More about Rotary Speaker emulation

[MadrasGiaguari]

Dear friends,

short time ago we had an interesting discussion about the on board Rotary effect and/or additional external units emulating Leslie.
Among various posts Mini Vent (Leslie emulator) was also mentioned.

So, about the Mini Vent external unit I casually found this video that shows a very effective comparison between a real Leslie 122 cabinet and Mini Vent.

The result of this test, IMHO, is that Mini Vent effect is very close to the real Leslie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DuP0mjq0A

The test was made with a Mag organ. But of course is valid for Genos or any other keyboard.

Hope you will enjoy.

Ciao,

Angelo

[jimlaing]

Thanks, interesting video, just watched it ...

I found that if I slowed the "fast rotary" setting a little, it came a lot closet to what I remember from
real Leslies on B3s.  To me, the REAL ROTARY is just a bit too fast on its fast setting.

Jim

[MadrasGiaguari]

Dear Jim,

I also used to have a Leslie cabinet (122) with my Hammond L122R, and desperately try to find something better then what I found on arrangers (I had many Korg flagships before to move to Genos),

I feel that REAL ROTARY is to "weak", almost a Vibrato. ROTARY SPEAKER 1 looks a little better, but still weak. The best I found is a Legacy Rotary, Legacy/Rotary Speaker 5, that has more stereo depth on both slow and fast.

I have to say that Mini Vent is much closer to a real Leslie. I wish Yamaha would do something similar.

Ciao

Angelo

[andyg]

I'm late in on this one, but....

The Vent (and Mini Vent and the other pedals/boxes etc) is designed to to one thing. To recreate the sound of a close miked Leslie. That's what they said in their initial press releases and literature and what they said to me when I reviewed the original Ventilator some years ago. It does the job exceptionally well.

But, and it's a very big but for me, it does not reproduce the sound of a Leslie when heard live - ie not via close miking but standing a few feet away. There is no 'space' to the sound and there are no ambient reflections etc. There are some software Leslie emulations that do allow you to move the virtual mikes away from the virtual Leslie and adjust their angles and position. But the Vent doesn't go that far.

The best twin rotor Leslie simulations on the Yamahas are Dual Rotor Bright and Dual Rotor Warm, IMHO. Closer to a live Leslie sound and with enough tweakability to meet most requirements. Real Rotary just doesn't work at all for me.

[MadrasGiaguari]

Dear Andy,

it would be VERY interesting to may learn about your tweaking parameters. I know it is a matter of personal taste, nevertheless the taste of a musician specifically experienced with Hammond and Leslie, as you are, can bring significant contribution to all of us.

Thank you,

Angelo