From what I read I must say that you have created a well-knit and competent group. You have done a great job and from the various messages you can learn a lot.
I have some targeted questions to ask you at the moment.
I loaded the B5v3 and started to prepare some of my presets, just to have my own sounds available, suitable for my needs. Then I loaded your Rack. I noticed that this rack is very heavy and to have it available takes some time. What did you upload besides your presets why is it so heavy? To understand a little more I copied my presets to your Rack and I noticed that this download of my presets is quite contained. So I deduce that your Rack contains quite a bit of information. My presets loaded in my song (I named him Sergio – B5 rehearsals) are not so heavy and load in less time. Because? What’s in your Rack?
Another question: I do not understand the section (at the top left of screen B5) Part 1, 2, 3 and 4. I tried to make a complete down load of the B5 versions, each by version (there are 4 …) but they were not successful.
Because?
I see you are “on the road again” (“300 miles away from home”).
I have a question (comment) to interject into this thread:
Isn’t it correct that there are only two working methods to save B-5v3 plugin presets?
Your method of using C3’s “snapshots” to save a “picture” of your personal settings for the Plugin (most likely resulting in a large file).
Using one of the B-5’s built-in presets, tweaking that preset, saving it to a “User” preset and then assigning it to one of the “Preset Keys” in the plugin (and, if I recall the Hammond method, that only saves Drawbar positions which had to be physically rewired in the cabinet - not sure about the Switches/Knobs).
They are the only methods that I can find that will have the “custom” preset loaded with the Rack. Correct or not?
I used that method here and found that the Rack file was HUGE and load time was quite long. How did you get around that?
Thanks,
Doug
I replied this:
B5 is a hybrid. It uses both sound samples and modeling. To use it in a set list, you must preload it, or it will take some time to switch presets.
You can copy the presets out of the rack, and insert them in a smaller rack, or save them individually to the B5 presets, but regardless of what you do, it will still be heavy in a full rack. Such is the nuance of B5.
As I said above, my presets contain different Hammond models, which takes time to load…a fault of B5’s design since day 1. I have the rack in my set lists, and it takes about 3-5 minutes to preload the whole list. It may take longer on other computers. But, when I load a song with any one of the presets, it is immediate. If you do change presets within the song, and it contains a different model, it will be slow, and B -3X behaves the same way…all because of samples. The modeled vsts, such as VB3 and Blue3, can handle a change with no hesitancy.
With that said, I posted the rack because a member requested all my earlier presets be updated to version 3. It was a tedious chore, and I took a shortcut by putting it in a rack. The single presets are very heavy, and cannot be posted in the forum without using a link to a cloud service. Unfortunately, B5 is lacking in preset design and execution, like some other sampled plugins. Until B5 changes, or I discover a better way to provide presets, this will be what it is.
As far as I know, those two methods are the only ones I am aware of. On a real Hammond, the B and Bb key presets (black keys) are merely a switching mechanism between the two drawbar settings on each manual. The other key presets are standard presets built into organ. Things like Percussion and Vibrato are already at your fingertips. Digital Hammonds provide more user friendly things, such as a distortion knob.
They are, as far as I know. I will visit B5 today, and see what else I can cook up. I know the Preset Keys were set in stone (except B and Bb) in earlier versions, but I haven’t visited them in version 3. I know B-3X will now save self created drawbar positions.
I will get back with you today after I take a look.
Yes, the Bb1 was for the “A” drawbar configuration and the B1 was for the “B” (both permanently locked). The C1 “zeroed” all drawbars.
Don’t spend any research time on my account, I’m good here. I was just hoping to add a little clarity for some other questions that you were being asked.
Also, just for my amusement, I’ve been building E.Guitar and Ac.Guitar racks to our setup so I can add a little “picking” to some of our songs. A little “diversity”, if you will.
