KVR Audio

ZioKiller · Post by **ZioKiller** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:10 pm

Hi All,
I just did another experiment trying to realize what I may call "the perfect" model of a Rhodes Piano.
Still it's a SynthEdit creation, based on the MrRay vsti, but this time I concentrated on all the elements that make the real instrument sound "real".. that is "not perfect".. since it is an electro-acoustic instrument and the younger one you can find still alive isn't less than 25-30 years old (I'm speaking about the Mark I).

I focused on all the short sounds and noises which you can hear at the attack time of a note. My main inspiration was Learjeff's free soundfont (It's a 1975 Mark 1, not in a perfect state as he says.. so quite perfect for my purpose). Also I listened carefully to other samples and soundfont found over the internet, in order to have a closer look to what's goin on when you hit a key on a Mark I. FFT and sample Scope were very useful as well.

The result is this:

[edit: new link]
http://www.soundfonts.it/store/MrRay73.dll

This file is not intented to be officially released (at least not now) and will be probably deleted in the near future.

Now I wish to ask all those people who own a real Rhodes and play it regularly wether they can have a try at this experiment and tell me what they think.

Sooner or later, I want to write down some details of what I learnt by this research on modeling a Rhodes piano.

Regards,
Guido.

[edit]
03/09/2005 - MrRay SeventyThree official release.
download it at www.soundfonts.it
[/edit]

luCiPHer · Post by **luCiPHer** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:47 pm

i do not own a real rhodes and played one only a few times, so i'm not the one you want to comment on this, i'll do anyway

i like this, i think it sounds better than mr ray, i may actually use this one instead of lounge lizard for this style of e-piano, and i love lounge lizard

thank you

damstraversaz · Post by **damstraversaz** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:46 pm

thank you.
I try it as soon as I can

i have sometimes play on a mark 1

AD80 · Post by **AD80** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:14 am

I wish I had a real rhodes available to test it out. But regardless it sounds great to me. Great on CPU aswell.

brianbrian · Post by **brianbrian** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:35 am

Thanks for this. It is pretty straightfoward and uses very little CPU. It makes a pretty horrible noise in OrionPlatinum, and also makes harsh noise in energyXT until I tweak the "Stiffness" control. This stops all the noise and it seems to play OK after that for a few notes until the noise returns.

kääriäinen · Post by **kääriäinen** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:54 am

Thanks. I´ll compare it to my Rhodes Stage Mk1.

Jafo · Post by **Jafo** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:02 am

Howdy. Niiice! Not an expert, but this is superb; has all the variety of tones I associate (rightly or otherwise) with the real thing -- bell tones, harp tones, dirt, rippling tinkly sounds, glass of several types, all depending on register and touch. I once A/B'd Mr Ray 2 against Lounge Lizard and EVP 73 and found it to hold up nicely; this is even better. Anyway, not being an expert, I hope you find this critique helpful.

Btw, runs perfectly in Tracktion, Aodix, and MiniHost. Multitrack Studio has the harsh noise problem brianbrian mentions if I record a midi file, but works fine if I play back a midi file with it as a softsynth.

Btw, did I mention that the sound is really, really, f*cking good?

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:13 am

I played a Mk 1 Suitcase in high school jazz band, it's been a few years but I'm anxious to give this a try when I get home

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:36 am

I have just downloaded and will do an A/B with my '76 stage MKI

Broadway · Post by **Broadway** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:40 am

Hi,
I played (and painfully carried around) a Mark 1 for several years back in the 80s. This VST works well on Cubase SX2, sounds very much like the Rhodes, and even evokes a bit of that "slow, mushy" feel that the Rhodes had.

It's not quite as muddy in the middle octave, nor as strident at the top end as a real Rhodes. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing.

One small issue -- From note A1 down, there's a large "thump" in the sound that I don't remember being quite that loud on the real Rhodes, unless you hit the key really hard. The thump is present on the real piano -- it's some sort of action noise. It just takes a big jump in volume in the VST at A1 and below.

Anyway, this is very cool. Thanks for letting us try it out.
Regards,
Jon

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:57 am

Broadway was pretty accurrate in his assesment. I will add that I think it sounds pretty good, but the attacks are much "crisper" than on my rhodes. It could be that the rubber tips on the hammer are older, but my rhodes is actually in pretty good shape. I too noticed the subharmonic "thump", but I dont notice this on my rhodes. To me the action noise is a very subtle "tinny" or metallic sounding release noise.(which you got spot on in Mr ray) I also notice that the hi velocity sounds arent as "biting" as a real rhodes. My rhodes will seriously overdrive an amp or modeller at high velocities, and gets a nice rasp. I think you got the low end sounds pretty accurate, but as you get above say C3, the mids start sounding alot like a sampled rhodes that doesnt have enough samples mapped. The highs also sound like they could use more work.

***** Hold it***** I just maxed out every knob on this thing and it sounds wild, unruly, and very very good, probably the closest to a real rhodes as I have heard. A few problems though- the low frequency info is way to high, and there may be a memory leak, as I got a virtual memory is low message after a few minutes. I also got a hi pitched whine after about 3 minutes.

This is an excellent start, and probably the best rhodes emu out there. It was so good in fact that I could be pretty anal in my review. Most emus arent this close so I dont bother with the details...

electro · Post by **electro** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:06 am

Add to this.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... highlight=

AndrewSimon · Post by **AndrewSimon** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:34 am

Well what can I say.
This plug is a lot of fun.
I love playing it with midi guitar.
It just fits the guitar playing style perfectly.

My only concern is those low notes, they sound just too muffled and dirty.

BTW I own Elektrik Piano and some others and this is the most fun with the midi guitar, kinda sounds similar to Scarbee .... and this was done in SynthEdit???

BRAVO! you are on to something big.
CPU load is excellent.

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 5:15 am

brianbrian wrote:Thanks for this. It is pretty straightfoward and uses very little CPU. It makes a pretty horrible noise in OrionPlatinum, and also makes harsh noise in energyXT until I tweak the "Stiffness" control. This stops all the noise and it seems to play OK after that for a few notes until the noise returns.

I have this problem too in FLStudio 5. If I turn on "use fixed size buffers" it goes away.

soulkraka · Post by **soulkraka** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:23 am

same as foosnark

For all Rhodes experts and lovers (MrRay73 released!)