Not OT: I just got a Valente. Ask me anything.

[Josh Paxton]

And this isn"t even a parody thread; I really did.

 

I"ll post more details later, but my five-word review is: I dig it a lot.

[mate stubb]

Those 2 look like they are made for each other. Awesome how close the keys are!

 

Need details!

[niacin]

Looking forward to your review, but in the meantime had a look at Youtube and found these 2 which sound way better than the earlier vids:

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

[niacin]

Actually now I'm wondering what amp you're running it through? And you'll take a powered speaker for the Mojo?

[Baggypants]

Question: Is it fun?

[232006]

Sorry I missed the "Not OT" - I thought you meant one of THESE

 

I was gonna ask about fuel consumption.

 

Edit - Actually I thought of a relevant question -

 

Do you think it would be ok on an X stand?

 

       

[Michael Wright]

That sounded great Josh!

[Morrissey]

Looking forward to the details, Josh! Several of us are tempted by the Valente... your five word review only adds to the intrigue!

 

The Valente has 61 keys vs a Wurly's 64. Doesn't have the lower A, Bb, and B, correct? Is the low C low enough? By comparison, Vintage Vibe offers its e-pianos in 64 (and 73 keys).

[Adan]

Excellent news, Josh! Look forward to your review. I know you're discriminating in your rhodes and wurly tastes, so I'm glad you're the first kid on the block to have one and report on it.

 

As I mentioned in the other Valente thread, I was a hair's breadth from ordering while they were 20%. Then we decided we're moving and it was just the wrong time to announce "Honey, I shrunk the budget!" Assuming it pans out well for Josh and other trusted sources, I may well be getting one in 6 months or so.

 

Love the look and ergonomics of that rig!

 

Just one question for now: plaid pants? really?

[ElmerJFudd]

Do keys action feel like a TP-100? Can you feel the the swing of their hammer mechanism? Is there easy dynamic control? How does it bottom out? Hard, or is there some forgiveness in hitting end of path?

 

I like the sound in the second KMI video. It"s definitely makes mechanical noises!

[Bill H.]

Does the overall tone tend towards a Wurly, a Pianet, in the middle, or is it more it's own thing? I can't believe someone in the forum actually has one! I can't think of a more capable person to give us their thoughts... Congrats Josh

[stoken6]

What FX will you run it through?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[El Lobo]

[El Lobo]

[Dave Bryce]

Dammit, Josh...I thought I was done buying gear for the year....

 

This thing looks awesome.

 

dB

[Bill H.]

That Rudess video really shows this thing off. It sings, growls, sustains, can have a bell like chime or get down and dirty - all seemingly dependent on keyboard technique. These videos are all better than the first ones we saw a few weeks ago - it's like a different instrument.

[ElmerJFudd]

He needs a US distributed and some dealers. $3k + shipping + legs + case, ouch.

[Josh Paxton]

Thought so farâ¦

 

THE UNBOXING

 

The first thing you see when you open the box is a message in big letters saying 'Please read instructions before use,' with a QR code taking you to a page on the Valente web site. Well, the page apparently isn"t up yet, and I got a 404 error. But looking at what was in the box, it seemed pretty simple; there was just the board itself, the pedal, and a rod to connect the two, which had clear instructions. So I went for it, and I was glad I did. The setup was simple (basically 'remove plastic, lift board onto stand'), and connecting the pedal was quick and straightforward.

 

One thing that bugged me initially was that it didn"t come with a power cable. But I decided that was a fairly minor annoyance, grabbed an IEC cable, and started looking for where to plug it in. After about a minute of searching I called my wife over to make sure I wasn"t just being blind, and she confirmed it: there was no visible power cable jack anywhere on the instrument. With the instructions not yet online, I started wondering if I was gonna have to contact the company to find out what friggin" secret panel I had to open to plug the damn thing in. Then a crazy thought occurred to me, so I tried it: I just plugged the unpowered board into a powered speaker, turned up the volume and started playing⦠and it worked. It isn"t that the power jack is hidden; it"s that there isn"t one. This board doesn"t take AC power. Apparently all the electronics are passive, and like a guitar, you just plug it directly into your amp and play. Crazy, huh?

 

So suddenly I had the thing up and running and was playing it. And holy crap, it was an electric piano! Like, for real! Not even sampled or modeled, but a box full of actual mechanical things bumping into other mechanical things and producing sound!

 

Speaking of whichâ¦

 

THE SOUND

 

For me this was the great leap of faith. As I went from plunking keys and realizing I was getting a signal to actually playing, my thought was 'Please oh PLEASE let this thing sound like the recent crop of quick-and-dirty YouTube videos where it sounded really cool, and not like the early, slickly-produced 'official" videos where it sounded mehâ¦'

 

I was not disappointed.

