GSI VB3-II

[RobinM]

I waited a long time for this update to make VB3 work in Logic Pro having previously used 32 Lives to resuscitate the 1.4 version which worked but cost more than the current update to VB3 II and was only ever used for VB3. Actually, I was pissed at Apple for orphaning 32 bit audio units not Guido at GSI who I am sure had better things to do than write new code every time Apple did an OS X update. The price is higher than the original which in my opinion was ridiculously underpriced for such an amazing emulation of the Hammond and Leslie speaker rolled into one tiny footprint. This version sounds great and thankfully has separate edit windows for stuff you don't want or need to routinely change. I like the way patches are saved as it is now like most of the other Logic plugins. The Leslie emulation has a bit more of a stereo feel to it compared to VB3 1.4 and the tone controls and reverb are more comprehensive.

[Dewdman42]

I was pissed at Apple for orphaning 32 bit audio units not Guido at GSI who I am sure had better things to do than write new code every time Apple did an OS X update.

This is misguided thinking. The whole world moved to 64bit, not just Apple. Guido was one of the few developers who left VB3 dying on the vine without so much as a refresh for how many years? I was a software developer for 20 years and I happen to know its not that difficult to port code to 64bit, as most developers did, he could have done it years ago and chose to ignore VB3 while he worked on hardware stuff. The only two plugins I have which never made it to 64bit were VB3 and B4II, for which I purchased 32Lives reluctantly in the end.

Listen VB3 is great, still works great with 32Lives and I will continue to use it. But to ask for 75 euros now after all that...in my case mainly just to finally have 64bit..no thanks. By the way you think he won't let this die on the vine again someday? Look at his other products dying on the vine and think twice. Especially with the C/R protection in place.

I think if you are hard core hammond player, you will not think twice about adding another organ to your arsenal so why not add this one. Just remember, its not going to last forever nor be supported for very long, that is the history of GSI, like it or not.

[RobinM]

Yeah, Native Instruments got me for the initial purchase and an over $100 update for B4 and then orphaned that software on Mac OS. They screwed me on Battery, a drum machine software as well. I finally stopped buying their stuff after I bought a new iMac a few years back. Of course there was also a three or four year period where Adobe didn't update Photoshop for Mac OS so I guess they were lazy asses as well. Luckily, VB3 still ran inside the old GarageBand on my gigging 2007 MacBook Pro so I have never really been without my Hammond sound on live shows.

[jancivil]

I went largely to 64-bit in 2009. So it's not a problem to run 32-bit in the VE Pro 32-bit server at all; but, I'm not actually using anything 32-bit so something has to be a bit special to run an instance of it in order to use one_thing. I have created one for Mr Ray, though. Not a huge fan of VB-3 anyway, hard pass from me.


I installed and can run Battery 3 (64-bit) under Mac OS Sierra. I had to activate it from instantiating it in VE Pro, however. For some reason Service Center would not do it in standalone. It's not OSX, it's NI that breaks shit. IIRC Cubase 9 blacklisted it.

"at Apple for orphaning 32 bit audio units" - no. It's a matter of bridging it same as it is on the other OS.

Screen Shot 2018-07-03 at 1.42.16 PM.png

^32-bit AU under Sierra.

NI abandoned B4 for everybody BTW. Some people are using it. I never bought it, donno if it would work on anything current today.

[jancivil]

I have gotten Kore 2 to run here (dropped in 2011). It's not that useful, as I no longer have the install disks so it's a PITA to instantiate the one KoreSound I still have, Drawbar Organ (there is no samples library d/l'ing from my NI registrations page). I have the subsequent Vintage Organs so I don't really care too much.

[ZioKiller]

I was a software developer for 20 years and I happen to know its not that difficult to port code to 64bit

Excuse me but I find it hard to believe that you've been a sofware developer for 20 years after reading this statement.

Yes, compiling something for a platform or another is as easy as clicking here and there in the IDE's configuration window, but not if you're using platform specific libraries. Making virtual instruments, or any other kind of software that "plugs" into another software or that communicates with the hardware, requires using some libraries from a 3rd party, and the original VB3, similarly to many other 32 bit plugins, was based on Steinberg's VSTGUI3, which is ok to recompile in 64 bit under Windows (and I did it, there's an x64 Win-only version of VB3 1.41), but wasn't ok for the OSX. Yes, I could compile it, but the GUI would become unusable with OSX version 10.9 or newer because VSTGUI was using Carbon, which was ditched by Apple in favor of Cocoa. So that was not just a matter of "porting the code", it required a total rewrite at least for the GUI part, which is pretty much 70% of a virtual instrument since the DSP code is the most cross-platform part.

