Best rhodes samples?

[Damon]

I play a lot of quirky experimental jazz stuff and have some fantastic rhodes sounds on my Roland XP-80 (Keyboards of the 60\'s/70\'s expansion card) and am in need for a rhodes for Giga. I am using the VR rhodes right now with Giga which sounds pretty good also, but I need more options. Any suggestions on a good rhodes library? So far, the only one I\'ve heard is Xsample and it does indeed sound good. Any others out there? I\'ve played a real rhodes quite a bit, so realism is a must.

[nigel]

Don\'t W**K, try !
BUY A REAL ONE!

[Damian Smith]

I\'m using the Rhodes from Bigga Giggas. From what I can remember, It\'s a 1979 suitcase Rhodes with all keys sampled at three to four different velocities. What I like to do is put the Rhodes through the EQ effect in the DSP Station. I turn up the highs so I can get a bit more of a tine out of it. This is the only Rhodes I\'ve tried, but it\'s a killer instrument. You can get it at Bigga Giggas\' website or from Nemesys driectly.

[Sam]

The Xsample one is very good. Sometimes you forget you\'re playing a sample, it can be just blissful. The weakness here is that it \'only\' has 4 velocity layers, and a real Rhodes can have more variations near where it distorts (barks) when you give it different thwaks. Because of this I have auditioned about a half dozen Rhodes for sale, but in fact most of them didn\'t sound as nice as the sample, specifically so well maintained and consistent.

The best one I tried was near mint condition and well in tune, but only about a third of the notes had a good variation of tone all the way to a nice bark; it was just too polite and tame/pretty sounding, plus it had one bent tine...

In fact the Xsample is good enough to dissuade me from the tweaking and maintenace I\'d have to do to keep a real one sounding that good, plus it\'s easier to record. The programming of it is great too and it comes with an excellent Wurli piano.

Anybody have both the Bigga and Xsample EP\'s? It would be cool to A/B them since there\'s so much variation to Rhodeses.

[Damon]

Thanks for your input guys! http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif
Nigel, I don\'t know what you\'re talking about. What does have to do with buying a rhodes?
The point here is not to have to drag a real rhodes around with me, plus I\'ve got no more room in my studio for a real one.

[This message has been edited by Damon (edited 04-26-2001).]

[Doc]

Having played a real Rhodes from the seventies (yes I still have one), I can tell you that this is one instrument that has lots of different sounds depending on its setup. You can go from crystal clean to mean and distorted if the Rhodes is setup right just by changes in playing style and velocity. If you get the real thing you can set this type of range up by two key tweaks. 1. how close the pickup is to the end of the tine (it slides back and forth and locks in place by a screw (be careful not to break any wires doing this)) and 2. the most important, the angle at which the tine faces the pickup (from dead centered in the middle to outward, there are screws on each tine to adjust this)(my setup has the end of the tine about 1/8th of an inch above center and about a 1/16th of an inch from end of tine to end of coil pickup, but each Rhodes is going to be different). Once you find the magic spot for a sound to your liking, you set up every key that way with minor variations of tweak #1 to balance the loudness across the whole keyboard. After you have done this then tune each note by sliding the coil spring on the tine itself. Since there is so much variation on a single Rhodes, an acurate emulation sample would require many velocity layers (a hell of alot more than 4)and good editing to balance the emulation to behave like the real thing. I like my Rhodes to bite both clean and distorted depending on how I play the keyboard, also I boost the high end alot keep the mids normal and set the bass so I can get a good growl but not muddy, and I add lots of great reverb slaping back the sound, the typical spring reverb in a Fender twin amp. Keep looking for a real Rhodes in good shape thats more on the clean / hard side than mushy and with a spare afternoon of tweaking, you will probably get the sound you appear to be looking for. Samples are great and have their purpose, everyone knows how heavy a Rhodes is to cart around, but until someone realy does a Rhodes sample that can be clean and dirty, be soft and bite, you wont have anything close to the real deal. Good luck with whichever route you take.

[Damon]

I hear ya Doc. Nothing like the real thing http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif
I was just wanting to know if there was a library available that had different rhodes sounds like distorted, wah-wah, phaser, tines, etc. all in the same CD and not just one sound.

[This message has been edited by Damon (edited 04-27-2001).]

