Hammond B-3X for IPad

[Al Quinn]

Thanks guys!

 

Adan, yeah that was not a good situation at all. The female singer is not in the band. She sat in for a couple of tunes. I didn"t see that one coming. My wife, who took the video with her iPhone, cringed too. This was the first gig I took where I wasn"t familiar with the space for the band and it backfired for a couple of songs. I need to leave more space between me and others so that doesn"t happen again.

[ElmerJFudd]

They"re running a group buy and B3X is included in the qualifying products.

[brenner13]

Dang! It drained my iPad battery in 4 hours flat. Made it through the gig, though...barely. Sounded soooooo good! I probably need to turn down the screen brightness a bit, and must remember to go airplane mode at gigs...DOPE!

Lucky outdoor gig for biker event. Plenty of distancing with a flatbed truck as the stage. Not a mask in sight, though.

[BenWaB3]

Dang! It drained my iPad battery in 4 hours flat. Made it through the gig, though...barely. Sounded soooooo good! I probably need to turn down the screen brightness a bit, and must remember to go airplane mode at gigs...DOPE!

Lucky outdoor gig for biker event. Plenty of distancing with a flatbed truck as the stage. Not a mask in sight, though.

 

Mine usually drains by about 1/3 per 4 hour gig. I do use airplane mode though and most of the job is playing the provided acoustic piano. I use the iPad for B-3X and Neo-Soul.

[BenWaB3]

Actually now that this thread has been bumped up to the front page again does anyone know if there is a section on IK's web site for update suggestions?

[AnotherScott]

Dang! It drained my iPad battery in 4 hours flat. Made it through the gig, though...barely. Sounded soooooo good! I probably need to turn down the screen brightness a bit, and must remember to go airplane mode at gigs...DOPE!

Lucky outdoor gig for biker event. Plenty of distancing with a flatbed truck as the stage. Not a mask in sight, though.

Yeah, airplane mode and brightness makes a big difference, though also, battery life diminishes as the iPad ages. And sometimes you can start a gig with an iPad unexpectedly having less power than you thought it had (like, you assumed the car charger was charging it, but it wasn't). You may want to look at a keyboard-to-iPad wiring scheme that allows for keeping the iPad's charger plugged in. (And as a related aside, as you probably know, airplane mode also optimizes performance by preventing background tasks that may steal cycles, and helps assure that nothing generates an extraneous sound during your performance.)

[Al Quinn]

FWIW I use a Korg PlugKey with my iPad which allows for charging while using its audio interface.

[Baldwin Funster]

There are charging camera kit ie a camera kit with a charging port. I find that the power use is still more than the charger can keep up to but it extends the drain time by alot. But that is when the midi board is being bus powered by the ipad. If you can power your controllers separately then the charger would probably keep up.

[AnotherScott]

Initially, I was able to change the sample rate from 48k to 44.1k which eliminated my clicking problem, but now for some reason it has reverted to 48k and the pop-down provides no other option. Does anyone know why the 44.1 option might have become unavailable, and how I might get it back? (p.s.-- IK Multimedia's tech support is useless... no reply to my direct inquiry, no response to my post on their forum.)

 

While I'm here...

 

There are charging camera kit ie a camera kit with a charging port. I find that the power use is still more than the charger can keep up to but it extends the drain time by alot. But that is when the midi board is being bus powered by the ipad. If you can power your controllers separately then the charger would probably keep up.

One more tip is to be sure to use the right charger. A lower powered charger (like the one for an iPhone) will work, but at a much slower rate, making it more likely that it won't keep up with a heavy power draw. Also see: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/how-to/a3224/can-you-use-the-same-power-adapter-for-iphone-and-ipad-10283982/

 

Actually now that this thread has been bumped up to the front page again does anyone know if there is a section on IK's web site for update suggestions?

Yes... https://cgi.ikmultimedia.com/ikforum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=22351

[miden]

Dang! It drained my iPad battery in 4 hours flat. Made it through the gig, though...barely. Sounded soooooo good! I probably need to turn down the screen brightness a bit, and must remember to go airplane mode at gigs...DOPE!

Lucky outdoor gig for biker event. Plenty of distancing with a flatbed truck as the stage. Not a mask in sight, though.

 

hmmm, mine is a 1st gen iPad Pro and I still get 9-10 hours out of it?

