how to get hammond B3 sound?

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fendorst

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I record with Cakewalk software that doesn't do midi tracks. I'm not a midi guy anyway, I'm a guitar player. When I want to record keyboards I use a good Yamaha keyboard with terrific piano and organ patches and I actually play the keyboard parts.

But it doesn't have a Hammond B3 patch. There are several drawbar-type organ patches and a couple of others that are in the B3 ballpark, but not the throaty overdriven B3 sound.

Any ideas for approximating the B3 sound? I've been playing around with the drawbar organ patches and using an overdrive pedal and leslie simulator pedal.

Any better suggestions or ideas that worked for you would be greatly appreciated.
 
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You said no Midi, but I use a Hammond clone VSTi that I run Midi in from my keyboard. Then I often reamp it into an amp to get that Jon Lord-esque overdriven sound and mic it up.
 
Run the keyboard into your guitar amp and set it to crunch. Mic it with a 57 and put a leslie sim on at mixdown.
 
Plugin leslie sims do. Unless I'm missing something in your question.

Wait, are you talking about that harware thing with the spinning horn? Even so, you could run the recorded track back through it and mic it up...
 
I was talking more . . . using a hardware FX processor. But it's not a big deal. I'll just try it sometime.
 
The Korg G4 Rotary Speaker Simulator is one of the better hardware solutions out there and it includes an overdrive channel.
Nothing replaces a true rotary set up....but the Korg comes closest.
When I was touring in the blues world, my tech rider specified a B3. But, I hardly ever got one.:D I carried a G4 just for those occasions.

I've owned a couple of B's over the years. The sound is difficult to emulate as it's almost native to tone wheel generators. 90% of "the sound" is just to get the patch dialed in...and to approach the key on "bite" that at B3 can give you. Volume pedals are a must have as well. Good luck.:cool:
 
fendorst said:
I record with Cakewalk software that doesn't do midi tracks. I'm not a midi guy anyway, I'm a guitar player. When I want to record keyboards I use a good Yamaha keyboard with terrific piano and organ patches and I actually play the keyboard parts.

But it doesn't have a Hammond B3 patch. There are several drawbar-type organ patches and a couple of others that are in the B3 ballpark, but not the throaty overdriven B3 sound.

Any ideas for approximating the B3 sound? I've been playing around with the drawbar organ patches and using an overdrive pedal and leslie simulator pedal.

Any better suggestions or ideas that worked for you would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

To approximate the b3? There's a number of keyboards that can do a fair job -the roland VK series, the digital hammonds, and the nord series (with drawbars). You will need a rotating speaker. Motion Sound makes a good one, as does Leslie. Using the drawbars and volume pedal in real time is critical to making it believable.
 
I have used many B3s and C3s, Leslies of all different types, L100s, Ms, etc, etc and you can't, as yet, get the "perfect" Hammond sound without using a tonewheel Hammond through a valve/tube Leslie (assuming we've got the same definition of "THE HAMMOND SOUND")...however, there are a few that come very close...

If you can afford it, the Nord C1 or C2 is spot on, organ-wise. The Leslie sim is very, very good, though not quite the real deal. It sounds better to my ears if it's put through a decent room ambience effect or played through a decent PA and miced up.
Other similar options include Hammond Suzuki's XK1 or XK3.
Avoid Hammond XB organs and Oberheims. -They just don't cut it.
I've not used or even really heard Korg or Roland's models, though lots of people love them.

I know you don't like midi, but the next best option is to use Native Instruments B4, or, as a cheaper (and possibly better) option, GSI VB3. Again, B4's Leslie falls slightly short, but can be tweaked to make it more realistic. The VB3 Leslie is very nice sounding, especially on low clusters of notes. But again, it's not quite the real deal.

If authenticity isn't your primary concern, Hughes and Kettner's Rotosphere pedal will make any organ patch beefier and warmer.
A cheaper tonewheel Hammond, such as the L100 will sound great through the Rotosphere.
I'm not a big fan of the G4. It just sounds too much like a pedal to my ears.
Apparently the Voce Spin is very good if you can get a used one.

Or, you could always use a Hammond organist such as me! -I do some long distance recordings for people at cheap rates!

Good luck!
 
