Virtual leslie on stage: mono or stereo?

[JohnDoe]

To those of you using a virtual leslie (B4, VB3 etc) on stage: do you come closer to a real leslie when using stereo monitoring?

If so: how close or far apart do you place the speakers?

[MoodyBluesKeys]

There have been a lot of similar questions related to mono vs. stereo. There is also a divergence of opinions. First, unless the venue is either very small or has a multichannel (stereo or more) sound system with capable people operating it; the majority of the audience will not be in the "sweet spot" that one would expect in a home living room, but will hear mostly either one side or the other, perhaps with additional phasing issues that may result in degraded sound.

 

There is also the question of whether this effect is primarily for the performer or for both performer and audience; again with a divergence of opinions. If you do choose to run stereo monitoring for your (performer's) benefit - don't place the speakers very far apart - a real Leslie is not reproduced in only stereo, but depends on the reflection characteristics of the Dopplered sound bouncing off the walls and other reflective surfaces.

 

Admittedly, there are some Leslie sims that don't produce their full effect without having both channels. In my own case, for portable gigs, I have gotten to where I usually just carry one powered PA for a monitor, unless I'm carrying the whole big rig (just for the ease of transport, hookup, less to set up and tear down). For my fixed gig at church, I have a pair of EON 15G2 sitting on chairs a couple of feet behind me, and spaced so that each is about at an end of the keyboard, just a few feet. I may be running the PC2 that I leave there, or VB3 on a notebook, or the Electro 3. YMMV.

 

[stillplaying]

Mono for live (IMO). Check what it sounds like out front - not all software sounds great when summed to Mono (or whatever the technical term is).

 

Used to used NI's '57 organ. Now back to hardware.

 

Do a search on here for the Neo Ventilator (you may have already).

[JeffLearman]

Sometimes it's fun to bounce one speaker off a wall and have the other face forward. IMHO that's the most realistic sound, but not usually the most practical.