LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Winter NAAM 2007 Los Angeles

7 -- 12/15/2006, 09:36:23 -- #31733

I'm going to NAAM again in January. Last year a few people wanted me to test drive a few items, and this year I'll do the same for you. Make sure to give me ALL the information I need to do so. Who is the manufacturer of the product? Who distributes it? Usually a quick stop by their website will have a line somewhere that says "Be sure to visit us at NAAM booth xxxxx". I will be more than happy to do this for you and give my highly biased review of your product right here in the LJP forum.

Jazz+ -- 12/23/2006, 20:46:05 -- #31733

I'm wondering if Roland will anounce a new digital piano that supercedes their nice RD-700SX.

7 -- 01/13/2007, 20:18:04 -- #31733

I'm going to the Los Angeles NAAM show next Friday (1/19/07), let me know ASAP if there's something you want researched. OK????

jaledin -- 01/15/2007, 14:37:07 -- #31733

Just caught this thread.  There's already going to be a bunch of hype about this one, but I'd be *very* curious to know how the new Rhodes pianos sound/look. At some point the new Rhodes demonstration is supposed to include George Duke and Patrice Rushen as performers.  I'm assuming the booth will be fairly hard to miss.

Ole -- 01/15/2007, 14:46:26 -- #31733

wow....please check out that Rhodes.... Sound amazing...

7 -- 01/16/2007, 08:16:59 -- #31733

Is Rhodes the brand name or manufacturer? What is the model number?

GS_Jon -- 01/16/2007, 11:48:54 -- #31733

According to http://www.rhodespiano.com/: 2007 Mark 7 Rhodes piano at the NAMM Convention, Booth #5811 Floor-B, January 18 thru 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center. I would also be very interested to hear your take on the new Rhodes.  Thanks for offering to do this. Jon

GS_Jon -- 01/16/2007, 12:04:31 -- #31733

To more fully answer your question:  it seems Rhodes is the manufacturer and Mark 7 is the model number.

jaledin -- 01/16/2007, 14:02:24 -- #31733

Definitely right, GS_Jon -- the Rhodes name has been acquired outright, by a person who has had a number of unpleasant conversations with those of us into vintage Rhodes restoration and so forth, and AFAICT "Mark VII" is the new model (with a bunch of variations -- including a little 61-key stage model). It seems as though after many years of hemming and hawing the Rhodes piano may be here -- again -- after all.

7 -- 01/16/2007, 22:30:33 -- #31733

2007 Mark 7 Rhodes piano · Booth #5811 Floor-B Check. Anyone else need something looked at? There was a bunch of requests for Ivory software last year but I never found it. I was kinda intrigued myself to. Who knows what booth number they're in?

LoFi -- 01/18/2007, 06:51:57 -- #31733

7 - Ivory is made by Synthogy, and will be exhibiting at the ILIO booth. The ILIO booth can be found in Hall A at booth #6720. (Wouldn't feel comfortable using a laptop + software for a gig, myself, but I'm interested by their new "10 ft Italian Grand" expansion pack. They don't specify on the site, but I'm assuming it's a Fazioli)

7 -- 01/18/2007, 08:19:05 -- #31733

Ivory Synthogy ILIO booth #6720 & 10 ft Italian Grand Check. Any more for any more? Tomorrow's (1/19/07) the day.

wdennissorrell -- 01/18/2007, 08:21:08 -- #31733

Yes, for me look at all the neat stuff and salivate on several of them. I wish I could go, but it is way to far from here. Have a great time and thanks for all you do. Peace out.

