IK Multimedia - Hammond B-3X

The first real Hammond organ for Mac/PC

Hammond B-3X is the next-level organ virtual instrument that delivers an unprecedented new degree of realism and detail to give musicians full immersion into the electro-mechanical Hammond organ experience with all its soul, passion and vibe. Created in close collaboration with both the Hammond Organ Company, of Chicago, Illinois, and Suzuki Musical Instruments Mfg. of Hamamatsu, Japan, the Hammond B-3X instrument captures the authentic sound and vibe of the legendary Hammond B-3, with a comprehensive, wholistic approach. The end result delivers the full sonic impact that this legendary organ has made on generations of musicians and modern music as we know it.

IK has combined this groundbreaking sound with a full rig FX chain including stomp effects, a full Leslie™ rotary cabinet with multiple microphones, a variety of mix-and-match power amp and cabinet models, a parallel guitar amp with 4x12 cabinet, a full mixer and even post-mixer effects, to completely recreate the entire signal path and character of these instruments, as used across the history of modern music.

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It’s unbelievable. It’s just like I’m sitting at the B-3. It reacts just like the original does. It’s dynamite.

Dr. Lonnie Smith

It’s all about the details

In true IK style, Hammond B-3X approaches the instrument the way the original hardware organ works. B-3X starts with 91 free-running tonewheels, based on several meticulously-maintained Hammond organs, and mixes those in real-time based on the note and the drawbar levels for absolute realism.

IK’s industry-leading modeling then faithfully recreates tonal filtering, independent key click, and the iconic Hammond percussion and chorus-vibrato circuits to recreate the massive, organic feel of the real instrument. All the settings, controls and circuits were modeled to IK’s exacting standards and every detail checked and re-checked with the team at the Hammond Organ Company.

You can even simulate the effects of “aging” components, controlling tonal balance, generator leakage and crosstalk, and even the presence boost of the chorus circuit. See how deep it goes.

True tone and real feel

The controls of Hammond B-3X are designed to recreate the exact experience of playing a classic hardware B-3 organ, but with a bit of modern convenience. Every element, from the order of chorus/vibrato settings to the placement of the percussion switches, is exactly how it should be. The drawbars even update in real-time when you select the inverted drawbar settings keys, allowing you the ability to also save 24 custom drawbar settings per preset. For live use, a “Controls” view hides the keyboard and enlarges the drawbars and switches for less distraction while playing. And there’s even included MIDI assignments for modern Hammond digital organs, making it plug-and-play easy to perform with everything right at your fingertips.

Classic organ effects

The organ feeds a 5-unit pedalboard in the STOMPS section with overdrive, graphic EQ, stomp box-style chorus-vibrato, wah wah and spring reverb. Derived from IK’s award-winning AmpliTube and T-RackS software, these effects are carefully chosen and arranged to make it easy to recreate the widest range of iconic tonewheel organ sounds, and can be assigned
to MIDI control for on-stage use.

Real Leslie® sound

The signal is then sent to a CABS section with your choice of real Leslie amps and speakers that can be mixed and matched along with a parallel guitar amp and 4x12 cabinet. Using the technology derived from IK’s award-winning Leslie® Collection and amplifier modeling from AmpliTube 4, the Hammond B-3X’s cabinet section offers a truly massive range of sound-shaping options.

Setup tab

Leslie amp 122

Leslie amp 122A

Leslie amp 147

Leslie amp 3300W

Leslie amp STUDIO 12

Leslie EQ

Guitar Amp British Lead

Guitar Amp HIAMP

Mixer

Setup

The Setup tab lets you fine tune the slow and fast speed settings of the Leslie, including acceleration and deceleration, and adjust the mic distance and miking configuration, recreating the two most common microphone arrangements.

Leslie Amp

Here you can choose from 5 different Leslie power amps (or no power amp modeling) and two guitar power amps to use in the Leslie cabinet with full control over gain, EQ and volume. You can also independently choose between 5 Leslie cabinet models.

