I’ve heard good things about this plugin, and certainly the $49US pricetag is appealing for a quality B3 + Leslie. Here are links to a couple of different MP3s, using two different encoders. The MIDI note data is the same in both tests:
Two very common drawbar settings were used, 888000000 with soft perc 3rd; and 888888888. The Swell manual has C-3 vibrato, while the Great manual has none.
A couple of caveats:
I’m not going to say which organ is which. Both organs were live during the full recording, so the random pink noise created by the Blue3 demo isn’t much of a clue, either.
I did NOT spend a ton of time dialing in the two sounds to match. I did play around with the vibrato chorus on the Blue3, and the mic positioning on the Leslie. Other than that, it’s the stock 147 and whatever tonewheel set comes with the demo.
If you’re saying, “Neither of these sound like my Nord,” that might be expected. The C2 organ sound in my Nord Stage 3 has been post-processed in my Behringer X-Air digital mixer using EQ, the Stereo Enhancer, and the Ambient effect. The Nord has a good base sound, and creates the ‘frying eggs’ grind well, but it’s lacking in a couple of other areas, IMHO.
UPDATE: I ended up buying the CA Blue3. It’s still not quite my go-to organ, but it’s close enough that I’ll use it for times when the Nord Stage is too busy, or I need its Leslie sim for guitar sounds. Points of note:
Blue3 is very tweakable, and over time I’ve able to get it to sound quite close to the organ sound that I’ve created on the Nord – which took a lot of try-and-see. I think I can even get it closer.
CA made a big visual change to the UI. I like the results, but of course they aren’t really part of the sound.
One thing that I don’t like is that the organ and Leslie are now one VST, with no means to pump a Wurli, Rhodes, or guitar sound into the rotary goodness. This is personally disappointing because the Leslie sim is very good!
I’ve found two small bugs to date, both reported: 1) The EQ knobs on the organ don’t work. (The outboard EQ does.) 2) The ‘Memphis’ option doesn’t work the way I remember it, and how I was told it worked on Booker T. Jones’ Leslie. #1 is supposed to be fixed in the next update; #2 was “forwarded to the developers for their consideration.”
Hi @Bruce.
The fact that the leslie is not separated may be their choice.
Perhaps it could be a temporary choice to then release the leslie separately as well.
Cherry Audio released their Blue3 a year and possibly more after their acquisition from GG Audio. It may be that because it was challenging to modify it, it also takes time to modify the leslie from the original.
I had both vst’s and they gave me the final GG Audio copies in the account I have at Cherry Audio, so I think they will also produce the Cherry Audio signed leslie version, not now.
If you get a chance, ask them if they will also release the modified Leslie.
Let us know.
Sorry for my bad english… translated…
Sergio
@Sergio Yes, they may release the Leslie sim as a separate module someday. Standalone effects don’t seem to be a high priority at CA, though; another scenario is that they add the Leslie sim code to other VSTs (ex: Wurlybird), as they do with their Roland Space Echo module, Stardust 201.
My understanding is that CA updated the UI of Blue3 and left the sound engine mostly as-is. So, you already have the latest standalone Leslie sim.
Taking over established software is always a challenge. Since CA has acknowledged that the EQ knobs are broken, it will be interesting to see how soon they release a corrected update: a long delay would imply that either the priority is low, or it’s difficult to ‘get under the hood’ of Blue3.
I don’t actually have a contact at CA. I own many of their products, so I just put in a support ticket and wait for a response. The responder is not always the same person as last time.
When I put a ticket in for the EQ knobs, the reply was [paraphrasing], “This is a known issue, and will be fixed in the next release.” Maybe someone else on this forum has contacts with them?
@cpaolo Yeah, but not unexpected. I was only talking to Customer Support, not the development team.
That said, CA isn’t really in the EFX market. The make VSTIs that mimic vintage gear (and some vintage-like originals), and they support a modular platform that third parties can build upon. They have three retail-available effect products, most of which were released a few years ago. The lion’s share of their effects are only available with VSTIs – Wurlybird, Chroma, Mercury-4, etc.
I’m still waiting to see if they will fix Memphis Mode!
+1000 for me! I have loved the sound since high school, when a really great local band played a function in our school gym, and my drummer said (not joking), “We’ve gotta get you an old dresser to put your keyboard amp in, like that band had.”
The problem is: it’s an effect with a limited audience, one that gets a little smaller every year. Organ players love it, as do most keyboardists that grew up in the ;60s and '70s. Guitarists? Not so much. For every guitarist that wants to sound like George Harrison on It Don’t Come Easy, there are 10 more who want the Stevie Ray Sound – i.e., a Fender Tremolux through a Vibratone. And it’s easy to get 95% of the way to a Vibratone with just a flanger/chorus box. So, I don’t know if one can get CA’s attention for a standalone Leslie sim. Especially when the Blue 3 is $50US!
