Ik Hammond B3X is $39.00

[obxa]

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/?item_id=15537

 

For  PC/MAC

[rogs]

Couple this up with an old Yamaha HC2 organ as a MIDI controller (usually one or two to be found on Ebay, at around £50 or less) and you'd have a pretty good Hammnond M.100 type 'clone' for less than £100.... not bad!  

[ElmerJFudd]

The only time of year to grab these things.

[MartinLeo]

Question for Nord users: is the IK B3 better than the Nord’s B3 emulation?

 

Thanks in advance and happy new year to everyone. 

[drawback]

53 minutes ago, MartinLeo said:

Question for Nord users: is the IK B3 better than the Nord’s B3 emulation?

 

Thanks in advance and happy new year to everyone. 

It is, beginning with the core tonewheel samples and ending with the very editable Leslie & amp sims. 

[obxa]

2 hours ago, MartinLeo said:

Question for Nord users: is the IK B3 better than the Nord’s B3 emulation?

I think so too, but that's only if you feel comfortable using it live.  I only use it in the studio.  Control it with retired Electro 2 or Voce V5 with everything mapped.   

For gigs - even though IK sounds a bit better,  I prefer hardware.   (Crumar Classic, Nord Electro 6/Stage2ex, or YC ). 

[Red Ranger]

I managed to resist all the Black Friday and holiday sales... up until now. They got me on this one! I already have the ipad version for live use, but this will make recording at home so much easier. What a price. 

[synthdogg]

Ugh! I'm trying to purchase this, but IK is making me register first and then I'm not receiving the confirmation email. Crap

[bjosko]

I Got The purchase through, then nothing 

[Stokely]

3 hours ago, drawback said:

It is, beginning with the core tonewheel samples and ending with the very editable Leslie & amp sims. 

Yeah you have a ton more options, from stompboxes to various amps and cabs.   I think it sounds fantastic, better than any keyboard I've tried, though for whatever reason the high end seemed a lot more prevalent (for better or worse).  Thinking back, it could have been compression, since when I engage compression on the Nord stage 3 it gets a lot more in-your-face up top.  I think my main b3x patch might have had limiting or compression engaged.

One thing you might find a bit jarring is that the leslie gain increases a volume by a ton vs a "drive" control that you might find on most keyboards.  The Nord gain does increase volume but it's not nearly as drastic.   I used leslie gain more as a volume control than drive, since it would have volume 0 when all the way down (not the case on the Nord.)

I have b3x on ipad so if I got this it would be more for convenience (not having to hook up the ipad to the computer).  Also, I'm pretty happy with the Logic organ and don't really use it all that much at home in any case, so I might pass even though this is a great deal.

[LarsHarner2]

I think its my favorite of the Organ plug ins i have. With Arturia B3  2nd, and then Native Instruments followed by UVI

[Baldwin Funster]

I don't know, maybe if it was $38.00...

 

I have it on 3 ipads and use it in and around AUM. I don't need it on Windows where all my usual plugins won't work. And even if I start using my win computer as a DAW again, im sure I could find a way to port the digital signal into the DAW. And if I have to go analog in, well I turn the click and leakage up in b3x so a little analog noise will just be that much more real.

 

Those of you that don't yet have B3x, you better peel rubber and get it at this price. 

[UnderGroundGr]

I was happy back in June 2023 when I bought it for 80 euros...🤣

[jason88]

Thanks for the heads-up! Gonna get it, just waiting patiently for the account confirmation email to someday arrive...

[Pianoman JC]

I am also waiting for the confirmation email. I have the iPad version but at this price I’m gonna have to pickup the computer version.

 

 

JC

[davinwv]

I just recommended this to a mentee of mine - a steal at this price!

 

B-3X and UA Waterfall are all I use for B3 now. I usually bring them both into a project to decide which one sits in the mix better.

[RABid]

I grabbed it for this price. Too bad they don't accept Jam Points for this deal.

 

Edit - Install was quick and easy. I already had an account but had not installed their new manager software. It went on easy. I had to register the purchase as it does not automatically recognize purchases. After that install was quick and easy.

[obxa]

2 hours ago, Stokely said:

Also, I'm pretty happy with the Logic organ

For the times needed for live use, I've had much  better luck using the Logic organ with Christian Matthew Cullen's preset pack as basis for presets..    https://soundsfamous.gumroad.com/l/VORC.  Less CPU overhead and actually sounds great.   Have used it at home when just needing  scratch organ track.

There are some other Logic vintage organ floating packs floating around too.   Also like the thing the Logic organ does with Modwheel doing drawbar shapes.

 

  But still think the IK sounds best.   Have never tried the Ipad version.   I wish they'd let you save your controller mappings as presets-they only allow one, and it was a little less of a memory hog.      Regardless, for this price it's a no-brainer if you don't have a B3 plug for your DAW.

32 minutes ago, davinwv said:

UA Waterfall

Been meaning to demo this, UA is having the last of their big sale too.  I'm curious if it uses less resources than the IK?

[Pianoman JC]

 

1 hour ago, RABid said:

I grabbed it for this price. Too bad they don't accept Jam Points for this deal.

 

Edit - Install was quick and easy. I already had an account but had not installed their new manager software. It went on easy. I had to register the purchase as it does not automatically recognize purchases. After that install was quick and easy.

I already had an account too but forgot my password. When I try to reset it, I don't get a password reset email.

Does anybody know how long it's on sale?

 

 

JC

[jason88]

My confirmation email hasn't arrived after a couple hours, looks like they might be having site issues. Meh.

[davinwv]

54 minutes ago, obxa said:

55 minutes ago, obxa said:

Been meaning to demo this, UA is having the last of their big sale too.  I'm curious if it uses less resources than the IK?

