Leslie stuff

[Doug Tymofichuk]

Greetings, all!

I have decided to add another project to my list of stuff 
that I hope to get around to this fall (percussion synth, 
tape echo). I would really like to have a Leslie effect 
box, that I can patch anything into, and that outputs a 
signal that I can further modify, amplify, and listen to. 
An electronic version is tempting, but it would be more fun 
to build a miniature electro-mechanical-acoustical unit 
enclosed in a (reasonable) soundproof box. It would consist 
of an amplifier driving a small, full range speaker mounted 
on a rotor, with a microphone placed in one corner of the 
box feeding a preamp. Then a simple mixer to control depth 
of effect. The rotor would be driven by a small variable 
speed D.C. motor. A small car audio or portable radio 
speaker should work for this. Hopefully I could fit the 
whole thing into a standard 19" rack case. At this point, I 
don't see any major problems with this approach, as I have 
virtually all the necessary parts on hand already 
(including a rotary slip ring assembly for getting the 
signal to the speaker). Because of the size of 
construction, there will not be a great frequency response, 
particularly in the bass regions, but I am primarily 
interested in midrange/treble anyways.

I have read everything in the archives concerning Leslie 
effects, and have browsed through information on Hammond 
sites as well, and I have not found anything like this. Has 
anyone tried to do a Leslie on this scale before? Any 
pitfalls to watch out for? Am I even more crazy for 
attempting this than my previous projects?

I will keep the list updated as I progress on this (if and 
when).
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca