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Hammond B-3X for IPad


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I'm pretty sure the Hammond+Leslie simulation in this app will sound better than my trusty old Electro 3, and I know the EPs in Neo Soul Keys Studio 2 are more authentic than anything available from Nord. However, for one reason or another, I've yet to really pursue with using the iPad as a tone generator - the Electro 3 "just works", there's no hassle...plug in and play. With that being said, I really love the idea of using a lightweight controller and an iPad for everything, so it's probably something to explore properly in 2020.

 

My beef is with the iOS needing to be v11.

 

Which iOS version are you using on your iPad? I dare say that if you're using a version older than iOS 11, your iPad probably isn't powerful enough to run B-3X and other recent apps without noticeable latency. My 1st gen iPad Air has served me incredibly well over the past few years, but is not supported by the new iPad OS, and not even mentioned on the compatibility page for B-3X, so it looks like it'll need to be replaced soon.

 

Cheers,

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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I'm pretty sure the Hammond+Leslie simulation in this app will sound better than my trusty old Electro 3, and I know the EPs in Neo Soul Keys Studio 2 are more authentic than anything available from Nord. However, for one reason or another, I've yet to really pursue with using the iPad as a tone generator - the Electro 3 "just works", there's no hassle...plug in and play. With that being said, I really love the idea of using a lightweight controller and an iPad for everything, so it's probably something to explore properly in 2020.

 

My beef is with the iOS needing to be v11.

 

Which iOS version are you using on your iPad? I dare say that if you're using a version older than iOS 11, your iPad probably isn't powerful enough to run B-3X and other recent apps without noticeable latency. My 1st gen iPad Air has served me incredibly well over the past few years, but is not supported by the new iPad OS, and not even mentioned on the compatibility page for B-3X, so it looks like it'll need to be replaced soon.

 

Cheers,

James

x

 

It's an ipad mini 4. With 64 bit. It's the last of the 10.3.3 iOS. I've read it can be updated. So I'm hoping it will run a few things so I can get my 4 Bill's out of it. Like I said , I have a beef with apple. Selling me a product then dumping support.

FunMachine.

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It's an ipad mini 4. With 64 bit. It's the last of the 10.3.3 iOS. I've read it can be updated.

 

Yes, according to Wikipedia the iPad Mini 4 can use iOS11...indeed, it can run the latest iPad OS.

 

Sorry, I guess I misinterpreted your post - I thought your objection to the app's iOS11 requirement was because you use an older device that cannot be updated to this OS.

 

Kind regards,

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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I think this is a good app for me. I like to carry around a Roland FA-07 that is light and easy to carry for rehearsals, jamming and knock around bar gigs. The organs don't really cut it on their own for me and I was looking to pick up a Mini Vent and using the sub out. I think this may be a better approach along with the new Neo Soul Keys, MIDI to my Korg Plug Key and I'd probably get a nice upgrade to the internal Roland sounds for a fraction of the cost of a Vent.

 

THIS guy! Many of us either start with a synth or get drawn into the synth arena because there are often solutions that address budgets, cartage and depth of capabiities at several levels. Only you can decide if you can play properly from one of the alternate angles. Some people could never live with anything but the real deal. I also recommend the same thing I do when I upgrade to a new Mac: get all of your instruments in order and updated. Add anything new you've been considering. Then lock it all down and use it in its most stable form until you have to upgrade. That seems to go double for iPads. Of course, I'm a heathen who is happy with Logic's B-3 surrogate, so I'm way down the food chain from someone who has a Leslie in the house.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Dockeys, if you already have it, Korg Module Pro could make for a fair alternative. Now that I think about it, I"m sure that I must have paid £60 or £70 for that along with all the iap"s and upgrades over the years, but there"s a lot more in there than there than is in the Hammond offering!
Occasionally, do something nice for a total stranger. They'll wonder what the hell is going on!
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I've somehow completely ignored computer-based instruments, but have fully embraced iOS and implement iPad noises at nearly every performance. My 128 GB device is full nearly twice over so I must delete and/or offload apps to make room for anything new. Like AnotherScott, I still prefer hardware, but it is just so dern convenient to have thousands of sounds & effects, hundreds of synths, a plethora of pianos and organs, and several DAW's and recording platforms, all in this tiny portable device. It just blows my mind!

