The Akai Professional Rotator is a VST plug-in that uses modeling technology to accurately reproduce the sound of a rotating speaker. Rotary speakers typically have two speeds - slow and fast - and these can be selected using a switch. However, it's not quite as simple as that.
Rotary cabinets usually have two rotating speakers known as the ROTOR and the HORN. The ROTOR handles low to mid frequency components in the sound whilst the HORN handles upper mid to high frequencies and these rotate at slightly different speeds which subtly thickens the sound. Furthermore, when switching between the cabinet's two speeds, due to mechanical inertia, the speakers take some time to speed up and slow down and, because of the different weights of the speakers, the rotor and the horn speed up/slow down at different rates (the heavier LF rotor taking longer, of course).
The ROTATOR plug-in authentically emulates these characteristics to create a very accurate simulation of the effect.
It is possible to set the slow and fast speeds of the effect and you can switch between these speeds using either the panel switch or nominated 'hotkeys' on your Mac/PC keyboard.
The ACCEL (or 'acceleration') parameter sets the rate at which the effect speeds up/slows down.
The DISTORTION parameter allows to add some 'edge' to the sound to simulate the effect of the rotary cabinet being overdriven.
The BALANCE control sets the relative balance of levels between the horn and rotor.
The final control - STEREO MIC SEPARATION - allows you to set the position of a pair of virtual microphones from mono to wide stereo.
Of course, rotary speakers aren't limited to only being used with organs - they can be used on any sound and many distinctive sounds have been created in the past by putting guitars, electric pianos - even vocals - through them.
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