I have been spending the last few weeks getting huge amounts of fun out of my latest virtual toys.
NI B4 II and NI Akoustik Pianos.
I could never afford (or house) a genuine Hammond, A Steinway, a Bechstein and a Bosendorfer... But these virtual recreations are lovely! (if not ACTUALLY as good as the real thing ;) )
They really are splendid.
And also now obsolete :evil:
Like almost the day I unwrapped them Native Instruments removed them from their current catalogue.
This happens to me a lot. I get a new toy and the company in question stop making it.
EMU Proteus PK6 (and cousins) - one month after I bought mine
Alesis Fusion 8HD - 2 months after I bought mine
Alesis Multimix 16 Firewire - I managed 9 months before they obsoleted it
NI B4II and Akoustik Pianos - The same *&()dy day I got mine :evil:
Moral of this story. FInd out what's on MarkOne's shopping list before buying it :roll: .
Sorry to bust your knuckles, but GSi VB3 is vastly superior Hammond emulation than NI B4-II. Cheaper, too. If you think B4 is splendid, definitely check out VB3 and you'll remain in awe. And probably regret the money you threw on B4 :P BTW; Guido is working on 64-bit version of VB3, to emerge beginning next year or something. How's that for a slap to NI? :P
Akoustik Piano is really bad, compared to other libraries available now. And especially Pianoteq 3, which I own :P
Hey MarkOne,
Hope you don't feel too bad about your new acquisitions...ok there may be better softsynths out there but for the most part the general public can't hear a bum note* let alone the differences in a soft synth!
Make music and enjoy - it's not the quality of the gear, it's what you do with it. A shit song will still be a shit song regardless of how pukka the synth is.
*...true story:
I went to a local gig and watched as the bassist, clearly in his own little world played the whole song a semitone out. The public (bless them) didn't notice a thing. :roll:
G
PS - I have B4II, Electric Piano and Akoustik Piano and I like em!
I don't want to bring bad vibes to this thread, so sorry on my above misdemeanor :P
Also it's true about the story above, the public that isn't prog-oriented mostly can't hear a bum note, let alone the quality of sound. Still, a player feels better with a better sound, right?
I have VB3, Mr. Ray mkII and Pianoteq 3 (with all addons) and they are absolutely heavenly :)