[Sam White]

Have a look at emagic.com and check evp88/
evp73 for a rhodessound! Sam White

[newsax]

Hi I am new here but i saw this old post which was back in 2001 ,7 years later i am looking for the same thing and samples have gotten better mostly

are there any new recomendations for a very realistic rhodes sound ,there is a good one on Ebay for $25 ,sounds like it has a better low end

listed as ---Stage Piano sample 3-CD of Fender Rhodes Giga-format



Scarbee c.e.p also looks good

I figure things have really developed in 7 years

any new suggestions

Thanks

[dahnielson]

Don't own it yet but Worra is always doing a great job:

http://www.sampletekk.com/proddetail.php?prod=STDELIVER-030-FORMAT

[musictom]

The EVP88 plugin that resides inside Apple Logic is pretty killer as well. You can really spank the keys and hear them bark. :)

tom

[Marty Prod]

Stop giving Wrong information and review to Damon...

the only one he needs is the rhodes made by Mr Scarbee !!!!

www.scarbee.com is the ONLY adress you must go to !!!

[mojamusic]

Scarbee CEP IS the only choice for rhodes! Trust me I have used most of the others in the past.

I use KBG (http://www.scarbee.com/products/kgb_k2/) for everything.

Check out my songs. All the rhodes and wurly sounds are Scarbee KGB.

www.soundclick.com/mddavis

[linwood]

I'm with you two.

[scope4live]

Brotha' Man Linwood,

Once again your taste is demonstrated.

I have had Scarbee's Rhodes and Wurlitzer since day one.

Since I once was strong and lugged them around, I can vouge for their authenticity. I was also dumb enough to lug that CS80 around in my avatar too. :wow:

The bark is there, the mid velocity romantic sound, and the lighter touch bells. At least that's how they correspond on my Oberheim MC3000.

Lin,....you should have heard Solaris @ NAMM. )(~

[Tatsu Nagao]

Scarbee CEP is superb, but I'll add one more, RHODES Premier's RHODES Suitcase which has 16 velocity layers and release trigger sound with 4 velocity layers. It's for Halion, Kontakt and EXS24, unfortunately not available for Giga.
http://www.rhodes-premier.com/rhodes_suitcase.html


The site is written in Japanese.:( The demos are
http://www.rhodes-premier.com/demo/suitcase_demo1.mp3
http://www.rhodes-premier.com/demo/suitcase_demo2.mp3
http://www.rhodes-premier.com/demo/suitcase_demo3.mp3

[scope4live]

Tatsu,
Thank you for the links.
There's always something better, but Scarbee will be hard to beat !!

Domo. :n:

[geronimo001]

The Xsample one is very good. Sometimes you forget you\'re playing a sample, it can be just blissful. The weakness here is that it \'only\' has 4 velocity layers,

I agree with that.

I'll get Scarbee if a need a better one.

[Eric Matlock]

I agree that Scarbee has the best Rhodes sample library that I've heard. I also have to mention though that soundfonts.it has an excellent donationware vst called Mr. Ray 73. I made some tweaks to it side-by side with the Scarbee and was able to get it nearly identical. The best part is it's modelled so there is no sample load time, and cpu use is not bad. I use it in live shows all the time.

[jazzobizz]

Scarbee CEP IS the only choice for rhodes! Trust me I have used most of the others in the past.

I use KBG (http://www.scarbee.com/products/kgb_k2/) for everything.

Check out my songs. All the rhodes and wurly sounds are Scarbee KGB.

www.soundclick.com/mddavis (http://www.soundclick.com/mddavis)

I also own the real thing, but when you need portability, yes Scarbee is the best sampled rhodes I've heard, up to 12 velocity with release samples, recorded straight from the harp: you can put it in real amps or amp emulation like Scarbee plug or Guitar Rig: you get all kind of sound variations.Very playable to me; you need a good weighted keyboard controller

[Ashermusic]

It is only for ProTools but Digi's new Velvet is the best i have heard. Also great Wurli.

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=112&itemid=4958

[mojamusic]

It is only for ProTools but Digi's new Velvet is the best i have heard. Also great Wurli.

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=112&itemid=4958

When you say "best you've heard," do you mean from a ProTools plug? To me this Rhodes sounds no better than the Logic rhodes.

There is no rival for Scarbee KGB. I heard the comparison between Mr. Ray and CEP and Mr. Ray was impressive, but CEP wins hands down.)(~

I have both a real Rhodes and Wurly to compare. ~|

[DKeenum]

Scarbee = awsome!
Sampletekk = awesome!

