Build Your Own Clone Message Board

It would be really great to see a Leslie Rotary emulator ala:(http://store.strymon.net/products/Lex-Rotary.html)..

That would be really great, wouldn't it? How are your DIY signal processor programming skills? Written any good algorithms recently?

Try as they might.Leslie simulators will never get the sound of the spinning box right. Unless they are actually spinning.

I disagree with this. The live experience of a leslie...probably not. But to emulate the recorded sound of a leslie....why not? It's coming through stationary speakers. I experimented with an all analog leslie sim. IMHO, the sound of a leslie has 4 parts: Phaser to mimic the doppler effect; vibrato to mimic the pitch bending; tremolo to mimic how it gets louder when the horns point towards you; and panning to mimic the spacial effect created by the rotating speakers. So if you can blend all 4 of these effects and have them all operate off the same LFO, AND have stereo output (quadraphonic output would be even better!), you can get an amazingly realistic leslie tone. And at the very least, get a super cool sounding modulation effect.



I chose to base it around the VB-2's LFO. 1. that took care of the vibrato. 2. I wanted the ramp feature. Ultimately a poor choice. The perfect sine wave LFO doesn't sound right. It really needs more of a ramp wave to capture the doppler effect. And the VB-2 LFO is difficult to make dual phase, so the panning was a little off.

It's probably been 5 years since I've touched this thing. Now I think the ramp feature is just silly. It's nice to say it ramps up like a real leslie, but seriously....Who gives a crap about that?

That Strymon pedal is just an amazing sounding Leslie emulation. I have seriously considered buying one, but just can't get by that "$300 for a freakin' PEDAL???" thing....

Is there a pcb lying around for this?!? I'd LOVE to build one...

Check out the demo video on their site. He is playing an Agile AL-3000 The pedal costs almost as much as the guitar

$300 for a freakin' pedal does suck, but I just bought their blue-sky reverberator, and it is AWESOME. Like, $300 awesome. And have you listened to the el capistan demos? Sick!!

+1 on the Strymon Lex. I listened to several demos of leslie pedals and the Strymon, IMHO, blows all others away. Also, Strymon has the most comprehensive demos I've ever seen on their site. Their new Timeline is absolutely incredible! Now the problem is, I have the go ahead for new gear for my birthday and I can't decide between the Lex or the TImeline. Ultimately, the Lex would be more useful to me because I play mostly blues and we don't currently have a B3 player so I could comp some organ type lines but the Timline is so freakin' cool.

I just came across BYOC today. WOW! This is a cool company and a fine site.

This post, the idea of a Leslie simulator pedal, is something I've been thinking about for years. As a new-comer here, I don't want to overstep my bounds, but, this idea has been eating away at me forever.

When i read your idea that the Leslie sound has four parts I was so freaking psyched!!! No seems to get how complex the Leslie effect is! You really nailed it, but I think I would add a fifth feature. Years ago I had a Yamaha Rev7 studio rack unit, and it's easily one of the best reverb effects I've ever heard. The feature that really sent the reverb over the top was something they referred to as "first reflection." it was a slapback echo that came just before the reverb to emulate the original signal hitting a nearby hard surface such as a wall or floor before the general reverberation generated by the distant hard surfaces arrives . . . and it really sold the effect. Along with the doppler, phase, volume, and panning, I believe having a "first reflection" that simulates the reflection of the sound as the speaker points away from the audience and toward the wall at the back of the stage, may be the thing that puts it over the top. The first reflection would only appear as the effect "moved away" toward the "back" of the rotation; the "front" of the rotation would be dry, dry, dry.

And y'know, I think the ramp feature is a valuable addition for a lot of applications. Leslies have two speeds and the ramp feature would nail the segue between the two speeds; ramp up and ramp down. You don't need a separate button or control for it, it should just be a feature that automatically segues between speeds, if and when the speed is changed. I've noticed it more in B3 organ performances, mostly in blues/rock and jazz . . . more than I've ever heard it in guitar performances.

I've been dieing to hear a real, properly designed, high-quality Leslie pedal on an overdriven B3 sound like Greg Allman's stuff or guitar work like Clapton's lead on Badge.

There are plans over at freestompboxes for an analog pedal based on the old Korg CX-3 keyboard. I built it and recorded some samples:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=987592

It has BBD ships and two separate delay lines that are filtered for bass and treble and it ramps up and down at different speeds like the horn and the rotor of a leslie. I think the two separate LFOs are what goes furthest to making it sound like a real Leslie. And the ramp function...? Yes, I care! Before I built this pedal I would ride the speed knob on my EHX Wiggler just to get that effect for my harmonica. I can upload plans here since the FSB site is down...

the thought just occurred to me..
sure you could build an analog leslie sim that pretended to be a spinning box of glory..
but at the end of the day wouldnt that sort of be quasi line 6-ish?

i mean isn't what we do here in effort to preserve the REAL thing from watered down "well its close enough" digital algorithms? who wants modeling when you can have the real thing right????

why not... you know, build the real thing????
i mean since were inclined to do crazy stuff such as this already...
DO IT YOURSELF !!!!

sure having a pedal that sounds close would be cool.. i guess.
but NOTHING trumps having something that actually spins.
http://www.mantor.info/Hobbyhjornet/DIY ... peaker.htm
(not the ramp up and down in the video.. i know its not really that useful for guitars, but when playing an organ its where the magic is at)
http://www.cyrguitars.com/Leslie_Project.html

crude but effective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuXJRwLH ... re=related

also you can find rigs like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leslie-Speaker- ... 2566cd1983
dirt cheap alot of times, you can find places with organs being given away
these sets ups came in a few models of organs , mostly the Hammond T series, and a few Yamaha/Wurlitzer.

it has a bass rotor that pops out of the main body of the organ, the whole leslie unit is easy to unhook/use else where/with other instruments. VERY easy to mod to guitar and build wooden enclosure for, plus it has the added bonus of actually throwing sound around the room and having an awesome spinning drum for the audience to look at. Plus it doesnt weigh as much as a full on 122 cab, and you dont need to bribe the bassist to help you load in

..we're all trying to get a reasonable facimile of the 'real thing' into a pedal.. even yer ol' overdrive is a representation of an overdriven amp.. just makes sense (especially if you're a guitarist with an interest in soldering wires ) ..to try for a small yet realistic 'leslie' pedal ...

I've been following this article, hoping for an update:
http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Bee ... g_Speaker/
Finally, a good purpose for High Life!

That's more like it!
id imagine something different than a beer can might be more effective though..