this beast somewhat. (Mac version coming fairly soon.)

Terry

EDIT: It appears that disabling the built-in multi-effects improves CPU greatly, and does not take out the great Leslie emulator it has.

[mikehalloran]

I have been playing with it — at $110 after applying Jam points, it’s a good deal. I saw it there when I bought MODO Drum. I have a number of other Hammonds but this offers customization possibilities that none of the others offer—and the Leslie options are built in.

I can’t say I noticed the CPU hit but I have an iMac Pro so I’ve not given it a thought.

[wvandyck]

It does sound great, much better than my favorite UVI Retro Organ Suite.
As for performance, on a 2012 Mac mini, DP 10.01 with no other plug-ins
- Kontakt Vintage Organs, I/O 128- 25%, 512- 10%
- UVI Retro Organ Suite, 128- 50%, 512- 15-20%
- IK B3-X, 128- 50%, 512-35-40%

[HCMarkus]

I use the Kontakt organ, but run it thru my Leslie when things are critical.

Leslie = 0% CPU.

[terrybritton]

I use the Kontakt organ, but run it thru my Leslie when things are critical.

Leslie = 0% CPU.

How is that even possible??? How do you keep the Leslie hidden from your computer?

My CPU goes up if one of my cats enters the room!

Terry

[HCMarkus]

I use the Kontakt organ, but run it thru my Leslie when things are critical.

Leslie = 0% CPU.

How is that even possible??? How do you keep the Leslie hidden from your computer?

My CPU goes up if one of my cats enters the room!

Terry

NO cats (other than very cool musical ones) allowed in the studio.

[midilance]

I have most of these. My favorites are B5 and Blue3 is number one in my book. Great sounding. Good leslie (it comes with two so you could run 2 leslies at once or use one of your leslies for any other track).

I just got the new Hammond version but haven't had time to play with it. So far, Blue3 is the best I've found.

[mikehalloran]

There is quite a lot of discussion about that organ at the Cantabile 3 forum that you might enjoy following:

Starts here: https://community.cantabilesoftware.com ... e/3330/424

Is continued here: https://community.cantabilesoftware.com ... a-b3x/4787

...

EDIT: It appears that disabling the built-in multi-effects improves CPU greatly, and does not take out the great Leslie emulator it has.

I feel for the guy that just bought 32Lives to run one of the mentioned organs. I forget which at the moment but I bought 32Lives to run that same organ what, 7 years ago? maybe further back—I remember a nice discount when I got the bundle.. Anyway, that person will be very disappointed if upgrading to Catalina soon. The new toy will no longer work.

[dewdman42]

I ended up buying B3X and its an excellent product. I think its kind of expensive for what it is. It was only about $110 for me as a cross grade with jam points...but considering I had to use all that to get it at that price, and other very strong products cost that much or less just to buy straight out..its a very expensive hammond. I do not think many people will pay full price for this thing.

Blue3 is excellent and in some ways sounds better to me at $99. VB3II is also priced around there and is excellent.

That being said, B3X has probably the industry leading Leslie Sim built into it, which is very nice and sounds great. It also has a couple amplitube amp sims and cabs built in. You can also mix together the output from a leslie and separate channel for guitar amp..and combine the output in a mixer. There is a DI channel also for that. It does not yet include multi-out audio for those three audio channels, which is disappointing but maybe they'll improve that in the future.

The sound quality is excellent, but honestly when I ran blue3 and VB3II and other hammonds all through the IK leslie..they all sounded very similar. I already had IK Leslie...so did I gain much with this? not much except that the organ and leslie are all in the same plugin and that actually is a big deal.

VB3II and Blue3 both include more options for muddying up the sound in a vintage way, such as disc leakage and other stuff like that. I felt at first that B3X was a bit too pure sounding...almost plastic ,but after using it a bit, I think that was just a matter of bad presets. It has a few options like that too, just not as many as VB3II and Blue3. I prefer slightly the sound of Blue3. However, the IK Leslie, to my ears, is the best one out now.

Also VB3II and Blue3 both include a gain control that can add a bit of drive before hitting the leslie amp sim. B3X does not include that it assumes you will add drive in the leslie amp sim. However it also does provide a small collection of guitar pedals, which VB3II and Blue3 do not. One of those pedals is an EQ pedal (taken from T-Racks collection), which I saw used in some of the presets to add some one that gain grit through the pedal prior to hitting the leslie..and in a nice way for sure..

