Well you haven't purchased much in the way of VI's recently. If that is your worst customer experience you have lead a very sheltered life.

Setting up account with an internet vendor like Buzz is mandatory and it is where you have a permanent record of your purchases and your serials.

An account with the VI manufacturer also creates a permanent record of your serials and where you go to get updates as they are released.

ILok soft authorisation is a third party managed anti-piracy measure. Using it means the VI manufacturer doesn't have invest their own time in building a robust authentication system. Learn to love it cause more and more vendors are using it. For example Sound Radix moved to iLok from V2 of 32 Lives.

The Buzz stuff up with serial may be a doubling up of the same serial or the fact that Buzz's backend hasn't had chat with AS's backend yet to let it know that serial has been sold. Some licences I have bought have taken up to 24 hours from purchase to be activated.

My experience with 5 of the major VI retailers like Buzz in terms of response times and support has been, without exception, excellent.

Tom -
Although I agree with Mark in principal I personally won't use any software that requires and iLok account and there are many like me. Not trying to here, just wanted to let you know you are not alone.

I am by no means a fan of iLok and refuse to use a dongle. But since the release of the software based license manager coupled with the requirement that you need it to run even free UVI stuff I have reluctantly accepted it is now part of my life.

Plus what you do when something worth $99 like 32 Lives requires you to use iLok to get the free upgrade to V2? Stick to your principles and walk away or suck it up and get on with life.

I have 38 VI's authorised in my iLok account and so far it has been glitch free.

But I am about to upgrade SSD's and trust the iLok Licence manager does not spit the dummy when booted from the new drives. If it does I will be singing from a different song sheet.

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Acousticsamples B-5 V2 demo videos are up!

I've started hinting in the "Ultimate Leslie Plug-in" thread, but nobody even bit

It's awesome! Arno's got the tone right, and the Leslie sim kills.

I saw those posts, and I thought that was what you meant. The demos sound badass, and it is a free upgrade to boot! Downloading tonight - can't wait!

I'm still playing the last Beta. Won't get to DL the official release until tomorrow. Hope some of my presets made it to the finish line.

So I just downloaded the upgrade. ( free for version 1 owners )

Frankly - I thought version 1 was just ok.

However, the new version is a big improvement IMHO. Been playing it for an hour and it sounds great. With some tweaking I was able to get a nice gritty rock / blues sound. Leslie sim is a huge improvement. Nice job.

Will try it in a band context this weekend.

I did some gritty presets. If they're there (and haven't been renamed), they will begin with the letters SN.

I did some presets, too with the prefix JA.

Has anyone actually used this with an XK-3C as a controller? I see they mention the XK series as being compatible but I am still interested in any real experience - good or bad. Thanks.

B-5 V2 requires the latest version of UVI Workstation - 2.6.10, don't forget to download it first

No but the XK is listed under 'Mapping Options', as is the Crumar Mojo for those looking to upgrade their tone

Don't worry Jim and Steve, all of your presets are in there! Thanks again for these btw
And yes, we just sent the newsletter that explains you need the latest version of UVI Workstation.
And about the XK series, the support is limited to the drawbars and a few other things, most MIDI messages for the XK are sent using non registered MIDI parameters that are for now not supported in UVI. We will update that when it's available, but for the time being, all manuals and the drawbars are a pretty good start (especially given the weird MIDI data they send...)

Btw, i believe Jim has an XK, as he thanked me for the mapping.

Thank you for the quick response. I am all to familiar with and frustrated with the weird midi implementation of the XK-3C. I found the HX-3 I borrowed recently to be the first product that fully maps the XK-3C . I hope you guys can do the same in the near future as your version 2 sounds wonderful.

Hi Arno browsed the presets, and there are lot there, but didn't see any with SN or JA. What is the naming of their presets?

Cheers

Mark

And BTW the previous version is not overwritten so it is easy to AB V1 and V2.

The presets that Jim and Steve made are the "general presets", those that include all settings, not just the drawbars.
To see them, just open the presets panel and look for the dropdown menu to the right.

Thanks Arno sweet, well done Steve and Jim. There is a lot packed into this update, time to RTM.

What do the Clonewheel experts think ?

Is this B5 V2 on par with the latest hardware clones (Mojo, KeyB, XK5, HX3) and leslie sims (Vent, Burn) ?

Great to read accodales regarding the update. I have a C2D and am eager to try it out as a controller. Thanks, Arno!

The C2D will work perfectly and is 100% compatible, the demos were made with it (just select the nord C1/C2 mapping).
There is just one thing that's too bad with it, it only outputs velocity 100, no matter how you press the keys. And i'm afraid the key click depends a lot on the input velocity...

Not yet. I was using my XK1c, which seems to have a different MIDI implementation than the XK3/XK3c since it worked automatically with B5 except having to reverse the MIDI for the drawbars.

I really like the sound of the B5. Lots of editing features, too. But out of the box it has a nice, wooly, gritty sound with good, thunk-y percussion. I'm going to dig more into it and make some demos.

JA. Those are some mighty fine presets my friend
2 of mine don't work here (reg/wed & Hodges/Green).
Guess I'll re-send them to Arnaud, unless they're working for everybody but me.
Green/Hodges should look like 008002024 with a 122-mono drum mike and 2 tops close in at the corners. Just slightly cleaner than JA's "Love & Happiness" but we were both aimed in the same direction

Reg/Wed is 1383226254 w/122 2 drum mikes but not too wide and 2 top mikes pulled wide and out some.

Neither one loads when I select it

Great update, and kudos to Acousticsamples for giving it for free for version one owners. I had been running B5 V1 through my mini vent but will try it through the onboard sim this weekend on a relatively Hammond light gig.
Setting things up on headphones or smaller studio monitors sometimes leads me astray as to what it will sound like in a room through a PA, but up to now I'm liking the new Leslie sim. As Jim points out, there is a lot of room for customisation within both the Hammond and Leslie settings and the midi implementation seems to have been improved a lot.
Steve, those presets do not appear to be loading.

Hi Arno- Great update- will use it in a band setting next week.
I dont seem to be able to use a midi cc to vary the click setting. Whenever i
try- it crashes B5. Using the latest version of UVI. I have tried various cc's
and tried standalone and within mainstage.

thanks
Doug

Thanks i'm glad you like it

Regarding the key click, that's odd... i just tried it here and it works just fine... Anybody else is having this issue?

Bought it yesterday and it's growing on me.
Really nice organic sound that captures that vintage Hammond vibe.
It does sound different than my Numa and HX3.
Good !!! Because i like different flavours for different purposes.
Althaugh it does seem odd to have such different end results with different approaches to mimmick a vintage Hammond B3, not withstanding that real Hammonds have their own sound of course....
The new leslie sim is so much better than what was present in the original B5, althaugh the ventilator is still the best leslie sim out there.

But i really like the complete package, no complaints what soever, will serve me for a long time !!

Arno, thanks for checking the key click cc for me. i will ttry to reinstal and see if it makes a difference. I won't be able to try until late Sunday or Monday. Spending a little time at the beach for. the weekend.

doug