IK Multimedia Hammond B-3X

The mighty Hammond B3 organ is a true
musical instrument icon whose relevance
hasn’t diminished in any way over the decades
since its release. In fact, regardless of the genre
you work in, a good Hammond emulation plugin
should be prominent in every computer
musician’s toolbox, so essential is its sound.
There are many software models to choose
from, so how does the Hammond B3X from IK
Multimedia measure up in what’s already a
pretty crowded market?
Developed over several years in collaboration
with Hammond USA and Suzuki Music Corp of
Japan, which owns the Hammond brand, it soon
becomes apparent that the research and
development that’s gone into this plugin is
exhaustive. Based on various diferent models
of B3 from diferent eras – you can choose
tonewheel sets from a 1955 or 1956 B3, or from a
1960 or 1971 model of the later A100 – the tiniest
detail of every component in each instrument
has been scrutinised to produce as accurate a
sound as possible.
Organ slinger
The Hammond B3X’s interface is arranged into
four separate panels, accessible by tabs in the
upper left corner. The main Organ tab displays a
striking representation of a real B3, complete
IK Multimedia
Hammond B-3X $299
IK Multimedia’s B-3X organ simulator certainly looks the part, but does it
have the sound and, more importantly, the charm of the original?
“Many B3 emulations
capture the sound of
the organ, but very few
manage to capture the
feel of the real thing”
HALF MOON
SWITCH
Controls the spin
speed of the
virtual Leslie
speaker cab
COMBO PRESETS
A 64 built-in organ,
cabinet and post
FX preset combos
PRESET
SWITCHES
Reverse-colour
keys used to
select preset
drawbar
settings
INTERFACE TABS
Switch between organ, stompbox
FX, cabinet settings and limiter,
EQ and reverb FX
PERCUSSION
CONTROLS
Set and adjust
the organ’s
built-in
percussion
effect
EXPRESSION
PEDAL
Control the
organ’s output
level for
expressive
performance
DRAWBARS
Push-pull faders that control
the tone of each keyboard
and pedals
with pedalboard for generating those fulsome
bass tones. If you know your way around the
real thing, you’ll ind everything you need
faithfully reproduced here. You get everything
from the full range of drawbars for both
manuals to peripheral controls such as
Percussion, Chorus and Vibrato. You also get the
blacked-out lower octave in which each of the
keys calls up a diferent preset drawbar setting.
Any parameter in the plugin can be mapped to
the hardware control of your choice by
assigning the relevant controller number in the
Settings panel.
The second Stomps tab reveals a useful set of
virtual guitar pedals, including overdrive,
chorus, a ten-band graphic EQ, a wah pedal with
auto-wah function and an authentic-sounding
spring reverb.
The Cabs page provides the option to tailor
the speaker cabinet settings with an intricate
level of detail, from the traditional Leslie rotating
PEDALBOARD
An extra set of tonewheels
dedicated to bass tones
ADVANCED VIEW
Less common settings, eg generator
leakage and key click volume
CONTROLS VIEW
Displays an enlarged view of
drawbars and settings for live use
94 / COMPUTER MUSIC / February 2020
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CMU278.rev_IKMB3x.indd 94 04/12/2019 12:15