Leslie EQ

Shape the sound of the rotary speaker with high-pass, low-pass, and parametric mid EQ.

Guitar Amp

For more typical rock tones, add the parallel guitar amp into the mix. Choose from two models derived from AmpliTube, based on the amps most often used by top rock and blues players, with full tone-shaping controls and spring reverb.

Mixer

A convenient mixer lets you blend the sound of the Leslie, with independent volume and panning of both horn and drum mics, the parallel guitar amp and DI organ sound for unprecedented tonal flexibility.

Add the finishing touches

Lastly, Hammond B-3X offers 3 rackmount studio effects derived from T-RackS to add a final, professional sheen to your tone.

IK’s Limiter 76 FET-based compressor offers an iconic, timeless sound, the EQ-81 adds classic console tone-shaping and warmth, and a digital reverb adds a pristine sense of space to your tone.

No other digital organ offers such a complete vision of the legendary Hammond organ from the initial sound generation all the way through the complete effects path with fine, detailed control all along the way. This combined with our authentic “Hammond” branding makes Hammond B-3X a truly next-level virtual instrument.

Features

The first official Hammond B-3 virtual instrument, designed in cooperation with Hammond Organ Company
Advanced organ editing: tonewheel model selection, generator leakage, key click, tonal balance, percussion and chorus
24 custom drawbar settings available within each preset
Official Leslie speaker with 7 amps and 5 cabinets to mix and match
Parallel guitar amp section with 2 amp models and 4x12 cabinet
5-effect stompbox pedalboard for ultra-flexible tonal shaping
3-effect studio post FX section for final polish and mastering

Zoomed-in controls view for live or session use
MIDI program change preset assignments
Assignable MIDI continuous controllers for use with external controllers
Works as a multi-platform plug-in and as a standalone application
Supported plug-in formats: AAX, VST 2, VST 3, and Audio Units

Also included in

Total Studio 4 MAX

Realism

To recreate the sound of an iconic instrument like the Hammond B-3 organ, our IK team knew we’d need to go the extra mile. The first step was working directly with the Hammond Organ Company and Sukuzi Musical Instruments to tap into their decades of product knowledge and history. The privilege of working directly with these great companies made a tremendous difference.

Second, we sought out multiple, meticulously maintained original Hammond hardware instruments to use as the source of the sound. We carefully chose from a range of units well-known for their performance in genres from jazz to blues to R&B and rock, and we made sure all measurements were long enough to include the inherent FM and generator leakage that gives each unit its character. You can switch between these various tonewheel models in the Advanced panel as well as access additional controls to fine-tune the sound to your exact preferences.

There are 4 different Elements to the B-3X sound:

TONEWHEELS: we include selectable tonewheel sets of the 91 tone generators based on several different, specific Hammond organs. The 91 tonewheels all play constantly and simultaneously with the keys gating them and the drawbars setting the volume for each relevant note, just like the original hardware Hammond organs.

PERCUSSION: 2nd and 3rd harmonic percussion with both fast and slow decay times are generated using IK’s acclaimed physical modeling. These are selected using the familiar Hammond rocker switches on the ORGAN tab. There are additional trimming controls for Percussion Volume, Percussion Volume Compensation and Percussion Decay Time on the Advanced panel to let you customize your organ presets.

KEY CLICK: the note on and note off key click are generated via modeling, with independent control over the volume of the on click and the off click accessible on the Advanced Panel. The Advanced Panel also offers a Key Click Color control that brightens or darkens the key click tone. These controls become especially useful when dramatic spectral changes are introduced from the stomp boxes, Leslie, guitar amp and Post FX.

GENERATOR LEAKAGE: a certain amount of generator leakage is present in the tonewheel models. We use our dynamic modeling technology to lower and raise the natural Generator Leakage from its original level so you can set the leakage amount to taste for each preset.