VB3-II is not just an "update" to the old VB3, it's a completely new product, it doesn't share a single line of code with the old VB3. Yes, you guys are free to complain about the price if you feel it's too high, but please don't say it's "for an update" because it's not a simple update.

Also, as you can see I haven't gone out of business in the past 11 years and I'm still alive, so I just can't understand this phobia for the C/R protection scheme which is very common, almost 95% of the softwares I own is based on C/R protection (which is actually no protection at all since the cracked version of VB3-II has been released the day after the official release!).

Technically, VB3-II stores the license in a plain text file similarly to the old VB3, so reinstalling it on the same machine can also be done by simply copying the files manually in the proper directories. The only difference with the old one is that moving it to a different machine requires a new authorization code that must be retrieved from the website. And each license enables 3 machines.

I swear: the day I die, all of my source code will become open (unless I got to sell it to someone else while I'm still healthy) so you can keep using it if you live longer than me. But don't try to murder me... I'm well armed

[Dullee]

well, this practically kills 64-bit port chance for the rest of old plugins.

[EvilDragon]

Unless Guido decides to update them to JUCE, I suppose.


BTW hi Guido, nice to see you around here.

[ZioKiller]

Unless Guido decides to rewrite them to JUCE, I suppose.

Fixed.

(Hi!)

[EvilDragon]

Heh, rewrite then. Well I'd pay for Mr. Ray and Mr. Tramp updated to 64-bit and if you have any improvements going on for the model, more FX etc.


In fact, as a stopgap, why not compile them in 64-bit despite them using VSTGUI still? At least for us Windoze peeps

[gilmanoel]

Does this version work with Pro Tools 12 via wrapper? Thank you.

[rasmusklump]

I swear: the day I die, all of my source code will become open (unless I got to sell it to someone else while I'm still healthy) so you can keep using it if you live longer than me. But don't try to murder me... I'm well armed

As I already said, exactly the same promises from other vendors have been proven to be completely worthless, so, no thanks.

[Dullee]

OK, ppl, we get it you're not buying it for whatever reason. No need to rehash this over and over ad nauseam. Move on already. It's not the end of the world.

Like spoiled brats left without a latest greatest toy. Ppl these days.

[electro]

I bought VB3 and chose GG Audio Blue3 over Acoustic Samples B5 last year because B5 needs Ilok.

I loathe C/R too but pls do not complain about VB3 II upgrade price. VB3 1 was way underpriced for how good it was.

[dasdeck]

I was a software developer for 20 years and I happen to know its not that difficult to port code to 64bit

Excuse me but I find it hard to believe that you've been a sofware developer for 20 years after reading this statement.

Yes, compiling something for a platform or another is as easy as clicking here and there in the IDE's configuration window, but not if you're using platform specific libraries. Making virtual instruments, or any other kind of software that "plugs" into another software or that communicates with the hardware, requires using some libraries from a 3rd party, and the original VB3, similarly to many other 32 bit plugins, was based on Steinberg's VSTGUI3, which is ok to recompile in 64 bit under Windows (and I did it, there's an x64 Win-only version of VB3 1.41), but wasn't ok for the OSX. Yes, I could compile it, but the GUI would become unusable with OSX version 10.9 or newer because VSTGUI was using Carbon, which was ditched by Apple in favor of Cocoa. So that was not just a matter of "porting the code", it required a total rewrite at least for the GUI part, which is pretty much 70% of a virtual instrument since the DSP code is the most cross-platform part.

VB3-II is not just an "update" to the old VB3, it's a completely new product, it doesn't share a single line of code with the old VB3. Yes, you guys are free to complain about the price if you feel it's too high, but please don't say it's "for an update" because it's not a simple update.

Also, as you can see I haven't gone out of business in the past 11 years and I'm still alive, so I just can't understand this phobia for the C/R protection scheme which is very common, almost 95% of the softwares I own is based on C/R protection (which is actually no protection at all since the cracked version of VB3-II has been released the day after the official release!).

Technically, VB3-II stores the license in a plain text file similarly to the old VB3, so reinstalling it on the same machine can also be done by simply copying the files manually in the proper directories. The only difference with the old one is that moving it to a different machine requires a new authorization code that must be retrieved from the website. And each license enables 3 machines.

I swear: the day I die, all of my source code will become open (unless I got to sell it to someone else while I'm still healthy) so you can keep using it if you live longer than me. But don't try to murder me... I'm well armed

To be fair to the other dev: rewriting the UI of VB3 may be some legwork, but it is hardly rocket science. But
charging for a rewrite a normal software price is still a valid/respectable business decision imho (as if outside judgement matters ). People grossly underestimate the effort that can go into software development. Also, the effort can vary so much form approach to approach. One coders clean code is a mess to the next one.