[AnotherScott]

Is there some trick to getting the volume slider to work? It only seems to work about one out of every ten times I tap it.

[Baldwin Funster]

I think that circular indicator on the slider is a very small target . If you hit it you get the -db indicator and the thing will move. I dont see a trick, I think you just have to hit the right spot. The expression fader moves pretty easily fortunately.

[drawback]

I've found it's difficult to find any of the sweet spots for "learn." Like the volume slider, it's easier to just program with the #cc number.

[AnotherScott]

I've found it's difficult to find the sweet spot for "learn."

I think I know that one! You press right on the number... because at least to me, the trick isn't so much about knowing where to press (the "sweet spot"), but rather, how long to hold it. It's a long-press to pop up that menu. Not something you'd be likely to try if you didn't read it somewhere.

 

The interface for B-#X is aesthetically beautiful, but functionally lacking. Besides that "learn," some other things you're likely to never realize is there without reading the manual (or at least, I would never have known) include how to associate MIDI Program Changes with Presets, and where to find the screen where you can adjuat things like key click and leakage.

[OrpheusNY]

Heads up: on sale for $64.99.

[roygBiv]

Was just about to post that! Lowest price I"ve ever seen it (I think $75 was the previous lowest).

 

Just bought it - it lives up to the hype! Very happy so far- the distortion is very tubey, and the leslie sounds great!

[ChazKeys]

Was just about to post that! Lowest price I"ve ever seen it (I think $75 was the previous lowest).

 

Just bought it - it lives up to the hype! Very happy so far- the distortion is very tubey, and the leslie sounds great!

 

Yes lowest ever - last June in the UK it was £75. Didn't think it was ever going to come down. Another happy customer and a nice addition to my CP73 which now has a superb organ. Great sound and interface but doubt I'll ever use the stomp boxes or master effects except for the reverb.

[Control Freak]

Was just about to post that! Lowest price I"ve ever seen it (I think $75 was the previous lowest).

 

Just bought it - it lives up to the hype! Very happy so far- the distortion is very tubey, and the leslie sounds great!

 

Yes lowest ever - last June in the UK it was £75. Didn't think it was ever going to come down. Another happy customer and a nice addition to my CP73 which now has a superb organ. Great sound and interface but doubt I'll ever use the stomp boxes or master effects except for the reverb.

Which version of Ipad are you using? I have a second generation iPad pro 12.9. Could I have latency problems with b3x?

[drawback]

Heads up: on sale for $64.99.

 

Sorry to go slightly off topic but also the Mac/PC version is now half price at $149.99 USD.

 

As I have the iOS version I was considering getting Acoustic Samples B5v3 at 99.... any comments on which Mac/PC version would be "better?" I've heard a lot of good things about the latest B5.

[AnotherScott]

If you have the iOS version, I don't see a lot of benefit in having the PC version... I guess just if you want to more simply integrate it into a DAW, or combine it in an environment with other VSTs...? I think I'd rather just get the amplitube Leslie, which I think might provide the lion's share of what's special about B-3X, and then you could use that with all kinds of other VSTs. (Unfortunately, last I checked, B-3X does not give you the ability to route any other signal into its Leslie sim.)

 

It would be interesting to compare B3X (through its rotary) with B5 (through its rotary) with B5 through IK's rotary.

 

Blue3 is really nice, too. I was at a gig where I thought the organ sounded great, I asked the player what he was using, it was Blue3. He also told me it supported an unusual config he liked, but my memory is vague... maybe running through a pair of Leslies? A Leslie and a Marshall? I don't know, something like that...

[ChazKeys]

Thanks guys!

 

Adan, yeah that was not a good situation at all. The female singer is not in the band. She sat in for a couple of tunes. I didn"t see that one coming. My wife, who took the video with her iPhone, cringed too. This was the first gig I took where I wasn"t familiar with the space for the band and it backfired for a couple of songs. I need to leave more space between me and others so that doesn"t happen again.

 

I enjoyed that solo! Where's the iPad???

[Stokely]

If it's still on sale I may pick it up just in case 1) gigs resume any time this year and 2) I don't have the money to get the Stage I wanted. My b3 organ would be my Modx7, and that is not a great situation....I also have some nice synths on ipad and it plugs right into the modx with one cable, so this has the makings of a nice rig.

