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I will say this, If I'm thrown into unknown waters, I'll grab my Nord Stage first before anything else. Though pricey at the onset, all my Nord purchases over the last couple of years have maintained value and paid for themselves. More than any Korg/Kurzweil/Yamaha stuff i've invested in. The fact that they let you load your own samples (albeit clumsily.....) is what's kept mine from obsolescence and still working. Plus they're reliable. Nord is kinda strange with updates over last couple of years: been more about memory, displays, and crossfading features, rather than the sound engine. So early generations like the NS2 or Electro 5 are still valid and cost effective. The organ is dated, but very useful if not using a dedicated clonewheel, and I'll still take it over any of the other stuff. Having spent many programming hours hunched over those small Nord screens, I really wish there was a computer editor.

All mentioned have demos so it's worth your time to try them all. Love and constantly use the IK, though it's pricey compared to others. It does go on sale. I recently demoed VB3 to check out the sound before I bought a Mojo. I liked it very much, not as pretty GUI as IK, but really nice. Well priced, very stable and great sound. It confirmed my decision on the Mojo. BTW I know OP is Windows, but for any OSX users, there's a great soundset for Mainstage/Logic organ by Christian Cullen. He did a superb job with presets and setups. https://loopcommunity.com/en-us/patch-bundles/vintage-organ-pack-by-christian-cullen-14 I've got no skin in the game - love to support our fellow brethren and it'll be $20.00 well spent to make the logic organ useful.

NI used to offer an upgrade path to full Kontakt if you had any registered libraries, you have to look under "special offers" in your account and it will tell you. I think I qualified through Sound iron's Emotional Piano, or some Spitfire stuff. Got it during one of the Black Friday deals. Emo piano is still a great library, but there is something very special about Noire. I upgraded to full Kontakt just for that. I've never been all that Krazy about the other stuff that's in Komplete.

Thank you all so much, this was very very helpful. I really appreciate it!!!! Trying to grab a Mojo Classic, which is nowhere to be found in the US right now. Based on what you guys have said, I have a feeling since it's over that $800 threshold there would be fees. I wish Customs made it easier to determine. . Was thinking even if said fees were in the 6-8% range, it'd still come out lower than the US prices, or perhaps close. But it sounds like international orders might be safer for utility items. Marzzz: Glad you got your 2600! I've had a Blue 2600 on early order from Sweetwater since December 20 --it's now expected August LOL. . It's not "gig-critical", so I'll keep my loyalty to Sweetwater and wait. The organ is something I actually need now for some upcoming shows, though I can put together something else to get by. Thank you all again! C

I always vote with my wallet. Be it stores, or restaurants. I understand retail is never a dream gig, but GC and its brethren act like the internet was never invented. I've got some talented friends that currently work at GC, and aren't dicks or hacks. But having taught for Music and Arts (the parent company of GC and Musician's friend) I know their culture of clueless top-managment all too well. I agree that guy has probably not given it a second thought as it's probably part of his MO. If it bothers you, contact corporate. Life is indeed too short. Some stores get it. I mostly shop at Sweetwater, but also ZZounds because they were a local store for me back in the day. Buy local when I can, especially any of the Mom & Pop music stores that are left. Sell used stuff privately, or through forums.

Looking at purchasing Crumar organ. I'd also consider Andertons UK. Thomman (Germany) CS says they regularly ship to the States, but didn't have a lot of information other than shipping charges and letting me know there would be no VAT. Price is great Have been on the phone with UPS and US Customs, trying to get an idea of the typical Customs fees or holds, to see if those fees would bring the cost up too much,. UPS said I have to contact Germany office (wife speaks fluently, so will get her to help...) Wondering how Customs deals with Musical instruments. I bought a Harmonium from India years ago on Ebay, and got held up for months, hoping things are smoother now. Appreciate sharing your experiences/advice. Thanks so much in advance! Cheers, C

Hey Delaware Dave B3 Presets can be exported. But unless I'm mistaken, the Midi controller settings are stored within the program globally & limited to just one single user preset, plus the included Hammond controller presets only. Your theory is a great one- thank you- it gives me an idea: I wonder as a work around if one could copy multiple instances of the B3x app and uniquely rename each of them. With each using it's own folder to store and point to the app's user files. Couldn't do this w/pad, but possible on the Mac/PC. Thanks!

