VB3

I've long been a fan of VB3's sound, but have resisted buying it because I've got so many organs already. One of them even says HAMMOND on it in great big letters. But yesterday I realized I was just being mule-headed about it and bought the durn thing.
 
Holy crap, it's good. 

I dropped B4 in a heartbeat for VB3! It is my goto and has been ever since it went 64 bit.

Just retrofitted VB3 into two songs that I'd previously used the Hammond on. Big improvement. I'm automating drawbars and overdrive, which I've not been able to do before.
 
Best single advantage over the Hammond is the chorus effect, which sounds more authentic on VB3 than any clonewheel I've ever tried. The only thing I can still do better with other gear is the Leslie sim - I've got a stompbox called a Ventilator that does a Leslie better than anything else out there, including a real Leslie. I suppose I could re-amp VB3 and use the Vent, but that's a hassle.
 
I'm in tonewheel heaven tonight.

Bitflipper, have you tried the Global Options in the upper right hand corner of VB3. There is a fair amount of settings to play with that cover a lot of the character of the real leslie. I especially like the wind noise of the rotors and the foldback features. The rotary speaker character gets that speaker breakup for that worn in speaker response pretty well. There is a fair amount of different leslie models to choose from, although, they may not be the best sims but with a little tweaking they do nicely.

I love  a really good Hammond. I wish I would have started saving for Black Friday sooner.

That seems to be a minor niggle about the key click. I must comment also that the developer himself took care of me personally when I needed support for VB3. I couldn't get the 32 bit version to take the registration code so I fired off an email and he responded very quickly! I was up and running in no time! I would write his name here but I know I would really mutilate the spelling. LOL!

bitflipper
Thanks for the tip, Sidroe. No, contrary to my usual M.O. I haven't done much dissection beyond the main controls yet. I was having too much fun with it out of the box.
 
Very cool that there is so much you can customize. Although after some experimentation it seems most of the defaults are well-chosen. Why MIDI velocity for key click is enabled by default is a mystery, though. Does that mimic some real B3 behavior I'm not aware of?
 
Changing vibrato scanner depth during playback caused it to crash with an access violation, but that was not repeatable.

what's your hammond that you said you replaced with VB3 sounds?

bapu
Sounds like (see watt I dundare?) Beagle's looking for a bigger n better organ.

lol, no not really looking to replace what I have, I'm just curious because I absolutely love my XK-3C and can't imagine replacing it with anything except maybe a real B3 with a 122.

Bonzos Ghost
I've been using VB3 lately at a friends place. (so I don't have to pack my Hammond / Ventilator around.)
It's definitely good, but I find when you crank up the overdrive, (which is the type of sound being used for the project) at some point it ends up sounding kinda "small", like it's coming from a small combo amp or something. By comparison, the Hammond/Vent combo doesn't. I'll attribute that to the VB3's leslie sim.
 
The Hammond/Vent sounds better overall to my ears when comparing the two, but VB3 is definitely the best "in the box" Hammond out there, and is 100% usable. Beats the crap out of the old NI B4 II, that's for sure.

that doesn't surprise me.  I stopped using NI's "Classic" organs when I got my XK-3c. 
 
I don't have a vent, tho, just using the leslie and tube amp onboard the XK-3c.

Beagle, I have an XK-1. Your XK-3 sounds better, especially the Leslie sim.
 
I wish there was a ROM upgrade available for mine so I could bring it up to date, as Suzuki has made some improvements over the years. However, the guy who's been writing VB3 has been working on those algorithms for 20 years so it's not surprising that he might get closer than some Johnny-come-lately contractors at a company better known for motorcycles.
 
I run the XK-1 through a Ventilator and a stereo pair of Roland keyboard amplifiers. The Vent gets the distortion exactly right, at least as far as my memory can ascertain from back in the day when I used a real Leslie. Back then, I often wished I could get a clean sound and still get the desired volume, but as soon as you put microphones on a Leslie you've got something entirely different. The Vent/amp combination lets me get loud and stay clean, or (just as handy) get dirty at low volume.
 
The (almost) ideal live rig would be a module hosting VB3, driven from the Hammond's waterfall keyboard and run through the Ventilator. But I can't afford a Receptor and I wouldn't be happy without physical drawbars. The Crumar Mojo is exactly what I envision: Fatar waterfall keyboard + real drawbars and VB3 running inside. Add the Vent and it's organ heaven. But at $2500 the Crumar's way beyond my means.
 
At least now I can get that sound on recordings, even if it eludes me on stage.

Actually, for what's it's worth.... The XK1 and XK3C use the exact same leslie sim and VASE III engine. (The XK3 has an inferior leslie sim.) The XK3C has added tweekability for making custom drawbar sets (and a tube) so with some careful editing, it can offer up a few more variations to the overall tone than the XK1 can, but they share all the same guts. The XK1 is still tweekable as well, and a few tweeks definitely help over the stock settings. 

Fleer
FSOSA!

Fleer
FSOSA!

Maybe the name should be shortened to Fleer University. Or just FU for short. 

Hi Bit,
 
I have an XK1 as well with a Vent. (original one.)
 
Through trial and error, I tweeked everything possible that's tweekable in the thing. I don't remember all the changes as I set it up a couple of years ago.
 
When I got the Vent, I first had to arrive at an optimal overdrive setting on it. I found there's a delicate balance to get things right within the XK1, so if you go "all drawbars out to the max", it doesn't red line the Vent. I adjusted the internal XK1 output for starters, as well as the EQ. (You can do this/ save this on any patch I believe.) Of course the internal XK1 leslie is off, but the overdrive is still on. The Vent adds "growl" which the XK1 drive sim is a little weak on. The Vent doesn't have that "sizzle" though, so I use the XK1 overdrive for that in various degrees, depending on what I'm shooting for. I find that works really well. This was part of the "delicate balance" to get it sounding the way I wanted. 
 
I also adjusted all the vibrato/chorus settings to my liking, as the factory defaults weren't exactly what I wanted. They're quite tweekable. Again, depends on what you're shooting for. I also use the reverb on the XK1, which puts the reverb before the leslie, which is correct if you have a real Hammond/leslie setup. You can't get that dopplered (it that a word?) reverb effect any other way.
 
It took awhile to get things the way I wanted. (think ELP - Tarkus as one example.) I played around with different percussion tweeks, key click, you name it. It all affects the output and overdrive of both the XK1 and the Vent. I don't know if there's a "magical" tweek per se, as everyone has their own preferences for a Hammond sound. More like a lot of programming and experimentation to get it the way you want it. 
 
Don't know if any of this helps you, other than to say that it took some time and attention via experimentation to get it right. It can be done though...and as much as I agree that VB3 sounds really good, there's something about the XK1/Vent that sounds a a little more detailed, open and pleasing to me.
 
 
 

I may have to invest in a vent.  I've only had my XK3c for a little over a year (so of course I still have the "new car" syndrome with it anyway!).
 
Bonzo, do you think the tube in the XK3c defines the "growl" that you're having to use the Vent for on the XK1?
 
have either of you (or anyone) used the XK series with a real Leslie?  vintage or even a new one (like the Studio 12)?

Most of it is way beyond me but I have enjoyed this thread. Learned a few things too.