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Leslie Sims in a Stomp Box - Review and Compare


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Own it? Love it? Hate it? Sold it? Know of another?

More options than ever...

 

Strymon Lex Rotary $299

[video:youtube]

 

DLS RotoSIM and/or RotoSPIN $299/$259

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

Hammond "Cream" Leslie Pedal $399

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFUmDlEZhkU

 

Hammond Leslie "G" Pedal $329

[video:youtube]

 

Neo Instruments Ventilator Ventilator II $499, Ventilator Mini $329

[video:youtube]

 

Tech21 Roto CHOIR $219

[video:youtube]

 

GSi Burn $379

[video:youtube]

 

EHX Lester K Lester K $178, Lester G $224

[video:youtube]

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I used to own an Option 5 Destination Rotation. It wasn't bad but I didn't like the ramp speed. Thought it was too fast. Mine was # 4 hand built and was made before they put an adjustment for the speed. In the 70's I used a Mutron Bi-phase. It was pretty cool in the old days.
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Not sure how it sounds with keyboards (perhaps someone will know?) but my favorite for guitar was the Line 6 Roto-Machine.

 

...I don't hear many people talk about that one, but it sounded just like Davey Johnstone or Joe Walsh when I plugged a guitar into it!

Electro 5, NI Kontrol S61/49, MX49, PC3, Rev2, Prologue, Pro3, Juno-DS, Mopho Keys, SE02, drums, tons of synth software, guitars, amps, and pedals...help me!!

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I have Strymon Lex. For me, the best pedal leslie simulation.

Kurzweil K2661 + full options,iMac 27",Mac book white,Apogee Element 24 + Duet,Genelec 8030A,Strymon Lex + Flint,Hohner Pianet T,Radial Key-Largo,Kawai K5000W,Moog Minitaur,Yamaha Reface YC + CP, iPad 9th Gen, Arturia Beatstep + V Collection 9

 

https://antonisadelfidis.bandcamp.com

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For organ, the Vent and the Burn sound much better than the rest to my ears. Personally I prefer the Burn, but I'm definitely in the minority around here.

On guitar, I'd give the edge to the Strymon.

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When the price range on these models is between $178 and $499 - I think some proper shoot outs are in order. If anyone has more than one of them and is willing to do an A/B and upload, please do. Or even if you only own the one other than the Vent and Burn which he hear plenty from, please share.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I own the DLS RotoSim. I haven't used it on organs (though I intended to do so when I bought it), but have used it on electric pianos and guitars. The effect is more chorus-ey and so works for guitars much better. Distortion is okay, but a little too sterile sounding. I leave the back unscrewed permanently so that I can tweak the pots for tonal and balance changes. It's neat in that regard.
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Had most of the above, gave the Vent to my Guitarist, sold the GSi Burn, and settled for an HX-3.

Same size as a large pedal, but a much more controllable customized Rotary effect with great Hammond tones.

 

Everything in one nice small package.

And the Leslie Speed blinks bright Blue......

 

Magnus C350 + FMR RNP + Realistic Unisphere Mic
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Had most of the above, gave the Vent to my Guitarist, sold the GSi Burn, and settled for an HX-3.

Same size as a large pedal, but a much more controllable customized Rotary effect with great Hammond tones.

 

Everything in one nice small package.

And the Leslie Speed blinks bright Blue......

 

hardware, can I assume your organ engine is the B2003?

how do you think the engine and leslie from sonicore compares with the many others?

http://sonic-core.net/joomla.soniccore/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=128&lang=us

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I have both the Ventilator II and the Burn and have been A/B'ing them recently and have reached some conclusions.

 

When running with a mono powered P.A. speaker, the Vent wins. Since it has a dedicated mono output, it does a better job than the Burn of simulating the total sound of a Leslie.

 

The Burn sounds fantastic in headphones. I use it to practice in phones with my B3 and it really does a killer job of simulating a mic'd Leslie in headphones, as if it is in an isolation booth.

 

I will eventually try stereo PA speakers and see which one wins out. Right now, I've found great applications for both.

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Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com

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settled for an HX-3.

Same size as a large pedal, but a much more controllable customized Rotary effect with great Hammond tones.

 

Everything in one nice small package.

And the Leslie Speed blinks bright Blue......

 

same here. The HX3 is a very aesthetically pleasing unit that sounds amazing. I also sold my original Vent quite a while ago and as Mitch pointed out , it sounds great in mono. Might be the only one that has that distinction. I want to get a Burn for my Wurlitzer 200 but can't afford a new one. I missed out on Hardware's and Mark Zyla's in the garage sale section. Hopefully another will come up for sale sooner than later.

