Getting a good leslie sound for keyboard?

[Aridity]

Hey gang,
Our keyboard player has an inexpensive Yamaha
keyboard but no good B3 sounds, and I'm aware that
most cheap Keys dont have good B3 w/ Leslie sounds.

My ? for the Tank is do you guys think we could
get away with a guitar pedal that could get kindof
close to a leslie swirl. Im thinking of
suggesting a boost pedal to increase
the drive level & some kind of
rotary pedal in line with a
volume pedal to control
the whole mess.

Thanks all for anything!

Arid

[mttourpro]

Arid, I suppose you might get away with some kind of rig like that but I'm not so sure it will sound very good. Unless you spend some cash, it's kinda hard to get a decent B-3 sound....

I don't know what you mean by a "rotary pedal", but assuming it exists, you'd be looking at using 2 pedals to control volume and rotary and another for the boost, which is tricky when you're also trying to play music. My guess is that you'd basically be doing is distorting/effecting his yahama organ sound which you say isn't very good in the first place. It's pretty hard to mimic a good rotary without the right parameters.

However, there might be a decent B-3 sound in there that you can use with a Motion Sound amp. He might have to tweak some aspects of the organ sound he's using (if that's possible--what kind of board is it? )
If you can tweak it to a satisfactory sound, you'd have to be able to bypass the internal rotary effect (assuming there is one) on the Yamaha. A Motion Sound rotary amp is a high end rotary horn which you'd mike to it's own channel playing out. It sends a low end rotary signal through a keyboard amp which you put in another channel. You get the low end organ along with regular keyboard in that channel. That's what I do with a Roland V-7. I bypass the internal rotary in the Roland and just use the Motion Sound and a keyboard amp. Those Motion Sound amps are about 5-600 new.

I just bought a Ensoniq KS-32 for under $340---weighted action, great piano/organs--excellent B-3 sound. That would likely be a much better sound and not that much more than all those pedals,etc. There are tons of other boards and sound modules available cheap ($3-500) now that have good B-3 type sounds.

The other solution is to find a "cheap" Roland V-7 or a Hammond XB (electronic B-3 wannabees with built in rotary effects) and have a dedicated organ using their internal rotary effects. The Roland is very good and the Hammond is fine too. That would be a bit more money--maybe 4-800, but those have great sounds and hold their value pretty decently.

I guess if the cash is there I'd strongly reccomend getting the right thing...if it's not,then maybe the rotary pedal is the ticket. Hope this helps a little.

[mttourpro]

Arid, I suppose you might get away with some kind of rig like that but I'm not so sure it will sound very good. Unless you spend some cash, it's kinda hard to get a decent B-3 sound....

I don't know what you mean by a "rotary pedal", but assuming it exists, you'd be looking at using 2 pedals to control volume and rotary and another for the boost, which is tricky when you're also trying to play music. My guess is that you'd basically be doing is distorting/effecting his yahama organ sound which you say isn't very good in the first place. It's pretty hard to mimic a good rotary without the right parameters.

However, there might be a decent B-3 sound in there that you can use with a Motion Sound amp. He might have to tweak some aspects of the organ sound he's using (if that's possible--what kind of board is it? )
If you can tweak it to a satisfactory sound, you'd have to be able to bypass the internal rotary effect (assuming there is one) on the Yamaha. A Motion Sound rotary amp is a high end rotary horn which you'd mike to it's own channel playing out. It sends a low end rotary signal through a keyboard amp which you put in another channel. You get the low end organ along with regular keyboard in that channel. That's what I do with a Roland V-7. I bypass the internal rotary in the Roland and just use the Motion Sound and a keyboard amp. Those Motion Sound amps are about 5-600 new.

I just bought a Ensoniq KS-32 for under $340---weighted action, great piano/organs--excellent B-3 sound. That would likely be a much better sound and not that much more than all those pedals,etc. There are tons of other boards and sound modules available cheap ($3-500) now that have good B-3 type sounds.

The other solution is to find a "cheap" Roland V-7 or a Hammond XB (electronic B-3 wannabees with built in rotary effects) and have a dedicated organ using their internal rotary effects. The Roland is very good and the Hammond is fine too. That would be a bit more money--maybe 4-800, but those have great sounds and hold their value pretty decently.

I guess if the cash is there I'd strongly reccomend getting the right thing...if it's not,then maybe the rotary pedal is the ticket. Hope this helps a little.

[mttourpro]

sorry for the double post---but,now I'm Keith instead of Donna!

[Aridity]

Hey mttourpro,
Thanks for your reply. I had one of the MM4 line 6
modulation modeler's in mind but we are going to tweak some more patches an investigate some more options.

Our Keyboard player has a Yamaha MM6 synth
It has an ok Organ sound, maybe more tweaking, were just looking to get the leslie sound tighter. I just checked out those Motion sound amps wowo! That is
some cool gear. I bet that stuff is killer
sounding.

In the mean time ill check out the v-7 & hammond xb for sure and the Ensoniq board, that Board might be the answer, we will see. We are very close now to an acceptable organ b3 sound for Bertha and other
tunes that call for the B3.