 

It is much less resource hungry than B-3X, but also less tweakable in some ways, but not in others.

 

I think that I have shared some detailed thoughts on this elsewhere on the forum and on the VI-CONTROL forum.

 

I have, use, and like both for different things. I would definitely demo Waterfall if you like B-3X.

[John Tweed]

Their website is definitely acting up. I had a lot of trouble with the password reset page untilI realised that it was not showing me the full verification code - it’s 6 letters but on the iPad I could only see the first 5!

 

Now I’m waiting for their response.

 

in the meantime I’ve gone a little cold on the idea of the purchase. My current organ rig is a Yammy CK61 with Vb3m on my iPhone. I can run a lean mean rig this way. I plan to use B3X on the ipad eventually, but need a better mount for it. Not really sure what I would use the Mac version for, since I’m not bothering with much home recording these days, and if I did I could get perfectly acceptable results with the iPad version.

 

 

 

 

[David R]

Also waiting for the account confirmation email. I use the Logic B3 primarily; the rebuilt Arturia B3v2 is alright as well, but for this price I’m looking forward to another solid option in the rotation.

[Baldwin Funster]

I think you guys broke the IK website. 

[Pianoman JC]

IK website is working.😀

 

 

JC

[Stokely]

19 hours ago, obxa said:

For the times needed for live use, I've had much  better luck using the Logic organ with Christian Matthew Cullen's preset pack as basis for presets..    https://soundsfamous.gumroad.com/l/VORC.  Less CPU overhead and actually sounds great.   Have used it at home when just needing  scratch organ track.

There are some other Logic vintage organ floating packs floating around too.   Also like the thing the Logic organ does with Modwheel doing drawbar shapes.

 

  But still think the IK sounds best.   Have never tried the Ipad version.   I wish they'd let you save your controller mappings as presets-they only allow one, and it was a little less of a memory hog.      Regardless, for this price it's a no-brainer if you don't have a B3 plug for your DAW.

Been meaning to demo this, UA is having the last of their big sale too.  I'm curious if it uses less resources than the IK?

Thanks I'll check that out.  I never even considered that there might be presets out there for Logic's organ   

I really love the modwheel thing and have wished for that on keyboards.  What we are referring to is that Logic kind of "macros" the modwheel to raise up various drawbars as you sweep from 0 to 127.  Offhand, I think I recall that you can set the starting bars' positions and the ending positions per patch (?)  It's been a while since I used the organ plugin.   So very handy for a quick general change in tone.  Presumably you could map it from a foot controller though I don't use one at home.

I do also agree the IK has it beat notably in the overdrive, though I haven't ever played an overdriven real b3/leslie so grain of salt on that opinion  

[EscapeRocks]

20 hours ago, obxa said:

For the times needed for live use, I've had much  better luck using the Logic organ with Christian Matthew Cullen's preset pack as basis for presets..    https://soundsfamous.gumroad.com/l/VORC.  Less CPU overhead and actually sounds great.  

 

 

50 minutes ago, Stokely said:

Thanks I'll check that out.  I never even considered that there might be presets out there for Logic's organ   

 

 

I have the iK B3X.   Love it.  I will use it live when it's the only thing I'm playing.

For live use in the band, I use the CMC preset pack.   It is wonderful within my band setting.    He does some really good work with Mainstage/Logic sounds

[obxa]

1 hour ago, EscapeRocks said:

He does some really good work with Mainstage/Logic sounds

I've got no direct  connection to him, I think he was the main Hammond rep before our friend  Jim Alfredson got involved?   But have always tried to talk it up- he's currently selling it for $15.00.  I've used his settings as starting point to tweak,. Though he suggests Soundtoys Decap , any Saturation freebie (Slate Heat, Hornet etc.) will work nicely..   One thing the Logic organ does is allow saving several controller mappings, and comes with many already made such as Nord, Roland etc.- so really easy to get working.  

 

Glad to hear IK's site is back online.  

 

Happy New year everyone! 

[U.Honey]

On 12/31/2023 at 6:36 AM, MartinLeo said:

Question for Nord users: is the IK B3 better than the Nord’s B3 emulation?

 

Thanks in advance and happy new year to everyone. 

I just played a gig using Nord Stage 3 and B3X. The B3X does sound really good and I'd say better than Nord. The chorus/vibrato is more usable and to me and the Leslie sounded better too. I had mapped all the Nord's organ controls to B3X and mostly they worked fine but not without mishaps. The organ sound kept changing mystically and it took me a while to figure out that when I did a palm sweep I actually ended up sweeping the black preset keys of the B3X which resulted with "interesting" sounds. I hope there's a way to disable the black preset keys in the B3X. I will definitely use it again but really the sound is just one aspect of things when using a software Hammond, the other aspect is the controls. I would recommend setting things up carefully before the gig to avoid comical palm sweeps and other surprises.

[Macsaint777]

1 hour ago, U.Honey said:

I just played a gig using Nord Stage 3 and B3X. The B3X does sound really good and I'd say better than Nord. The chorus/vibrato is more usable and to me and the Leslie sounded better too. I had mapped all the Nord's organ controls to B3X and mostly they worked fine but not without mishaps. The organ sound kept changing mystically and it took me a while to figure out that when I did a palm sweep I actually ended up sweeping the black preset keys of the B3X which resulted with "interesting" sounds. I hope there's a way to disable the black preset keys in the B3X. I will definitely use it again but really the sound is just one aspect of things when using a software Hammond, the other aspect is the controls. I would recommend setting things up carefully before the gig to avoid comical palm sweeps and other surprises.

Turn the split on inside B3-X and assign where your split happens. Had to do the same on a YC88, and that resolved the triggering of the preset keys.