Arturia B-3 V – Classic Tonewheel Organ Virtual Instrument (VST/AU/AAX) Arturia

B-3 V is the most authentic and soulful software emulation of the legendary tonewheel organ and rotary speaker available today. It puts all the classic sound plus a slew of state-of-the-art sonic extras at your fingertips.

B-3 V captures all the grit, grind, and greatness of the classic tonewheel organ and rotary speaker, then adds modulation, FX, and sound design options perfect for modern music.

Vital to rock, jazz, gospel, RnB, soul, reggae, and house, the iconic organ could go from gentle to roaring on a dime. Players carried the 400-pound beast to gigs. Any serious studio had to have one. With B-3 V, you’ll have all the character and attitude of the genuine article in a form that fits seamlessly into today’s musical workflows.

Features:

• Physical Modeling Engine (no samples)
• Dual manual Interface
• Each manual has separate MIDI channel preferences
• 9 Drawbars per manual
• 3 modeled chorus and vibrato settings
• Separate upper and lower ON/OFF
• Preamp drive
• Modeled rotary speaker emulator
• Advanced controls for adjusting the model
• Convolution based Reverb
• Traditional Leslie performance controls
• Swell pedal
• Percussion controls
  • On/off
  • Volume soft/normal
  • Slow/Fast decay
  • Harmonic selection
• Output effects where you can change the order
  • Volume, wah, auto-wah
  • Flanger
  • Compressor
  • Chorus
  • Analog Delay
• New Advanced Drawbar modulators
  • LFO’s with multiple waveforms and phase
  • Multipoint envelopes
  • Step sequencer
  • Drawbar destinations with positive and negative amount controls
• Output effects where you can change the order
  • Drawbar leakage
  • Tonewheel leakage
  • Brilliance
  • Background noise
  • Polyphonic Percussion
  • Key click volume
  • Attack and release controls
• 50 factory presets
• Easy to use MIDI mapping

Yesterday, Meet Tomorrow
First things first: B-3 V takes this organ’s incredible legacy seriously. But the power of software also performs tricks you couldn’t dream of on the original.

Absolutely Authentic
ARTURIA precisely modeled the tonewheel organ’s components and how they interact using the same TAE® technology as in our award-winning V Collection, resulting in an instrument that not only sounds but behaves just like the real thing.

Whisper to Scream
Craft lilting ballad tones or pull more drawbars, crank up the tube preamp drive, and rock out. B-3 V delivers.

‘Round in Circles
The rotary speaker is a crucial part of the spacious sound we know and love, and B-3 V’s built-in emulation reproduces it with unparalleled accuracy.

Stage and Studio
Record tonewheel tracks that fit perfectly in your project mix or take advantage of B-3 V’s CPU efficiency onstage. (Warning: Keyboardists in the crowd will demand to know what you’re playing!)

The muscle car of keyboards
“That sound” even non-musicians recognize. Loved by jazz greats Jimmy Smith and Shirley Scott; rockers Keith Emerson, Yes, Deep Purple, and Santana; and soul giant Booker T. Jones. A staple of reggae. The bassline on countless house tracks. And it was never supposed to be any of that.

The creators of the tonewheel organ saw it as the centerpiece of the family living room and a solution for churches that could not afford pipe organs. The world had larger plans. The tonewheel organ was the brainchild of clockmaker Laurens Hammond and inventor John Hanert, who together released the first version in 1935. The most recognizable and sought-after model, the B-3, had an amazing production run from 1954 to 1974.

Mechanical perfection
B-3 V emulates every step of this machine’s complex mechanical process for a virtual instrument that doesn’t just sound like the real thing – it behaves like it too.

The B-3 V’s namesake was electromechanical, combining spinning tonewheels with pickups to produce flute-like tones in octaves and harmonics for each note. These could be variably mixed via a set of 9 drawbars per manual for a variety of additive timbres, from soft and airy to pronounced and resonant.

But the B3 had a number of distinguished features up its sleeve. The percussion feature, which added a quickly-decaying sound at the second or third harmonic, gave each key press an edgy attack, perfect for solos and rhythmic playing. The unique modulation feature offered three different depths of vibrato or intensities of chorus.

The B to a Tee
Control layout and appearance exactly like the original. When you’re emulating an instrument this legendary, there are some things you just don’t mess with. That’s why the drawbars, rocker switches, and other controls are located exactly where organists expect them to be. They look the part, too.

Drawbars
Upper, pedal, and lower drawbars proceed left to right across the center.

Vibrato/Chorus
The mechanical scanner vibrato is exquisitely modeled and assignable to the upper and lower/pedal manuals separately. Chorus modes duplicate the ever-popular thickening effect.

Harmonic Percussion
The single-triggered ping so endemic to jazz and rock solos is likewise captured, with tabs for on/off, volume, decay, and harmonic at the upper right.

Rotary Speaker
Realistic “half-moon” switches toggle the rotary speaker’s slow (chorale) and fast (tremolo) speeds, or stop the spinning altogether – an effect used by fusion organist Brian Auger.

Preamp Drive
Turn up the warm crunch of the original AO28 tube preamp with this Arturia exclusive.

Expression Pedal
Like the original, it preserves more low frequencies at softer volumes, optimizing the sound for how the human ear perceives loudness.

Manuals and Pedals
Create the ultimate organ controller rig by addressing the upper, lower, and pedal manuals on separate MIDI channels.

Modern Mods
Today’s tech makes this B better. The Mod panel gets you under the hood of B-3 V in ways that would have required a soldering iron on the original – or not been possible at all.

01. Organ Model
Go back in time with several vintages and models, and control exactly how much leakage (tonewheels and drawbars being picked up by their neighbors) occurs.

02. Percussion
Set exact decay times for the harmonic percussion, plus whether it drops the upper manual’s volume and/or “steals” the 1′ drawbar as it did on the hardware.

03. Mix
Balance the upper and lower manuals and all-important Key Click, a slight static pop beloved by jazz and rock players.

04. Envelopes
Keep the instant on/off envelope of the classic, or increase attack and release times for more of a church organ sound

05. Drawbar Modulator
This powerhouse tool is like having up to ten extra hands to work the drawbars as you play, with movement from an LFO, multi-point envelope, or step sequencer.

06. Mix Master
Ten instrument tracks, pattern chaining, and turn Fairlight’s graphical step sequencing into a modern creativity booster.

A Studio Worth of FX Power
Tweak the rotary speaker, rack up a pedalboard, and put B-3 V in virtual acoustic spaces.

B-3 V’s generous FX section lets you design the finished organ sound in your mind’s ear, all within a single instance of the plug-in.

Amp Section
Go back in time with several vintages and models, and control exactly how much leakage (tonewheels and drawbars being picked up by their neighbors) occurs.

Room Section
Pick a room for the ideal ambience. B-3 V also simulates plate, spring, and modern hardware studio reverbs.

FX Slots
Go back in time with several vintages and models, and control exactly how much leakage (tonewheels and drawbars being picked up by their neighbors) occurs.