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Best Hammond B3?

FWIW, as much as I love the IK B3, the UAD is right up there IMO. I find the GUI more user-friendly and the presets are really good.

If it's the same price at UAD, you'll probably get a $25 thank you coupon for buying direct from them.
 
FWIW, as much as I love the IK B3, the UAD is right up there IMO. I find the GUI more user-friendly and the presets are really good.

If it's the same price at UAD, you'll probably get a $25 thank you coupon for buying direct from them.
It's $99 at UAD right now, sale and all.
 
For those who've used both UAD B3 and IK B-3X, which is the best one?

I've tried most of the B3 emulations now (except for UAD), and every time I go back to B-3X - it's the best one. There is still room for improvement, but the hammond tone, leslie and overdrive/distortion effects have still not been beaten by the competition afaik.
 
For those who've used both UAD B3 and IK B-3X, which is the best one?

I've tried most of the B3 emulations now (except for UAD), and every time I go back to B-3X - it's the best one. There is still room for improvement, but the hammond tone, leslie and overdrive/distortion effects have still not been beaten by the competition afaik.
I have and use both. For live gigs, I prefer B-3X due to the MIDI mapping being (slightly) more robust for real time tweaking.

For recording, I usually drop both B-3X and Waterfall into a project and play around with both. Upon doing that, it usually becomes apparent pretty quickly which one is the better choice for that specific song and sitting in the mix.

A few months ago, I did keyboard overdubs on a rootsy jam band album. The tracks with organ were spilt pretty evenly between B-3X and Waterfall in the end.
 
I will only add that those of you have encountered Hammond organs in the real world know that B3s, C3s, and the various Leslie speakers from different eras can all sound pretty different.

So there isn’t one “B3“ sound. The legendary Jimmy Smith actually played one that was somewhat broken and therefore sounds very different from Booker T and the MGs, which sounds pretty different frok the one of Felix Cavaliere with the Young Rascals.
 
Man, I used to own a C3 about 20 years ago and I have searched for a long time for something that would scratch that itch again. I just picked up Waterfall thanks to the posts in this thread, and it sounds FANTASTIC! I am very pleased with it (and I have the Arturia B3, Logic, and a few others. They're all decent, but I really dig the sound of this one.).

Edit - thanks @jehovahlicious for the sale link!
 
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I have and use both. For live gigs, I prefer B-3X due to the MIDI mapping being (slightly) more robust for real time tweaking.

For recording, I usually drop both B-3X and Waterfall into a project and play around with both. Upon doing that, it usually becomes apparent pretty quickly which one is the better choice for that specific song and sitting in the mix.

A few months ago, I did keyboard overdubs on a rootsy jam band album. The tracks with organ were spilt pretty evenly between B-3X and Waterfall in the end.
Thanks! Overall, I'm happy with the B-3X, and it sounds fairly authentic. I'll have to check out Waterfall sometime, though.
 
I really like both IK M and UAD and which one I use depends on what I am looking for. The Waterfall is more light on the cpu. I believe you can download and demo it from uadio.com
 
BTW Sweetwater has the UAD Waterfall B3 for $99 like every other place but they include a UAD Tektronix Leveler Plug-in. Plus if you have a Sweetwater card it's like $3/ month.
 
I really like both IK M and UAD and which one I use depends on what I am looking for. The Waterfall is more light on the cpu. I believe you can download and demo it from uadio.com
It’s the same with me. Depends on the song. I like both. And still some love for the VB3…
My father was always looking for the holy grail. For THE Hammond sound. Only difference, he did so with real instruments. And was never quite satisfied… ;)
 
I think the most realistic ones right now are:

IK Multimedia
GSi-VB II
Adam Monroe's Rotary Organ (My plugin)
Logic Vintage B3

As someone who spent months trying to program and simulate a realistic Leslie, I don't really like how the Leslie sims in the Arturia B3, DB33, or GG Audio Blue 3 come across. The other's plugins are decent enough. However, the Arturia plugin does gets some of the percussive squeal right.

IK Multimedia is good, I'm just not sure if it's worth $300 bucks. At $100 it would be great.

IMO, no company has completely nailed the Leslie simulation 100% - it's a hard thing to simulate - but some have come close.

8Dio sounds fine, but it seems to be impossible to control the Leslie via MIDI. Acoustic Samples B5 is also a great option if you want more of a vintage/warm sound.

My Shootout video with all the major B3 Plugins:


My B3 Blog:
https://adammonroemusic.com/blog/best_organ_vst_2020.html

My Organ:
https://adammonroemusic.com/organ-vst/am-organ-vst-plugin.html

That's a lot of B3s! Thanks for this. Very helpful.
 
I still use the old NI Vintage organs. It's one of those instruments where it sounds wrong if the sound is too defined and hifi. I also liked my old Kore 2 organs.
 
I think the most realistic ones right now are:

IK Multimedia
GSi-VB II
Adam Monroe's Rotary Organ (My plugin)
Logic Vintage B3
Happy to see Logic's Vintage B3 mentioned.

Although I use the IK B3 within DP in the studio, my live rig is built around MainStage, which includes the Logic version of our favorite organ, and I have found Vintage B3 to be very serviceable. At shows, I get a lot of compliments on its sound. If you are running Logic in the studio, don't overlook Vintage B3; it's free!
 
Happy to see Logic's Vintage B3 mentioned.

Although I use the IK B3 within DP in the studio, my live rig is built around MainStage, which includes the Logic version of our favorite organ, and I have found Vintage B3 to be very serviceable. At shows, I get a lot of compliments on its sound. If you are running Logic in the studio, don't overlook Vintage B3; it's free!
About the Vintage Organ, I will share a story.

CJ Vanston is an amazing keyboard player and composer, who has too many credits to list. On one occasion, he was playing with Spinal Tap and they were opening for Yes.

He was playing the Vintage B3 through MainStage from a keyboard controller and during a sound check, Rick Wakeman of Yes was looking around frantically for the B3. When he saw what CJ was playing, he almost lost his s^&t :)
 
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Thanks for the tip on the UAD Waterfall. My go to is VB3, Waterfall is the only one I've tried that does some things better. Good to have multiple options!
 
VB3 was my main touring organ for years until Mainstage was 64-bit only and VB3 wasn't. I ran it using 32 Lives for a while, but eventually dropped it in favour of a Nord Electro (which I was using as a controller as well).

I just tried the new VB3-II 2023 edition. The organ sounds incredible, but the Leslie effect seems to have taken a step backwards for me. There was a realism in the way the cabinet was emulated that I'm not hearing anymore. I'm not sure if I'm misremembering how it used to sound (possible) or if I just need to spend more time with it.
 
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