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Best Rhodes VST?


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I"m trying to decide between these four VST clean tone Rhodes libraries: Keyscape, VTines, Famous E, and Scarbee 88. Has anybody compared all four? Which has the best unaffected clean tone in response to playing?

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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I have Canterbury (my favourite), VTines, Scarbee 88, & NeoSoul Keys 2. Scarbee can be very clean. VTines has (have?) a lot of modeling options that are well presented visually, so that you can virtually see what you're doing when you tweak. You might really like that and I think if you're willing to spend as much time editing and creating as you do searching for a library with just the right preset, you may be further ahead. You can always have your favourite tone playing in the background as you adjust the various elements in VTines to your taste, and "best" is arbitrary. Just my 2¢.

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Rod

Here for the gear.

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I've had all but the new OTS one, and only retained Scarbee 88 after much comparison, albeit with the matrix expansion (which makes a big difference). I find it the most open and articulate in both clean and dirty mode, but initially I liked Canterbury a bit better. After doing direct comparisons by replicating my personal presets in both, I found the Scarbee to cut through the mix better. Probably just due to different miking choices.

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Thanks for that info, Mark. I didn't know about the matrix expansion... didn't keep up with what he was doing. Purchased... I too really like his work.

 

Jerry

 

I've had all but the new OTS one, and only retained Scarbee 88 after much comparison, albeit with the matrix expansion (which makes a big difference). I find it the most open and articulate in both clean and dirty mode, but initially I liked Canterbury a bit better. After doing direct comparisons by replicating my personal presets in both, I found the Scarbee to cut through the mix better. Probably just due to different miking choices.
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I have a lot of Rhodes VSTs. I would rank the ones I own in the following order of how much I use them:

 

Soniccouture Canterbury Suitcase

Scarbee EP88s

Soniccouture EP73

Purgatory Creek - especially the Mk2 is amazing. Only reason I don't use this the most is because it's not NKS

Neo Soul Keys 2

XLN Addictive Keys Mk1

Logic Pro X Electric Piano

Arturia V Collection 7 (I have heard the V Collection 8 is a big upgrade)

Scarbee v1 - which is still awesome and better than some of the ones above but I just never use it anymore

 

If I didn't have all these and was just buying one I would probably go with Keyscape or Famous E but still get Purgatory Creek for the price.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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I have Canterbury (my favourite), VTines, Scarbee 88, & NeoSoul Keys 2. Scarbee can be very clean. VTines has (have?) a lot of modeling options that are well presented visually, so that you can virtually see what you're doing when you tweak. You might really like that and I think if you're willing to spend as much time editing and creating as you do searching for a library with just the right preset, you may be further ahead. You can always have your favourite tone playing in the background as you adjust the various elements in VTines to your taste, and "best" is arbitrary. Just my 2¢.

 

Between just Scarbee 88 and VTines which was recorded better?

Which responds more appropriately out of the box to the player"s touch?

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Scarbee 88 is all samples and it sounds great out of the box. VTines is sampled + modeled. The basic samples are deep, but it's what you can do with the modeling that gives you the possibility of designing your sound, and I know you have specific tastes. I'm assuming you've checked out YouTube for what the two instruments sound like, but if you haven't seen the VTines "overview," you may get a lot out of it.

 

AND WITH THAT, I've just realised I've passed 4,600 Beers On The Wall ;)

 

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Rod

Here for the gear.

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In this ' Angela' clean tone shootout, I think the AcoustSamples (is it VTines?) has a more nasal tone and the Scarbee has a rounder tone. Like Lennon and Mccartneys voices.

 

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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In this ' Angela' clean tone shootout, I think the AcoustSamples (is it VTines?) has a more nasal tone and the Scarbee has a rounder tone. Like Lennon and Mccartneys voices.

 

This video doesn"t compare the two VI"s you"ve been asking about: AcousticSamples VTines vs Scarbee 88.

 

The shootout title lists AS Mark 79 and Scarbee Mark 1.

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Rod

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  • 4 weeks later...
Played Keyscape today from the same controller (Kawai ES110) that I play Scarbee 88 from, I also have The Famous E Piano. The Keyscape dynamics were weird... Scarbee is my favorite, Scarbee behaves very well (dynamically) and it has a very full sound: Its a players vst.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Yes, Scarbee 88 is really a great Rhodes VST. But i found the Famous E is on par with. Both need a bit of eq tweaking to shine. Different character but both great!

Nord Stage 2 76, Nord Electro 5D 73, Rhodes Mk2 73, Sequential Prophet 10 Rev4, Akai Miniak Synth, Roland JC 120

 

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Scarbee 88 by far. I even now prefer it to Canterbury (by a hair), once adding the expansion module (which curiously isn't promoted or shown in a very visible way on the main product page, last I checked). I'm more easily able to match Canterbury sounds with Scarbee 88 than vice-versa. Both both are great, and to my ears sound more three-dimensional, organic, articulate, and have a broader palette of clean to dirty sounds than others.

 

Ah, I see this is a revived older thread, and much of what I said was already stated in a different way previously, with the new query being more about Scarbee 88 vs. VTines. So now I'll point out that I place VTines just behind PSound's Vintage Electric, which is also for UVI Workstation. I felt the PSound library was more versatile in cutting through and reacting to dynamics in a natural and believable way. But Scarbee 88 makes me feel like I'm sitting at the real thing. Yet I'll reiterate that I rarely use it without the expansion engaged.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I own NI Scarbee Rhodes, Orange Tree Famous E and Pianoteq E.Pianos. My favourite of all of these is the Pianoteq Rhodes. This really surprised me. I also really like the Acoustic Samples V Tine and am pretty tempted to pick this one up at some point. I have their B5 V3 Hammond library and this is the most authentic sounding Hammond VST I've heard! (I compared it to B3X, Blue 3 and VB3 II).
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Acoustic Samples also makes a really nice Wurly (or two)... see https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3022553/acousticsamples-vreeds-wurly

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For Rhodes, unlike acoustic, it's a feast! I'd also love to hear favorite wurlis :)

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

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MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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I own NI Scarbee Rhodes, Orange Tree Famous E and Pianoteq E.Pianos. My favourite of all of these is the Pianoteq Rhodes. This really surprised me. I also really like the Acoustic Samples V Tine and am pretty tempted to pick this one up at some point. I have their B5 V3 Hammond library and this is the most authentic sounding Hammond VST I've heard! (I compared it to B3X, Blue 3 and VB3 II).

 

Interesting, why the PianoTeq E Piano? I guess playability is it's strong point

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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I'm surprised I've heard no mention of Lounge Lizard. I know it's old, but I "upgraded" to it from Skarbee V1, and I've seen that mentioned a few times here. I love how immediate its controls are. Probably the first great modeled Rhodes. I use Scarbee EP88 now, but there are things about LL that I miss.

Puck Funk! :)

 

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