NI discontinues B4II - Abandon ship

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by digidesigner

so, are the Pro-53, Vokator, Elektrik- and Akoustic Piano killed as well?

Hi,

Its not that have killed them, just not going to continue to update them for further OS changes, so they will continue to support them on the current OS.

But it does worry me that they might not work on Snow Leopard

Rather annoying that a few weeks after offering the komplete 5 as a cutting edge ground breaking industry standard collection of instruments they then announce dropping support for 5 of the instruments!!!

If you upgrade to komplete 6 you get to keep these plugins as well so they will continue to work for as long as they stay compatible with your OS.

Chris

[burningbusch]

Of the software B3 clones, my favorite is VB3 (http://www.genuinesoundware.com/?a=showproduct&b=24). It's warm, the attack is more realistic than the B4 and it is highly programmable. I like it better than the B4 or EVB3. Unfortunately for us, it is not RTAS and does not convert well using the VST-RTAS Adapter. I will speak with the developer, Guido Scognamiglio, about fixing the issue with the FXpansion convertor. As I understand it, it's a relatively minor change that needs to be made to the VST.

Sampling B3 drawbars is challenging in that if the samples are not phase locked to each other, you get phase cancellation. You can hear this on the DB-33 if you pull out the drawbars and play the same chord repeatedly. You'll hear tonal shifts. It is less apparent with settings such as 888000000. Plugins like the B4, EVB3 and VB3 are modeled and do not have this issue. The Hammond XK1/XK3 use samples but they must be phase locked as this is not an issue.

I think the DB-33 Leslie simulation is quite good. It's the only one, AFAIK, that's convolution-based and doesn't sound squirrelly with certain drawbar/chorus settings.

As far as B4 goes, NI has stated that all current plugins work with Snow Leopard (although there is an installation issue at the moment that they're working through). I have not had problems in the past running older versions of specific NI plugins with newer versions of Komplete. I suspect I'll be able to run B4 for quite sometime, but of course there is no guarantee.

Busch.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by crizdee

But it does worry me that they might not work on Snow Leopard

I'm more worried about ProTools updates. We've seen how 8.0.1 has rendered some common plugins obsolete. I upgraded my laptop to Snow Leopard and PT seems to be working fine. I could see 8.0.2 killing off B4, maybe some others, too.

[Jeff E]

Interesting letter posted on DA7.com...

02-09-2009, 16:45
Thomas @ NI
NI Team

Akoustik Piano has been discontinued - please read here for the details

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone,

As of this week, the following instruments have been discontinued: Akoustik Piano, B4 II, Bandstand, Elektrik Piano and Pro-53.

This means that these instruments will no longer be available for purchase, and that no future software updates will be developed for them.

However, you will still be able to get regular tech support from NI as long as you use these instruments under a supported operating system. Also, you can still install and activate discontinued products, as well as buy or sell them privately. They also won't be removed if you install the new Komplete 6 over a previous Komplete version.

So most importantly, the discontinuation will not prevent you in any way from further using these instruments under the system configurations that they are guaranteed to work with.

In the larger context, the fact that we will not maintain these individual instruments any longer has very real benefits for the wider NI userbase.

Our developers and QA testers have to spend a good share of their time to make sure that products stay compatible with new versions of host sequencers and operating systems. With a focused product portfolio like the one we have now, we can maintain the remaining products more efficiently and release new fixes and features faster. The resources that we save on legacy instruments like B4 II and Pro-53 will now be utilized for more popular and versatile products like Kontakt, Guitar Rig etc.

Here is some more information on the individual products both for existing users and for people interested in these instrument categories:

Akoustik Piano: The sounds of this instrument can and should be used with the free Kontakt Player, which is a much better platform regarding its sample engine and compatibility. The four individual piano models will also be re-issued as Kontakt-Powered instruments for download in the near future.

B4 II: The affordable "'57 Drawbar Organ" instrument is our alternative offer for drawbar organ fans. You can check it out here.

Bandstand: Same as with Akoustik Piano, the free Kontakt Player is the new recommended playback platform for the sounds contained in this instrument.

Elektrik Piano: Same as with Akoustik Piano, please use the free Kontakt Player. The sounds of Elektrik Piano are also now part of the Kontakt 4 factory library, so they continue to be available within Komplete.

Pro-53: While there is no direct replacement for this instrument in the NI product range, a wide range of vintage synth sounds can be achieved with Massive and Reaktor.

I hope this clears things up and provides a good perspective for all users of these and other NI products. If you feel that any info is missing in this post, just send me a PM and I will look into it.

Best, Thomas
__________________
Forum Administrator
Native Instruments, Berlin

[Eric Lambert]

Here's the link for '57 Drawbar which didn't come across in the post:

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/...drawbar-organ/

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

I'm more worried about ProTools updates. We've seen how 8.0.1 has rendered some common plugins obsolete.

As far as i know the only one's that stopped working were incompatible one's and one's that have been marked as incompatible since PT8.

But i am worried AGAIN about loosing more of my plugin arsenal in future updates! and its taken me till now to get almost back to where i was on 7.4 and Tiger. its been a long expensive uphill struggle to get here!!!!!!!

Chris

[RussUK]

I have an iMac G5 Power PC running PT7.4 to account for all these ongoing issues and run Spectrasonics and other things on that.

As you can pick up Power PC Macs for a couple of hundred pounds they're a cool investment for future proofing your studio with a software instrument workstation.

[Bentley Ferrari]

Originally Posted by RussUK

I have an iMac G5 Power PC running PT7.4 to account for all these ongoing issues and run Spectrasonics and other things on that.

As you can pick up Power PC Macs for a couple of hundred pounds they're a cool investment for future proofing your studio with a software instrument workstation.

Smart.