What's your current pick for Best Leslie VST and Why

I currently have Blue3/Spin but am thinking about a different Leslie plugin. IK is at the top of the list. Looking for guidance based on what you use and have used.

I know everyone’s ear is different; i want to know what you think is currently the best Leslie VST!!

Hi Steve,

I recommend the the IK Leslie and if you can afford it go for the B-3X Hammond clone with it’s built in Leslie. . They are my favorite Leslie sims at present.

Cheers,

Dave

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@dave_dore Looks like BX-3 is 50% off right now. Is the leslie that comes with it the same VST as the standalone IK TTracks Leslie?

Not exactly, the controls are laid out differently and in some cases their is more detailed control on the standalone Leslie plug. Also the B-3X Leslie is not usable except with it. That said, as a live player I have pretty well switched all my work over to B-3X because I like the dial in interaction of the amp stages and the Leslie and FX. I can dial up thunder real quick as a result instead of tweaking 2 plugins to get it right and it sounds incredible to me when compared to my previous combo patches using the IK. I still use the IK Leslie with the B5 Hammond clone which is a great woody sounding Hammond instrument from Acoustic Samples and they sound great together too.

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@dave_dore The B-3X is on sale through tomorrow; i think I’ll pick that up. Have you tried the standalone Leslie with Rhodes like IK demo has? That really was a 3D souund.

Yes!! and with my electric guitars, it’s just about as good as there is on that for me too. I am sploiled to have both around …

Melda MVintage Rotary is a great sound sim with lots of presets and tweaking options

If you scan through @Corky’s monster hammond clone thread, the overwhelming consensus seems to be that the IK Leslie is a clear winner - both stand-alone and integrated with the B-3X.

For me, this is definitely the case, especially for lead/ solo Hammond sounds - I’ve moved all my organ lead sounds to B-3X. For a less-resource-intensive variant (e.g. as an organ layer in a blended sound), I can live nicely with Blue3.

Cheers,

Torsten

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Ok…you guys knew I would chime in. :grin:

@sgarman
The IK is, without a doubt, the best on the market right now. I’ve tested everything I could get my hands on, but very few come close. Also, understand, the IK was co-developed with Leslie. Maybe someday, neural networks will be applied to a Leslie, as they are doing with current amp sims…truly realistic.

There are a few differences between the IK’s. I prefer the Amplitube version. The parameters are close to the same, so really subtle differences. The TRacks version is more user friendly. I explored all this on my VST Organ thread. https://community.cantabilesoftware.com/t/corky-s-vst-organ-tips-and-tweaks-page/

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Wow, that does sound cool. Also sounds like they built it from analog modelling, so it’s not sample-based, which is great. I’m putting this one on my wishlist.

I think just putting a flanger and tremolo on it does the trick. Who needs a Leslie?

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:scream::scream::scream:

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I love B3X because inside one VST you can tweak a lot: tonewheels are very good, percussion too, choice of stomp boxes, different amplifiers and cabinet (a heavy guitar one included), post cabinet effects, everything together allow a vast palette of organ sounds.
You save everything inside one patch. Then selected patches can be driven by midi program change.
You build a simple rack in Cantabile, and send program changes at your song start, for me the perfect solution.