 

Anyhow, I simply do not utilize Galileo II enough to justify this pricey upgrade. However the release has prompted more exploration with the organ emulations already owned to see if perhaps I really DO need this one. Hmmm, maybe if it goes on sale and I find 2 GB of apps to easily part with...

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Saw a great vid recently comparing the cheapest alto sax you can get on Amazon vs. one $4.5k (which these days plays surprisingly well compared to 10 years or more ago).

It's always subjective to the user, their expectations, their needs, their budget.

 

Poor analogy.

 

As a music teacher and a sax player I can speak to this comparison: yes, out of the box, a $249 sax plays "surprisingly well" in the hands of a pro. However, it will VERY QUICKLY break down - cheap design, cheap parts, cheap construction - and then nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will touch it to fix it for you. They don't want to be responsible for repairs that won't ever fix a poorly-designed instrument.

See also: "Polishing a turd."

Muzikteechur is Lonnie, in Kittery, Maine.

 

HS music teacher: Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band, Chorus, Music Theory, AP Music Theory, History of Rock, Musical Theatre, Piano, Guitar, Drama.

 

 

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Saw a great vid recently comparing the cheapest alto sax you can get on Amazon vs. one $4.5k (which these days plays surprisingly well compared to 10 years or more ago).

It's always subjective to the user, their expectations, their needs, their budget.

 

Poor analogy.

 

As a music teacher and a sax player I can speak to this comparison: yes, out of the box, a $249 sax plays "surprisingly well" in the hands of a pro. However, it will VERY QUICKLY break down - cheap design, cheap parts, cheap construction - and then nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will touch it to fix it for you. They don't want to be responsible for repairs that won't ever fix a poorly-designed instrument.

See also: "Polishing a turd."

 

I agree with this. The up front investment is little on these models, but repair and maintenance is complicated and expensive. I don't point students toward these instruments, they just show up regardless of any advice given.

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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With $4.5k you can get 18 of the $249 ones. Do you think it will break 18 times? In many cases that $250 is all the family can afford. I would rather a student play a cheap instrument than no instrument. I wanted to play sax in High School, I ended up with a set of drumsticks instead. I now own a guitar that cost more than $4.5k. I ain't taking to gigs at "Bob's Country Bunker" when a $500 Epiphone will do. In the 1990's I bought a $300 dollar violin for my daughter. My daughter and my niece used that violin for 6 years! And now my granddaughter has it. I watched her play a solo last night in the Christmas concert.

 

I don't know about saxophones, but my friend still has and plays her flute from High School in the 70's and it wasn't very expensive. I don't think an instrument has to be expensive to be worthwhile.

I do know that a lot of junk gets dumped on our shores via Amazon.

 

Boards: Kurzweil SP-6, Roland FA-08, VR-09, DeepMind 12

Modules: Korg Radias, Roland D-05, Bk7-m & Sonic Cell

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Dockeys, if you already have it, Korg Module Pro could make for a fair alternative. Now that I think about it, I"m sure that I must have paid £60 or £70 for that along with all the iap"s and upgrades over the years, but there"s a lot more in there than there than is in the Hammond offering!

 

Cheers for the suggestion six string. I don"t have the module pro. Looked at pulling the trigger a few times. Especially when they came out with the triton pack but just never got it. Though I do have the M1 app which is nice, maybe more so in a nostalgic way. Still I can see how the Korg apps can quickly eat into your change.

 

Maybe Santa will bring me the B-3X?

 

Yamaha MODX8, Legend Live.
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Anyone got this up and running with Viscount or Nord?

 

I can get the Viscount to work but only when it's internal sounds are active. The drawbars seem to work too. When I set the Viscount to "cancel" mode, it turns off it's internal sounds, and can still play the notes of bx-3 but can no longer control the drawbars.

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I'm all in on this one. Comparing my B3/122's to my iPad mini/Yamaha mixer setup.