Some of the presets take a while to change from one to the other...if and when different clonewheel discs are being used between the two presets you are changing from/to. I am told by IK that if the two presets use the same clonewheel discs, then the presets change faster, but I haven't tested that yet.

Overall its a very nice plugin. If you don't have a hammond plugin I would recommend it at the the early bird cross grade price, but maybe not at the full asking price. If you already have VB3II or Blue3, then I don't think I can justify the price unless you're a hammond head that just needs to have them all.

[HCMarkus]

...when I ran blue3 and VB3II and other hammonds all through the IK leslie..they all sounded very similar.

This has always been my feeling about Hammonds... the guts of the tone emanate from the Leslie. I've been using a Yamaha Motif ES6 as my live performance organ since I bought it new. I sincerely hated it until I defeated the internal Leslie/Distortion effects, got a Mini Ventilator Leslie sim stomp box and routed the organ into the Vent via Motif sub outs. In the years since, I have had a significant number of folks approach me at shows with comments along the lines of "The organ sounds effin' fantastic!"

The Ventilator, Mini or otherwise, is simply killer for live use if you don't want to schlep a real Leslie.

[wvandyck]

I use the Kontakt organ, but run it thru my Leslie when things are critical.

Leslie = 0% CPU.

Mini Ventilator?

I'm sticking with PSP Lotary.

[HCMarkus]

I use the Kontakt organ, but run it thru my Leslie when things are critical.

Leslie = 0% CPU.

Mini Ventilator?

I'm sticking with PSP Lotary.

Mini Vent is for live use. Leslie in-studio is too much work to cart around.

[wvandyck]

[
Mini Vent is for live use. Leslie in-studio is too much work to cart around.

Very cool.

I don't play keys, but have always loved the range of organ sounds in 60's pop-rock-soul music. MIDI guitar, sound modules or software, plus automation are in use here.

[mhschmieder]

I ended up deciding against it, but it did spur me to download the latest Blue3 demo for a re-evaluation and comparison.

Each has its strengths, and I've already done a review elsewhere and moved on so I no longer remember some of the details of what I concluded or wrote on the keyboard player forum.

But the bottom line for me is always whether the VI is better than the hardware available today in cloneland, and to my ears, the clones still sound better.

This was a surprise to me, as I had assumed that a computer-based VI would be able to do a better emulation than a hardware-based digital reproduction, where older chips and smaller memory and CPU resources may be at issue.

I mostly useB3 in the context of reggae, ska, dub, calypso, and occasionally r&b/soul/funk. Not very often for jazz or fusion, but sometimes for accent parts here and there in rock (in pop, I usually go for "cheesy" organs instead).

After spending a LOT of time with the software clones recently (I have now deleted my presets so can no longer provide them to anyone interested), my conclusion specifically about the one from IKM is that it shows a lot of promise, but is overly bright in the higher range, a bit muddy, dark, and inarticulate elsewhere in the frequency range, but a bit more player connection going on than the other software clones. So it may improve over time.

In terms of timbre, and my perception that it works better for rock than for other genres, I am reminded a bit of the Korg CX3, which I do like but which is its own thing in some ways. And yet, Hammonds all differ so much anyway.

I did also do a thorough shootout of the Leslie built into the new IKM instrument, the Leslie for T-RackS, and the Leslie in my Hammond XK-1c.

Much to my surprise, I preferred the XK-1c's Leslie, but mostly because of greater control over different handling of upper and lower registers, ramp-up speed, etc. Even the T-RackS version didn't offer quite enough additional functionality over the slimmed-down version in the VI.

But having also tested Blue3 at the same time, I now forget which features were missing from which. It's very important for me to have full control over mic angle; IKM only has two choices (at least, in the VI).

As this would have been just over $100 using loyalty cross-grade, introductory pricing, and JamPoints, I was tempted, as I do expect it will improve as did MODO BASS and MODODRUM. I'm trying to size down at the moment though, and just bought my first house, so am being very disciplined about new purchases.

I am by no means "not recommending" this new B3 clone; in fact, quite the opposite. Just not for me, at the moment. I am hoping the points I raised above are a bit helpful to at least a few people.

I put a LOT of time into matching every possible setting (mic position/angle, Leslie details such as ramp-up speed, tonewheel settings, chorus/vibrato/percussion, etc.). But perhaps I shouldn't have deleted my Blue3and IKM ports of my personal XK-1c presets (which I have shared on the web now and then; just as I did with my earlier ones for the XK-3 and before that the XK-1). They might have helped those who want good ska and reggae presets.