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funkphingerz88

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Everything posted by funkphingerz88

  1. It’s basically a 1980 MK2 with funky polyphonic analogue synth section with splits and layers. I’ve restored several of them. info: https://www.fenderrhodes.com/pianos/mark2.html And a video I made of a unit I restored and modified: https://youtu.be/kAexuDS7AL0?feature=shared
  2. Actually the MK8 is very much an electromechanical synth at heart, and can go way beyond the classic Rhodes sonics, way into outer space- this time effectively using the tines to drive the audio rate modulation and many other aspects of the analogue circuitry and Fx . Myself and Cyril Lance call it an ‘electromechanical synth’. The MK8 also has CV connectivity too for interfacing with Modular’s and other CV capable gear. 🥳
  3. Hey- it’s all good! No offence taken, I realise that not everything is going to please everyone and that’s what makes life interesting after all. I’m very glad you like the piano though, for myself and the Rhodes team we are really listening to all feedback- we are really excited about the future!
  4. Well it came out as it did as it was entirely improvised - we were collectively very pleased with the results. Ps- We didn’t sit there trying to come up with any particular style; we just started playing and captured what came out. Absolutely raw. Can’t please everyone…
  5. Hi Mark. Sorry to hear you’re having issues. It’s important we get more info so we can investigate. We have had no reports of the issue you describe across multiple thousands of downloads on many different daws and systems/setups, so I would like to know more asap about your specific use case. What system/DAW are you using firstly? Did you install the content natively or on an external hard drive? A clean session? Etc etc. Please also email hello@ rhodesmusic.com with as much info as possible and we will investigate further for you if you are not able to solve. Thanks for your feedback.
  6. We have a proprietary modelling engine that does some very clever things! The MK8 that we sampled was set up with one ideal voicing and the engine does the rest, allowing the Timbre Shift to accurately emulate all the main Rhodes voicings from Pure Fundamental through Ideal to Shallow.
  7. The plug-in can be as buttery or defined as you like. The stock setting is a great starting canvas that you can then treat however you want. If you want more attack, there’s per-note timbre control, or the detailed Profile EQ, or the compressor to lift the initial attack. If you then employ the velocity controls you can totally dial in more bell-attack. The Mk8 is also designed this way- our hammer tips work much like a flat eq pair of monitors where the core sound is designed to be as even as possible to which you can then add your favourite character to the sound using the onboard control. It still has bags of character but the character is controllable. On our old pianos, it was very hard to dial out for example the bell portion of the sound using eq without destroying the crucial bark area in the high mid frequency spectrum. But getting back to your question, the V8 is designed so that you can add whatever character or definition you want. It’s all there but it needs exploring so you can truly make it your own. This is a deep instrument. The presets I made also demonstrate the wide range of characters available from smooth and pad like to synth-esque, to Dyno-ish, bell like, etc. It’s all there. Hope you download it and really explore all the facets. Cheers
  8. The Rhodes appears simple on the surface, action-wise, but due to the limited number of points of adjustability in the action, it presented a lot of challenges when designing the Mk8. I didn’t want to complicate the action with more parts or add more weight so we examined all the parts and instead of changing the fundamental principles, uprated all the materials for the keys, dampers, felts and all action parts. The sum of these changes resulted in a very high quality piano-like action without all the complexity of an acoustic piano action - a testament to Harold’s original designs and how right he got it. So basically, much better materials all round, very detailed Keybed and action regulation, moving the action rail and balance rail positions, subtly altering hammer cam curve and the beautiful Kluge keyboard all contribute to the huge improvement in feel and responsiveness/dynamics.
