| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Chick Corea's Rhodes Sound | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/02/2006, 14:25:18 -- #30902 | |
| The tines in Chick's Rhodes were positioned very close to the pick-ups, almost right on top of them. That's what gave his Rhodes sound that percussive pop. From Contemporary Keyboard Feb 1978 where Chick states the following: "... on the first RTF record I had what looks to me now like a silly setup but it sounded good. I had the Rhodes Mk1 Stage model running through this little Shure mixer that we were using as a preamp and the went into an Altec speaker cabinet, like a sound system cabinet, that had its own amplification. And with a volume pedal on the rhodes, I got this really puffy kind of rich sound. " This was discussed at the Rhodes Forum many years ago and concluded that a large part of the sound was the Wah wah pedal being used as a kind of parametric EQ... | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/02/2006, 14:27:41 -- #30902 | |
| Chick played his Rhodes Mk1 through a wah wah pedal at a set position. It produces a brighter thinner tone. I used to do the same thing with a Morley "Volume Wah", I think it's the same one Chick was using. | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/02/2006, 14:29:38 -- #30902 | |
| " " on al those statements. | |
| Mike -- 11/02/2006, 23:34:58 -- #30902 | |
| I wonder why it is then that out of the thousands of keyboards that have "Rhodes Sounds" and out of the thousands of companys that have sold Rhodes samples and patches not one of them sounds anything like the sound Chick had with RTF. | |
| dnarkosis -- 11/03/2006, 07:49:12 -- #30902 | |
| I see this thread has shifted from the "electronic keyboards" one. One of the hair-pullers on recreating the first RTF sound for other musicians has been retrieving or duplicating those pieces of vintage gear and then knowing what settings to use - and speakers, etc. as well. A lot also depends on the voicing and setup of the individual keyboard. But it just doesn't seem (with Mike) that it should be so esoteric. | |
| dnarkosis -- 11/03/2006, 08:03:07 -- #30902 | |
| http://tinyurl.com/ve26r Also mentions the rented piano. | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/03/2006, 12:32:38 -- #30902 | |
| Piano samples don't sound like real pianos either. The Rhodes is easier to sample than an acoustic piano. The Scarbee Classic EP is consdered the best software sample set. I use Roland's SRX-12 Rhodes 1. My next choice would be Yamaha "Vintage '74" patch. | |
| alhaynes -- 11/07/2006, 07:30:28 -- #30902 | |
| Lounge Lizard can closely duplicate the rougher Rhodes sounds. It does not use samples, but instead generates waveforms by physical model calculations. It does require a fairly modern computer to keep up. | |
| jaledin -- 11/08/2006, 16:53:56 -- #30902 | |
| Plug for MrRay73 -- it's as good as most of the big sampler keyboards, it is freeware, and I just generally like it better than the old Lounge Lizard. I don't know the new Lounge Lizard, but MrRay73 is way *way* better than the older version of LL. I'd imagine it's pretty close to the new version, but can't say for sure. I don't have a notebook rig capable of running samples (like Scarbee) with the kind of reliability necessary, but it's a good "pinch-hitter" for a backup to some hardware. The developer is a good guy who hangs out occasionally here and there as well. | |
| elwapo -- 11/10/2006, 01:27:32 -- #30902 | |
| Hi Jazz +! Would you consider the Roland RD700sx to be better than the Yamaha cp300 for both piano and Rhodes sounds. I know this is a little off the subject but its obvious you know alot about this so any input would be appreciated. I'm going to buy either / or this weekend. Thanks | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/10/2006, 11:18:38 -- #30902 | |
| The CP300 is an improvement over my P250. But I never was happy with the continuos eighth note lines I got out of Yamaha's P series digital pianos, the attack was too pronounced and crystalline. I prefer the more legato lines I can produce with the RD-700SX. The tone is darker but also has some of those glittering overtones I like. The Rhodes 1 on the RD-700SX is fairly vintage sounding and if you add the SRX-12 Expansion Card (Rhodes) to it you then have the best sounding Rhodes in hardware, in my opinion. he CP300 Rhodes is medioicre by comparison. I like the RD-700SX sound, but NOT the earlier RD-700. | |
| elwapo -- 11/13/2006, 00:58:25 -- #30902 | |
| Much appreciated Jazz +. I took on board your advice and I bought the RD 700 SX. I havn't really had a chance to play around with the Rhodes sounds yet beacause I have been so enthralled with the "Superior grand Piano" sound. This is one keyboard that I will never sell........Thanks again | |
| bfunk -- 11/23/2006, 13:10:58 -- #30902 | |
| Hey all, Quick question slightly off topic....For programs such as Lounge Lizard and Mr Ray, what is the method for connecting all of this together? (keyboard, computer, amplifier) Never tried it but am interested in the possibilites. Thanks B | |
| Jazz+ -- 11/24/2006, 11:30:29 -- #30902 | |
| Congratultions elwapo, If you want the best Rhodes Roland has ever offered add the SRX-12 Expansion Board ($220) to your new Rd-700SX. Unsderstand though that one is really buying just a single Rhodes 1 patch with that card, all the other patches on it are pretty much filler. For jazz piano, I like the RD-700SX "Superior Grand" for it's bitter sweet tone. It's both dark and at the same time I can hear what sound like sparkling overtone frequencies. The Yamaha S90ES piano sounds more neutral in tone to my ears, I don't notice the overtones. I also find the atack and sustain more legato on the RD-700SX than the Yamahas. The Yamahas have a more pronounced hammer attack with a quicker decay, more marcatto. | |
| jaledin -- 11/28/2006, 15:14:14 -- #30902 | |
| Thanks for mentioning what I've noticed as well about the Yamaha P-series -- it's damned hard to play truly legato on them. Things come out too choppy -- not that I'm the greatest piano player, but I do know how to control certain things. I always thought it was odd no one besides you brought this point up here or in other forums. bfunk -- you need a computer, a MIDI interface, and, preferably, a sound card with ASIO drivers. If you just want to dink around, you could probably just use the onboard soundcard, but if you want low latency (as in a pipe organ -- takes a while to hear the note once the key is pressed), the ASIO drivers are the way to go. I think an M-Audio "Transit" USB card is about $80 -- heard good things about it, never tried it, but it should certainly work for just playing a single softsynth. Basically, you hook everything up the way you'd think to your controller/keyboard, plug in to your sound system, and start playing. You might well spend an hour or even more tweaking settings (especially soundcard settings) to be content with your sound, but if you're only playing one instrument, there's not much to it at all. For people using one or two or three instruments, this kind of setup can be rock-solid and sound really nice -- I think softsynths get a bad rap because of the instability some people report when they try to remotely control some really *heavy* synths and add sequenced parts, etc. | |
| Jazz+ -- 12/23/2006, 21:16:45 -- #30902 | |
| elwapo, How are you getting along with your RD-700SX? J+ | |
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