Thank you very much, I checked out your bands site.
Very very cool stuff!!
Your freind,

Arid

[waldo041]

maybe a used one of these nords may help.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Nord-Electr ... ce=4WDTWXX


peace,
waldo

[pappypgh]

mttourpro is my keyboardist and really, the most simple answer to your problem is this...

Get a B-3. There is NOTHING like it. There never has, there never will be. The VK is REALLY good. The more easily portable Hammond is REALLY good, too. But NEITHER are a true match. Tour Pro is a great keyboardist. I've played with several keyboardists who all used the more easily portable ones...if you work the drawbars well, it'll sound pretty darn good. But still not that nasty, growling sound you can only acheive from the real deal.

My .02.

[Emoto]

You could also get a real Leslie. They are out there. Somebody gave one to me for free. It needs a little work, but someday...

[waldo041]

mttourpro is my keyboardist and really, the most simple answer to your problem is this...

Get a B-3. There is NOTHING like it. There never has, there never will be. The VK is REALLY good. The more easily portable Hammond is REALLY good, too. But NEITHER are a true match. Tour Pro is a great keyboardist. I've played with several keyboardists who all used the more easily portable ones...if you work the drawbars well, it'll sound pretty darn good. But still not that nasty, growling sound you can only acheive from the real deal.

My .02.

i would agree that the real deal is the only way to achieve the real deal, but i believe he was asking how to get close without the real deal. my keyboard player had a big ole hammond organ, not the b-3, and a leslie and while that was the closest. he is quite happy with his nord, and so am i. it gets pretty damn close. it does have a rotary speaker effect, but i am sure a leslie would be even better. the thing with the nord is it also has some pretty convincing piano sounds also. very nice unit and is way less to lug out to a gig. no need to piece together a bunch of different effects. just plug the nord in and to a amp/speaker and it is ready to go.



peace,
waldo

[Tennessee Jedi]

Yo Waldo
Dude yer band is SCARY good.
I mean I thought for a second the tunes on yer Myspace were the original bands versions.
But no.
Man that singer is wailing.
Everything was so tight..
Bet you guys rock the house every night...

[waldo041]

Yo Waldo
Dude yer band is SCARY good.
I mean I thought for a second the tunes on yer Myspace were the original bands versions.
But no.
Man that singer is wailing.
Everything was so tight..
Bet you guys rock the house every night...

Tennessee Jedi, you are too kind. thanks. i actually am singing soulman and the letter. we do have our fair share of bad nights. but we do rock the house most of the time. mike columbo is our lead singer, and is also a pretty damn good drummer. when we started the band he actually filled both roles until we started rolling and added another drummer and eventually keys. our local friend produced and engineered those demos in his basement studio and they turned out pretty nice.

thanks again.

peace,
waldo

[Tennessee Jedi]

You recorded that in someones basement?Must be some basement!
Man o man - thats wailing.
Just checked out Letter and Soulman -
From now on Waldo- yer Soulman....
What a voice.....Dude!
When I get a chance I'm gonna watch that vid on the myspace to check out what you guys sound like live.
Do you get to rock the Dead at all?
Peace out SoulMan
And hey-
Dont hog all the talent!
Save some for us schmucks!

[waldo041]

You recorded that in someones basement?Must be some basement!
Man o man - thats wailing.
Just checked out Letter and Soulman -
From now on Waldo- yer Soulman....
What a voice.....Dude!
When I get a chance I'm gonna watch that vid on the myspace to check out what you guys sound like live.
Do you get to rock the Dead at all?
Peace out SoulMan
And hey-
Dont hog all the talent!
Save some for us schmucks!

i forgot that vid was still on our myspace. it is suspicious minds and the drummer had no monitor and was clearly off on some of the backups. so please don't judge us from that! a friend took it on her camera phone and we had no idea she did it!

actually it was duplex basement with a very talented guy recording us. he is also a very talented all around musician.

also thanks again for the compliments!


i apologize for the hijack of the thread! LOL


the nord electro 2 is a pretty nice organ/piano!

peace,
waldo

[mttourpro]

Arid, a couple comments. Emoto mentioned buying a leslie or somehow getting one free. Thatr would be great but, I'm not sure you could plug a Leslie into his Yahmaha. At the very least you'd need an adapter as the leslie usually has an 11-din plug.

As for Pappy's ".02" about getting a real B-3 and Leslie, great idea..... when Pappy comes up with another 599,998 cents, I'm guessing he'll just fork it over for me to upgrade! I'll but the truck and dolly myself.

As for the pedal, looks like it might work, but, it's $250 from what I can tell. I think you'd be happier with a Motion Sound hooked up to his Yahmaha.
I don't know that board, but I'm prettty sure you can tweak it based on what I saw.

As for the Muddsharks, nice site and good tunage there Waldo. You know that is one of my favorite old Zappa tunes.

[waldo041]

As for the Muddsharks, nice site and good tunage there Waldo. You know that is one of my favorite old Zappa tunes.

most don't catch the reference!

peace,
waldo