Hammond B-3X in Cubase

[Retsoor]

A few problems. Using B-3X as a VSTi in Cubase 14 and my Studio Logic NC2X keyboard, I cannot direct Cubase to 'Learn' any of the 9 Sliders on the keyboard. I can connect to CC 1 via the B-3X Learn option to control the Leslie controls Slow and Fast along with CC 64 Learn option to control the B3 Brake. However that's really all I can sort. The lower octave key (Bar presets) performs automatically which is nice.

Lastly, Cubase cannot locate all the very nice B-3X Preset files! All it can do is offer the Default Preset and then an option to create others as you might have the time - which doesn't seem right. Standalone is a diff story regarding the Presets, BTW.

Are these known issues? Should I just shutup?

[Retsoor]

I did sort the lack of B-3X Presets. I found the folder that held the one Default preset that opens with the B-3X in Cubase and then found the folder with the B-3X Presets that you find when you use the Standalone B-3X on your desktop. I copied them all and dropped them into the folder that Cubase created for the single Default preset. After closing the folder and opening it again everything was there.

I sure wish I control the 9 sliders on the NC2X from Cubase though..... On YT I caught a video about an app called 'Midiwrench' that the user said worked on all controllers. It's available as a desktop app but there are also warnings from MS. Anybody using this product?

[dougs.ik]

It's available as a desktop app but there are also warnings from MS. Anybody using this product?

You get that warning for any software except from very large software publishers now in Windows 10/11. Just click through and install after verifying the developers of Midiwrench are legitmate (I always find some users discussing it on a forum as validation).

[Retsoor]

Thanks Doug. I do see this warning from various plugin creators, even NI which now owns iZotope which surprises me. Now that I think about it, it even comes up with IK.

For now I will deal with Presets and the option to program the twelve Preset keys. This said, I understand that Susuki makes a keyboard that integrates with the B-3X software and the 9 drawbars for somewhat big money. Which kinda takes away from the idea of an affordable keyboard controller... I wish IK would make an inexpensive controller for it but I guess that's not gonna happen.

[dougs.ik]

I use an old m-audio Axiom 61

axiom_vb3_ik by https://www.flickr.com/photos/8793316@N04/, on Flickr

[Retsoor]

Whoa. Are you using Cubase? I am not as versed in MIDI Script writing as you must be, Doug - although I do understand that Cubase is supposed to be the originator of VST and VSTi and the process might not be too difficult for the right person. However thast is not me. In my investigation there is not one Steinberg Cubase forum member who has a Studio Logic NC2X and the IK B-3X VSTi. Meaning that there is not a script available for the B-3X and Cubase that anyone has created and shared. So I do what I can.

Another recent issue I've run into with the USB MIDI connection to my PC is with the Pecussion control in the B-3X. During a two hour session today it started. There were some strange audio crackles that coincided with the pulsing MIDI activity indicator light in Cubase. After investigation it turned out the Percussion switch in the B-3X was flipping back and forth rapidly. Has anybody run into this that you know of, Doug? This does not happen in the Standalone Desktop model, only in Cubase. Do I need to ditch the USB MIDI and go to the MIDI port on my MOTU interface?

[dougs.ik]

Consider using the free version of Cantabile software (lite). There is a very long thread there regarding Hammond VST's including B-3X. It is designed for performance/practice of virtual instruments.

[Retsoor]

Thanks for the Cantabile direction, Doug, I will check it out.

BTW, the B-3X Percussion switch issue resolved itself with a new reload of B-3X onto another VSTi channel. I just moved the audio to the new track and removed the MIDI On/Off percussion info. Still a weird event, but oh well...

[Retsoor]

Doug, hi. I discovered that Cantabile is not a program made for use in any DAW, Cubase or otherwise.. It is live performance program (via a laptop) or as a Desktop app.

[Retsoor]

Still here and still questions. And yes, I may be a complete idjut here....

Cubase 14 is perhaps unique, but, after recording the B-3X, within Cubase's MIDI Editor there are visual representations of various CC codes that Cubase is recognizing that I do not want. There are even CCs that are activated that are not even noted in the B-3X software - as if there is a 'ghost' command happening. CC 74 ('Brightness' in the MIDI Editor) shows up within the Cubase recording data but it is a CC that is not even listed in the B-3X CCs... Why does this happen? How do I stop it? Also bear in mind, my NC2X has 50 unassigned MIDI commands that could avoid some other problems I'm seeing - but the B-3X software will not let me change the CC number to one that is avaialble. A great example here is the Leslie Brake. When I go to change the B-3X MIDI command 'CC 02' and change it to one of my other available MIDI CCs, the B-3X software will ONLY let me select CC 64. Which is the Steinberg 'Sustain' CC (and also the B-3X Sustain Pedal CC). Cubase will 'LEARN' the simple ON/OFF footswitch command and actually commit to the Brake function that is plugged into a mono jack on the NC2X (that is designated there for a Sustain pedal). AND ,yes, the B-3X recognizes it as a switch - and not a momentary connection like a true Sustain pedal would. However...why can't I select a different CC #, one of the 50 I have available to me?

Am I missing something obvious? Is there a trick to mapping CCs in the B-3X that I don't know about? Thanks for any response.

Oh.... When I say the B-3X will - 'only let me select CC 64', what I mean is, as I go to LEARN the function, at that time, whatever number I have put in the CC window of the B-3X (and I can put any number from 1-127 in the CC window), the number '64' will appear and the connection is made to control the Brake with CC 64.