Ik Hammond B3X is $39.00

[MartinLeo]

Thanks for the tip, I will try it for home as I don’t trust my Mac for live performance, maybe I’m an old fashioned man. 

[AnotherScott]

On 12/31/2023 at 9:36 AM, MartinLeo said:

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

 

These kinds of things always have some subjectivity to them, but I think virtually everyone would agree that B-3X (among other software solutions) sounds better than Nord's emulation (you certainly get a lot more tweakability to get it sounding just as you want it to). But some variables to consider... the Nords themselves don't all have identical clonewheel implementations; the Nord's internal sound will have zero latency; Nord has the benefit of high trigger for internal sounds, while most keyboards (including Nord's current models) do not offer that for triggering B3X.

 

 

9 hours 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.

8 hours ago, Macsaint777 said:

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. 

 

Good tip! You also might be able to accomplish that by employing a split on the keyboard itself, depending on the keyboard you're using. But really, IK should supply a straight-forward option themselves. Along with an option to specify different MIDI channels for upper and lower drawbars, since the current arrangement precludes a lot of 2-manual setups unless you do some kind of external remapping.

 

B-3X seems to be an example of an IK app that is quickly abandoned in terms of any further development. One of its initial selling points was that it was pre-mapped to a variety of Hammond clonewheels, which was useful to owners of Hammond boards since those boards have some quirky MIDI implementations (i.e. not using normal MIDI CCs for controlling percussion/CV, IIRC). But they have never updated the mapping for subsequent models (SK Pro and up).

[synthdogg]

Well, support finally fixed my registration issue so I went back to purchase B-3X and the price is now $130. Ugh.

[Baldwin Funster]

I hate to think IK shut down their website in order to avoid honoring that great price. I know at least 2 or 3 people here tried to get that deal and ran into issues that blocked completing the purchase.

I think it would be good CS to honor the sale price for people that tried and failed to buy b3x on that day and somehow could prove it.

[Red Ranger]

When I bought it that day, I didn't receive an email but I just went into my user account and it showed up in my products. The email finally arrived today but I didn't need it.

[jason88]

I was able to get the deal eventually but with some issues. I waited for almost a day for the new account registration email, and when it finally arrived it gave me an error message every time I clicked the link they send you in the email to activate your account. So, I tried signing up again using a new email and username combo and that seemed to do the trick. But it was down to the wire on the last day of the deal. Glad I got it, but it was a frustrating process indeed. Hope the can honor those few that reach out to them explaining their registration issues.

[obxa]

11 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

B-3X seems to be an example of an IK app that is quickly abandoned in terms of any further development. One of its initial selling points was that it was pre-mapped to a variety of Hammond clonewheels, which was useful to owners of Hammond boards since those boards have some quirky MIDI implementations (i.e. not using normal MIDI CCs for controlling percussion/CV, IIRC). But they have never updated the mapping for subsequent models (SK Pro and up)

That's an interesting point, and maybe why it's being discounted?   The  previous updates provided:  Jordan Rudess "Purple presets", and a few housekeeping things weren't anything many of us have been requesting.      Myself (and others on their user page) have  been hounding them  since V 1.0 to offer user mapping presets (and the ability to share them to the community)  for those who regularly use or encounter different controllers besides Hammond.       Even the lowly Logic organ does that, but I get  B3x is a Hammond centric product.    Also find it annoying they can't offer a simple drive knob on the front main interface page for ease of tweaking during live use like every other organ app does.   

 

All in all, I still like it.  I have found IK to be very good with customer service and eventually listening to feedback when it's loud enough- be it group buy, web issues, or bugs.

1 hour ago, Baldwin Funster said:

failed to buy b3x on that day and somehow could prove it.

Had a similar issue with Plugin Boutique a while back,  so I  took a screen shot to prove it. -Something I recommend always doing. They honored the sale price after the expire date.

[Baldwin Funster]

IK never has kept up with ILectric Piano. I think it's still Inter App Audio and has not been made useable as AUV3. That should have been done YEARS AGO. They don't have an offering in the EP dept besides this which seems like a glareing omission for a virtual instrument company. I suspect this is also the fate of B3x.

Maybe when an iOS update makes the app non-functional they will update it to be functional again but I suspect that will be a one time thing and will not include any improvements or added features. I hope I'm wrong. That Jordan Rudess update was a surprise.