Hammond XK3c + Neo Ventilator VS. XK3c + VB3 on my Mac

[ewall08530]

another +1 on Nord Electro 2 thru the Vent. The biggest improvement for me was how good th Electro organ sounds with the Chorus/Vib off. The internal leslie sim always suffered with the organ sound flat but its a joy to play now. Love the overdrive on the Vent too. mmmmm

 

ewall.biz

[1000öl]

http://www.bgmi.it/?a=showproduct&b=1

 

Fancy VB3? Check out this baby!

[Gary75]

Interesting first post....spot the rep.

[Gary75]

Actually, Hamichord has the most authentic interface, although personally you can either play em or not, adapting to any interface is all part of being a good musician.

[Jim Alfredson]

Hamichord does has the most authentic interface. My concern is, to my knowledge, there are no advance MIDI capabilities for driving external gear (multiple zones, keymapping, etc), something which I do with my XK System.

 

After playing my XK3 System for four years now, I would change a few things:

 

1) Better percussion. The percussion in the VB3 is spot on: That nice, tube saturated woodiness. I would to see more options for the tone of the percussion, too and the ability to dial in some grit (ala Big John Patton's "Dirty Fingers").

 

2) Better chorus/vibrato. Again, VB3 sounds great in that regard.

 

3) Splittable chorus/vibrato. Obviously this is in the XK3c. One of these days I'll upgrade.

 

4) More MIDI control, like the ability to assign external zones to the lower manual and pedals. Again, this is in the XK3c.

 

5) More robust connections. The connector that attaches the expression pedal to the bass pedals is ridiculously cheap and not road-worthy at all. I used to take the expression pedal off after every gig, but within the first month of owning the system, I pulled a wire out of the cheap ribbon cable connector in the pedals. Ever since then, I leave the expression pedal attached, which means it's gotten slammed into door jams, smashed against concrete when helpers have not adequately balanced the bass pedals after moving, and every other kind of mishap you can imagine. Now my expression pedal is looking really bad and they are very expensive.

 

In short, Hammond should use a road-worthy connector.

 

6) Multiple 11pin outputs. There's no reason why there can't be two 11pin outputs on the back, plus a dedicated bass output with it's own volume control (the 3300 has one, it would be easy to do on the keyboard itself) AND a dedicated reverb output, so you could send the reverb signal to a stationary speaker. I like the reverb effects in the XK3, but putting reverb through a Leslie sounds goofy, imo.

 

7) A dedicated, assignable MIDI input.

 

 

[WheelHead]

http://www.bgmi.it/?a=showproduct&b=1

 

Fancy VB3? Check out this baby!

 

Recent release Hamichord runs on the VB3-2 not VB3. In my view the VB3-2, to my ears (subjective) sounds like a significant improvement. I run an earlier build of it on the Hamichord. The first release Hamichord will not run the VB3-2 recent build. Requires too much bandwidth . . and that goes I would think for other low bandwidth devices, I would think in many cases, that previously, successfully ran the VB3. Supposedly a version of the recent build of VB3-2 for early HC vintages may have a menu to cut down CPU requirements as the rotor spin if you use the Ventilator that should work. . or . . the unit can be easily upgraded with a new ITX size board BUT would require a Windows Embedded image from Italy until the retail version of VB3-2 is released that will run on any board.

 

W

[1000öl]

First, I'm a swede and my english is a bit off... I am currently playing a poor mans hammond. I have VB3 installed on a v-machine which I bought used for little money, a Korg nanokontrol as drawbars and an old Yamaha HE6 organ from -89. Incredibly good keyboard on the organ but only 49 keys on each manual, 20 pedals and an really good swellpedal. I am bying myself a real organ in the near future but the problems is that in northern sweden there is no way tryin out different organs. I have read your opinions on the xk3 and I would like to know about the keybed. Comparison against the Fatar keyboard would be interesting. I've played the Nord C1 and the electros, the Hamichord use the same board. Has anyone played the Keyb duo??

 

Thanks!

 

R

[Gary75]

The KeyB uses a Fatar action I believe. A friend of mine also had a KeyB Duo, his action is a bit lighter than mine, maybe more wear or just slight differences, nothing more than the difference between my C3 and A100.

 

I have a chance to try the new Hamichord with VB2 in the next week. Unfortunately I'm rough with cold so don't think it's gonna happen.

[mate stubb]

Well, get over your cold and keep that date! Your duty is to report back to us.

[analogman1]

Hey Everyone,

I've been gigging with VB3, on my MacbookPro. Never let me down!

I use an M-Audio Axiom keyboard, and I mapped all of the drawbars, as well as Chorus and Percussion controls.

It behaves like the nicest "poor man's B3" for the money!

I'm eagerly awaiting the upgrade to VB3-2.

[Mitch Towne]

My biggest problem with using a software based B3 like the VB3 or B4, etc., is

the lack of a controller that really delivers an organ-like feel. For me, the main issue is the midi trigger level of most controllers. All of the major Clonewheels (Nord, Xk3, Numa) have controllers with very shallow trigger points that better imitate the triggering of a B3. To me, the lack of a quick triggering controller combined with the inherent latency (even with a fast computer) that comes with using software-based instruments, leads to a rather disconnected playing experience.

 

I know that Studiologic made the VMK-161 Org but very few people actually ever

saw one and the only person I have heard from who did play one had very poor things to say about it.

 

So, does anyone have any suggestions? What do those of you who go the software route with the VB3 use? With the eminent release of the VB3-2, I assume it will be more and more tempting to try to go the software route.

 

 

[mate stubb]

Build your own?

[Mitch Towne]

Ha, Mate! I leave that kind of thing to the truly insane!

[1000öl]

I've owned the Fatar vmk-161 organ, the biggest problem is the electronics. The buttons and sliders are horrible and doesn't respond every time when pressed. I have played several others of the vmk's and all of them have had this problem. I know that you can buy the hamichord without the expander but haven't seen a pricetag on it. It seems to be the best option for a vb3 controller.

[WWW]

I looked at the Hamichord MC3 online and it looks great...and only about 55 pounds! As per Jim Alfredson the new VB3 sounds excellent. Has anyone even seen one if these?

[1000öl]

Hi all. Have anyone tried playing the Neo Ventilator with the amp simulation off through a tube guitar amp? I've seen a couple of videos with guitar using this setup with 2 amps, but no organs.

 

/Rock

[analogholic]

When is VB3 MkII going to be released?

 

"Soon-ish" ?