 

If I tried try to describe the tone in objective terms, I"d say it"s kind of between a Wurli and a Rhodes, but definitely closer to a Wurli, but then also kind of its own sound that"s not really either. But of course you can tell that from the videos, so here"s the really important part that I was unsure about: It"s got grit. And balls. And vibe for days. Even just going directly into my humble EV powered speaker, the tone was oozing with goodness. So for everyone who was speculating about what kind of amp you"d have to put it through to get the most out of it, I have good news: you don"t need one. The vibey goodness is baked in, and the thing sounds killer just going direct. While I don"t doubt that pairing it with your amp of choice would give you more tonal options, I can tell already that I"m happy enough with the direct sound that I won"t be seeking out an amp for it.

 

(BTW, if, like me, you"re now thinking 'If it sounds that good going direct, then how did they manage to make it sound so lackluster in the videos on the web site?', the answer is I have no idea. Maybe it was just how it was mixed, or processed, or who knows what. But I can definitely state that those videos don"t do it justice.)

 

It"s only got two controls: a volume knob and a tone knob. The tone knob is fairly subtle, and seems to be basically just a lowpass filter that can dampen the high end. I quickly decided I liked it best wide open, and haven"t touched it much since.

 

Of course the one thing it"s missing compared to a Rhodes or Wurli is any kind of tremolo. So I plugged it into my Line 6 M9 stompbox modeler, and that"s when things got really cool. A little basic tremolo between 5.5 and 6 Hz gives it a serious Donny Hathaway Wurli vibe, which was the main thing I wanted from it to begin with, and I sat there losing myself with that for a good long time. Then I came up with something surprising: while the raw tone is far more Wurli-like than Rhodes-like, running it through a phaser yields a surprisingly satisfying Richard Tee-ish tone. You don"t get the sustain or the sparkle, but the overall character of the sound really hits the mark. While it"s not identical, it sounds far better than any sampled-Wurli-through-a-phaser I"ve ever tried. Of course adding a little dirt is cool too. I tried various overdrive and distortion models until I found two that I liked â one barely noticeable, the other a little crunchier. And I found a couple spring reverb and tube echo effects that worked well. Since the M9 basically gives you a chain of three virtual stompboxes, each of which can switch back and forth between two models (or bypass), I"ve got it set up so that the first switches between tremolo and phaser, the second between the two overdrives, and the third between reverb and echo. While I"m still doing some tweaking, I think that basic setup could cover all the ground I"d need on a gig. (Although having said that, I"d be lying if I said I didn"t spend a few minutes today seeing who"s got a good price on Small Stone phaser pedals. The digital phaser is good enough, but now I"m kinda itching for the real thing.)

 

THE ACTION

 

This is the toughest area to describe, because it"s really unlike anything I"ve ever played before. Yes, it uses a plastic keybed, but it feels nothing like any other board I"ve ever played that used one. It definitely feels like an electromechanical board, not a digital one, and you can feel the movement of the components under your fingers. It"s got more resistance than I expected, and it kinda makes you work for the notes. It"s definitely a heavier action than my Wurli 145, and in fact it"s probably closer to a Rhodes action than anything else I could compare it to. It"s not sluggish, but it"s not super fast either.

 

The velocity response has a mysterious 'dead zone' near the top. That is, as you go from playing softer to harder, you get to a point where instead of a sustaining note, you"ll just get a dead 'thunk' sound. But then once you hit it harder than that, you go back to getting a note again. This seems to happen more on certain keys than others, and I"m wondering if it"s something that can be adjusted and eliminated. It"s one of the things I plan on asking the company.

 

And since now you"re probably thinking 'One of the things? What are the others?', here"s the main one: the keys make a definite release noise, which is fine. What"s less fine is that for a range of keys near the bottom, that noise is pitched, and it comes out somewhere between a half and a whole step above the pitch of the note itself. Most of the time it"s not noticeable, but when it is, it"s REALLY noticeable. Like, it makes the second break in 'What"d I Say' unplayable. When you hit those repeated 8th notes on the low E, it sounds like you"re playing a 16th-note trill between E and F. Same with the G and B, and all the other keys in between. I"m hopeful that that can be addressed.

 

THE SCHLEP

 

The good news is that at 42 pounds it truly is portable. I happened to already have a case that fits it like a glove, the Gator GK-61. The bad news is that if you"re one of the people who hated moving the SV1/2 because 'every time I pick it up it feels like it"s gonna slip out of my fingers,' you"re probably not gonna like moving this much better. It"s a similar shape and weight, but it"s deeper, which can make it even tricker to carry. However, it does have the advantage that the vinyl covering is slightly grippy, unlike the SV boards (which, admittedly, do seem to be coated in food-grade Teflon). It won"t be my favorite board to load in and out, but it"s totally manageable and, for me, well worth it.