Been using PT since version 1 In the studio and live. Some models work better than others based on application. For live, I think trying the demos out through your live amplification system is really the best way to see what works for you. Like most Virtual stuff, you never really know until you use in actual combat. . Studio use is another animal: I love the Petrof, U4 upright, and Bechstein for recording- but not so much for band stuff. Though the grands are the headliners, the U4 is a real gem. It often sits better when a Grand takes up too much sonic space in a song. With the mute/felt pedal it does the Nils Frahm thing perfectly. BTW I've posted some muted presets on PT's user forum- or happy to send if anyone wants. Ironically, I thought that Yamaha model would be the ideal live piano; but the Grotian prelude and Steinbgraeber bright., (or Steinbrenner as I call it) work better for me in band situations. I also like and own PT's excellent Wurly and Clav- and have recently been using those within Mainstage or Gig performer to replace Neo Soul and other plugs I was previously using. I use other plugins for effects, the Modartt ones are pretty good - albeit just a little wonky to edit. I highly recommend patching in a simple low pass filter to easily control the piano's timbre both live and recording, and a little light compression really helps. That Steingraber bright cuts well, but sometimes it's a tad too bright, hence using a LPF. Unless it's a solo thing, I routinely slightly roll off (or high pass) the lows on all the PT pianos to make them sit better. Oh, and turn down (or off) the sustain pedal noise on presets - it's comically loud out of the box. Edit: Wanted to share this FREE & GREAT LP/HP filter- I put this just about every channel strip live and recording. Simple and sounds great. https://mialaboratories.com/product/border/

I also use a bunch of different controllers depending on gig. Nord Electro, Nord Stage, Hammond SKx, Hammond x3c, Novation impulse, and even my old Voce V5!. Google the PDF manual to your Korg, find out which midi commands it transmits, and you can easily map them accordingly to the B3-X and store it in the user midi preset. The software also has a midi learn feature. Leslie speed could easily be mapped to the Korg's leslie switch, footswitch, or entirely something else. Forgive me for hijacking the thread, I'll continue my rant that IK needs to make more than one user configurable midi configuration preset, for those of us who use multiple controllers. The current ONE user custom setup works, but major PITA to re-map every time you need to switch controllers. Can't fathom why they can't implement this simple bit of code. I've pleaded on their forums and to support- and wish that more people would do the same.

Thanks Eric! Great idea! I love this for (self) rehearsing a show an/or working on it's associated sounds & patches- (which is what half my time is spent on). When I set up whatever full live rig I'm using in the studio it's too far from my monitors. So I'll use headphones, or IEMS which get really uncomfortable after long hours. I have some small powered monitors, but they're inconvenient to place on the rig for stereo. Soundbar would be a simple compact stereo setup and give my ears a break Don't need it at stage volume. Got a retired Vizio going to try this with. Cheers, C

Calling all Mainstage Experts... I know this should be simple... Just want to select patches within my concert set using my Macbook Air's built in qwerty keyboard, or actually using an external USB big lighted number keypad. E.G: hit the 2 key for patch 2, 3 key for patch 3 etc. I've normally done midi program change from my controllers, But on this gig, need to do it directly from the Qwerty as I can't from the Hammond Clonewheel I'm using. What am I missing???? I've reset the patch numbers, is it a Mainstage or OSX thing? I can use the up/down keys but all other keypresses of numbers from the Mac's or external number-pad just flash. Shouldn't these be mapped automatically, or do I do need to do something in the layout page? Use Midikeys? I was able to use Keyboard Maestro to re-map the +/- keys to up and down on the USB keypad but that's about it. Of course I've got a TV taping Tomorrow morning and Tuesday, so appreciate any advice. Thanks so much in advance! C

Good for you. +1 on Adam Gussow. His videos really helped. You can try using a piece of paper to block holes until your tongue and lips learn the correct muscle memory. Not to always bring it back to tools, but you'll be better inspired if you start off with a decent harp. I've danced around all of them but personally love the Hohner Special 20s. Hohner or Suzuki Blues harps are easy to get started on but sometimes a wooden comb (as on the Hohner) can be tough on beginners. Start with one good harp in the key of C. Hohner has some decent packages that'll save a little bit of money, and will give you 4 or 5 harps in the basic rock and roll keys. (If you're playing cross-harp). There are thousands of you-tube videos. Like most things, you've got to really start with the basis. I've personally always found it tough when your fairly accomplished on one instrument trying to translate your skills back to to a beginner's mindset. But Harp is one of those things that the rudiments really establish everything else. I've been playing for 30 plus years, and still struggle at times to get that perfect correct slow vibrato warble, because I didn't learn about it until later on. I too keep a harp in the Car.

