Recomednation for authenic Hammond B3 Virtual Instrument

[TimWalter]

Wow Paulie I cant believe you went to all the efrfort. Very very appreciated. I will need to get into all you did another time, (probably later tonite), just had a quick moment to check in. Thanks so much again.
Tim

Also, Andy, thanks so much for yoru comments above... so very very helpful and illuminating. You radically changed the way I listen to B3 parts now...
Tim

[TimWalter]

Paulie
I just listened to the track multiple times. No doubt ALL your versions sound way more realiistic than mine, and some are more suitable than others... very educational. I did download your track and will tinker with it in my daw putting it in the track to see how it sounds.

Thanks again for taking your time.

Finally, this is the first time I noticed your really cool Yo Paulie Music. Im sure you;ve had it before, but I just never noticed it (sorry) very cool. i like it!

All the best.

[mojobone]

Yeah, basically there's nothing wrong with your Hammond; it's your technique. The knock on the Hammond is that it basically just produces a bunch of sine waves and in a relatively primitive manner; it needs a Leslie cab to really do its magic, and two Leslies? Even better! Most home recordists don't have access to an authentic Leslie cab; (I have a deco model in the garage, but it's been busted, since I got it) so essentially, your B3 sim is only as good as your Leslie sim, and beyond that, it's all in how you work it.

Another of the B3's quirks is that as with most electro-mechanical organs, there's no note velocity; what you get is a 'gas pedal', which affects all notes being played and has a high pivot point and a much wider range than most 'volume/expression' pedals, so one way to extract extra drama is to do swells, like a brass section. It's never a static volume, rather it's constantly ebbing and flowing like an accordion, in the right hands. Glissandi are very effective, (grace notes, too) especially in conjunction with those swells. The B3 is very touch-sensitive, because of the tubes, but the key to controlling distortion is to balance the gas pedal with the number of sustaining voices-often you'll have pedaled bass and chords in the left hand and a clean single-note melody, but if you harmonized that melody, it would distort. If you want more clean volume, you have to 'lean out' your voiceings, so often your left hand just plays 5 and 7, particularly if there's a bass player on the gig-you leave the pedals at home, in that case. You turn on percussion to get extra attack from single-note lines to get 'em to pop out-yet another quirk? The percussion is monophonic. Good Hammond players exploit that, too. Other Hammond trademarks are switching between the Leslie's chorale and tremolo mid-phrase and playing the drawbars-changing the registration on the fly.

BTW, for my money, PSP's L'otary is probably the best Leslie sim out there, and reasonably priced.

[Kolstad]

A hammond's leslie effect is basically vibrato+tremolo, which creates the doppler effect. So, maybe it could work if you just uploaded the samt vst on two different tracks, and experimented with doubling the doppler? Or run the hammond out into a guitar amp, then record it with a mic. Or added those effects itb and compressed it, so you'd get more of the effect. Or added vibrato+tremolo to the amp to enhance the effect.

justthrowingsomeideasoffthecuff

[Paulie]

Back to the tools you already have, the Logic Pro B-3 is what I used in my example, zero effects added. It is extremely flexible, the Leslie is automatically setup for each different patch, you use the sustain pedal to trigger it.

[andygabrys]

Back to the tools you already have, the Logic Pro B-3 is what I used in my example, zero effects added. It is extremely flexible, the Leslie is automatically setup for each different patch, you use the sustain pedal to trigger it.

Having both the NI and the Logic B3's I have to say they are both fairly close in customization options and they both sound "good" if different.

[mojobone]

A hammond's leslie effect is basically vibrato+tremolo, which creates the doppler effect. So, maybe it could work if you just uploaded the samt vst on two different tracks, and experimented with doubling the doppler? Or run the hammond out into a guitar amp, then record it with a mic. Or added those effects itb and compressed it, so you'd get more of the effect. Or added vibrato+tremolo to the amp to enhance the effect.

justthrowingsomeideasoffthecuff

The Hammond has two chorus variations and a scanner vibrato; these are separate from the Doppler and other effects created by the actual, physical rotating speakers in a Leslie cabinet, and quite frankly, in person, all simulations fail utterly. I have a friend who repairs church organs so I once got to hear a pair of ten foot tall Leslie cabinets. In aural terms, that was kinda like watching the Space Shuttle lift off. In a room, nothing beats the real thing, but in the box, you can just get kinda close; again, PSP's L'Otary is the best, most tweakable VST I've heard, and it's a hundred bucks. If you have to do it live, with hardware, I'd suggest a used Alesis Midiverb IV for about the same money; the Leslie sim is probably the reason they still make that thing after twenty-odd years in production. If money's no object, Motion Sound's Pro3-T has a real rotating horn and is relatively portable; if you have roadies, by all means, get a real one.

Of course, you don't need all that for broadcast quality, as Paulie has shown; a LOT of the characteristic sound is in how you work it.

[Russell Landwehr]

I don't have anything to add, 'cept I just wanna say that Paul knocked it outta da park with those quick examples.

Russell

[HenriettaAtkin]

Wish I could read all these posts, as Paul referring to Andy as his "Jedi Master" made me laugh, but.....

Just gotta say that I use the Logic X vintage organ, but it does need tweaking. I used it in a drone cue, and was not satisfied with the attack (too twangy). It doesn't have your usual envelope adjustor, but I did find a way to make the attack a lot softer -- and have forgotten what it was.

I just fiddle with all the knobs until something happens....very scientific

[andygabrys]

Wish I could read all these posts, as Paul referring to Andy as his "Jedi Master" made me laugh, but.....

Just gotta say that I use the Logic X vintage organ, but it does need tweaking. I used it in a drone cue, and was not satisfied with the attack (too twangy). It doesn't have your usual envelope adjustor, but I did find a way to make the attack a lot softer -- and have forgotten what it was.

I just fiddle with all the knobs until something happens....very scientific

The "enveloper" in Logic is a transient designer type plug in that works great for adding or softening attack or adding or subtracting sustain from a sound (works great to dry up ambient drum loops if that is what you want)