A generator has been developed for producing mineral dust from small samples of desert soils. The objective is to perform a thorough characterization of this new tool and show that it is adapted to the future laboratory studies of the relationship between aerosols and their parent soils. This work describes the principles and operating protocol of the so-called GAMEL generator. A first series of detailed measurements was performed with a Niger soil. During these tests the aerosol size-distribution was monitored in real time with an optical counter and the particles collected on filters submitted to XRF analysis. This allowed characterizing the emission in terms of time evolution of the aerosol production, repeatability of the experiment, and assessing the influence of such generation parameters as the mass of soil and the frequency and duration of the shaking. For this sandy Niger soil, the optimal generation parameters were found to be 1 g of soil agitated 9 min at the frequency of 500 cycles/min, but the effect of modifications of these recommended values have also been quantified. In terms of size-distribution as well as of elemental composition, the generated aerosol is found to compare well to the one collected in natural conditions during local events. For testing the capability of the GAMEL to produce aerosols from different soils, tests were also performed with 3 other soils from arid and semi-arid areas. Results showed that the GAMEL is able to produce aerosols whose characteristics encompass the regional variability of naturally produced mineral aerosols.