You're too kind. Thank you!! Back at you- loved hearing the Winey Winey reggae vibes coming from sunny island of....Rochester! Great stuff that put a smile on face with infectious groove. Yes, I'm coming around to the Hammond clone sound and liking it more.

Thanks Bill & JoJo- I used an XK3c this morning at a church I work at- and they told me I couldn't use their real leslie today. Got my vent hooked up. Disabling the internal leslie was as simple as just making sure it was off at all buttons. But I didn't know about that P load ani menu. Was able to set up all my presets that retained my vibrato, and leslie (off) settings, across patch changes.. I just used the mono out to my Vent. I just got an Sbx , and thinking of getting that (expensive!) 11 pin cable to be able to keep the other voices on a separate output Dirshort: You can use the audio output on that 11 pin to feed the audio on the vent, but obviously can't do switch control from the Hammond. I had my Mini Vent II modified by a guitar tech, ($35.00). you can easily do it yourself if you're brave & handy. I just had him replace the momentary start stop switch with a 1/4 inch jack. This way I can use a sustain pedal, and hopefully the internal leslie switch from the Skx or it's footswitch jack.... if I buy that specialty cable you mentioned. I know several folks who have the regular "big" vent and they use that 11 pin to 1/4 cable in that manner successfully.

I just got an SKX last week so I've got some fresh perspective. Wasn't able to try in the stores, back ordered it from Sweetwater while it was temporarily marked down low. I gave serious consideration to the Crumar, but the reliability kinda scared me. My next idea was to buy a Midi Organ Controller to use with B3x. But I figured for the price of a dedicated midi organ controller, I'd be better off spending more on something that can make sound on it's own if needed. With that, I started looking for used SK2's... they weren't any cheaper than a new SkX was on sale. If not under the current pandemic situation, I would of actively sought out trying a Legend, or Mojo someplace. I didn't want to get another Nord. Background: Been wanting a double manual for sometime for dedicated organ gigs and to work on my jazz organ chops. Normally I'm main pianist/MD-where I typically play a Nord on top of a piano slab. I've been doing more auxiliary 2nd keyboardist gigs where I have to cover organ, synth/orchestral stuff and someone else is playing piano. Theses gigs often provide real Hammond, and I'd bring my Nord stage compact with Mainstage to cover everything else. When they couldn't do real organ, I just did the Nord organ but really missed having the lower manual and additional drawbars. Plus I hate doing Organ splits on single keyboard. I tried to create a 2 manual rig using my ancient Electro2 61 as a 2nd manual to control the Nord stage. The whole thing started to look like a big red contraption with too much to hook up and wasn't satisfying, or inviting to play. Because I do broadcast stuff, appearance was a consideration too. I didn't want to pay $500 for a shell, nor am I handy enough to build one. I thought the SKX would be a good solution for organ centric gigs that needed just a handful of other sounds and provide that 2 manual console playing experience, and look. I got it knowing the additional sounds were supposedly weak (they are....). But also knew it had pretty good midi implementation for external stuff, as mentioned above. Truth also be told: I've actually never been a fan of Hammond Clonewheels either. I always thought they were shrill and thin. But I've heard enough guys like Jim Alfredson make them sound great. At one of the churches I work for, I had to use their Hammond XK3c (with Leslie or my Vent) for the last month. I've since warmed up to the Hammond clonewheel sound. I'm very familiar with real Hammond layout and workflow of B3/s/A100s and my old M.. The SKX feels like a compact spinet to me. It's not as luxurious and spread out, but the layout feels very familiar. I agree about things being a bit hard to read. I do miss having preset keys. It's mainly all about the two manuals and drawbars for me. About 40 lbs btw - it weighs as much as my Yamaha slab piano, and as heavy as I want to carry. As to the sound: the leslie is ok for practice, but for most gigs I'll borrow a 330 from my church, or use my vent. I'm still not 100% convinced I adore the SKX. But after some tweaking I really do like it for straight up organ. The chorus is more authentic than other clones I've heard. Only because I've programmed the heck out of it (and loaded with own samples) - my Nord would still be a better fit for gigs that need higher quality strings and such 50% of the time. But if I was doing a jazz combo, or bar gig doing rock covers I think the SKx is ideal. For Worship gigs hired to just do organ and some very light pads/rhodes, (and they can't provide organ) this will hopefully work as intended. I'll have to update in a few months after some real gigs. I got such a good deal on this, that even if I decide to sell it, I wouldn't take too much of a beating. Bottom line, there are multiple factors to consider besides just sound. To me it's whether it feels and plays like an instrument. I would still love to check out the new Mojo at some point, but for now this will work. BTW- I use the IK B3x constantly for studio stuff. Last time I used it on a gig (running under Mainstage and Nord control) I wasn't as happy as I was in the studio. On my Macbook air, It just didn't speak right, and had a hard time keeping up and fitting in the mix.. I'm thinking of grabbing the ipad version. Since it's easier to mate up to hammond stuff, it might be a more connected experience. Love to hear input from anyone else using it live and with Hammond as controller? Best of luck! Cheers C

