After talking to Mile Marker Zero's guitarist John Tuohy Gearwire felt it only fair to give equal time to keyboardist Mark Focarile. One of the bits of gear he picked to chat about is Native Instruments B4 II, the developer's Hammond B3 plugin emulation.

"I started using B4II in the beginning of last year, and used it on many of the tracks on the Mile Marker Zero record. It was the first piece of software that I;d used. For years I had been using strictly hardware based sounds, and spending time tweaking and experimenting to make them sound more realistic," he says. "I started exploring the possibilities of software, and I found that almost every program I tried sounded incredible. I had been starting to use a lot of Organ patches, especially more crunchy John Lord-ish type sounds, and I needed to have a program that would allow me to not only blend with my guitar player John, but also dial in almost any organ sound I wanted."

As a confirmed Luddite, fearful of newfangled (yet sometimes decades-old) technology, I feel a need to ask how the sounds from the software compare to the real thing.

"Unfortunately I haven't had many chances to play a real B3. There was one at Applehead studios where we recorded, so even though I played a Hammond a few times before, this was really the first time I had a chance to sit with one for a long period of time," says Focarile. "When I first started playing with Mile Marker Zero, I was a piano player who was discovering the world of synths. I was a big Keith Emerson fan growing up, and I started focusing on the sound of the organ, and realizing the sonic possibilities it could open up."

This said Focarile says he has played and listened to many workstation organ settings and "clonewheel" organs. He feels the B4 has the most realistic organ sounds he has ever heard.

"The engineers I worked with were very picky when it comes to sounds, and were really impressed by the sound quality in the program. I love how the amp simulators emulate the "dirt" in the tone of the distorted patches," says Focarile. "A lot of times I find the distortions to be very digital sounding, and while they sound okay on their own, it doesn't blend as well with the band. The same goes with the more "church" like mellow settings; they have a really warm ring, and don't get too synthetic in the high end. The Leslies sound amazing, they have a real "watery" sound to them, especially when I'm doing a glissando. I love how you can choose either the 122 or the 147 model with an open or closed sound."

How easy is the software to use? Can someone with moderate experience just install and go?

"The program is extremely easy to use. Being my first program, I was a little apprehensive that software would be a difficult world to get accustomed to. I love the incredible amounts of options to use different organs, amps, and even tunings," he says. "The drawbars are very responsive, and have given me the opportunity to experiment and begin to really learn how to set them. Right now I have to slave all my programs through Logic for our live show, and I love that I can change my presets easily from the keyboard and don't need to go to the computer and change patches like I have to do with some of the other programs."

Focarile says he would recommend the B4 software to anyone and especially to those who play in organ trios and use a large number of settings.

"It would be so easy to go to a gig with a couple of controllers and a laptop," he says. "There is a great video of Tony Monaco on the Native Instruments website using the controller setup at NAMM and showing how easy it is to use."

Mile Marker Zero's self-titled debut was released at the end of June. They will be touring to support the record and have filmed some like performances for an episode of Fearless Music TV.