From bw@ashbysolutions.com Fri May 25 10:02:42 2012
Subject:Re: [CWSG]now: Clonewheel as Vent Rival?

This is a very interesting discussion, on a couple of different levels.

1. To my knowledge, no one has taken the Vent and *every* serious
contender for an internal sim and compared them side-by-side. I
have personally compared the Vent to the Korg BX-3, the Nord
Electro 2 and 3, and many of far-from-serious competitors like the
Vox ToneLab, the Roland Fantom X, and the Alesis 'Lezlie' program
in the QuadraVerb series. The Vent smokes all of them, IMHO.
I've also compared the VB3 and the H&K Rotosphere, and I think the
Vent is still better. Others on this list have compared the Vent
to their own rigs. However, none of us have access to all of the
gear at one time, and tests in a store can be misleading. It
would be interesting to have a 'Leslie Shootout' like the
clonewheel shootout we had in 1996 -- provided that we could set
the sims up in one room, with a double-blind test through a
mixer. I'm in the New England area, any interest?

2. Even this testing has some possible flaws. I have a great PA, and
a pricey stereo keyboard rig that has been calibrated to be very
neutral sounding. If you listen to all the sims through my rig,
you'll reach a conclusion. If you then change to a QSC K12, or a
Roland KB500, the results might be different.

3. If we were to step aside from this comparison and say that the
Vent -- or any other Leslie sim -- is the 'gold standard,' then
the idea of 'close enough' opens a big 'ol can of worms. How
close is close enough? Is a Hamm-Suz XK-3c -- without the
internal sim -- close enough to the sound of a real B-3? How
about the Electro 3, or a Korg CX-3? Or a Casio WK? For that
matter, is an Egnater Rebel close enough to a Vox AC30? Is a
Squire Strat close enough to a Fender USA Strat? This starts to
boil down to subjective appraisals, and personal evaluation of
perfect, on-point duplication vs. usefulness for the
cost/size/weight/whatever. The only thing that sounds exactly
like a Leslie 122 is another Leslie 122 -- well, maybe that isn't
even true, because age, upkeep, tubes, etc. can make differences.
I can say that, for example, five list members think the new C2D's
sim is 'close enough' to a Vent, but I can't say that you'll feel
the same way. YMMV.

Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com^(TM)
bw@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

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