That’s Great!! I play a version of Tom Petty’s “A Face In The Crowd” in my 3-piece band (drummer & bass player), but it has dominant strings and guitar lick. I play the string part with right hand, Guitar lick using Orange Tree Strawberry guitar with fx, with left hand, plus singing the song. Slide guitar part on upper keyboard. Once I got used to it, it was a breeze.
A little more info on B5…using the internal user presets, or using the key presets ONLY saves drawbar positions. No vibrato/chorus, Percussion, Leslie, fx, are saved. My presets thru the Cantabile presets, saves all the settings I created. So, I do not recommend using either key presets or user presets to store my presets. I am still looking into a few things. I feel like I am forgetting something we did in the past before Cantabile snapshots were added. It may be within the UVI host, I just don’t remember. I sent a note to Arno at Acoustic Samples for info.
Ahh…I thought I would find it! Torsten posted this with how he uses Acoustic Samples presets. It IS within the UVI wrapper. Still not perfect, but does the job as well as it can. I will test it and see what I can come up with.
Gabriele
P.S. Before asking for something, always do a search using the lens (lente d’ingrandimento in Italian) on the top right of the page. Probably the answer you look for is already there.
There have been several updates on most of the Hammond clones in past months. Blue3 just went to v2.4, B-3X recently evolved to v1.3.3, B5v3 has been out awhile, and I am expecting a major update to VB3 II sometime soon. Cantabile is also going through a major update.
I have been sitting on several presets for months, but with so many things changing at this time, I feel it might be reasonable to shelf what I have. I really don’t want to go through the process of remaking the presets as I did with B5, while I am bogged down with rehearsals and gigs. I realize that I promised some presets this week, but I am looking forward to what new advances we may see.
That said, VB3 1.4, Blue3, B-3X. and B5 will probably not have major changes for awhile. The IK T-Racks and Amplitube had recent updates, and I’ve not had time to check out any possible Leslie changes.
Part of my hesitancy is the technology built into these plugins. They are adding a lot of new settings which I’ve yet to explore. Blue3 had a recent “Minor touchup to the rotary speaker simulation”. Their last “minor” update was a major change in the distortion which completely changes the way I created it’s presets.
Looking at things as they are, I am contemplating a change in the way I make presets. My goal to make them sound as accurately as I can hasn’t changed. Newer updates will bring better presets. But funny, VB3 1.4 still stands solid as it was over a decade ago.
Before I started using Cantabile, I used a DAW like Cubase, but it became very iffy and wasn’t what I was looking for. As Brad told you, you can interoperate Cantabile with a DAW. IMHO, using that in a “live” performance is just asking for a disaster. You would also need an amazingly fast computer with tons of RAM. I am sure others have tried it, and if so, they can comment here.
Please tell me something…why would you want to add a DAW when Cantabile is all you really need for live performance? Others use a second computer to run things like lighting and videos, but that in itself is a pain to setup, and I really wouldn’t go down that path unless I was in a Large Venue touring band. If you plan to do small gigs, all the rest is overkill, and much more equipment to haul, which could steal your attention to performance.
The main thing is, you are still a novice with Cantabile, and haven’t had the long experience to know what all it can do. I’ve been using version 3 since 2016, and I still haven’t touched everything this amazing software provides.
The question is, just what are you trying to achieve with adding a DAW like Cubase? What are you wanting to achieve that requires a DAW? It is possible you can do all want within Cantabile, without the huge load on your CPU.
By the way, Cubase is recording software…that is it’s main function. Is that what you are trying to achieve?
Many good points. And from an engineering perspective, every piece of equipment is one more thing that can go wrong. Unless you have completely redundant parts, with no single point of failure, your failure probability (MTBF/MTTF) is the SUM of each of the individual parts.
Hey as promised earlier I made a little highlight reel of organ solos from the album Glass Hammer just finished. It’s all IKM B-3X and I think it all sounds really good! The idea on this album is to kind of do an old-school psychedelic mixing of heavy guitar and organ.