EFFECTS: The Hammond organ itself includes our meticuluous model of the classic Hammond vibrato scanner for chorus-vibrato effects, carefully modulating the signal to create the vibrato and blending the modulated signal with the direct just like a real B-3 to create the chorus. And like the original Hammond B-3 hardware, the Hammond B-3X chorus-vibrato has three levels each for chorus and vibrato. The Advance panel adds both a chorus mix and controllable high-frequency boost to further shape the sound of the chorus to your precise taste for each preset.

All together, this attention to every detail results in a sound we feel proud to call “the first real Hammond organ for Mac/PC.”

Signal Chain

Beyond delivering just the most authentic Hammond B-3 organ sound possible, Hammond B-3X also provides the full signal chain to give you the deepest sound-shaping options. It’s a full suite of effects, cabinets and more, all drawn from the signal paths used to create the most iconic B-3 sounds of all time in a range of genres, styles and eras.

STOMPS Panel

Hammond B-3X has five dedicated stomp box effects on a pedalboard placed after the output of the organ. These are serial effects in a fixed order. The signal path is mono since the output of the stomp boxes feeds the Leslie cabinet which is naturally mono in and stereo out.

The five stomp boxes are:

OVERSCREAM (based on the Ibanez Tube Screamer)
GRAPHICS EQ (based on the API 560 graphic equalizer)
CHORUS (based on the Boss CE-1)
WAH WAH (includes both manual and auto-wah modes)
SPRING (the spring reverb effect includes an adjustable decay time)

CABS Panel

Hammond B-3X also includes a Cabinets section with a dual-amp parallel signal path.
The first path is the Leslie, which is an extended version of AmpliTube Leslie with user selectable amp and cabinet set on the first buttons of the Cabinet panel: Setup, Amp and EQ. The fourth button is called Guitar Amp which lets the user choose between the British Lead or Hi Amp and adjust the parallel amp parameters in the panel below. The fifth button in the CABS panel is the Mixer which is where all of the signals from the Cabinet section are mixed back into a stereo pair that is fed to the Post-FX section. From left to right, these controls are Horn L, Horn R, Drum L, Drum R, Leslie (master mix of the four Horn and Drum mic channels), Guitar Amp and D.I.

SETUP TAB

MIC DISTANCE: this control moves the microphones farther away from the horn and drum with higher values.

MIC SETUP: choose between 90˚ and 180˚ for the miking position. 90˚ is the most common, but 180˚ gives a wider and more prounounced spinning effect and can be suitable for more dramatic applications.

SLOW SPEED: this control sets the rate of the slow setting for the horn and the drum with a range of +/-20%.

FAST SPEED: this control sets the rate of the fast setting for the horn and the drum with a range of +/-20%.

ACCELERATION: use this control to change the rate at which the horn and the drum transition from the slow speed to the fast speed. The range of the control is 0.25X to 4X the standard speed of the Leslie motor.

DECELERATION: use this control to change the rate at which the horn and the drum transition from the fast speed to the slow speed. The range of the control is 0.25X to 4X the standard speed of the Leslie motor.

LESLIE AMP TAB

AMPLIFIER MODEL SELECTOR: choose a model of power amplifer for the Leslie cabinet. The amp does not have to match the cabinet – you can mix and match between different amps and cabinets. In addition to the 5 amps provides in AmpliTube Leslie, Hammond B-3X also offers the Brit Lead and Hi Amp in this section to be used as the amplifer for the rotating Leslie speaker. Note that this section is completely separate from the Guitar Amp, so for example, you can choose the Brit Lead to be the amplifer for the Leslie cabinet and then the Hi Amp to be the actual Guitar Amp with its own 4x12 cabinet that runs in parallel to the Leslie.

GAIN: set the amount of amplifer gain to overdrive the Leslie amplifier. Note that the levels you set on the Stomps tabs will affect the Gain control here. If you find that the sound is still too distorted even with the Gain at a very low value, check your settings on the Stomps tab and lower the levels there.

INPUT HPF: a high pass filter cuts low frequencies from the input of the Leslie amp up to 200Hz. This can be especially useful if you find the effect settings on the STOMPS tab are creating too much low frequency buildup.

