It will take USB power, and wall-wart power, and batteries. Did you buy it?
Hi Corky,
Thanks for the great recommendation on the XBoard 49! It arrived today - the ebay seller did a really nice job packing it. It’s in really good shape except for missing two buttons.
I took the case apart and blew out the dust bunnies and hot glued a loose ferrite bead on one of the cables that goes to the keybed. The inside was pretty clean. I moved the existing buttons so the two missing now are latch and knob bypass. I’ll probably source them later. I didn’t remove the keybed as all the keys are triggering perfectly.
I really like the feel of the keybed - it’s a little more stiff than the Axiom’s which I like for organ. The case is very compact - much smaller than an Axiom 49 which is perfect for my portable B3 at open mic playing.
I installed VB3m on my Android phone (Pixel4a) and it sounds pretty much like VB3 1.4. I wish Guido had a tab which is just the upper keyboard drawbars. That would actually work for making adjustments in real time.
I’m going to Velcro a Pixel 4a case right on the left side of the large grey bar . I bought some 3M plastic zip tie tabs to hold the cables in place.
I estimate the Pixel 4a can power VB3m and the XBoard 49 for two hours of playing. After I test it will report back
That’s great Doug!
Here’s the secure phone mount installed on the XBoard 49. I decided to do this in stages. Stage 1 is just securing the USB and 3.5mm splitter securely using zip tie mounts. I’ll use it this way to see how things go. Stage 2 would be mounting the jacks inside and running the 3.5mm male end up through a cable “gland” on top. Stage 3 would be to run the USB cable and somehow connect it inside.
The mounts on top are affixed with 3M clear double sided tape. It holds very well. On the back I screwed them down because of the force involved when plugging in the 1/4 mono cables. The white blocks are InstaMorph plastic. The angled one to hold the back of the phone in place is affixed with the 3m double sided tape. The one that encases the USB cable isn’t affixed so I can slide it out. To hold it in place once I have the phone in I’m using velcro.
VB3m works perfectly. I tried IK iLectric and iGrand pianos which would have rounded out this effort. They sounded great but when connected to the keyboard caused note doubling just on F# and G where both notes played as though they were arpeggiated. This behaviour spilled over to VB3m so I had to uninstall iLectric and iGrand. That’s what I get for not sticking to the plan 
I’m already looking at mounting an 11" Dell 3148 Windows laptop I have laying around so I can run a proper VST host!
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It turned out that it was problems with the XBoard 49 causing the note doubling. I think it was more obvious in iLectric and iGrand because they are velocity sensitive where as VB3m is doing whatever it does to emulate the on/off nature of the Hammond.
I took the keyboard apart and inspected the keybed. It was clean, no broken key bumpers, no foreign material obstructing the bubble contacts. I took all the contact strips off, cleaned the contacts and the circuit board. I noticed that one of the strips had been replaced. While I was doing that I also noticed that one of the ribbon cables had leads that were frayed and loose. I cut that cable, unsoldered and cleaned up the nodes with soldering braid and re-soldered the cable and all is working well now. The iLectric and iGrand play great now so mission accomplished with just the phone as the sound module.
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That’s great Doug. Glad you sorted everything out.
I see why you recommended this keyboard, it’s action is perfect for B3 playing. It’s pretty good for piano also.
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It always was my favorite. E-Pianos also work well with the keybed. I’ve used mine several times at recent gigs.
Blue3 2.4.0…my 1st take.
I tried the Blue3 presets, just to get a feel on the upgrade. I haven’t gone deep yet, but I will soon, and report what I find.
The 1st thing I noticed was the “harshness” is gone, which I’ve been asking for. There is a warmness that really wasn’t there before.
The 2nd thing, which I also asked for, was the distortion is much more natural. Not so much harshness and overbearing as before.
Thirdly, the “room” IR’s are pretty good, but something I wouldn’t use in a live situation.
The Leslies really stand out, and feel really natural. I am looking forward to see what they can do under my scrutiny.
Some of the generic presets are really good, but the “artists” presets seem unstudied, thrown together, and miss the mark a majority of the time. I find it odd that many of the presets I made for Blue3 were regurgitated by the “artists” for this release. It may be coincidence, but that’s humorously ok. I will eventually re-make my presets for this version.
I feel Ray has really upped Blue3 to be a strong competitor in the market again. The best thing about Blue3 is Ray himself. I said it before, and repeat the fact that he, as a Hammond clone developer, listens to his customers. I am glad he is moving Blue3 in this direction. It is much needed.
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I noticed that a few of my presets for Blue3 found their way into the Contributors list as well… one’s prefixed with RR. I haven’t tested the new version in depth, but I always liked it a lot, at least for the base Hammond sound (minus the Leslie, for which I prefer the IK Leslie).
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You were a beta tester…right? That’s how your presets were used.
Yep
I never tried to sign up, if there was a time to sign up. 
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Unreported sound enhancements in changelog? So strange. 
Well, there is this:
- Minor touchup to the rotary speaker simulation
You’re bang on with that one 
the click from the speed change relay is definitely audible on my 147. This is something that has always bugged me when I’m miking it for recordings. I know a lot of guys who replaced these noisy old relays with solid state switches, but to be honest when you’re rockin’ out at a good volume, that click just becomes part of the sound of using a real Leslie 
The only thing I don’t like about Leslie sims in general is that they sound too much like a close miked cabinet with overt amplitude modulation in the mix. Sitting next to a real Leslie, you don’t get that so much, there’s much more air and ambience in the sound. I use VB3 and have to push the ambience and mic distance sliders to the extreme but even then it still sounds too choppy and direct.
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Hi Corky, I tried to play with your B5v3 preset yesterday but didn t manage to use it with Cantabile.
It pops up in C3 a failure message for incorrect format…
Firstly, I extracted the zip.file you attached on this forum.
Then, I pasted the extracted file in Cantabile Performer # racks.
Is it a way to proceed ?
By the way, I managed to use B5v. 3 linked with IK Leslie. It sounds very good but I have difficulties to create parameter bindings with the B5 v. 3 itself to control the swell pedal with a fader of my New axiom 61… If my memories are right, I did it easily with B5 v. 2 (scrolling down the menu and choosing swell).
Thanks by avance for any advice because I would like to make the most of your gold mine presets 
Sorry you are having a problem Pierrick.
Hmmmm…
Make sure you are using C3 version 3673 or older, and the latest B5 version. Yes…unzip, and load into Racks folder. If you did all this, then maybe try to download the zip again, and go thru the same process. If none of this works, get back to me and I will help you fix it.
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You’re right. I love his presets for B-5, BX-3 and VB3
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Thanks Corky ! I will try to do again the process and will keep you in touch 
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