Some time has passed since Cherry Audio released it’s version of Blue3.
I was initially excited to see what the new version would bring. I have the original GG Audio versio of Blue3, and I am very satisfied with that one.
After seeing some of the initial reactions here on the forum, and having checked out some YouTube videos, I’m not so sure.
So I wonder;
Is it worth it buying the new version? (It’s not that expensive, so maybe I end up buying it anyway.)
I see they have removed a few things, like
the fine control of the tone wheels
They have added the effects section. Is that worth the upgrading?
For those of you that have tested it;
Is the sound the same?
Is the presets the same as in the GG Audio version?
I see that B-3X is on sale for around the same price as the new Blue3 version.
I understand that it’s a bit more CPU hungry, but; Is my money better spent adding that one to my plugin pool than using them on the new Blue3?
Was just about to write something very similar, with some additional thoughts.
The B-3X leslie quality (or just the separate IK Leslie-plugin without the organ) seems to be waaay ahead of the competition when it comes to the feeling of depth, liveliness, and for me especially the way the amp starts to distort with louder input. Having played through several old Leslie cabinets and owning one rotary tube amp myself, I would say the slightly overdriven sounds have usually been the thing that most software or clonewheels cannot do as convincingly compared to physical amps.
Most can do decent OD sounds, but IK Leslie seems to do it exceptionally well and has nice range from the very slight overdrive to hard rock -style distortion.
But then there is the “biting through” issue. Couple of years ago when comparing B-3X to AcousticSamples B5 I came to the conclusion that I could have used the B-5 on a gig in its default settings, but B-3X absolutely required some tweaking. And this of course is nothing new in the world of keyboard sounds: super-wide and polished piano sounds that sound fantastic on your headphones won’t necessarily work in a club with your band. The IK Leslie is easily the widest souding of all the plugins I’ve tried, so it’s no surprise that this width and dynamic feeling is something that needs to be tamed a little bit. But very minor things will get you there. I usually put the “drum mics” to mono, and “horn mics” just slightly panned. Then some EQ and compression and it’s good to go anywhere I perform.
I demoed the Cherry Audio version of Blue3 and without even trying it through a PA I got the feeling this would work effortlessly.
But still, my verdict: many modern plugins, like Blue3, GSi VB3 and AS B-5, and hardware clonewheels like Viscount, Hammond XK-series and Nords, sound great. B-3X sounds jawdroppingly great.
