Diy leslie simulator for guitar and electric piano?

[JebemMajke]

A buddy of mine is a jazz piano player. But he plays only in his clubs ( he owns like 2 ). And just now he has asked me if i can make him a sort of leslie simulator pedal that will work on both guitar and electric piano.

So any advice?

[deadastronaut]

panning tremolo?  (stereo tremolo) with 2 inputs..

with good depth/speed control should be good.

[Brisance]

but it also needs panning vibrato to be authentic..

[roseblood11]

The Uni-Vibe was intended to emulate the "Doppler sound" of a Leslie speaker. I'd recommend the Forum Vibe project:
http://www.classicamplification.net/fv/
http://basicaudio.net/univibe-ForumVibe-final.pdf

[JebemMajke]

Looks interesting.

Any sound clips?

[lars-musik]

This here is one pedal from one of my many long lists of things I still have to build. It looks great:

BAJA Korg CX3 Rotary Effect BAJA Korg CX3 Rotary Effect (forbidden forum)
BAJA Korg CX3 Rotary Effect Link to "BAJA Korg CX3 Rotary Effect"   (allowed Forum)

By the way, I am relatively new to the stompbox-forum Business. Why is it forbidden to mention the other forum? I tried to do a search on that topic but came up empty.

[Mark Hammer]

The topic of realistic-sounding Leslie emulation comes up here every year, and sometimes several times in the same year.  My recommendation to your friend is to just fork over some money for a commercial product instead of burdening you with the task of making something that might requre a lot of trouble-shooting and "Could you make it more...".

It is quite possible he actually doesn't really need a Leslie simulator, and just believes he does, based on thigs he's read or heard 2nd hand.  For istance, all those great spongey-sounding Rhodes tracks from the late 70's and early 80's (see Steely Dan for many examples) were often just a standard Phase 90 on the output of the piano.

[midwayfair]

The topic of realistic-sounding Leslie emulation comes up here every year, and sometimes several times in the same year.  My recommendation to your friend is to just fork over some money for a commercial product instead of burdening you with the task of making something that might requre a lot of trouble-shooting and "Could you make it more...".

It is quite possible he actually doesn't really need a Leslie simulator, and just believes he does, based on thigs he's read or heard 2nd hand.  For istance, all those great spongey-sounding Rhodes tracks from the late 70's and early 80's (see Steely Dan for many examples) were often just a standard Phase 90 on the output of the piano.

Mark's reply is wise as always.

If your friend has $300, just get the Strymon Lex. If he wants to spend a little less, get the Boss. These have all the really important features, but the Lex is a teensy bit smaller and better sounding. Both have stereo, a "brake" switch, overdrive, etc.

He he wants you to build him something that simply gets some of that vibe, make him a Runoff Groove Tri-Vibe. It'll do something Phaser-ish, something Leslie-ish, and something Vibe-ise. The FV-1 also has a rotary emulator if you want to go digital. Most anything you do to get all the features of the Boss or Lex will require significant development time, a lot more circuitry, and perhaps even digital programming. You'll need a stereo setup, figure out someway to do the "brake," an overdrive circuit, cabinet simulation, some way of accurately recreating the sound of the horn and cabinet rotors, etc. etc. There's a reason the pedals that do this sound are so expensive, and why there are a dearth of DIY projects for it.

However, I will say that I don't think stereo is needed to be authentic. Most of the time you're not hearing a fully stereo recording of anything through a Leslie.

[vigilante397]

The guitarist in one of my bands has the Boss RT-20, which I think does a very excellent job and at a very excellent price, especially if you look used. He bought it on the cheap with the intention of flipping it, but he fell in love with the sound. I'm all for doing everything I reasonably can myself, but the more I build the more I realize that sometimes (of course not always) it's much less money and more importantly much less headache to get something commercially available.

[DougH]

[Mark Hammer]

Ah, the classic "cheese-wheel transplant"!
 
Look for a Craigslist or Kijiji ad for a console organ offered up "free to a good home".  Inside will be a rotating speaker, generally utilizing a rotating beige styrofoam baffle and an 8" speaker, capable of spinning at 2 predetermined speeds.  Most are good up to around 20W.  Remove the rotating speaker assembly, mount in a stylish cab like the lovely one Doug shows above (Nice cabinetry, guy!), and power with an amplifier of suitable properties.

[anotherjim]

Simple, old school...
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/pdf/3342.pdf

A bit more modern and sophisticated...
http://www.rolls.com/pdf/M_RFX147.pdf

[Luke51411]

Ah, the classic "cheese-wheel transplant"!
 
Look for a Craigslist or Kijiji ad for a console organ offered up "free to a good home".  Inside will be a rotating speaker, generally utilizing a rotating beige styrofoam baffle and an 8" speaker, capable of spinning at 2 predetermined speeds.  Most are good up to around 20W.  Remove the rotating speaker assembly, mount in a stylish cab like the lovely one Doug shows above (Nice cabinetry, guy!), and power with an amplifier of suitable properties.

I still need to build a box for my cheesewheel.

[GGBB]

For really cheap, he could try a Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe. I have one and I like it. 

[PRR]

> just fork over some money for a commercial product
> Look for a Craigslist
> try a Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe

JebemMajke is in Eastern Europe, perhaps Serbia?

He may not have a local Guitar Center. (Of course we may not have GC for long, but there's other shops full of product.)

His Craigslist equivalent may not be as flush with consumer-goods as places with a longer history of decadence.

[Jdansti]

Simple, old school...
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/pdf/3342.pdf

This looks interesting- Bookmarked! Thx.

[JebemMajke]

> just fork over some money for a commercial product
> Look for a Craigslist
> try a Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe

JebemMajke is in Eastern Europe, perhaps Serbia?

He may not have a local Guitar Center. (Of course we may not have GC for long, but there's other shops full of product.)

His Craigslist equivalent may not be as flush with consumer-goods as places with a longer history of decadence.

I am starting to think that because of all the giberish that i'v said so far PRR remembered where I live.

Well here is the thing, my guess is that my friend could order something over craigslist, using Croatia.

But he is ... erm insane ... he wanted a diy thing.

After telling him about commercial products, he has sent me this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBa2pYt5pUg

Anyway thnx, i personally liked forum vibe very much. I am thinking of making one for me.

[DougH]

Simple, old school...
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/pdf/3342.pdf

This looks interesting- Bookmarked! Thx.

I attempted to build that in 1975 or 1976 and failed. Then I successfully breadboarded it a few years ago. It's not really a big deal, it's okay. I would suggest building the Runoffgroove Phozer instead, for a similar sort of effect. The Phozer runs off 9v (I believe), uses readily available parts, and has an actual phase-shift effect, unlike the fake leslie on the free info site. The Phozer sounds great, to me, but check it out for yourself: http://www.runoffgroove.com/phozer.html

[Mark Hammer]

The Simonton project was what PAiA eventually marketed as the Synthespin.  A construction manual can be found here: http://www.paia.com/talk/download/file.php?id=191

It's really a modulated bandpass filter.  Gets a bubbly sound, but not much more than that, I'm afraid, when it comes to mimicking rotaries.

[karbomusic]

For istance, all those great spongey-sounding Rhodes tracks from the late 70's and early 80's (see Steely Dan for many examples) were often just a standard Phase 90 on the output of the piano.

The last time I saw Steely Dan which was in the late 90's I saw that phase 90 on the floor by Donald's keyboard.