[jejefunkyman]

I also grabbed it, as I was waiting for a while for a price decrease ð Didn"t spend much time with it, but it instantly sounded good to me with the first preset while just opening the app, unlike Galileo which needs some tweaks to sound alright. I"m not a die hard Hammond player, but when my Santana cover band will get back to operation, I was thinking for rehearsals of just bringing the Vox Continental as the bottom board for AP, EP, synths, the B-3X app on the iPad with a Korg Plugkey to get the audio out and the MIDI in from a 61 Alesis MIDI keyboard which is very light and has a very nice action, especially for organ playing. This would make a very light and efficient rig, which would allow to not carry everytime the Vox Conti plus the SK1 ð¤·ââï¸ I will not always do this though, as I love playing with the SK1 ð¤

[drawback]

B-3X app on the iPad with a Korg Plugkey to get the audio out and the MIDI in from a 61 Alesis MIDI keyboard which is very light and has a very nice action, especially for organ playing.

 

Do you have some way of connecting an expression pedal to your controller? Hammond with no expression is a deal breaker for me.

[jejefunkyman]

Yes you"re right, I thought about it after posting this ð I still need to check this point. And you"re totally right, without expression pedal this will not make it. I could nonetheless probably control the volume with a fader located on the controller as an alternative solution, but this would kill the user experience... Hum I may have been too fast with this configuration. I was too much obsessed with the app price ð

[Al Quinn]

Thanks guys!

 

Adan, yeah that was not a good situation at all. The female singer is not in the band. She sat in for a couple of tunes. I didn"t see that one coming. My wife, who took the video with her iPhone, cringed too. This was the first gig I took where I wasn"t familiar with the space for the band and it backfired for a couple of songs. I need to leave more space between me and others so that doesn"t happen again.

 

I enjoyed that solo! Where's the iPad???

 

Thanks ChazKeys!

 

The flap of the iPad case is tucked between the right side of the keyboard and the keyboard stand which hangs the iPad by it's case near my right knee (see attached pic). Korg PlugKey is velcro'ed to the stand close to the iPad.

[lightbg]

I use a powered USB hub and connect my M-Audio Oxygen 61, the powered camera connector kit from Apple, and the red one of these:

 

MIDI Expressions

 

I use a box stock Yammie FC7

 

It all works great.

 

Jake

[ChazKeys]

Was just about to post that! Lowest price I"ve ever seen it (I think $75 was the previous lowest).

 

Just bought it - it lives up to the hype! Very happy so far- the distortion is very tubey, and the leslie sounds great!

 

Yes lowest ever - last June in the UK it was £75. Didn't think it was ever going to come down. Another happy customer and a nice addition to my CP73 which now has a superb organ. Great sound and interface but doubt I'll ever use the stomp boxes or master effects except for the reverb.

Which version of Ipad are you using? I have a second generation iPad pro 12.9. Could I have latency problems with b3x?

 

I'm using 6th Gen iPad. It has the same A10 Fusion chip as your iPad Pro. I have been running it at the lowest latency with no problems - so you should be fine. BTW I also have a very old iPad Mini 2 (2014) which amazingly can also run B-3X - but latency has to be 256 and I can't use master FX.

[acctjm]

I use a powered USB hub and connect my M-Audio Oxygen 61, the powered camera connector kit from Apple, and the red one of these:

 

MIDI Expressions

 

I use a box stock Yammie FC7

 

It all works great.

 

Jake

 

Are you able to select different midi channels to xmit the expression pedal data?

[Stokely]

Just got this, haven't really used it seriously yet.

 

My initial impressions are that this sounds amazing. It also seems to be a perfect example of designing a user interface that looks "authentic" but could be made much, much more user friendly by not being skeuomorphic. It's not easy to grab the circular controls, and it's ludicrous to have the leslie speed control as it is. I sorely wish there was a way to put it into "flat vector" mode with simple touch controls. Obviously then it wouldn't look like a real organ but that's impressive for about five minutes, then you have to deal with clunkiness forever....

 

That said, to make it usable for me live I'll need to map things anyway. The only way I'd be able to adust this live on the ipad would be to have big fat easy to read simple bars you could touch. One thing I like to be able to do is adjust gain, and in this app the gain is on a different tab and it's a small circular control I'd never be able to read live.

 

If there's some way to put it into simple mode (similar to how Logic Pro does with synths) then let me know! I haven't done much with music on the ipad just yet.