• Hi Guido when does the VB3 II come out?
• It's going out, it's going out.
• Hello Mr. Scognamiglio, can you tell me when the VB3 II comes out?
• It's going out, it's going out.
Il VB3 II (Fig.1) was already a legend, even before it came out!
Long announced, we have been looking forward to the new VB3 from GSi. Because?
Simply because the old VB3 it seemed perfect at the time and I believe it can still compete with other specific plug-ins on the instrument today! Consequently, what could a VB3 II have added to the product?
New dress, improved algorithm and samples or just a big marketing operation?
First impact with the VB3 II
The first impact of playing VB3 II immediately shows that IT IS NOT AN UPDATED VERSION OF VB3, but a Plug-in NEW.
We can't even talk about “differences” between the various versions, simply because they don't exist: playing both, you realize that they are two products completely unrelated to each other.
When I was asked to review the VB3 II, as an organist I was honored and above all curious, and I immediately prepared a comparison with other similar plug-ins (Arturia, Native Instruments, Logic, etc.).
As soon as I installed the product I had to completely change my mind: plug-ins cannot be physically compared! So what to do? The only possible solution is to compare him to his physical colleague, to a real HAMMOND B3 (Fig.2) !!!
HAMMOND B3
Before starting I want to point out that the Hammond, the most sampled and cloned instrument in history, represents a real nightmare for the sound designer.
In the end there are a handful of pseudo-sinusoids that, through a mathematical algorithm, can be adjusted in volume and reach the famous 262.000.000 patches (find a workstation that has all these patches ...), so much dreamed of.
In reality the Hammond has so many sound variables, due to the "physicality" of the instrument (let's remember that it is electromechanical), that it is impossible to calculate them all and they also vary from instrument to instrument.
If we take two B3s from the same year they will never sound the same!
We apply the same philosophy to the Leslie (Fig. 3) (we are still studying how a rebuildable tube amplifier with two lire can sound, with plugged speakers and which also turn out of phase) and you will have a minimal idea of what the sound designer has to face.
Noises due to the oxidation of the plates, spurious harmonics that come out of nowhere thanks to the wear of the mechanical wheels, sounds that disappear because the Hammond also powers the Leslie, Percussion that work by eliminating a drawbar and also the exact opposite.
The Hammond is total chaos.
All GSi it took 15 years (and Guido Scognamiglio's entire career as an organist, let's not forget that he is a musician) to get to VB3 II.
It almost looks like VB3 I is out waiting for the final plug-in.
No more chatter and let's get started!
INTERFACE
Totally changed from its previous one (Fig. 4).
Once the software is opened and the online registration is finished, we are faced with the interface, which immediately appears much more orderly than in the previous version. Above is the classic plug-in menu with the list of patches, 64 pre-programmed, 64 to be programmed, the write button and the switches to switch between the four setup screens that allow us to get into the programming:
• Organ
• Amp & Fx
• Settings
• Help.
Immediately below is the user interface, with the zone on the left vibrato/Chorus, on the right the Percussion area and the Swell (Volume pedal) and in the center six potentiometers that regulate the general volume, bass and treble, Key click, Drive and reverb.
Below, the two great new features of the VB3 II interface.
The twelve switches that represent the famous keys with the inverted color of the consoles !!! In the B3 (C3, A100, console whatever) to the left of the keyboards we find an octave of keys that are actually switches: Laurens Hammond, not to confuse them with the keyboard, had inverted the color.
These buttons adjust:
• Total closure of drawbars
• 9 patches
• Selection of drawbars A or B setup.
All this on the two manuals.
If you are an organist and have understood what is written above, you will have already guessed the other big news: the presence of the drawbars setup !!!!
Drawbar setup
No longer two series of 9 drawbars + 2 as in the old plugs (VB3 I included), but the famous four series of 9 + 2 typical of consoles (C3, B3, X66, A100, etc.) arrive (Fig. 6).
It might seem like a graphic "mannerism", but the physical approach, in the Hammond, plays a predominant role: through the new interface and two master control keyboards, we can easily program the drawbars by creating an interface identical to that of a console and bringing it back the physical approach.
Immediately below, the classic crescent (Fig. 7) that controls the Leslie and the switch to show the virtual keyboards.
THE SOUND
Nice interface, but let's get serious: how does it sound?
The sound engine of the VB3 II is totally new, it has nothing in common with the old VB3, except the name.
Crumar, Mojo do they tell you something?
They basically have the same sound engine in common.
The first thing I do is connect my two masters (Arturia Keylab61 and Keylab61 essential) without touching anything else and go, Moanin 'by A. Blakey in the version of Papa Jimmy Smith (of course…).
The sound is full, round, drive a bit acid but it is the first “welcome to VB3-II” patch that sounds so aggressive. The ears fill up, despite the sound coming out of two studio monitors (KrK Vxt8) which are merciless towards dirty sound.
I put the Leslie in FAST and my plug-in starts screaming like a possessed.
It works: for a moment I thought I was on my B3 of 69!
A doubt arises: is it the Leslie simulator that gives this plug-in belly?
At this point I begin to fiddle a bit with the drawbars, power three and open the 1-3 / 5, the 1-1 / 3, Leslie in Stop and close the reverb: Elephant Walk by Henry Mancini, and here it comes out out all the sound engine of the VB3 II!
The acute drawbars are precise and directional as in the real instrument, a bit less bad (later you will find out why), moreover the closing of the Leslie makes me appreciate the famous Drive which initially bothered me. I close my eyes and I feel catapulted into the 60s. WOW !!
After giving space to my senses, I pass the baton to my brain, seeing what the VB3 II allows me to do.
At this point I realize that maybe GSi are crazy and above all they know the instrument perfectly.
