Greetings all! In the past, I have heard the rotary sound, but it wasn't until recently that I truly appreciated the unique flavour, vibe, and character it brings to different musical instruments. Currently in search of a rotary plugin and have noticed that the UAD version, as well as the Eventide version, are now discounted (Just a heads up, I enjoy the UAD version of the Waterfall B3 Organ plugin).
I would greatly appreciate your input on which one you would recommend based on considerations such as sound authenticity, versatility, controls, and CPU usage. Thank you!

 

first off: i'm a third party nebula fan boy and an acustica hater. but if you have/get the nebula player (sister site cough) Tim Petherick has a free 'time mod pedal pack" on his site (prob on sister site too) and one of the effects included is a rotary cab simulator. I have trouble comparing the rotary effect on my headphones with an actual Leslie rotary speaker with a b3 playing... the rotary effect to me is such a "physical" thing on headphones it's like trying to recreate the FEEL of a sub hitting your chest.

all the effects sound amazing imo- enough that it's worth dealing with the awful acustica controls/lack of controls and the cpu hunger. I have a decade old i5, half the time Im rendering things out just to hear them properly. these are not meant for live use, they are cpu killers. his rotary cab has two settings main slow fast settings then a knob that says .20hz to 3.50khz. not sure how that works, I have my doubts those are accurate numbers.

I'm pretty bored, if you'd like I can upload an example or two if you had an instrument in mind to see if it's worth the effort of checking out. and I'm always curious how much of nebula love is placebo haha

 

The UAD Waterfall Rotary can be purchased by it's self without B3. I have both, but I despise iLok.
There are other options,such as, IK Multimedia B3-X, GG Audio Blue3, Acoustic Samples B5......and many more.

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2023

Spin (GG Audio)
Rotary (UVI)
Rotary Mod (Eventide)

 

IKMultimedia's Leslie (in Amplitude or T-Racks).

 

As a real Hammond B3/C3 fan, to my taste the GSI VB3-II is the best emulation. You can find a lot of Hammond clones VSTi's, and sometimes they also have a decent Lesley emulation. The trouble however is the distortion: the real Leslie shines with an analogue distortion sound and the GSI VB3-II for me has the best distortion emulation. Usually I find most distortion in emulations too digital, lacking warmth. But it all comes down to the sound you're looking for. For me it's John Lord and Ken Hensley. Favorite song is Stevie Windwood playing on Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group). Now you probably understand why I like the GSI VB3-II best. BTW, the GSI VB3-II comes also with a separate usuable Leslie as VST. Worth a try!

 

the stock Rotor plugin in Logic is all I ever have need for, but they did include a stripped down version of Rotary in UVI Falcon 2.8 update. It sounds good enough that I would definitely demo it, if I happened to be in the market for such a plugin. It's $60 and I'll never get that amount of use from any of Leslie sim. At least they have a 15 day demo, they often don't have one for things.

 

Arturia made a great one Arturia - Rotary CLS-222 - Rotary CLS-222

 

https://integraudio.com/9-best-rotary-leslie-plugins/

 

How do you like the UAD ( apart from ilok ) compared to the IK Multimedia ?

 

It seems that you misunderstood op's question.
He is not looking for organs emulations, but for Rotary effect only emulations:

 

I really really like the PSP L’otary2. Sounds fantastic.

 

"Starting from version 1.1.0 released in September 2018, GSi VB3-II comes with a separate Rotary effect plugin/standalone that can be used with any audio source and is based on the same rotary effect built into VB3-II. It's called GSiRotary and is free for all VB3-II registered users."

 

Actually I think and hope I did: I wrote that I liked the sound because of the onboard Leslie effect and distortion of the VB3 and that this effect is separately available as VST. So after installing VB3, you have the VB3 as VSTi instrument and also as a rotary plugin VST with the nice distortion.

 

The distortion is what I particulary do not like about it . And something sounds wrong to me in the high register. I do like the IK Multimedia after fiddling around a bit . Especially in a mix . I wonder if the UAD is even better

 

I am enjoying the UAD hammond and leslie lately, the sound is truly amazing, the distortion is very convincing, even at high levels. If used at normal distortion level it's absolutely closed to the real thing

But there's an "issue", if we can call that way: IT'S VERY HARD TO MIX

the stereo field is astonishing, the amount of harmonics is HUGE, and in a dense track with many complex instruments it is hard to make it sitting well. This "issue" is referred to both hammond and leslie as effect on other sounds. I mean, you can use that UAD leslie on a rhodes piano, but it will be hard to mix, unless you use that sound as main sound in a track with a few instruments, for example piano/leslie, bass, drums and vocal

Maybe after a learning period you can use it quickly, but I cant bet

The GG Spin, for example, its a plugin that I enjoy quickly and in many situations, even on vocal or flat guitars, and you set it up in a few moves

This aspect is important: few moves for a nice effect in a few seconds, or convincing leslie but needing a careful mixing?

 

Interesting , thank you . Does the UAD protection only work with an online connection ( some comments imply that ) or does it work with an USB ilok - OFFLINE ?

 

no dongles, only internet connection needed

 

The IK Multimedia Leslie plug-in is actually really good. The included spring reverb is not that good, but you can always insert something like Arturia Rev SPRING-636 afterwards. I haven't tried Arturia's new rotary plug-in yet, but if it is as good as SPRING-636 it could be glorious!

 

This is my go to for sure https://gg-audio.com/spin.html