I found an old (well not that old, but old-ish) VST of a sampled organ from Adam Monroe. I think I got it for $10 or $5 or something. Never used it because the Leslie sim is truly awful but I tried it today through the IK Leslie and the results are pretty cool! It’s a sampled M3 tweaked to try and mimic a B3. They sampled it though the onboard speaker and re-amped it through a Fender Twin or something lite that. The end result is pretty gnarly- it has a lot of extra ambiance. It sounds weird but kind of real; it reminds me of the organ on old Van Der Graf Generator albums, some old off model organ with two mics on the Leslie cranked all the way open. I will experiment further.
Are you guys checking out this: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/hammondb3x/
It is sounding pretty sweet!
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Wow… yeah, pretty impressive! I always say, it’s not so much about the organ, it’s all the Leslie and IK has done a great job there. I really like the extra processing they’ve added though. Might be THE ONE!
So far, after messing with it for a few hours, I’ve come up with a few one word adjectives for Hammond B-3X:
Authentic, Detailed, Nuanced, … (probably more later, but first impressions are really good).
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I predicted this when I saw IK team up with Leslie. Funny, I checked IK site about 3 weeks ago, checking for any Leslie updates. Nothing about this. Grabbing my wallet now. Crossgrade price $149.99.
I tried the Adam Monroe…was unimpressed.
Yes that’s my point. The Adam Monroe on it’s own is terrible. But reamped it becomes kind of interesting.
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Hmmm - tasty! Just spent some time with it - looks like this will be my new solo organ! With Blue3 for the bread & butter layer sounds (less CPU), I should have a decent all-purpose toolbox now…
At the moment, VB3-II isn’t really doing it for me - not sure why, but I find it a bit bland and nasal in comparison…
Thanx for the heads-up on B3-X!
Torsten
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Hey Corky, sorry for the silly question but how does IK crossgrade work?
Thanks!
Dave
Hey Dave,
Crossgrades are usually ‘automatically’ applied to products in your cart at the IK multimedia online shop. Generally, if you own an IK product greater than $100, they give you a crossgrade discount on other purchases. Here, for B-3X, it’s an extra $50.
Regards,
Kevin L
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Thanks Kevin, that helps me understand …
Like I never asked a silly question, eh? Lol. Glad @looney filled you in. I am very busy next few days, but I got a chance to play with the IK for a few minutes. You will be glad to hear that even tho it is very nice, my 1st impression is that it doesn’t have the feel of B5. The difference to me was very noticable. This is what VB3 II should have been. I really like all the deep parameters in the IK. When I get some time to dig deeper, I will post some examples and opinions. Gigging and rehearsals are eating my nights, plus I’ve taken on some studio work during the day, so…
I am not disappointed that I made the purchase. I just need a few hours with it to really sum it up.
Regards
Corky
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Sounds pretty awesome to my ears…
As I understand it, this is not in a discounted intro offer, but as an owner of IK Leslie, I get $50 off for a crossgrade?
So, I’ll be interested what our organ connoisseurs/exprts think. Is this better than VB3-II and IK Leslie, is it worth splurging out for it?
I agree that VB3-II has wound up being dissapointing. For me VB3 1 (with tweaks) remains my go-to. Really want to try the new IK out.
I might be just too tired and missing it, but I don’t see a demo for it on the page - just the videos.
- Paul
Hey Paul
Unfortunately…no demo.
EDIT: I stand corrected. There is a demo. Sorry
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There was a live YouTube walkthrough of IK Hammond this evening, but I was gigging. Was hoping the person would post it after the event, but it is not available at the moment.
EDIT: found it
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It does indeed sound great! Two sacrilegious questions that will no doubt instantly label me as a non-purist…
- Has anyone found a way to disable the bottom octave preset selectors, the way you can in VB3?
- Has anyone found a way to (I know what you’re all going to say…) use a sustain pedal?
Neil [runs and hides]
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My two questions exactly 
I’ve sussed out the first one - I simply use route settings inside my B3X rack to ignore the bottom octave, so I don’t accidentally change presets when doing a grand slide down… At the same time, I build in a 1 octave transpose up to make maximum use of my 49 key top keyboard (no need for the bottom octave there) and have both keyboards in sync octave-wise.
On the second: There is a little tool that is supposed to emulate sustain by delaying note-offs - haven’t tried it in real life yet, though. Look for CC64 emulator at J’s MIDI tools (freeware) | J's stuff
If this doesn’t do it, it would probably not be too difficult to knock something together in ReaJS - simply track note-ons and -offs, delay the offs while CC64 is active; send out offs collectively when releasing CC64. Not 100% sure how to best deal with repeated note-ons of the same note while holding cc64, though…
Maybe easier to simply put in a feature request with IK - I remember that Blue3 only learned this after feature requests by some users.
Personally, I only need sustain on my lead hammond on “With a little help…” - in the chorus, I hold the the hammond chord from the upper manual while doing some piano arpeggios on the lower one. Gives a nice and full soundscape. But I’ll probably keep using Blue3 for that song until IK gets this capability.
In most other songs, I only need sustain for my “layer organ” (stuck behind the piano) - I’ll stick to Blue3 or VB3 for that (more CPU efficient) - my organ lead parts rarely require sustain…
But maybe I’ll find the time this weekend to test the CC64 emulator or fiddle on a ReaJS script…
Cheers,
Torsten
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