From ccmacdon@rogers.com Fri Feb 25 08:36:46 2011
Subject:Re: Basic Questions Re. Virtual Hammond setup

Rock,

The VB3 VST instrument is probably one of the best hammond clones around, even when compared to the current crop of hardware clones(Numa's, Nord C2's, Hammond XK3c's etc).. and it's only about $50.. WHAT A DEAL!!

The B4 product originally sold for close to $200, if I recall correctly, and they stopped development of it several years ago.. and it pales in comparison to VB3, for 1/4 of the price!

The follow-on product, Vintage Organs, is merely samples and it's very limited.. they have done away with the organ interface and I believe it's basically the same as playing static organ patches in a any hardware sample player.

I believe VB3 does run in standalone mode, so you just need a good audio interface, and you probably need a good keyboard controller with 9 drawbars.

You should be able to get a good USB audio interface for $1-200, and a midi controller for $2-350 (I would recommend edirol PCR-800 or the Cakewalk A-800 controllers)and your total investment for a great sounding virtual organ, should be about $3-550 plus tax (plus your laptop of course)..

That said, if you pick up one of the controllers I recommended you will get Sonar LE (or Sonar Production studio I think it's called)with it which will host VB3 AND any VST, in which case you can also use your laptop based rig to play any VST instrument!!

VST's are a really inexpensive way to access unlimited sounds.. One word of advice.. if you want to use this as a reliable gig rig.. use this laptop exclusively for music.. and stay away from the internet (viruses etc).. and don't load the laptop with other software.. a well tuned dedicated PC will be very reliable for live performances.. if you have a lot of crap on the pc, it will affect the reliablity of your rig!!

Craig

--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, Dave Bradley wrote: