OK, maybe you’re not actually a keyboard player and so, consequently, you have no use for the new DB-33 organ plug-in from Digidesign.

Right? Well, you might want to take another look.

First, if you do happen to be an organ player you’re probably thinking, “wow, another “B3” emulator program, woopee.” I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical, not to mention a little bit spoiled. I bought my Hammond B3 and 145 Leslie brand new in 1970, still have it, still play it, still love it. Nothing sounds or feels like the real thing and nobody ever really disputes that. The dual manuals, waterfall keys, tubes, moving parts, the oil, . . ahh, what a wonderful life!

All that being said there are some features in the DB-33 plug-in that make it not only a pretty nice emulation of ol’ big bertha but a righteous efx plug-in as well. The organ itself has all the usual organ features that work quite nicely, i.e. vibrato/chorus, drawbars, percussion, etc., but my favorite aspect does not even involve the organ at all. It’s the cabinet where all the fun is. Place the plug-in on the insert of any audio track and you are running that track though the leslie style cabinet. Coolness. The adjustable parameters on the cabinet offer a great amount of unique timbre adjustment. There is a pre-amp stage with adjustable “character”, overdrive, and high cut.

I don’t really know what the “character” knob is doing exactly and I certainly do not want to turn in my “man card” and resort to reading an operations manual, but suffice it to say that it adjusts some of the harmonic color in a way that is unique to whatever type of audio file you are running through it. So I guess “character” describes it pretty well. (I just used the DB-33 cabinet on a wurlitzer electric piano track and adjusted the character parameter to narrow it up a bit where it sat very nicely in the track) Then there’s control over the ratio of top to bottom rotors and the spread of the microphone placement. And finally, adjustable rates on the slow spin and fast spin, as well as the ramp up and down time of the motors. All this makes for a great efx device for vocals, keys, guitars, or sfx (maybe an explosion or crash sfx through the cabinet on slow with a little overdrive). Bottom line, you don’t have to be a keyboard player to love this new AIR plug-in from Digi (which is free with PT8, mind you) just be a Pro Tools nut like me looking to create some new sounds kicking it “old school”.