Acoustica User Forums

After seeing a post by Erik (Starship Krupa) I bought the MB-33 plugin (Hammond B3) for a very nice price of $9.97

And can't get MX to see it.

Steps:
I had loaded the MB-33 dlls into a folder I use for many other DLLs - but on starting Mixcraft I got a message saying it needed the iLok software. I never used that before.

So I loaded the iLok software (for 64 bit, since it would only do that one on my system- might be pertinent).

Created an iLok account, logged in, typed in my registration code for the MB-33 software and it all seemed ready to go.

Started Mixcraft again - this time it loaded up fine, but I didn't see the MB-33 in the splash screen. I tried to find it for a midi track and it wasn't there.

OK - so I thought maybe I did things in reverse. I uninstalled the MB-33 - reinstalled; opened MX and still not there. All the other VSTs in that folder are in Mixcraft so I know it's looking there.

Here is my only theory - I'm running 32bit Mixcraft but the iLok software is 64bit. Does that matter? Both the 32 and 64bit MB-33 DLLs are there.

Why can't it find it?

The iLok software just authorises the plugin license, it doesn't affect the actual plugin itself. It needs to be 64-bit on a 64-bit system because it runs as a system-level service.

Regarding the plugin itself, have you checked the vstignore.ini file. It may have been blacklisted when you tried to load it without an active authorisation.

That was it!

Much thanks, Steve!

(Now I wish MB-33 had some pre-sets - but it may be worth my time learning just what the drawbars do and how real to life this is - I'm sure there are some Hammond B3 lessons on YouTube etc)

Posted this thread a long time ago. Gives drawbar settings for various sounds and artists on the Hammond. Enjoy!

http://forums.acoustica.com/bbs/viewtop ... t=+hammond

Much appreciated Tom! I've found a few things using Google as well.

(Unrelated question:
How did this thread get linked to both the Plugin section as well as the Mixcraft section? )

BillW wrote:Much appreciated Tom! I've found a few things using Google as well.

(Unrelated question:
How did this thread get linked to both the Plugin section as well as the Mixcraft section? )

Hi,

I moved it here so it wouldn't get overlooked in the Plugins topic.

Greg

Thanks Greg -
I'm really happy I bought this! Messing around with the controls and learning a lot - fairly simple actually. Just learning terminology where the controls here in the percussion section do not match some of the drawbar sites I'm seeing - but it's intuitive.

By the way - here are two good ones I found quickly - along with the one 'outteh' posted:

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthread ... ed_drawbar

http://keyboardservice.com/Drawbars.asp

And I found a youtube of Booker T playing Hang 'Em High. Never realized how much difference the tone can be just by varying the Leslie speed.

Bill, cool that you snagged the DB-33! I am running the trial version and there is no doubt in my mind that it's worth the $10. The Leslie alone as an effect would be worth that much.

As for the presets that you crave, it has them! 128 of them come with the organ. The thing about it is that as with many 3rd=party VST's, it has its own plug-in manager.

Open the UI, and down at the bottom, you'll see a green rectangle that says "Default." Click on that, and it will open a menu with the presets.

Also, to the right of that menu, you can click on the "cabinet" button to access the UI for all of the controls for the Leslie. It's like getting a whole other plug-in, right? That's how I felt when I stumbled on it.

If you search on Pluginboutique for "DB-33 Pro Tools Expert Guest Expansion" you will find a page with 10 presets you can download and install. If you can't find them let me know and I will just send you the .ZIP, as it is free anyway.

Hey Erik - thanks for the instructions on the presets.

I had found the cabinet and actually needed to tune down some of the settings in the preamp and organ input to avoid what sounds like static or rough sounds on a lot of the drawbar settings. Not sure if that's a function of the plugin, or Mixcraft, or my speakers or what, but a gentle couple of adjustments eliminated it without any sacrifice.

A little automation on the Leslie and my organ parts sound much better. Granted, I could do that with the stock plugin (and have) but this one is much better in my opinion.

In fact, I have to say, this is a STEAL at $10! Thanks much for the suggestion!

Bargain of the century in some respects but most of the presets have been loaded with drive(distortion) and this doesn't bode well for me personally, I hate overdrive, its nice with some guitar stuff however but I don't want someone deciding that I need it, I prefer to make the choice of adding and not taking away. The same goes for the key click and some cabinet settings, I found myself switching stuff off all the time. I had the same problem with the Acoustica vb3 but found by starting with the Gospel preset all is well and the sound is clean. The vb3 is heavily loaded on the bottom end and sounds very bassy, this is masking the 1 foot drawbar and the ones close to it, its all a matter of getting the balance and the mixer doesn't really work to well here because the mixer has fixed frequencies that are not in tune with the drawbars. The high frequency knob is around 6-7k but the upper drawbars are far less so do not come into the mixer range. On the other hand, the db33 is balanced to favour the top end so again its a matter of balance. I have a free vst called vl122 and this sits midway of the db33 and vb3 and it has no overdrive unless you decide to add it. Procol Harem WSP plays better on the vb3 whilst the db33 needs some messing with, the free vl122 just does it out of the box. For anyone building an organ any 3 would be a good choice but will need to pass via an eq tuned to suit whichever.

Mick -
Yes, that's I guess what was leading me to tone down some of the knobs in the cabinet. The presets are handy for me because (not being an organ player) the drawbars are too mysterious to me.

But you are correct in saying the presets need adjustments in the cabinet interface before they sound "clean".

Still, for $10, I don't mind. But you mention vl122 playing Whiter Shade of Pale perfectly, so I'm intrigued again and will check that one out as well.

I find the various drawbar setting sites mentioned here and that I've found also to be valuable.

Note that there are over 250 MILLION possible combinations - though moving a given bar one or two steps does not produce anything meaningfully different. I've read in fact there are essentially "only" a few dozen useful settings.It seems many are either set at 8 or 0.

(Actually, though a Hammond site says 250 million, I think it's actually 387 million - 9 bars with 9 settings would be 9 to the ninth.

Right now I'm playing 000 000 000. If you can't hear it, turn up your speakers.

It looks like the VL122 is discontinued but here is the zip I downloaded originally some months ago, copy the dll into your vst folder, hopefully it works. Its 32 bit but works great in Mixcraft and if you open the DB33 cabinet as an FX you can feed the VL122 through it and the same for the Acoustica vox organ.

Thanks mick - I did find it still on VST4Free.

One of THE BEST virtual Hammonds is AcousticSampleS B5-V2, hands down. By the way, it includes four types --not just B3.

Feel free to check out my review of it (and video presentation)

http://reviewrevival.weebly.com/reviews ... done-right

Another one that is quite good, and also features four Hammond variants, is "Blue3" by GG-Audio. Like VB3 and DB-33 it's completely modelled - no samples.

Excellent suggestions - though pricey (~$100 / 100 Euro). I suspect for those using Mixcraft as more than a hobby, either would be worth the price - from what I read. I especially like the idea of emulating the pedals (think John Paul Jones of Zeppelin who often played keyboard with his hands and "bass" with his feet.