dnarkosis -- 01/18/2007, 17:09:53 -- #31733

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2662

7 -- 01/19/2007, 18:12:00 -- #31733

2007 Mark 7 Rhodes piano http://RhodesPiano.com Original? It IS entirely based on the original Fender Rhodes instrument. Taking a look under the hood, the tines and tone bar assembly looked identical to how I remember my 1975 88 key model. Sound? It still overdrives when pushed, which was always one of the charms of that peculiar instrument. And exactly as with the original Rhodes, you still have to be very careful with closed voicings. Too closed of voicings always did set off a bunch of higher partial clanginess, and it seems it always will. It's just the nature of the beast. Feel? The keyboard (88 model) I played had a lot of trouble getting one note trills. For me that's a real benchmark (which, for example, I failed the Nord Lead on last year). I wouldn't say the keys feel was sluggish, but that's just one trick that (I guess) you have to leave out when playing the rhodes. Probably the old ones were that way too, I can't remember. I put it through its paces, and overall it felt pretty good. The action seemed smoother than my old one. (You'd HOPE SO, anyway) Specs? All the outlets for direct box, line out, amp, USB, 3 midi ports, and maybe an etc or two (who could expect anything less in today's professional climate?). At least that what all those outlets <i>looked like</i> they were for. On the front panel: volume, some eq, tremelo, and a couple of other thingies you could twiddle with. On the LH end of the keys there are the two wheels (one would suppose pitch and modulation). But on the model I played they were not working. When I asked for their documentation they did not have spec sheets, but a representative told me that they'd have the specs online in about three weeks. MIDI Implementation? I suppose you could use it as your midi controller with this upgrade, but I'm not sure that the FEEL of this keyboard would ever be as slick and comfortable as my current digital keyboard controller (Roland keybed). Maybe some might come to prefer it for its more organic kind of action. In any case it did not occur to me to ask them to let me run an organ or clavi patch through a midi module via rhodes to see how this keyboard feels when midi-ing to a completely different sort of sound. And for that matter how well the new rhodes handles midi AT ALL. Bottom Line? All the functionality of today's modern musical tools integrated into one of the funnest keyboards ever. GOOD IDEA! The Rhodes for the 21st century keyboardist! Yes! It's fun and unless I bash it too hard, it sounds coolsville. I dug it. However, that doesn't mean I would rush out and buy one tomorrow. I still consider it a bit of a toy. It would be cool to have one in the music room but unless I was using roadies, I wouldn't go to the trouble of dragging one out to a gig. I have no idea what one weighs, but there is a big wooden frame in there that holds all the tone bars and tines. Some of those tines are pretty big pieces of metal, this thing probably weighs a fair few pounds. Models 60 - 76 - 88 http://RhodesPiano.com 7(c)07

7 -- 01/19/2007, 18:15:18 -- #31733

correction: Some of those tone bars are pretty big pieces of metal, this thing probably weighs a fair few pounds.

7 -- 01/19/2007, 18:26:01 -- #31733

Jazz+ -- 12/23/2006, 20:46:05 -- #31920 I'm wondering if Roland will announce a new digital piano that supercedes their nice RD-700SX. I didn't go into the Roland booth. You won't believe me, but wandering into the Roland area is like some kind of freaking Disneyland. There's so MUCH that it's just simply overwhelming. It's dangerous and frightening. I walk in Pinocchio and walk out a donkey.

7 -- 01/19/2007, 19:18:10 -- #31733

Ivory http://ilio.com Demo Arriving at the booth there was a demonstration in progress, a set of headphones was given to me and along with four or five other people I watched and listened to an excellent pianist play various styles on the four different pianos within. I specifically asked him to play the Italian grand. Which he obliged me. Hands On After the demo I said that I’d like to play for myself and he pointed me towards a Kurzweil 88 (Needless to say NO TROUBLE WITH ONE-NOTE TRILLS). I sat down, put on the headphones and went through the various pianos one by one. There is a significant load time when changing from piano to piano as this is a LOT of data to load in at no matter what speed. So don’t expect to change “patches” like you would on a synth. Have your patter prepared or pick one you like a lot and stick with it. All of the pianos were great. I tried to push them to see what their limits were and didn’t find many. Some of the super low keys are a bit trollish. But maybe that was due to the sound quality limitations of the headphones they give you. I’d love to hear one of those things through a top notch sound system. I actually laughed out loud at the highest notes. If you hit them really really softly, you don’t hear any note at all, but you DO hear a small wooden clunk! Ambient sympathetic vibration REALLY nice feature. This was covered in the demo. When you play an acoustic piano and hold down the damper pedal, the sympathetic vibrations of other related strings (that you didn’t hit) set up a kind of resonance that you take for granted in a real piano. With synth piano patches it always seems like something is missing to give that it that REAL piano sound. REALLY nice touch. Pianists everywhere thank you. Here are some very sketchy specs on the different models. Italian Grand (Fazioli) 12 levels of velocity. Add-on to original package CORE PACKAGE: Steinway - 10 levels of velocity Bosendorfer - 10 levels of velocity Yamaha C7 – 7 levels of velocity Bottom Line I wonder how powerful a laptop you need to run this. That also has to be added into the equation. In my case, it pretty much puts it out of my price range (for now anyway – unless one of you philanthropist lurkers would be so generous as to reimburse my years and years of hard work here at LJP with a brand-new laptop with a copy of Ivory already on it :) In any case, I prefer to take a black box to my sleazy bar gigs rather than an expensive laptop. Do they make a harware version? Is that what they mean by “Stand-alone version now available”? Probably not. They probably mean that you can purchase (for example) the Steinway separately, instead of bundled. Once again, I thought they all sounded just great!!! -end- http://ilio.com 7(c)07

