The A100 organ emulation is quite good, but the real star is the Leslie 145 simulator, which is included as a separate VST plugin (Gospel Rotary). To my ears, this is one of the very best Leslie simulators on the market. It has an extensive set of customization options for mic type, placement, and angle, top and bottom rotor speeds, spin up/down times, motor noise, equalization, etc. I am currently pairing it with Acousticsamples B-5 organ V3, which to me sounds better than IK Multimedia’s B-3X with the built-in Leslie simulator. It’s also less resource intensive and with a more responsive UI than B-3X. At 50 bucks, I think the rotary plugin alone is more than worth the money and you get the organ thrown in.
@Corky
Have you tried the GM Leslie on B-3x? Just wondered if it helped B-3x
I have not. B-3X is resource heavy compared to B-5, and I find the B-3X UI very sluggish and somewhat unstable. To me, B-5 sounds a bit brighter and has most of the tweakability of B-3X.
I run it on i9 13900K with NVidia 4070 Super and its still a hog that takes 5 seconds to open the UI. Pathetic.
But fwiw, I have been playing with the B-3X Amp and Leslie EQs and the thing can scream like crazy after messing with those. With only the post FX Neve EQ? Not so much…pretty mellow and dark imo.
So B-3X still top of the heap for me despite the ridiculously sluggish UI, along with Waterfall.
Also got some really fun sounds out of the old Martinic ComboF and ComboV with their cab sims turned off then going into the TR5 Leslie or the Waterfall. Despite the Martinics being old and free, I really like them for what they are. Also fwiw, latest versions I found were 1.33 for ComboV and 1.23 for ComboF.
I wish Gospel Organ had a demo version of their products. The demo videos sound good, but I’d prefer to tinker. I think that a great Leslie VST is indeed worth the intro price of $50US, but it’s a lot to spend if one decides not to use it. I’m already OK with my organ sound, and Leslie sims are a very subjective area, IMO.
Hi @Drawbar.
I downloaded Gospel Organ, because I’m always curious about new vst organs, but also because it didn’t cost much.
As you can see, the choice is always subjective and you need something you can use often from what I understand.
True, there are no demos, so you have to rely on the comments of those who buy it.
I’ll tell you my impression, it’s certainly not like B-3X or Waterfall or B5, in the sense that the sounds are different from those I mentioned.
You have to work at it, because the settings are a bit fiddly in order to get a sound that can replace or resemble those generated by the B-3X, etc…
For example, I managed to set up (but I’m only at the beginning!) something similar (I’m referring to church sounds or borderline A Whiter type sounds).
I had to add effects (I used among others Sanford Reverb - Church effect, although reverb is included), but I’m just at the beginning, there are many possible settings within the Gospel Organ.
See for yourself!
Sergio
Yes, I can understand where you are coming from. I have certainly paid much more than $50 for a VST; in fact I bought the entire M-Tron Pro Complete package (on sale). But for me, $50US is in that ‘in between’ range: not expensive, but certainly not approaching free. Many of my VST synths have cost $50US or less, perhaps during a sale event. If someone offers a VST at say, $14.95US, then of course it’s worth trying out. But for me, I’ve spent a lot of time on my organ sound, and I have settings for Whiter Shade, Green Onions, etc. If I’m going to bother to upgrade my organ sound, it needs to be a significant step up, based on my specific needs and preferences.
The original question from @Derek was, “I wonder what our Organ afficionados think of this one?” I consider myself to classify: 1) I’ve been playing tonewheel organ since the early 1970s; 2) I started the Clonewheel Support Group forum in 1999; 3) I used to sell hi-power (500W+) Leslie upgrades, halfmoon switches, and Leslie adapter cables as a business; and 4) I was one the first two US dealers for the Neo Instruments Ventilator. But I don’t need a new Leslie sim at the moment, and $50USD doesn’t classify as an ‘impulse purchase’ for me. A demo version would be a completely different story. YMMV.
Best regards,
-Bruce