Mr Triops said:
I have used many B3s and C3s, Leslies of all different types, L100s, Ms, etc, etc and you can't, as yet, get the "perfect" Hammond sound without using a tonewheel Hammond through a valve/tube Leslie (assuming we've got the same definition of "THE HAMMOND SOUND")...however, there are a few that come very close...

If you can afford it, the Nord C1 or C2 is spot on, organ-wise. The Leslie sim is very, very good, though not quite the real deal. It sounds better to my ears if it's put through a decent room ambience effect or played through a decent PA and miced up.
Other similar options include Hammond Suzuki's XK1 or XK3.
Avoid Hammond XB organs and Oberheims. -They just don't cut it.
I've not used or even really heard Korg or Roland's models, though lots of people love them.

I know you don't like midi, but the next best option is to use Native Instruments B4, or, as a cheaper (and possibly better) option, GSI VB3. Again, B4's Leslie falls slightly short, but can be tweaked to make it more realistic. The VB3 Leslie is very nice sounding, especially on low clusters of notes. But again, it's not quite the real deal.

If authenticity isn't your primary concern, Hughes and Kettner's Rotosphere pedal will make any organ patch beefier and warmer.
A cheaper tonewheel Hammond, such as the L100 will sound great through the Rotosphere.
I'm not a big fan of the G4. It just sounds too much like a pedal to my ears.
Apparently the Voce Spin is very good if you can get a used one.

Or, you could always use a Hammond organist such as me! -I do some long distance recordings for people at cheap rates!

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I'm going to check out those VSTs you listed. Sounds interesting.:cool:
 
I've had very satisfactory results with the Roland RT-20 which is a rotary simulation that allows you to dial in as much "overdrive" as you want (a little goes a long way). There is a wide range of capabilities to blend the organ sound with the "leslie" effect, it has controllable fast vs. slow rotary (it even simulate the delay when you switch).

I mainly use it with an Oberheim OB-8 module......but I've had very decent results running various "drawbar" sounds from Roland XV5050, a Yamaha MU80 (which actually has a very cool "hammond" simulation) and an EMU Vintage Keys modules (which has a lot of various drawbar sounds).

While I agree you can't really "simulate" the true sound of a Hammond through an overdriven Leslie - I've had a couple of old grizzled Hammond players try my OB-8 through the RT-20.....and each player indicated it was as true to the Hammond/Leslie sound as any simulation they ever heard.
 
If your going to use a VST..then play it back through an mic'd amp and record it to give it some air and a bit more "realism"..

Ive found some Kontakt patches from puremagnetik that sound fairly good...but through an amp, or even an amp sim...sound wayyyyyyy better :)
 
Xdrummer said:
I've had very satisfactory results with the Roland RT-20 which is a rotary simulation that allows you to dial in as much "overdrive" as you want (a little goes a long way). There is a wide range of capabilities to blend the organ sound with the "leslie" effect, it has controllable fast vs. slow rotary (it even simulate the delay when you switch).
Click to expand...

I was gonna say that! Search for the Boss RT - 20 on Youtube. It's a pretty good sounding box used with a keyboard.
 
:rolleyes:
LateFall2008086.jpg

:cool:
 
another +1 on Native Instrument B4 (or sorta plus one depending on how I'm feeling on any given day and fact that Organ pro was less then enthusiastic)

it is what I use when I'm experimenting to try to get a feel for where I might want an organ player to go (or for fun) I only found a couple of patches particularly useful for anything but for a non keyboard player found that the drawbars actually did stuff (that seemed to be consistent with how a 'real' organ might respond)

I have never had a problem withB4's sound if it is buried in the mix but like a number of other posters found/find it's amp and Leslie simulation less then convincing . . . useful but would still prefer the real thing in defining or solo situation

also prefer Voce Spin to townworks G4, but as I primarily used it for guitars I think I'd lean in direction of H&K rotoverb . . . which includes faux tube saturation as well . . . in any case Rotoverb can dirty up, musically, almost anything

then there is the Motion sound (pro3T?) which benefits from something like the rotoverb and by that time you are getting close to price and weight of a Hammond Leslie 2101

I've found the NI B4 gets close to emulating tonewheel sounds . . . but very little out there is particularly convincing as a Leslie except a Leslie (and that is even admiting that I was primarily searching for a portable solution for guitars)
 
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