7 -- 01/19/2007, 19:20:45 -- #31733

correction: They probably mean that you can purchase (for example) the Steinway software separately, instead of bundled.

7 -- 01/19/2007, 19:26:52 -- #31733

correction NAMM (not NAAM) duh!

Jazz+ -- 01/19/2007, 20:07:11 -- #31733

Thanks 7 ! How much the new Rhodes will sell for? How much does the 73 key and the 61 key version weigh. Jazz+

Jazz+ -- 01/19/2007, 20:10:34 -- #31733

Roland has a two new digital pianos: FP7 http://www.roland.com/products/en/FP-7/index.html FP4 http://www.roland.com/products/en/FP-4/index.html

7 -- 01/19/2007, 22:03:09 -- #31733

How much the new Rhodes will sell for? How much does the 73 key and the 61 key version weigh. Dunno and dunno. We'll just have to wait for the specs to be available online.

Jazz+ -- 01/19/2007, 22:19:02 -- #31733

I found a 3 page thread, with photos, all about the new Rhodes showing at NAMM this weekend. Weight: 73 key ~85lbs 61 key IN THE 60 lbs RANGE! Suitcase bottom is 85 lbs - now that's for four speakers (I believe 12", four horns, and amplification) Price: "The only price I was told is that 61 key passive would be in the low $2,000s. No indication of what a maxed out 88, suitcase, anvil cased, etc. would run." COMPLETE THREAD AT: http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/ubb/get_topic/f/18/t/021247.html

Whacky -- 01/20/2007, 10:34:09 -- #31733

Well done Dr. 7 - you always go the extra mile! Thank you also Jazz+ - the weight was my first question.  I seem to remember my 73 key weighing in at around 140 lbs - 200 when in the Anvil case!

Jazz+ -- 01/20/2007, 12:52:41 -- #31733

I read on the other Forum that the 88 keys is 85 lbs and the 73 keys is also 85 lbs. So one of those estimates is false.

jaledin -- 01/20/2007, 14:52:50 -- #31733

Thanks, 7!  Those are some great reviews. I'm pretty sure any of the older Rhodes models will do a single-note trill -- mine will for sure.  I'd hate to lose that ability, especially on a blues, with one of the newer models (even if it is kind of a parlor trick and I probably overuse it!). Thanks again -- it's good to have a knowledgable person who can actually write a decent report (and who is willing to do so) on the inside checking stuff out.

Mike -- 01/20/2007, 20:32:21 -- #31733

wow i would love to playing a rhodes again.  But am I willing or even able to lug 85 lb anymore?   Not.  I remember 25 years ago I used to think it was fun to toke on a joint, then throw my Rhodes up on my shoulder wearing a muscle shirt, put it down only after I was sure every last soul in the club had seen me walking around with it over my shoulder,  Then go to the bar order a pitcher of their cheapest beer and take a big hit straight out of the pitcher before begining to set up.   Sadly those days are over and even though I would so love to get one of those Rhodes just to keep in my house as a toy.

7 -- 01/21/2007, 00:17:44 -- #31733

It just occured to me that the "Ivory folks" could devastate the market if they took the time to sample a classic Fender Rhodes. Just remember, you heard it hear first.

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