Roland
How did you become a beta tester? 
Quite innocently! No inside track! I was a happy owner of version 1 and when Ray sent an email asking for volunteers who were willing to try the new version and give honest and constructive feedback, I responded and was pleasantly surprised.
I was impressed enough to make it my goto B3 emulator, even in our shows. (I’m just a part time hobbyist in a cover band though, so the risk was minimal.)
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Cool! Will be checking it out tomorrow…
This is really a nice upgrade. Impressed with the Leslie as well. As usual, I had to set the leslie close to my taste, and it was easy to do. And, another usual, many of the “contribution” presets in Blue 3, and VB3 II, and B5 are pure crap (just like many amp sim presets). Sorry, not demeaning all of them, but many of them missed the target (nice way of saying they sucked). That said, I spent about 2 hours running Blue 3 against Blue 3 + IK Leslie. VERY NICE !! The IK adds a lot of warmth and the “woody” sound is more robust than the Blue3 Leslie.sound. However, I have discovered the Blue3 Leslie is equal to IK on many of the more mellow settings. Many more hours of experimentation ahead. Laundry may have to wait. 
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Corky, my personal opinions - in particular about the Leslie - are very similar.
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Hmmmm - nice upgrade! I like the alternative amp voicings A & B - far less harshness; I’m starting to really like this beast!
Just one thing: the previous version of Blue3 seems to have applied pseudo-preset-logic, whilst the new one exposes its MIDI presets to Cantabile. Unfortunately, this means that I’ll have to replicate that folder on each of my Cantabile machines to keep them in sync - a bit of a nuisance.
Interesting fact: I opened my old “Blue3” rack, which now automatically loads V2 - and suddenly my old pseudo-presets are used instead of the MIDI presets. There seems to be a flag inside a rack file that sets Cantabile’s behavior regarding presets. @brad: which is it? I’d like to use that on a number of other instruments as well…
Or is there any foreseeable progress on my favorite feature request?
Cheers,
Torsten
So far I concur! Vast improvements all around, especially the Leslie. But, it doesn’t sound as good as I’m pretty sure a Blue3/IK Leslie combo is going to. I have a feeling that is going to be the WIN!!! combo right there.
Not yet, but hopefully soon. Currently knee deep in some work on GuiKit trying to get it running on OSX again… but after that this is high on the list.
OK, happy to wait a bit. But can you enlighten me on what in a rack file makes Blue 3 V2 work with pseudo-presets? Maybe I can convince some other plugins of collaborating as well by fiddling with the rack file…
Cheers,
Torsten
I agree also. I spent a half hour testing presets I created with the previous Blue3 with the IK Leslie. I did listen to the Blue2 Leslie on several presets I created in the last version but then went direct to the IK Leslie and thought it sounded very good, especially for rock stuff (Santana, Petty, ABB). I guess what I’m saying is when you dial in more drive in Blue3 (leaving IK Leslie where it is (2 oclock drive and volume on 122/147)
it sounds great.
The interface and controls are much improved.
Hey @Torsten,
I don’t know why I didn’t think to mentioned this before, but just rememberd something that might help you in the meantime. Take a look at Compatibility.ini in the same folder as Cantabile.exe. There’s a flag you can set there to force certain plugins to always use Pseudo Presets. You can pick up the plugin ID for Blue II from the plugins.json file in Cantabile’s settings folder.
Disclaimer: not sure what the implications are for saved songs if you start flipping this bit. Make sure you back up anything important before playing with.
Brad
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Ahaaaa - great info. I’ll give this a try for some of my messier candidates 
Thanx!
Torsten
Will be using Blue3 v2 tonight on several songs. I am really impressed with this new version. However, I will be using Blue3’s resident rotary. Very much digging the sounds I am dialing in.
Has anyone tried the RA200 cabinet? It’s a unique take on a rotary speaker with 3 spinning treble speakers and 2-15" woofers.
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Let us know how it works out!
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First gig with Blue V2. I substituted it in 8 songs that had either VB3 v1.4 or B5 V2 or Blue3 V1. Understand, I worked very hard to get the sounds I wanted on these songs, and have been hearing those sounds thru many gigs. Very impressed, although I needed more time to tweak it. It cut thru very well, as did V1. The rotary sounded great. I am starting to really like it. The B5 songs I replaced were not as impressive, but I have recently discovered some settings in Blue3 that may come very close. The Blue3 V1 songs I replaced are now permanently saved in V2. I have had a long relationship with Vb3. Much longer than my 1st marriage, and all my girlfriends. 
So, it is very special to me. There are settings I am not quite willing to part with. I did however, replace other less desirable VB3 settings and Blue3 has won the positions. Out of the 8 songs, Blue3 is permanent in 5.
My next round of gigs start in 4 days. I plan to expose Blue3 + IK Leslie to the test at that time.
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So I have recently purchased VB3 II. Is Blue3 actually going to make a difference? VB3 II is close and Nord is way too expensive. I will download and try the demo (if there is one) next weekend. Any actual previous hammond users out there with an opinion? (and not a hammond M/L series player).
Much appreciated.
Hi John,
B5, Vb3 II, and Blue3 are ALL great plugins. I have been playing Hammonds since 1967. I’ve owned a few, and moved many…(ugh, my back). I still play the real deal when one is available. Being a Hammond player is somewhat like many guitarists. We all are searching for “that sound”. Many of us long experienced Hammondists get real picky about the emulations, mainly because we are still searching for “the sound” we have in our heads. All Hammonds are basically like human beings…there are similarities yet every one has it’s own differences. VB3 II can be tweaked to sound great. Even out of the box presets are very good. The thing is, the Leslie has been hard to emulate, but they are getting really close, and as these developers compete, the leslie keeps getting better. I said sometime back that Blue3 is the one to watch, and they proved me correct. I was dead wrong about VB3 II though. It is unique on it’s own. It is still a great plug and it is still in my arsenal.
Do the Blue3 demo and see what you think. At least we can test drive it, unlike B5. As far as previous hammond users out there with an opinion, just read all the organ threads. We definitely have opinions ! 
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Thanks Corky! I have downloaded the demo, and will get around to installing it. I broke my back on hammonds until someone introduced me to the piano dolly. Wow! What an invention! I am overrun with school work, so I will have to test it on a study break.
Glad you are going to test it. In the day, I loved playing in venues with a resident Hammond. Liked tweaking them, and hearing the leakage, and experiencing the many Leslies. I am hoping to someday share some of my settings on these plugs, just to see if others are hearing what I am hearing. Let me know what you think of Blue3. And, as far as VB3 II is concerned, I do not regret the upgrade I paid.
Regards
Corky
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So much for objectivity. I played it and loved it, then bought it. The only thing I see as a weakness is the old familiar programmer’s mistake of making the higher frequencies (horns) less doppler and more vibrato in the cabinet (Main complaint I had about the Yamaha Motif attempt at a Leslie). I will have to tweak the cabinet a bit. VB3 has that aspect nailed. The higher frequencies (the horns) are doppler. Blue3 may be as well. My big test is Oye Como Va, and Blue 3 got it closer than VB3 II on overall sound, but less distortion reveals the horn issue. I will go ahead and get bad grades so I can get a great sounding B3.
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