KVR Audio

RandolphCarter · Post by **RandolphCarter** » Wed May 23, 2012 10:05 am

I'm trying to get a nice electric piano tone, but no matter the effects I use, I am still not satisfied with the results. It seems as if it's either a choice between it sounding too thin and weak, or if I "beef it up", it ends up having too much low or high end and overdriving a bit/not sounding really clean.

What do you guys use on your electric pianos? I usually put Classic Chorus, compression and a low pass filter with the envelope pulled back. But I'd love to hear your suggestions, specially about compression and EQ to get good tones.

If you want I can upload examples of my e-pianos so you can exactly listen to what's wrong with them.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed May 23, 2012 11:06 am

Last time I messed with Epianos (either VSTi or samples), I did not use any compression at all. Just some EQ here and there. Most important was the slight distortion of the piano (some VSTi have this built in) and the chorus. Maybe even additional flanging and rotary effects - but this is just bonus.

good to know would be in what context you want to use the piano:
- solo instrument or in a mix?
- what kind of style (modern or more "vintage")
- which instrument are you using?

I noticed with a lot of releases recently, that they are too overproduced, too spread apart. I really like the tone of GenuineSoundware's Epianos and the old Logic one. I do not touch any samples anymore.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Wed May 23, 2012 5:22 pm

love the ePianos in Dimension Pro - lots of different flavors of instruments there
Wurli - Rhodes - Yamaha - all have such different tones

I like a touch of chorusing & 'verb, do not need much EQ or comp . . .

Andywanders · Post by **Andywanders** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:01 am

This...

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:17 am

http://www.overloud.com/products/VKFX.php

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:39 am

interesting. kinda pricy though

Gonga · Post by **Gonga** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:47 am

I'd like to hear your samples.

I used to be a tech at Dyno-My-Piano in San Francisco.

My use a sort of George Duke approach. I use NI's Scarbee Mark 1 from Komplete 8, which has a nice Dukey hard-hammer Rhodes (lots of high-end bells) for a very trebly sound. Starting with that, for soft passages delicate phase-shifting or even wah wah (ala Weather Report - I use U-He Runciter for wah) will give you some very cool 70's vintage sounds. Chorus will give you that rich 80's sound but more mud. If you use effects that boost certain freqs, then a late-stage limiter or compressor can help smooth things out.

If you have mud, use a graphical EQ to find the peaks and reduce them (I swear by Izotope Alloy). Alloy also has a splendid multiband compressor.

If you use the Rhodes for low end, you'll reduce mud by attenuating around 200-300 Hz. Otherwise, use the old mixer's trick of rolling off the low end altogether.

JJBiener · Post by **JJBiener** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:58 am

RandolphCarter wrote:What do you guys use on your electric pianos? I usually put Classic Chorus, compression and a low pass filter with the envelope pulled back. But I'd love to hear your suggestions, specially about compression and EQ to get good tones.

I would drop the chorus and use a delay with minimal initial settings for time and feedback. Increase the time and feedback gradually until you get the amount of thickening you want. I don't use a chorus because it can muddle the attack transient. I then pass it through an EQ instead of a low pass filter to fine tune the overall sound. Then finally a little compression to give a bit of bite. That usually gives me a good clean sound.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:53 am

hibidy wrote:interesting. kinda pricy though

Not so bad with the sale price and more importantly, it's designed for job. I'm not familiar with any other AIO (all in one) VST that covers this specific task.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:59 am

I've found that the electric pianos that come with my SonicCell just sound so sweet they need no further eq or processing. Maybe it's the source, not the effect. I'm not saying you should turn to a hardware ROMpler, but maybe a better virtual electric piano or sample based Rhodes is what you need more than effects.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Thu May 24, 2012 4:03 am

Aloysius wrote:
hibidy wrote:interesting. kinda pricy though
Not so bad with the sale price and more importantly, it's designed for job. I'm not familiar with any other AIO (all in one) VST that covers this specific task.

Even though I think 117 is pretty steep, I'm going to maybe give it a whirl since I already have 60,000 rhodes samples that I never quite seem to get right.

Jafo · Post by **Jafo** » Thu May 24, 2012 4:20 am

SimulAnalog's Univibe or Antti's Phase 90, then maybe a nice mostly clean amp sim (SimulAnalog's Twin is nice), then maybe a nice tape sim, but I'm old school and like a soft wash of funky color. And cheap, so I use free stuff. Err, frugal.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Thu May 24, 2012 4:39 am

i have a dyno-my-piano mk.1 r1 stage 73. it actually sounds way worse with the dyno pre/eq than just raw.

main problem though is if you're looking for the classic suitcase timbre it's not only in the pre, but also in the piano itself. the 3,4 and 5 are way different than the mk.1.

with dyno-eq: http://soundcloud.com/aciddose/funkymonkey

the dyno eq gives it this hollow timbre because it's just a really steep bass/treble peaking filter pair. the mk.1 can't be made to sound like the mk.3,4,5 no matter what you do. it's simply a different tine/bar/pickup configuration. it's like trying to sample a minimoog and get your samples to replace the synthesizer, it isn't going to happen no matter how many effects you throw at it.

http://soundcloud.com/aciddose/stg

i like the raw output a lot more.

fateamenabletochange · Thu May 24, 2012 5:05 am

Rhodes Mark I Stage 73 here, into a preamp, with a mix bus out to chorus for widening and a reverb for placement [to take it a little further back], and a direct out to thicken things up through a reverb with a big delay mixed in very low to give it a kind of subtle sustain.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Thu May 24, 2012 5:13 am

do you have the mk1 r1? the hammers are plastic in the r1 and the original had wooden hammers.

actually it's kind of difficult to identify the mk.1's because of the "rhodes" vs. "fender rhodes".

mine is a fender rhodes mk.1 r1, meaning it has the original 1960s stage design only with the upgraded plastic hammers and rubber tips, and lighter bars.

so even the rhodes mk.1 sounds quite different, which you could actually call the r2, and then there were further upgrades which you could call r3, or even r3 and r4.

Effects on electric pianos