 

[video:youtube]

 

State of the art is good.

 

 

Jake

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1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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Very nice, thanks for putting that together lightbg. This product will solidly remain in contention should I ever consider a keyboard that needs a Hammond upgrade (e.g., Yamaha).

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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No one has mentioned whether this is a resource hog or not. Would this be usable with other apps in use? Could you use this with the Ravenscroft piano?

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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I think it's a moot point, based on the amplification Jake was using. I would certainly agree with you had Jake summed the iPad audio to mono, bypassed the app's internal Leslie, and sent the signal via tube pre-amp to the Leslies. But without doing that, of course the two are very different, in favor of the B3/122s.

 

Dennis
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Good job, Jake! Sounds great!

 

In terms of 'presence', his camera is closer to the Leslies than the speaker through which he's running B-3X. So yeah, you're not going to get the same 'presence' when one source is several feet further away from you than the other. From where Jake was playing, the sound was probably a lot more similar.

 

I've been waiting for this for years. Now I can do fly-in dates and not have to carry my laptop / interface combo. I'll just have my iPad Mini and a MIDI cable. I can play a killer sounding B3 from any keyboard. Amazing times!

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I just got the iOS app as a gift and love the sound. I"m running on a 2016 iPad Pro and feel very comfortable using on a session along with the Ravenscroft iOS app for piano. Highly recommended! I maintain that $100 is little to pay with consideration to price vs. quality of KORG micro piano and Voce rack-mount I tortured audience members with in the 90s. Back then, $1700 for a rack (Triton, XV) that couldn"t produce a usable organ. This is money well-spent.

 

And yes, fly dates with an iPad and interface...easy...amazing!

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Good job, Jake! Sounds great!

 

In terms of 'presence', his camera is closer to the Leslies than the speaker through which he's running B-3X. So yeah, you're not going to get the same 'presence' when one source is several feet further away from you than the other. From where Jake was playing, the sound was probably a lot more similar.

 

I've been waiting for this for years. Now I can do fly-in dates and not have to carry my laptop / interface combo. I'll just have my iPad Mini and a MIDI cable. I can play a killer sounding B3 from any keyboard. Amazing times!

 

Thanks for the compliment, Jim. I don't have the polish or elegance you bring to reviews, but i was SO blown away by the sound of this app through a 15 year old PA that I couldn't stay calm doing this. The ability to hand carry that much power is awesome, indeed. This was straight, no chaser, out of the box settings. I know there are tons of adjustments available under the hood, but if I'm thisclose to the real deal it doesn't matter. I've spent a lifetime in front of those 122's and my hearing is way less than pristine, but in the room I honestly couldn't tell that much difference. Sure it's a crap keyboard compared to the Hammond, but as you stated ANY keyboard will make do if the sound is there.

 

Trust me, the sound is there........

 

Jake

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1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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I'm all in on this one. Comparing my B3/122's to my iPad mini/Yamaha mixer setup.

 

Wow, nice comparison Jake, many thanks for putting that together!

 

Very impressive sound, all things considered.

 

As you say, for $100 it's well worth it!

 

Looks like I'll need to bye a new iPad in January!

 

Cheers,

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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I updated my ipad mini4 to ios 13.3 and bought the app. Why? Cause it's a Hammond. Anything else is a clone. And it turns my otherwise unused ipad into something useful. I've had all the other rackmounted hammond units as well as a few other things like the voce v5. This is far less expensive and sounds at least useable if not great. The hammond xm units sucked compared to b3x. Anybody looking for a v5?

FunMachine.

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If you are worried about the price, try $159 in Australia. Nevertheless I think I"m going to get it. Up till now I"ve found Gallileo quite useful in some situations - it sounds better than the organs out of a CP4, for example - but I"m not exactly in love with it either. This will fit in nicely with my little organ family members, Legend Live and SK1.

Legend Live, Leslie 251/147, Yamaha UX1, CP4, CK61, Hammond SK1, Ventilator, Privia PX3, Behringer 2600, Korg Triton LE, various guitars and woodwinds, drum kits …

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