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:nopity:
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  • 1 year later...

Thinking of buying a leslie sim for my VR09. I live in Brazil, so the Ventilator, Burn or Hammond pedals are very, very expensive and out of question.

 

Came across the Lester K and the DLS Rotosim at the same price, but cannot test in person. Read/heard great things about the Lester... But, has Anybody tried the DLS with keys? How is it?

My drawbars go to eleven.

Gear: Roland VR-09, Nord Electro 2 61, Korg CX-3. Hear my music: facebook.com/smokestoneband

 

 

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Had most of the above, gave the Vent to my Guitarist, sold the GSi Burn, and settled for an HX-3.

Same size as a large pedal, but a much more controllable customized Rotary effect with great Hammond tones.

 

Everything in one nice small package.

And the Leslie Speed blinks bright Blue......

how would you describe the difference between vent and hx3 ? I get an hx3 tomorrow for testing but I don`t have a vent . TIA

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Once you add guitar pedals to the mix there are many more.

 

Based on my experience with the Boss RT-20, which I use occasionally with guitar, but once plugged in after VB3 and found it vastly inferior to the VB3 sim, leaving the guitar orientated pedals off the list is not going to mean anyone misses out on a killer rotary pedal for keys.

A misguided plumber attempting to entertain | MainStage 3 | Axiom 61 2nd Gen | Pianoteq | B5 | XK3c | EV ZLX 12P

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  • 2 years later...

Dang Elmer. Resurrecting your old thread from hibernation :)

 

That Pulse looks cool. Before I ventured into VST land, I used the Lester K with my Roland FA-08. It worked great as I could send my organs out the secondary output, so I didn't have to run everything thru it and worry about hitting Bypass. No one would mistake the FA-08 and Lester K for a Hammond and Leslie, but in the rock band setting it was perfect.

David

Gig Rig:Depends on the day :thu:

 

 

 

 

 

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Has anyone ever tried a Nux Roctary?

 

https://www.nuxefx.com/roctary.html

 

As guitar pedals go, it has the (I think) uncommon feature of being able to switch the cabinet simulation in or out (guitarists are less likely to want it, organ players more so).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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I´ve tried the NUX, could not find a setting that reminded of a proper leslie for organ use.

I do hope that GSI will bring out an updated BURN!!

"This is my rig, and if you don´t like it....well, I have others!"

 

"Think positive...there's always something to complain about!"

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Oh man, just when I am content to not need a leslie sim pedal, a 4-year old thread on Keyboard Corner starts up again.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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  • 3 years later...

2018-2020 pre-pandemic, an artist I was playing with had 2-3 hit songs using an electric piano though a Leslie. The backline I requested was some kind of Motif and I had patches for that saved on a USB. I had trouble programming a decent EP w/ Leslie effect on the Yamaha so I bought a Lester K and put it in line - worked great!

Still have the Lester K. I think it sounds good, maybe not as good as a Ventilator. Thought about using it with the CP73 I have now since IMO the Leslie is...well...

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I also have a Lester K, and it's gotten basically no use and is sitting at home doing nothing.  I bought it to use with a Kurzweil but since then I've been using keyboards with decent (enough for me) leslies.  It's definitely got a different sound than any of my digital leslie effects...not sure it's better, or more authentic, but it's different.   I really like the overdrive tone it has.   It would be easy enough to put it back on my pedalboard (which only has mixers currently) and use one of the extra outputs of of the nord stage 3.  Minor hassle then would be adjusting it as it would be down at my feet.

it's in mint shape so if I'm not going to use it guess I should sell it...I need someone with a whip standing behind me to get me motivated to sell gear, argh.  At least that thing is tiny and easy to ship.

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Lex V.2

Here is a test taken on the fly with version 2 of the pedal in question.
(for appropriate comparison of the differences, in the info of the video there are the links for the first version of the pedal itself)

https://youtu.be/s4IOYAHfY0M

 

As for other similar demos of mine, I wanted to "capture" my stereo amp Roland SA-1000 with a Zoom microphone, to grasp the effect of "ambience amplification".

This allows further comparison with my other video tests of Leslie clones and simulations, with audio captured in the same way.

Soon I will obviously also publish tests with direct audio into mixer (and with true Hammond).

 

Self-explainig video, in which the indication of what I am doing on the pedal during the various phases appears time after time.

I would say an interesting improvement compared to the first version and, due to the resonance of the virtual cabinet and overdrive, maybe I prefer this one to the Ventilator (but not to the Burn 😊).

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