  9. Pleasure- yeah reducing weight has been a big part of the plan and we have managed to significantly reduce weight in the case and the main frames but keep the core Rhodes tone intact and still use a wood/tolexed case. We did some detailed analysis and emulations in software and also by experimenting with many different designs and materials to see where we could safely reduce weight without compromising the integrity and sound and I think we have struck a nice balance. A Rhodes is never going to be light but the Mk8 73 weighs less than the MKV, which was until now the lightest Rhodes. In fact, it weighs in close to the old Rhodes 54 note model without its transport lid on. And that's for the 73-note model. Also by keeping the case wood (but changing the type of wood) and by using lighter weight aluminium frameworks, the acoustic noises are kept to a min and we use a thicker plastic lid which helps with rigidity and sound insulation too. Having said that, due to the new hammer tip design, and by using high quality thicker felt all round, there is very little in the way of extraneous acoustic noise escaping compared to the older Rhodes models too. In regards to consistency, we have built many prototypes which have all setup consistently in terms of mechanics, feel and sonics and we have used modern manufacturing methods where appropriate. Working with Kluge Klaviaturen (Steinway Group) on the keybed has really paid dividends as the piano feels much more nuanced, the quality of the keyboard is stunning mechanically and visually and the dynamic range is now much wider but very controllable too. Key bounce is also massively reduced compared to old Rhodes models as I completely re-engineered the dampers, hammer profile, key pedestals and changed some key action dimensions. Also, we are hand buidling these and action rail placement is crucial for a great feeling piano, and we spend a lot of time on details like this during setup. Compared to all old Rhodes- the Mk8 has very precise intonation with snappy attacks and precise note-off's when the keys are released. But the important thing, it sounds like a Rhodes should and the new tines sounds round and full, so those earlier tones can be reproduced too, as well as the later tones. I have spent over 20 years servicing and restoring every model of Rhodes, from 60's Sparkletops, right through the many iterations of the MK1, plus the MK2, MK3 EK-10, MKV and the MK7, so collating all the best bits of all the models over the years has been invaluable in building and designing the Mk8.
  10. Hey folks. Regarding the front panel- in order to fit in the large PCB"s (the Fx board especially has many BBD chips on) Axel Hartmann designed a beautiful front panel which accommodates the boards flush in a vertical orientation. It simply wasn"t possible to fit the advanced electronics into a panel the size of a Mk1 or 2 and in the 90 degree config that the old suitcase boards have, as that would have resulted in them not fitting at all. If you have any questions regarding the mechanics/electronics send them on and I"ll answer best I can. Thanks for all your interest, I"ve been reading all your comments! ð
  11. Hey folks. Hope you"re all well. Great to be here as always and glad to see everyone is super excited about the new piano!! To answer a couple of points- - the keyframe and keys are precision cut from the finest woods, chosen for strength, optimum feel/weight/balance and cosmetic consistency. The keys and frame are also cut and made more precisely than any other Rhodes previously. - the hammers are precision moulded (all Rhodes have used fully moulded hammers since 1975, earlier pianos used half wood, half plastic hammers which were problematic for many reasons I can go into if required) but our new hammers use a new high impact material with much thicker axel pivots around the action centres compared to any previous Rhodes. Cheers D
  12. Hey guys, sorry its been a long while since I've logged in here but I still read the forums almost every day and keep up with what's going on. I'll do my best to take a more active role as I do love this community and have learnt so much here over the years I've been a member. Thanks for your interest and kind comments on my MK3 video; it's a strange and wonderful beast that's for sure! Largely hated by many 'Rhodents', but mainly because the misconception is they are rubbish! What you essentially have is a plastic key Rhodes Mk2 (unlike any other Rhodes, there is no keybed as such and just plastic rails with plastic pins and keys screwed directly to the case in metal channels) with a divide down analogue synth section bolted to it. Sure there were major issues with production of these models and they left the factory often not in the best condition, however they can be fixed and sound unique when working. I'm lucky to work with a genius electronics tech over here in the UK that always likes a challenge- he basically rebuilt the whole synth part and the power supply as when it came to me it was unable to pass any audio. In terms of the Rhodes part, I replaced all the neoprene hammer tips, changed all the tonebar screws and grommets (to improve sustain and tone and stop left to right movement or 'creep' of the tone bars causing the tines to go off centre of the pickups), we repaired several pickups that weren't passing audio and then I tuned and voiced it and left it on for a week for burn in to make sure it still behaved itself before shipping 200 miles back to London from my workshop. I also added some extra supports under the harp cover to raise the cover up an inch or so- as the synth electronics are contained in a hinged tray above the Rhodes harp, the electronics come very close to the inside of the harp cover which means if you place anything heavy on the top, it causes the electronics tray to flex and short out parts of the electronics, plus any transformer that gets close will cause interference. Anyway, we got this one back to full health so I thought I better capture it, especially as there are hardly any direct audio videos around of these. Glad it was of some use! PS- the preamp on these was unique too- way more output compared to any other Rhodes preamp with a much wider ranging eq that could easily get into 'dyno' territory too, I guess they changed the headroom and eq design to accommodate the Rhodes + synth together. All the best Dan
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