Un-Stinking-Believable!
OK, I guess I'm giving the conclusions of this review away a little early, but in this case I just can't help it!
The Native Instruments B4 VST Instrument plug-in is a "modeled" organ, so there aren't any samples involved here. This is ultimately the best way to go for organ sounds, since you can adjust the drawbars, percussion and organ settings to tailor the organ vibe to your song...one of the beauties of a real B-3 over static samples of one. (Of course, this Plug In has good presets too).
Here's the crazy thing: The B4 is not only the first Virtual Hammond B3 VST plug-in to be released, it also happens to be far-and-away the best "fake" Hammond I've ever used! Like many keyboardists, I've checked out all the different Hammond imitators over the years -beginning with the old Crumars and the Korg CX-3, all the way to the present day Rolands, Suzuki/Hammonds and even the recent Emu B-3 module and the Nord Electro. Often times, these seem to do an OK job, until you compare them to the real deal. I play a Hammond C-3/Leslie 147 combo at church on Sundays and you can get real spoiled! The real thing always sounds so much better and is often more flexible and musical. All the imitators have promised lighter weight, great sound, etc....but most fail to deliver on some key points.
The Native Instruments B4 plug-in nails the following critical Hammond ingredients that have been missing up until now:
TONE
This is a biggie obviously. The B4 really has a great tone and doesn't get shrill up at the high end of the keyboard. The word "Balls" comes to mind. The inter-modulation of the drawbars is also modeled, which makes a big difference in the resulting tone character.
SCANNER VIBRATO
The B4's Chorus/Vibrato is utterly spot on! It has all the Hammond presets (V1-V3, C1-C3), plus you can get the "in-the-cracks" settings that a real hammond can't do.
LESLIE
A Hammond simulator really lives or dies by the quality of the leslie simulation. Hands down, this is the best I've ever used. The excellent interface gives you control over acceleration speeds, balance and even separate tone controls for the Horn and the Rotor! This let's you get a vast amount of additional tonal variations out of the organ. Slow speeds are lush and the "acceleration" sounds just right. The elusive Fast Leslie settings are the best I've heard on a simulator, almost as good as an actual spinning horn Leslie or Motion Sound system.
Another innovation is control over the mic placement and balance/distance/spread of the leslie mics! This is another key component of how great organ sounds are achieved in the studio and gives the user a great deal of flexibility that is usually only in the hands of the recording engineer. This is the first leslie simulator that I'm aware of that includes microphone modeling techniques. Another Key feature is that the Leslie includes speaker modeling, which really helps the tone sound more real....Native Instruments did a great job all around.
A way-cool bonus is that you get the Leslie and Scanner Vibrato FX as regular Audio VST plug-ins too -perfect for those Beatlesey guitar tracks or processing pads or virtual synths! Works great on other sampled organs like Farfisas and Vox, too. It's more than worth the cost of the B4 just for these incredible audio plug ins!
TUBE DISTORTION
The genius modeling gurus at Native Instruments clearly spent a lot of time with perfecting this tube distortion algorithm.....it's extremely impressive. You can get all the ELP, Steppenwolf, Jon Lord kind of tones that you would normally need a suped-up leslie or a Fender Bassman head for. You can also easily get a beautifully subtle "bluesey" overdrive that is really smokin'. This distortion is gritty, but not harsh and it responds musically in a very similar way to a real Leslie's distortion. Pro quality without a doubt! The tone controls are smart and very musical sounding.
PERCUSSION
Although the recent simulators like the Roland VK, Emu module and the Hammond/Suzukis are now doing it, the B4 is one of the only simulators that has the unique Hammond polyphonic legato percussion triggering. This is essential for playing real hammond parts (especially in Jazz and Blues styles). the advantage here is that you can adjust the level of the percussion to many more tonal possibilities than on a real hammond (including much louder), and you can select ALL the harmonic overtones (!), not just the 2nd and 3rd harmonics. This makes it really interesting for creating new organ sounds that haven't been heard before. A wonderfully spitty key click is adjustable and adds a great deal of character to the sound.
SWELL PEDAL
This is often overlooked in favor of a simple MIDI Volume control. The Swell pedal on the Hammond is its Volume control, but the timbre also changes dramatically on the real thing, and good B-3 player is constantly adjusting and using the Swell pedal for expression. Native Instruments perfected this too. It even moves in the on-screen graphics! You can tell that this was designed by someone who actually plays the B-3, and it makes all the difference in the world.
MORE GOODIES
CPU power seems to be remarkably efficient for such a complex plug-in. The Velocity function is a whole other level of expression, with it adding much more animation to the harmonics than just simple volume control. Amazingly enough, I'd have to say that because of the velocity feature, the B4 sounds BETTER and more interesting for solo'ing/melody lines than the real thing! Another thing that's worth noting that none of the organs (real or virtual) I've ever used are truly multitimbral, which IS the case here if you open multiple instances of the plug-in (including multitimbral leslies and distortions!!!). This offers many new possibilities for new sounds and layering techniques.
DOWNSIDES
Not many. I notice real-time latency a little more than with my other Virtual Instrument plug ins, but I think that's because you "feel" the latency more with percussive organ sounds. Of course as with all VST instruments, on playback the timing is sample accurate and utterly fautless. Live playing isn't bad at all, but as a result of the slight latency, you don't get quite that same sense of "connection" to the instrument when you're playing it (compared to a real Hammond). Adjusting drawbars and other settings while you play is possible, but not terribly inspiring (with MIDI controller assignments/mousing etc) If NI comes up with a hardware drawbar controller, that might do the trick, though. You could use something like a Peavey 1600X controller to do this already.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
It is astonishing that a small German software company has produced such an incredible Hammond knock off, when the major keyboard companies have been trying to do this for over 40 years! I was also surprised at how much better it sounds than Native's MP3 demos would indicate (much beefier and more character). Add to that the advantages of total recall, super-tonal flexibility, full MIDI implementation, automation, split and multi-manual modes, multitimbrality, stand-alone capability, wide compatibility, Powerbook portability and of course the ridiculously cheap price (under 200 bucks!) and you have a major winner here. It's certainly one of my favorite Virtual Instruments to PLAY. Because of the excellent sound quality, it's ideal for almost any application, including live performance! It even looks cool and has the all-important WOW factor for impressing your friends, neighbors and the bass player. If you have ANY need of a Hammond or Leslie effect in your music, you would be out of your mind NOT to get this plug-in!
For more info go to Native Instruments
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