4Front E-Piano Module

Nice free instrument. It's simple, not much CPU usage. The sound is ... not that bad, but can't be useful in my opinion.

I use a lot the 4Front products to test my system, you can directly see if all is working.

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This plugin has over 6 years on it's back, and still this plugin finds it's way into many users. If you need a piano plugin that you can tweak the hall out then this ain't for you. This is a basic one sound electric piano in the DX range. Do you have a MIDI keyboard and want to play some piano, then this is a good step on the way. If you need some soulful crappy balad piano then this is for you, but I would much rather let this one rest peacefully when there is a whole lot of samplers who allready posesses sounds like this one, and more. So is it any good? It's a twoedged sword I'd say. Perfect for beginners who need a solid piano to practice their skills on, quite lame if you need a piano for studio recordings. So limited it is most likely you won't find much use for it, but what the heck it is freeware so one can't crave it all here.

GUI: Not important. Nothing to tweak
Sound: Semigood at best.
Features: Limited to say the least.
Docs: Unavailable
Presets: One only, the default one.
Support: Haven't needed it yet.
Value for money: Freeware, so id doesn't matter.
Stability: Had a few crashes, but that is most likely to be due to the hosts I've used.Read Review

USER INTERFACE: Plain, simple, and straightforward. Very easy on the eyes. I think it perfectly represents both the simplicity of the instrument and the sound it was meant to make. The blue water-like strip on the top of the plugin's GUI seems to go hand-in-hand with the crystal type sound it makes.

SOUND: As far as sound quality goes, this plugin scores high. It manages to faithfully reproduce it's sound over a very broad key range, from about C0 to C7 if your counting octaves. The type of E-piano sound it creates is where one might not be intersted. The 4front EP module is basically a DX E-Piano. It has a very 80's digital sound character to it. However, if you are looking for a great FM-type E-Piano sound, then look no further...The 4front EP Module will suit your needs better than most commercial instruments.

FEATURES: N/A

DOCUMENTATION: N/A

PRESETS: N/A

CUSTOMER SUPPORT: 4Front is extremely responsive and helpful when it comes to customer support. George Yhoung (The man in charge) has always been more than willing to answer any questions and concerns that I have had for this plugin.

VALUE FOR MONEY: In my honest opinion, this plugin scores high in this category as well. While it does produce a very cliche type of sound, it produces that sound with very high sonic quality. Considering it will cost you nothing but a few seconds of your time to download and install it, you can't go wrong.

STABILITY: This plugin is beyond stable. I use it often for drafting piano lines and phrases as it loads quickly, consumes almost no CPU power, and never causes any crashes or system problems.

Overall, I think that if you are looking for an FM/DX type piano sound for one reason or another, you will be more than pleased with the 4front E-Piano Module. It's quick, easy, and above all...dependable. I personally never see myself deleting it from my harddrive.Read Review

And I was so happy with their piano module....

It's a pity that the 4Front Rhodes is not (yet, I hope) available for OS X, because this tinny box of pling-pling sounds is nothing like a real electric piano. This is the kind of electric sound that made the DX-7 (and later) so popular it came out, and which I got sick and tired of really quickly when everyone and his brother used it.

Maybe as another reviewer remarked this will work in some sub-Lionel Ritchie gawdaful Slow Jam ballad. If you're into that, hey, here's your sound. Personally, it's not for me.

Like the 4Front piano, this has some noise in the sample (?) but it won't be noticeable in the mix.

There is no GUI, no manual, no presets other than the basic sound.Read Review

4Front E-Piano Module is a useful VSTi plug-in for musicians who are in need of a lightweight, low-CPU DX-style, modern electric piano sound.

User Interface: N/A

Sound: Sounds like an 90s electric piano that would be used either in the theme song for a television sit-com or an R&B love ballade. This is not a vintage-style electric piano; that is what the 4Front Rhode Module is for. Personally, I am not very fond of this sound, regardless of the generating source, and would never use it in a composition other than for comedic purposes. In this particular case, the sound is very static across all velocities, so it isn't as expressive as some hardware counterparts that I have used. As mentioned by someone else, the release time is a bit unusual and cannot be changed.

Features: Obviously, this free version is only a representation of what the professional version would offer, but with no user controls and only one sound, it is difficult to predict what features such a version would have.

Documentation: N/A

Presets: N/A

Customer Support: The 4Front website seems to be very customer-focused, and George (the lead developer) posts here often. I believe that he has set up a listserv for his users as well.

Value For Money: It is free and might be useful to users looking for a simple VSTi that does not consume much CPU. Personally, I would not use this plug-in because of my general dislike of the modern electric piano sound. Compared to other plug-ins, it does not offer too much (compare to something like UltimateSoundBank Plugsound Free, which has several instruments in a single plug-in).

Stability: Excellent, but with no controls, I would expect it to be fairly solid.

Overall, 4Front E-Piano Module is a nice addition to the free VSTi community that some might really appreciate.Read Review