Another P.S. - I think the VII is a really good sounding instrument based on these demos. I don't have a great feel for Rhodes sounds nor the differences available, but as someone once said, I know what I hate, and I don't hate that.

Cool it guys,

I must say I've tried most of the rhodes vsti's lounge lizzard, the logic one, some new french vsti and the native instruments ones. Even though it were some time ago I must say they don't even come close to the real thing-I really hate playing all of them....The scarbee one is good. All of the sounded synthetic.

None of these play in the same league as the mark 7.

Perhaps I should have made this a blindfold test to get peoples real opinion.

The mark 7 is a new player on the arena, it's preamp got a more open character than the old marks, personally I like the bite and attack on this piano. You also loose some of the mid-range warmth with this very voicing and that is perhaps what some people react to. Also the hammertips change towards the top of the piano to harder ones which is pretty obvious, I will have a look at his with Swedens rhodes technician no 1 mr Peacefreak himself later this week.

/Fred

The Rhodes Mk7 that Fred is playing sounds very like my early 72 suitcase 73. And that Rhodes for me is the best sounding ever. Now the Mk7 is VERY close to this sound..I want one badly for gigging. The more highs and attack you have in the tone the better imo. Why you ask? Well it can all be eq'd out if you like but you certainly cant add whats not there in the sound to begin with if you catch my drift..

Heh, exactly. I have two MK1:s, a 73 from March 1977 and an 88 from 1971, can't remember which month. The 1971 model sounds amazing. The '77 is no slouch either, but I could absolutely see myself trading the '77 (+ cash!) for a MK7 if the GAS grabs me. I'm not too fond of mr. Branstetters corporate policies, but the MK7 sure spunds nice in these clips. If it feels and plays as good as it sounds it may very well be worth it.

Sorry, but in this instance, it sounds more like a modeled Rhodes. I didn't say exactly. There's a lack of character in the sound of the Mk 7 in this particular example that reminds me of the sound of a modeled Rhodes. Being a Rhodes owner and player for the last quarter of a century, I think I'll trust my impressions on this, thank you. That won't stop me from hearing another example of the Mk 7 and thinking it sounds great. It's called objectivity, something you appear to lack in this discussion.

Me? Crazy? Never...

Err,

Isn't the fact that you can totally change the sound of a rhodes by the positioning of the tines being ignored here?

You can make ANY rhodes have that scooped midrange and prominent bell, just as you can make any rhodes have a warmer more solid midrange at the expense of the ping.

Yes, there are differences in preamps and hammer and tine materials over the years, but it's mostly setup, people.

Now if one could only make certain Rhodes play worth a crap...

No, I don't think so. The voicing of the instrument has been discussed in earlier posts.

The attack is great for live gigging in a dense mix.Anyhow you can see exactly what happens when eq is applied in the clip I posted above-not very scientific but it gives you a hunch.

You can make a lot with the positioning of the tine and as I said in a previous post, the setting this piano has gives a little less warm mid range-and as i also said I tried the ideal setting but for some reason I wen't back to the setting I had since I liked it better. Still you retain a lot of bell like character and bite regardless the setting.

/Fred

You can make a lot with the positioning of the tine and as I said in a previous post, the setting this piano has gives a little less warm mid range-and as i also said I tried the ideal setting but for some reason I wen't back to the setting I had since I liked it better. Still you retain a lot of bell like character and bite regardless the setting.

/Fred

Analog addict, just buy a third rhodes piano you can't get to many of them rhodies.

/Fredrik

Thanks Fredrik for the video. IMHO, all the real Rhodes sound excellent in their own way. I do hear compression on the attack of the Mark 7 which gives it a funkier tone. I suspect that there is compression happening (maybe inadvertently) somewhere along the signal chain. If it's happening in the Mark 7 electronics I'd be a little concerned. It's a neat sound but I'd want to be able to add that at will, not have it built into the sound.

As far as EQ, below is what I commonly apply to a real Rhodes or a very good sampled Rhodes to give it more bark and clarity. Bumping at 1.2K is key as is losing some of the bass. It's still a very balanced sound. There is really nothing coming out of a Rhodes besides noise above 6 - 7KHz so just filter that out. And yes, a GREAT technician can do a lot to customize the tone and action to your liking.



The Nord sound is that one that's basically tone and splat. It's not bark but splat where the tine is fantastically overdriven. On the Nord there's nothing leading up to it so you have this binary switch between tone and splat. It can sound a little better than it plays, but not by much. I wouldn't EQ the Nord much more than the default setting. It's already hyped and thin.

Busch.

Nothing coming out of a rhodes above 6-7? You sure about that!! Theres loadsa info up there man!!

Yes I'm pretty confident about it. The pickups on the Rhodes (or any of these old electro-mechanicals) are not high-end devices and I seriously doubt they could pickup 10KHz+ if it was available. The highest plinky note on an 88 key Rhodes is ~4.1K with a second harmonic of 8.2K. Applying a sharp filter as I recommended above still lets all of the tone come through--try it. Yes you could apply a 10K shelf with a lot of boost and yes the piano will get brighter but you're also needlessly boosting a bunch of noise while pulling up lower frequencies. You're much better off using a parametric to dial in the frequencies you need and killing what's unnecessary. If you want to boost bark, increase at ~1.2KHz. If you want to increase bell that's 5K - 7K.

I will revise my comment to read nothing musical coming out above 8KHz.

The reason your Moogs sound so much brighter than a Rhodes, Wurly, Hammond, Clav is that it actually does produce musical content above 10KHz.

Busch.

I agree with Kanker. The Mark 7 does sound 'modelled' but it is still a fine sounding instrument.

Many of us dig the Rhodes sound in its various incarnations. No need to get overly sensitive about it.

Fred, thanks for taking the time to provide a nice demo of (4) Rhodes sound sources.

Hi burnin

Theres no compressor connected to the rhodes or any in my soundcard that is activated, the only compression is datacompression youtubes/imovies prior to upload. I don't know if there is a limiter or anything in imovie.

It's great to tryout different eq settings, i usually experiment with energy around 1.2-1.5kHz as you do but I'm trying out different settings which fit a certain tunes.
The mark 7 has a quite clean preamp with loads of highs which the mark 1 lacks. I haven't checked how to set the high filter since I haven't mixed the mark7 in any tune yet - I can report back when I do. The preamp is much more silent than a mark 1.



I eq the nord stage buckloads live to fit the stage we're playing. It ususally helps a lot.


/Fred

No way, here? On KB Corner?? Nah, that could NEVER happen, could it?

I still love my 1979 Rhodes Mark I Suitcase piano. Some of you fine folks made a nice assessment of this rendition of the Rhodes, the lower octaves have a fair amount of bite, are a bit more aggressive than the earlier Felt Tip Hammer Rhodes pianos, which did not cut through anything, not even a jazz group, much less a rock band. Good luck with being heard by anyone, including yourself!

I bought my Mark I just before the Mark II came out, and when I saw the flat top on that Piano, I ordered a flat top to replace the original curve top on my Mark 1. The nice thing about the Mark 1 Suitcase piano is the front panel slider EQ and tremolo control, as well as stereo outs on the amp section. Back in the old days, i use to plug it into my PA system and EQ the mid range mud out of the sound and it sounded incredible! After all these years, that instrument still sounds great!

Mike T.

P.S. for all you folks that heard the above before, my apologies.

Always happy to hear someone happy with an instrument they had for so long, wonder if any motif or any other rompler would reach that kind of status :))

/Fred