Vintage B3 emulates the sound and features of the Hammond B3 organ with two manuals (keyboards) and a pedalboard, each of which can have its own registration (sound setting). You can play all registers with a single-manual master keyboard, or you can use two manuals and a MIDI pedalboard. Vintage B3’s Component modeling synthesis engine faithfully replicates the tonewheel generators of an electromechanical Hammond organ, down to the smallest detail. This includes charming flaws, such as the Hammond’s enormous level of crosstalk and the scratchiness of the key contacts. You can adjust the intensity of these characteristics, enabling tones that range from flawlessly clean through to dirty and raucous—or anything in between.
Vintage B3 also simulates various types of Leslie sound cabinets—with rotating speakers, with and without deflectors. A flexible integrated effects section provides tube overdrive, an equalizer, a wah wah, and a reverberation effect.
The interface is divided into two main areas with a third area visible in some windows. The control bar at the top lets you access different controls in windows shown in the central display section. The lower edge gives you direct access to Leslie speed controls when the Main or Rotor Cabinet window is shown.
Click the control bar buttons to update the central display.
Main button: Shows the draw bars, which are used to make changes to the basic organ sound in real time. Additional performance and setup controls can be accessed with the Control, Preset, and Split buttons in the lower-right corner. See Vintage B3 Main window overview.
Rotor Cabinet button: Shows the Leslie speaker cabinet model and control parameters. See Vintage B3 Rotor Cabinet window overview.
Options button: Shows several tone controls that provide quick access to various aspects of your sound. Advanced controls for Percussion, Scanner Vibrato, and Morph are also found in the Options window. See Vintage B3 Options window overview.
Effects button: Shows controls for the built-in EQ, Wah, Distortion, Chorus, and Reverb effects. See Use Vintage B3 effects.
Expert button: Shows Organ, Pitch, Condition, Sustain, and Miscellaneous controls. These provide precise control over the tone of the organ and over other aspects, such as tuning, draw bar leakage, key click characteristics, and crosstalk levels. You generally access these parameters only when editing or creating an organ sound. See Vintage B3 Expert window overview.