Hammond B-3X

Software likes to crash

I play Hammond organ for 90% of my gigging life. I have played every clone out there, and plenty of the real thing. My main digital rig is a Viscount Legend, and that is the king of the clones IMHO. I am VERY picky about my Hammond tone!! And this iPad app (yeah, an IPAD APP!!) is amazing! I would use this onstage with no reservations. It’s no toy; it is a legitimate instrument, ready for professional use. It is absolutely worth the money. Having said all of this, here are two things that I REALLY hope are offered in future updates: 1. The ability to ONLY have percussion active on the upper B preset, as it is on a real B3 - having the percussion continue acting on ALL presets is not an advantage. It actively works against organ technique, at least for anyone who is used to the real thing. 2. The ability to map the preset keys to MIDI commands from the controller keyboard rather than having to go to the iPad touch screen to use them. UPDATE: After a year of using this app, I’m downgrading the rating a bit, because of the above-mentioned issues. I just don’t understand why Hammond won’t give us the option to set this up LIKE THE REAL THING!! It’s an app, it wouldn’t be hard to do!!! The Hammond B3 control layout invented over 60 years ago is STILL the best layout for managing the sound of this instrument, and I cannot understand why Hammond insists on NOT giving us the options to make the app behave like the console organs we are used to. The sound engine is great, and it’s so close, but this drives me up the wall!! Let us map the presets to our MIDI controller, let us CHOOSE whether percussion remains active on presets other than B, and give the option for a second set of drawbars to control the upper A preset. All of this would be EASY TO DO!! Why not do it?!

Best sounding B3 emulation yet for the iPad, but first the Leslie animation doesn’t work on my 12.9” 1st gen iPad Pro running IOS 12.3.1, and second I don’t think we should have to register the app with IK Multimedia just to read the manual. Edit: Ok I’ve changed my rating to five stars, the Leslie animation not rotating is only in AUV3 mode which I assume is on purpose to save resources. I’m still not thrilled with having to register for the manual .. but putting that aside this is not only the best B3 emulation I have on the iPad .. but I’d say it’s equal to the best VST emulations as well. I’ve owned a real B3 and Leslie 800 since the late 70’s so I guess you could say am pretty critical when it comes to plugins.