Late mid 80s' to early 90's . There was another guy from Dave's Chicago band that briefly followed Mike Finnegan (one my early heroes). Mike left Dave to work with CSNY's live band. I'm glad you mentioned him. Finnegan is one of the most criminally underrated keyboard players and singers around. He was kind of the 70's version of Benmont Trench. That's very cool about the late Jim Krueger ("We just disagree") He had long left Dave's live band, but we did get a chance to meet him a few times when passing thru his home state.

I played keys and toured with Dave for a number of years. He always did this song in C (as recorded by Traffic). It's indeed I- IV. We'd be on the road for sometimes 16 months with a few breaks.. If we had a long string of connected dates, or heavy international travel.,and his voice was ragged, he'd sometimes do his entire set ½ step down. Since it wasn't a regular thing and 12 songs, I'd just cheat and just hit x-pose, ot tune the keys down so my muscle memory wouldn't go awry - but finally just learned to play the set in the lower keys, because he wasn't doing every song tuned down. A few years back he decided to just keep this song always in B. He's moved some of the others down too. Though it's probably the most recognizable version, he wasn't a huge fan of the Joe Cocker version. I thought the video was great and so very happy for him- and his voice and playing were as wonderful as ever. I was always honored to be part of his band, as I was a fan first. I'm not sure if Michael M played the piano part but I'd guess like most remote stuff that's done like this, video was recorded after audio. C

"I think that's what missing..the "fun factor" is no longer fun when I'm running around like a mad scientist trying to cover all the bases' What a timely and relevant post! Years ago I put my foot down with Music Directors and band leaders and said I wouldn't play exposed saxophone or lead horn parts anymore. If you want sax, hire a sax player. Same with violin etc. As an MD/pianist I do a lot of work in the oldies concert business with some original artists from the 60/70/s (well at least before the pandemic I didâ¦) I can't mention names, but always thought it was an insult to the paying audience( and the music) to do that wretched, cheesy lounge fake sax/violin/trumpet thing - Just because promoters or bandleaders were too cheap to hire another musician. I even offered to take a cut in pay just so we could hire the real deal, and surprisingly most other band members were always willing to do the same. I"ll happily double horn parts with a real trumpet or sax player (which is a great thingâ¦) but if there isn"t - I"d rather just play those parts on organ instead. Same for corporate/wedding/top 40 gigs. For those gigs my rig was a slab piano on bottom, with a Nord stage and MainStage to cover everything else up top. After years of being expected to cover "other parts", I"ve grown tired of it. Not to mention having to program tons of stuff to pull it off- regardless of how good the samples are. I rarely turn work down. Over last 3 years I started getting more calls to be 2nd auxiliary keys and B3 for concert and church gigs. The artist or MD/pianist does the heavy lifting, and I can actually have fun. I still have to occasionally cover some orchestral/string stuff. The gigs I love most tend to be mostly organ and wurli - which has led me to reevaluate what I wanted to do more of. Luckily on these gigs they"ll usually backline real B3 and I"ll bring the Nord/Mainstage rig to cover everything else. For gigs that can"t do real organ, I"ve decided to make the commitment to get a real double manual organ rig. I love the B3 experience of "sole purpose"... instead of trying to do splits or an external keyboard midi'd to the Nord with all the distractions, double keyboard stand etc. etc.. I just ordered a Hammond SKX knowing full well it"s piano and strings are probably sub-par, and is limited as a controller.. I don"t care. At least in this role, I love the idea of a cohesive two manual keyboard that does one thing well, and has some additional sounds that I"ll use less often when needed. Apologies for veering off the OP- Being a 'second keyboardist' is a side topic in itself. But it"s given me a different perspective on not only being more supportive as a player, but also enjoying the concept of playing a single instrument as a part of the ensemble, rather than having to be the ensemble.