LOW– MID – HIGH: 3-band equalizer with 12dB of boost / cut. This is like the EQ on a guitar amp, and it is separate from the “Leslie EQ” on the next panel which is more like a recording console EQ where you are processing the signal from the virtual microphones.

VOLUME: this is the master output volume for the Leslie cabinet. It is the same control as the “Leslie” knob on the mixer panel.

CABINET MODEL SELECTOR: choose a model of the actual Leslie cabinet to use independent of the amplifier.
The cabinet does not have to match the amp – you can mix and match between different amps and cabinets just like you can in the AmpliTube Leslie and T-RackS Leslie plug-ins.

LESLIE EQ TAB

The Leslie EQ tab has a 3-band console-style EQ that affects the miked sound. Imagine this as a bus EQ on all of your Leslie cabinet microphones. You can select the corner frequency and gain for the high and low shelving bands, and you can select the frequency, gain and bandwidth (Q) for the midrange. Note that this is a separate equalizer from the Leslie Amp EQ which is more like the EQ on a guitar amp.

GUITAR AMP TAB

B-3X has a dedicated guitar amp that runs in parallel with the Leslie. Select the model of guitar amp to use between Brit Lead (based on the Marshall Plexi S100) and Hi Amp (based on the Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103) and adjust its settings.

VOLUME: This is the master output level of the guitar amp. It is the same control as the “Guitar Amp” knob in the Mixer panel.

MIXER TAB

The last tab of the CABS section is the Mixer tab. Here you can adjust the level and panning of the four microphones on the Leslie cabinet. Then at the right, you can adjust the master output level of the Leslie mix, the Guitar Amp and the D.I. (direct organ signal). The D.I. is the monaural output from the Stomps section before the Leslie and Guitar Amp. Note that the Leslie and Guitar Amp knobs are the same controls as the “Volume” controls on the Leslie Amp and Guitar Amp panels. They are provided in both places for convenience.

POST FX Panel

The third effects block is the Post FX section that consists of a fixed stereo mastering chain including a FET limiter (based on the UREI 1176 FET Limiter), a console EQ (based on the Neve 1081 channel) and an algorithmic digital reverb. These are displayed as 3RU 19” rack effects in a fixed order.

Live Control

Hammond B-3X provides a CONTROLS panel on the ORGAN tab that is optimized for live performance and intense studio sessions. Here the keyboard and pedal manuals are hidden, and the drawbars, switches and other controls are enlarged to give them the focus.

The famous half-moon Leslie switch is front and center in this view so you can see and change the speed in a flash. The Expression pedal becomes a slider here at the upper right to act as a more conventional volume control for the organ output.

The drawbar settings are presented differently in this view as well. Since the usual inverted keys are hidden in this panel, the drawbar settings are represented here as buttons arranged in the shape of an octave of keys. Each button shows an icon representing its drawbar setting. The icon gets updated in real-time when the button is selected. So you get a quick overview of all 24 drawbar settings instantly available within each preset.

The CONTROLS view also gives you access to the MIDI Program Change panel where you can assign any Hammond B-3X preset to MIDI Program Change numbers 0 to 127. You can assign the same preset to multiple MIDI PC numbers to organize your live performance preset changes any way you want.

Click the gear icon to open the SETTINGS panel where you can set the MIDI channel for the 3 manuals and program change messages. Here you can also adjust the tuning, transpose and pitch bend settings as well as your Audio/MIDI assignments.

There is also a powerful MIDI Controllers sections where you can view and edit all assigned MIDI Continuous Controller assignments for the organ and effects. Below this is a drop-down menu with Hammond Profiles to let you select any of the current Hammond-Suzuki model series to have Hammond B-3X follow their specific MIDI commands. This works in parallel with the MIDI CC assignments, so you can use a Hammond-Suzuki keyboard along with an iRig Keys, Keys IO or third party controller to control the Hammond B-3X from both keyboards simultaneously.

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