My one and only B3/122 Leslie came from a local restaurant. The original owner had 3 B3’s around the country and decided to sell this one for $1400 (this was in 1968). It’s long since been sold to a recording studio and just recently replaced with a Hammond-Suzuki XK System/Motion Sound Pro-145. Not quite as good, but still a great sounding combo; good enough to fool the ears of practically anyone. I purchased the Native Instruments B4 a few years before purchasing the XK System. This review is for the B4, not the B4II.
GUI: The interface is very nice. You get to choose between a top-down view of a Hammond B3 or a controller-only view with the drawbars, rocker switches and other controls for microphone distance, overdrive, etc.
Sound: With nothing to compare it to, I thought the B4 could imitate the sound of a B3 almost perfectly. The first clue that this isn’t so came when I was jamming with some friends and found that the sound couldn’t cut through the sound of the band, even though they weren’t really that loud. I was using a Roland KC-100 amplifier and the bottom end was very weak. The second time was when I recently did an A-B comparison between my XK System and the B4 playing through an Onkyo 100w amplifier pushing a pair of JBL 4311 studio monitors. The sound of the B4 was much thinner (I play several other instruments through this system, including a DSI Poly Evolver, a Univox Mini-Korg synthesizer and an M400 Mellotron, and they all sound great; plenty of lows, mids and hi’s). I haven’t tried playing it through my MS Pro-145. Still, the B4 sounds better than any other VSTi I’ve tried. The Leslie simulation is very good, as is the overdrive.
Features: The B4 has all the features of a Hammond B3, including bass pedals, V1-3 and C1-3 vibrato, braked, chorale and fast Leslie, overdrive, adjustable microphone distance, and several add-on tonewheel sets. However, the Vox and Farfisa sounds are nothing like the real thing. It can be used as a standalone or as a VSTi. The authentication is very annoying though. Every couple of months I get a prompt to insert the installation CD. I’ve heard that NI has changed the authentication process with the B4II.
Docs: The manual seems to cover everything you may need to know about installation and usage. If you’ve ever played a B3 or similar Hammond, you can probably figure out how to use the B4 without the manual.
Presets: There are scores of very nice presets, but the enjoyment, as with a real Hammond, is in using the drawbars to shape the sound. This has been a pain in the rear, having to drag the drawbars with a mouse. Fortunately, NI has come out with the B4D Drawbar Controller, which makes using the B4 a little more like the real thing. And several midi controller manufacturers are now marketing keyboards with sliders that can be used to move the drawbars.
Support: I’ve never had to use NI’s support, so I’ll assume it’s as good as their products generally are.
VFM: I purchased the B4 when it first came out. It was a fairly priced piece of software then and I think it still is.
Stability: I haven’t had any problems with the B4 as a VSTi, but it has had problems in standalone mode. After releasing a key, the sound would sometimes continue until the same key was pressed again. This hasn’t been a major concern though, as I prefer to use it as a VSTi.
For computer recording, I think the B4 is more than adequate, but I don’t think it stands up to live performance.Read Review