In the Studio, I use an old Nord Electro and sometimes a Voce V5 to control the Bx3. First: Be sure to update to the latest firmware it's up a couple of points from the initial release- I know the first Rev would sometimes forget assignments. I'm not in front of it right now- but I went into the Midi configuration page. Based on whatever the first (hammond) organ controller that appears. I altered all the controllers to match the Nord's midi controllers instead of the other way around. Had to dig out the Nord manual and use Logic's Midi monitor, as the Nord does some weird stuff for percussion, and leslie stuff. At least for me, that worked out fine with my live rig as Nord uses the same Midi #s for the Stage series too. Any generic controller should work & you can match it up pretty easy.The latest IK update allows for latching on switches and that's super helpful. I've emailed IK a couple of times that they really need allow a user map preset for those of us that use multiple Non-Hammond controllers. But that fell on deaf ears.. That leaves me scratching my head as they proudly feature Jordan Rudess (great) Deep Purple resets, but he's not using a Hammond as a controller either.. It does at least retain the edits you make to the existing layouts As long as that first controller config is active, any future presets will reflect those controller settings you made. Just saw your additional post: Here's a quirky thing, I have the Bx3 in my client session Logic template. For some reason, I have to switch to another preset after it initially loads, as it doesn't appear to load my saved config until I do that. Not sure if it does this in PT as well..... When I've used it Stand-alone or in Mainstage, it doesn't emit this behavior.

I feel like when I don't have the backup is when I'll need it. I carry an Ipad with Korg Module and the M1 apps. . Since I already use the Ipad for charts it's not anything extra to bring. The Korg Module app is a great bread and butter synth/piano that you can even load on an iphone, which I also do. I also keep an ancient Alesis Nanosynth ($20.00 at Goodwill) in my gig bag on fly/road dates, and a Kurzweil ME1 in my car for local gigs along with back up power supplies, cables, and a cheap back -up sustain pedal- which I've needed more times than I can count! I've had my Mainstage rig fail once. It was user error: stage -hand had mistakingly turned off the powerstrip on my macbook after soundcheck and I never noticed, until it died mid show.

I've often found when it's a bar band type gig the rehearsal they're asking for is more for themselves. I'm also amazed at bandleaders who decide to do the most convoluted intricate arrangements when they have sub players filling in. That said, your time is worth something and I say BL failed. Rehearsals should be stated up front, and paid for- or at least known that's what the pay entails. You should have the option to say no given those parameters. If this was someone you'd want to try get more work in the future, the possible win-win salvage here may have been letting the BL know that and simply asking for rehearsal pay. I have a little big band that rotates players (mostly the horns and guitar players). I have a book for everyone., and do mostly low hanging fruit and simple arrangements that most guys already know, or can read cold. If I we need to rehearse a special song, (e.g. wedding couple special dance etc.) I rehearse the core band with vocalist- ideally we'll just do an earlier meet up soundcheck and run the essentials. if not I pay for rehearsals, and include that in my budget.

