Wee help, Rhodes

C

cobaltblue

New member
I was considering bying a Rhodes but I've been put off by the fragility/weight/cost of reparis/servicing.

So im looking at alternatives, the best I've been told is a nord electro, however they are quite pricy

Anyone reccommend a keyboard with decent rhodes sound and good weighted playing action ?
 
I'll throw in my 2c because i own a nord electro and a rhodes.

the rhodes piano is freaking awesome and i'd never want to be without it for recording. that said, i'd never gig with my MKI 88-key model because it weighs 200lbs.

for a live situation i'm really impressed by the MKV sample on the nord electro.. it's *close* but not quite perfect. In the live-mix it's pretty indistinguishable from a real rhodes, though. plus the keyboard only weighs 20lbs. and has the best hammond b3 sim on the market (w. a pretty great leslie sim too!), also of note is the wurlitzer 200a sample which is pretty much dead-on.
also, i should mention that the piano samples are pretty brutal. i'd use them in a pinch live but they're definitely underwhelming.

so.. i suppose to conclude my rambling post, the nord electro 2 is worth every cent i put in to it. get the 73-key model even though it costs more; trust me.
 
I'm selling my Rhodes because of all the above mentioned reasons except for "fragility".

A Rhodes is a tank.

As far as emulation goes, you'd probably be best served using a soft synth modeler or a rack mounted module and buying a weighted 88 controller to go with.

Proteus has a couple of decent sounding Rhodes patches. I think that N1 makes a good Rhodes too.

There was a really remarkable Rhodes emulation software that came out a year or two ago, but I don't recall which it was at the moment. I can take a look around for you.

As for the controller, either get yourself a quality digital piano (great actions but not the best sounds) if you really want a nice feel. Otherwise, to save yourself some bread, get the M-Audio 88. It's not as good as a digital piano action, but then again no MIDI controllers have as good an action.

Carl
 
sorry, forgot to add that the nord has semi-weighted waterfall keys, which is PERFECT for playing the organ but takes a little getting used to for keyboard playing. the new OS upgrade has user-definable velocity settings though, so you can still hammer on the keys to get that sweet sweet rhodes bite.
 
That MR Ray sounds quite impressive having just listened to the A B files.

So now just a decent midi controller with good key action.
 
cobaltblue said:
is there anything cheaper than the m-audio 88 that has a decent hammer action ?
Click to expand...


The m-audio 88 dosen't have a decent action. Cheaper midi controllers are just as bad or worse.

What you want to get is a digital piano. Don't even worry about the internal sounds because you're going to control your soft synth or module with it anyway.

Plenty of used and even new digital pianos out there that can do the job. Personally, I use a Roland RD-100 for this task. A little heavy by today's standards (about 50 pounds).

For around $400 you could pick up the Casio Privia. It's pretty light and has a nice enough action.

Kurzweil actions are quite nice, but expensive. But the internal sounds are very good.

If you can pick up a Korg SG1 you'll find a passable action for only a few hundred dollars.

The Yamaha keyboards have a decent feel and the internal piano sounds are top notch to boot.

I don't recommend the Studio Logic hammer action at all.

Carl
 
My understanding (although I have no personal experience) is that this:



<click me> is a fine weighted 88 key MIDI controller.

You might want to look into this one.

Carl
 
Still on the Rhodes front, if you want a hardware module, the Kurzweil Rhodes is pretty nice. I'm using a Kurzweil ME1 for piano/rhodes/synth, but the PC2R has a Classic Keys ROM available with more (better?).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top