a Q about VB3m's Leslie - how big a diff with GSiRotary?

[Reezekeys]

I'm considering replacing my current iOS organ (Galileo) with VB3m. I see that VB3m includes a rotary speaker effect, but you can also buy a bundle of VB3m with GSiRotary for a few more bucks (actually, almost double what VB3m alone costs!). From what I can gather, GSiRotary is a better Leslie, certainly on paper. I should probably pull the trigger on the bundle, but since my organ playing comprises only a few spots in a few songs of the current gig that pays my rent, and zero in any local gigs I do, I was wondering just how much better it does than the stock Leslie in VB3m. Has anyone here compared the two Leslies? If so, would you say the difference is pronounced or even noticeable in a live playing context? I'm not an organ player and don't anticipate using a Leslie effect with anything else like guitar or synth tracks - but I do want a Leslie that sounds good and I would happily pay the diff in price if the quality increase was noticeable. Thanks for any feedback from the organ cognoscenti - I know there are more than a few of you here!

[ABECK]

I haven't directly compared the two, but I have VB3m and GSI Gemini, which has what I believe to be the model GSIRotary was based on.  

The rotary sim in VB3m lacks the tweakability of the Gemini and GSIRotary effects, but it is damn fine on it's own.  I bought VB3m assuming I'd also buy the Rotary app, but after several gigs with just the VB3m, I don't see the need.  In fact, I've tweaked the rotary settings on my Gemini to more closely match what I'm hearing from the VB3m.  

[Reezekeys]

This is great to hear, exactly the kind of info I was hoping to get, thanks! Does the stock VB3m Leslie lets you adjust rotor/drum speeds and ramp up/down times? How about mic distance & spread? There's no manual to download from what I can see.

[bjosko]

Here is the settings in VB3. No ramp, but options for 147, 122, a Marshal Stack and direct out.

 

 

[Baldwin Funster]

I think they sound the same but the standalone has more things to tweak.

[Reezekeys]

Thanks guys. I almost got Galileo happening – if only the C/V wasn't so warbly! I turned it off and will try living with it for a while to see how it goes but I have a feeling I'l be getting VB3m.

[ABECK]

For the money, it's a no-brainer.

[dbran]

I am still fairly new to the vB3m and GSi rotary app. I love the sound of the vB3m rotary, but I wanted to get control over the ramp up/down times, so I bought the standalone GSI rotary app and route the dry vB3m into it using AUM as a host.  I can't get the standalone to sound as good (to my ears) as the vB3m rotary, but I am still experimenting. The vB3m has a kind of grittiness to it, while the standalone sounds "cleaner" (and therefore less exciting to listen to for what I'm trying to do).

 

Also having a strange problem that occurs maybe every ten minutes of playing or so, where a painfully loud whistling sound will start and become self-sustaining through this combination and last for about ten seconds before dying out.  It seems to be triggered by the percussion on a certain key or two, near the G above middle C. Still trying to figure it out.

 

[Reezekeys]

Just read your post as I finished up replacing Galileo with VB3m in my iPad rig. My initial feelings are that it's a better organ than Galileo but not night & day better. If it wasn't for the warbly C/V in Galileo I would probably be OK with Galileo. Keep in mind I'm not an organ player, I'm a piano player that needs to play occasional organ! I did set up patches & tweak to get as close to identical as I could while switching between them, playing in all registers and toggling Leslie speeds. Galileo actually offers way more control – which I know means nothing if the basic sound isn't there. I'm not unhappy to have bought VB3m and will be using it. The rotary is better, though like you I do wish for control over ramp up/down as well as the fast speed which feels a bit fast to me. One thing for sure, VB3m is much easier to program; Galileo is kind of a mess with e.g. having to menu dive to switch midi learn on, then go back to another page to do the "learning", then back to the first page to turn midi learn OFF, etc. I was looking for a way to disable changing VB3m presets via PCs and as of now it doesn't look possible. Galileo can do it. No big deal as I disabled PCs on the AUM channel.

 

As to your strange problem – I have not encountered that, sorry I can't help there. Good luck!

[dbran]

Reezekeys, thanks for the reply. Coming back to this thread a few months later just to report that I solved the problem described above, in case it ever vexes anyone else. The whistling sound was a result of inadvertently sending the organ sound through two leslie emulations, one after the other, in the AUM host. The first rotary, in vB3m, I had disabled (setting the rotary effect to "none") so that it could be sent out over AUM into the GSI rotary app. However, I finally figured out that when changing patches on my control keyboard, a MIDI patch change command was getting sent to the vB3m app as well, sending it back to the "default" patch with its own rotary engaged. Therefore, two rotaries were being used in series. I am not an expert, but I believe part of the characteristic Leslie sound includes some narrowband peaks at certain frequencies. I guess that at least one of these peaks lined up on the same frequencies in both rotary apps, so that any noise in those narrow bands would be hugely amplified. That does fit with the feedback-like sound I was hearing. I am now having AUM filter out patch changes to the vB3m app, and the problem has not recurred.