Spinal Vibe rotary emulation from Blue Cat Audio

Published 27/10/24

Stack up to three rotary speaker models

Blue Cat Audio’s latest release is a rotary speaker emulation which they say goes beyond the scope of traditional simulations. Spinal Vibe is capable of modelling up to three rotating speakers and provides users with an independent set of controls that offer in-depth adjustment of each model.

The plug-in features a Speed control that provides the functionality you’d expect of a classic Leslie rotary emulation, offering a variable range that’s simply labelled Slow to Fast, along with a Brake button that can be used to instantly stop the effect. More unusual, though, is the provision of three different speakers that each come equipped with their own set of parameters, offering more detailed control than most competing plug-ins. As well as level control, speed and acceleration/deceleration curves, each virtual speaker is kitted out with parameters that allow users to define the amount of Doppler effect introduced, as well as tremolo and filtering effects.

Thanks to the additional processing, the plug-in goes beyond rotary emulation and strays into modulation territory, and is capable of mixing in the dry signal in order to create a whole host of phasing effects. As you might expect, the rotation speed can be sync’ed to your DAW track's tempo as well as being adjusted manually, and the plug-in benefits from full MIDI control and automation, with a simple MIDI Learn function making quick work of mapping its parameters to controllers.

Compatibility

Spinal Vibe is supported on Macs running macOS 10.9 and above, and PCs running Windows Vista or newer. It is available in VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in formats.