Very happy with this. Jim's great demo was appreciated and made me very interested. Besides other gigs, I play a weekly contemporary church service with a wonderful1965 A100 and 147. Once a month they have us with Orchestra, and on those services I'm not able to use their Hammond due to space. For those times I had been either using my Nord w/ a ventilator II, or Mainstage/Ipad rig with the Logic organ. This is a perfect replacement for either of those. Never tried the Blue before, so downloaded the demo before I bought the IK, to compare along with the Logic Organ. I think the Logic organ is very viable and cost effective, but the leslie fast speed is not inspiring. I thought the Blue was ok, it just didn't have the vibe the IK did-nor did I bond with the feel of the app. It could very well be the IK strength is in the leslie sim, but I didn't want to bother running the Blue or Logic organ along another plug in. With my loyalty discount and jam points, it was about $35 more for the IK over the $99.00 Blue. I wouldn't of done it at the full $199.00. Have always found IK to be a great and fair company to deal with. For lack of a better word the IK for me has the elusive Mojo-fairy dust and 3D that is inspiring to play. Which is my bottom line. I normally stay away from 1.0 releases- but made an exception. The IK has the right amount of "tweakablity" for personal taste, but doesn't need to be endlessly fussed with to make it work out of the box. Ironically, I found the actual B3 models to be a bit dull, (at least for live use) but both A100's were great. I can see using the B3 models in a recording environment though. As a M3 owner, guess I'd like to have that model option too. The leslie options are killer, and worth the price of admission. Loved being able to do a 147 amp with 122 cabinet. I will also say that with the Leslie in brake, the organ sounded plenty authentic for that Brian Auger/Groove Holmes vibe. My cons: Surprisingly, the plug in actually ran better within Mainstage, then it did stand alone.. My systems are not current cutting edge, so take that into consideration. 1. It needs to be quicker loading presets, and better with memory usage overall. I tried this on my studio's 2012 16gb mac mini standalone and within Logic. My laptop is a 2017 Mac 12" air w 8gb and for the most part ran smooth unless I tried to use the "outboard" 1176 compressor or Convo reverb which chocked it. I didn't need them anyway. The spring reverb is really nice and what'd I'd want, but buried in the stompboxes. Wish they would have a little knob available on the controls for quick access to Fx send. 2. They should have a direct volume control to the Leslie preamp available in the main page controls to tweak overdrive on the fly. Better yet some user defined knobs. In the meantime, will have to assign them in Mainstage. 3. They need to allow saving controller preset configurations besides Hammond. For the controllers I typically use, I'll be making Nord, Novation, NanoKontrol, and Voce V5 (yup still use it ..) Would love to be able to easily save/select those. Better yet, I wish they had done those already. That's what user forums are for, which I guess I'll be contributing. 4. Mainstage or most controllers can easily do splits for lower/upper manual- but I wish IK would do like the Logic Organ and make that option available as part of a preset for ease of use. For those running stand-alone this is essential. Of course, this is all subjective. This served a specific need for me. For the average club/corporate/wedding gig, I'll probably stick with my Nord. But planning on using this in my concert/artist/pit-band rig and for session work. I'll let you know if the honeymoon is over. Cheers.

David, thank you for the reply.. I had a very early model of the on-stage Z stand and that particular one did not fold down. I should perhaps give it another go- I too foolishly gave away my Invisible stand!.... and also got rid of my A-frame stands too. Lesson learned: never get rid of anything!!

Thanks MOI!

I'm on a search for a double keyboard stand for some upcoming shows that lets you keep the top keyboard close as possible to the bottom- playing seated. I hate X stands- they always seem to make the distance between the top and bottom levels too high and never been fond of the the look. I've used some great 2 tier Z stands but they take too much time to setup. I have an Ultimate Support V-stand that looks great- but it's 2nd tier makes me nervous with dainty connectors and a heavier keyboard on top. Also have my trusty Apex column used for standing gigs, but alway feels weird using it sitting down. First world problems, I know. Saw this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004THB8OW/ref=s9_acsd_topr_hd_bw_bXEHm7_cr_x__w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=81PVMYA20SA5ABGZZ4AR&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=c889d048-0eaf-5f4b-a43b-6b31076adc94&pf_rd_i=491024011 Looks like it might fit the bill. Figured I'd roll the dice, since it can be returned. Was hoping someone might share thier experience with it.? Thanks in advance for any thoughts on it, or anything else you might recommend!! In the process of having an upright shell built, but won't be ready for first leg of shows. ( Yamaha p255 on bottom, and Nord NE3 stage on top). Thanks!