 

THE LOOK

 

Oh my god this thing is pretty. As you can see from the earlier picture, it pairs with a Mojo 61 like they were made to go together. Note that while I"ve got the front edge of the Mojo right on top of the Valente, it"s not just sitting there. The back is supported on another stand I had that just happened to be the perfect height for that setup. That makes the overall footprint way deeper than it needs to be, but I"m working on a more gig-friendly way to achieve the same setup. I had been considering covering the logo on the back with black tape and replacing it with a Wurli plate to see how many people I could fool, but I"ve changed my mind; this company deserves to get their name out there, and I"ll be proud to show it off.

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

While this is obviously a narrow and specialized instrument, if the thing it specializes in is something you want, I doubt you"ll be disappointed. Whether it"s worth the asking price is a subjective call, but assuming the board holds up well and doesn"t have issues, I"m a happy buyer.

 

And of course I"ll be posting videos soon, so watch this space.

[Josh Paxton]

Oh, and I think I've discovered my solution to making up for the sonic options I'll lose by using the Valente in place of a DP. I've come close to selling my Korg Microstation numerous times, but now I'm really glad I didn't. While it has its limitations, it's impressively good for leads, pads and polysynth tones, which is exactly what I need. Sonically, logistically and aesthetically it makes for a perfect final piece to this rig. (I mean, sure, it'd look nicer with wooden end caps, but hey, at least it's not from the unfortunate Brushed Aluminum Period of synth design.)

[Josh Paxton]

Just one question for now: plaid pants? really?

 

Laugh if you will, but the joke's on you if you think I'm actually wearing pants in my own house during a pandemic! Plaid pajamas, my friend!

[El Lobo]

Thank you Josh for that detailed review and the pix. Very helpful, even inspiring. But at that price point, I won't be having a GAS attack.

 

Now if it was $1899 ...

 

But no.

[uhoh7]

So nice to see a local user try this gorgeous thing. I was dis-heartened to see it trashed here in an earlier thread based on you-tube sound.

[MathOfInsects]

Congratulations on your new baby. Remember never to shake or drop it, and don't let it sleep on its side. The thing about not having it share your bed is an old wives tale, that you can do. Try never to leave it in your car on a hot day, and don't let anyone babysit it until it has teeth. Enjoy the journey and take lots of pictures. It all goes so fast.

[Zalman Stern]

So nice to see a local user try this gorgeous thing. I was dis-heartened to see it trashed here in an earlier thread based on you-tube sound.

 

It was trashed mostly based on the sound in the Valente official release videos, which were the only thing to go on at the time. Most everything else posted since by others has been an improvement... Let it be a lesson to companies releasing instruments. Get the sound right and have it reviewed by a handful of people before posting.

 

I'll be honest that even with much better recordings, I'm not convinced I want one. But at least it sounds credible.

 

-Z-

[Josh Paxton]

The Valente has 61 keys vs a Wurly's 64. Doesn't have the lower A, Bb, and B, correct? Is the low C low enough? By comparison, Vintage Vibe offers its e-pianos in 64 (and 73 keys).

 

I meant to address this and forgot. You're right, it sports a 5-octave C-to-C layout. I'll admit I miss the low Bb for getting nostalgic with "The Ghetto" and "Mercy Mercy Mercy." But beyond that I don't see it being an issue.

 

On the other end, the highest few notes, from about the G up to the C, are so tinkly they end up being fairly useless. But then that was pretty much the case with Rhodes and Wurlis too. They're okay for octaves, but I definitely wouldn't reach that high for single-note lines.

 

Also, the damper pedal resonance increases the higher up the keyboard you go. In the lower register there's little audible difference between sustaining notes with your hand or the pedal, but by the top octave and a half or so there's big difference. With the pedal you hear all the other notes resonating, and not just the harmonic ones, so it ends up sounding kind of like tone leakage on a console organ. It can be kind of a cool effect, though I image there are times where it could be detrimental too.

[TommyRude]

great review Josh

[AUSSIEKEYS]

Excellent review thankyou

[Joe Muscara]

Josh popped in the Virtual Hang for a few minutes on Christmas Eve and was kind enough to play the Valente for us. It sounded fan-freakin'-tastic. I'm trying not to think about it, because as we all know, thinking gives us GAS.

[EVC]

After watching the "sick" video I wondered "WTH, what a piece of junk". The most recent videos sound much better (or "sick" ). If I were Valente, I would take that "sick" video off the page for more than a reason.

[Josh Paxton]

This came out all right. It's the Valente into the M9 for tremolo and reverb, then direct into my interface. One take, warts and all...