Twenty-two models of Hammond. TWENTY-TWO !!! One Native model, eight B3s, three C3s and ten A100s, all cataloged by year!
I select them and try them one by one. The models all have different characteristics from each other. As you well know, the older the Hammonds, the more random situations they present; the best known is the famous keyclick due to the oxidation of the copper contacts of the keys, while the other characteristic (less evident) in the ancient models is the presence of spurious harmonics due to the wear of the teeth, the sound wheels and the analogue cable system that creates interference, enriching the already remarkable harmonic patrimony of the Hammond is remarkably
Each model analyzed has its own characteristics: in short, you take home 22 Hammond consoles ...
And if you are geek, like me, the VB3 II offers you an immense amount of parameters to leave you speechless: parameters that you never, ever thought you would find in a plug-in. We can vary the adjustment of the levels, the dropout and the decays of the percussion, we can adjust the voltage values of the resistors that connect the keyboards to the generators, the envelope of the key click, the amount of crosstalk created by the analogue circuit of the Hammond (try change this parameter and you will be shocked).
Same philosophy is applicable to Rotary simulator.
Let's not forget that GSi is the creator of the BURN, the Leslie simulator inserted in a Pedalino.
AMP & FX we can adjust everything, even the quantity.
Particular attention was also given to GLOBAL SETTINGS typical of every plug-in.
Eleven parameters and that's it.
Finally, you don't have to be a computer engineer to set up your keyboards.
Intuitive and fast, they allow you to adjust fundamental parameters, such as the midi channels of the keyboards and the pedal board, the intonation (essential especially if you play with a Big Band or an Orchestra), the possibility of splitting the Lower Keyboard in order to have the pedal to the manual, the REVERSE ALL for the drawbars that allows you to invert the position of the sliders of a Master Keyboard (the drawbars have the 0 position upwards and the 128 position downwards) and other parameters.
PRICE
100,00 euros + VAT.
Just connect to the website of the GSi, pay, go to the page download, download the software, the serial number arrives via email, to be inserted at the first opening, and that's it.
The price is more than correct. Perhaps it is even cheap, compared to its competitors. Arthur sells its B3 for 149,00 euros, and is the closest thing to the VB3 II.
Native Instruments sells its VINTAGE ORGANS at 99,00 euros, but it is a library and not a plug-in, so we must add to this the purchase of Kontakt (Kompakt does not allow you to change the parameters) at 399,00 euros ...
Let's not forget that it is also an ITALIAN PRODUCT!
SUBSTANTIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORIGINAL HAMMOND AND VB3-II
Yes, I know, you are seriously convinced that madness has taken hold of me, but I wanted to compare it with the original and not with its competitors.
The sound is magnificent and flawless; Furthermore, with all the physical variables that GSi has inserted, I challenge anyone to recognize an original Hammond recording from one made with the plug-in (especially if you are perverse like me and you mic the plug, coming out of a tube amp, but this is a another article, I know ...)
The substantial difference lies in the physical approach of the instrument.
The mechanical interface (keys, drawbars, crescents, pedals, etc.) in the Hammond plays a fundamental role. The instinctive approach that we can have on a console or spinet that is, can hardly be had in any clone, let alone in a plug-in.
But this is an easily solved problem: there are several masterkeyboard think for the Hammond, starting with the splendid GSiDMC122 Orla Jamkey, and there are others online.
In the physical approach with the normal masters obviously something is lost, but the speaker has a Hammond B3 from '58, a TR100 spinet from '68, he sold his NORD C2 to switch to two ARTURIA masters and, once programmed the Control Change, everything is booming, simply because the focus is on handling: I prefer a plug-in installed on my trusty MAC than a clone that does the same thing and weighs twice as much.
But these are personal choices.
Fundamental thing: THE WEIGHT!
My B3 (Fig. 10) weighs 228 chili, my spinet was fortunately designed to be transported (TR stands for “Transportable”) and is lighter: 110 kilos (sigh!). My two Arturia keyboards plus racks, computers and two keyboard holders (one with two levels modified to have the closest keyboards and one for the rack) do not reach 20 kilos !!! You realize that there is no comparison, especially when we talk about pubs or small environments. It would have been nice if GSi had thought to “bundle” the CC mappings of the most common master keyboards, already “learned” with the VB3 II controllers. I would have saved some planning, but now my southern "karma" has come out and pushes me towards the beach in front of me ...
CONCLUSION
The VB3 II is the “state of the art” of Hammond emulation, not for nothing it represents the heart of the Modjo, the GEMINI, even the BURN.
It is made by people who work with passion and therefore never stop, almost reaching extremes.
With the VB3 II we have achieved a truly impressive level of detail.
The sound is "big", omnipresent and fills the room even if the listening points are two simple speakers (I also tried it connected to an Epiphone Blues Custom tube, but this will be another article ...).
The artisanal adjustment of the parameters that control the whole universe of spurious sounds that revolve around the drawbars creates an environment so plausible that it is not at all difficult to get carried away. But the most interesting thing is that interfacing with this plug-in is simple and intuitive, just like the Hammond.
The VB3 II follows the same philosophy: it does not want to be a mere copy of a physical instrument, but rather to save its sonic characteristics and bring them back to the 21st century, preserving the same intuitiveness that kept the original instrument.
It doesn't matter if I change Master Keyboards someday, reconfiguring everything will be a breeze, and even if I don't want to reconfigure, GSi has provided me with so much patching that I can play immediately.
So if you find yourself playing without your masters but with your laptop, no problem, set the fire on local!
• Hi Guido when does the VB3 II come out?
• He's out!
Useful Information
Official website: GSi
Price: € 100,00 (VAT excluded)