And a little insider info - Mr Ray 2 is on the way! Completely rewritten.

[newsax]

I also own the real thing, but when you need portability, yes Scarbee is the best sampled rhodes I've heard, up to 12 velocity with release samples, recorded straight from the harp: you can put it in real amps or amp emulation like Scarbee plug or Guitar Rig: you get all kind of sound variations.Very playable to me; you need a good weighted keyboard controller


I am thinking of getting the real thing for studio and scarbee for gigs or messing with midi.

This sample rhodes sounds good for the price ,nice bell notes i noticed but probably not as well written as Scarbee,any comments

http://cgi.ebay.com/Samples-of-Fender-Rhodes-Halion-EXS24-Kontakt2-format_W0QQitemZ360015712999QQihZ023QQcategoryZ417 85QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i have seen some rhodes for around $500 at the lowend so not too bad

Also this is an interesting story about the E rhodes

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/service/dyno-sound.php

[Timo Heil]

I recommend Lounge Lizard from applied-acoustics.com
You can check out the demo version! It uses physical modelling instead of samples. I think it's even better than EVP88.

[scope4live]

I love Scarbee's but I really miss the " beelish " sounds of my Rhodes when the lightest of touches were used.

If someone here knows a library that has those samples, please speak up. I use Scarbee's Gigastudio stuff, so I can add that particular sound as an extra velocity layer to my sample I use currently. That would make this the ultimate Rhodes sound, even better than the hardware, as the sound I use now only lacks those bellish tones.

BTW, I just had a custom Scope SDK free device I used on Scarbee's Rhodes last night. It is incredible.

I know many here don't know what Scope is, but I use this DSP platform w/ VSTi's live, and free SDK devices are made by the large group of developers that are required to post their devices for free.

Check out the excitement about this " Liquid Effect " here.

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24182


I had to post a pic of my Rhodes and CS80 where the original Electric Mistress sat upon. This effect is much better, and lacks that nasty analog noise which colored the sound way too much.

[Trace]

I got a chance to play the new Rhodes at NAMM. Beautiful!!

[Ashermusic]

When you say "best you've heard," do you mean from a ProTools plug? To me this Rhodes sounds no better than the Logic rhodes.

There is no rival for Scarbee KGB. I heard the comparison between Mr. Ray and CEP and Mr. Ray was impressive, but CEP wins hands down.)(~

I have both a real Rhodes and Wurly to compare. ~|

I wish I did mean that but I don't and I played both for years.

What Digi has modeled in Velvet that EVP88 or Scarbee does not (to a lesser degree) are the anomalies, like how notes bark when you hit them hard. It simply responds like a Rhodes.

If you play it, as I did at NAMM, you will see what I mean.

[newsax]

I love Scarbee's but I really miss the " beelish " sounds of my Rhodes when the lightest of touches were used.

If someone here knows a library that has those samples, please speak up. I use Scarbee's Gigastudio stuff, so I can add that particular sound as an extra velocity layer to my sample I use currently. That would make this the ultimate Rhodes sound, even better than the hardware, as the sound I use now only lacks those bellish tones.

BTW, I just had a custom Scope SDK free device I used on Scarbee's Rhodes last night. It is incredible.

I know many here don't know what Scope is, but I use this DSP platform w/ VSTi's live, and free SDK devices are made by the large group of developers that are required to post their devices for free.

Check out the excitement about this " Liquid Effect " here.

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24182


I had to post a pic of my Rhodes and CS80 where the original Electric Mistress sat upon. This effect is much better, and lacks that nasty analog noise which colored the sound way too much.


what is scope sdk web site ,i was looking for faq or something
what do i need to use the .mdl file you are talking about ,do you need special hardware for it ,dsp etc ?

if you have a link which explains it for a newby

Thanks

[peter269]

Have a look at emagic.com and check evp88/
evp73 for a rhodessound! Sam White

I was going to suggest that, too. Also at SONiVOX, Scarbee did an excellent version.

http://sonivoxmi.com/ProductList.asp

http://sonivoxmi.com/ProductDetail.asp?Item=SSKeys

[scope4live]

Scope is a DSP Platform that runs off of cards packed w/ Analog Devices Sharc DSP chips.

It's really old but has incredible support forum w/ free devices.

Their Hammond B3 model and Analog synth emulations come in hardware also. It's an all in one recording solution but I use it to master in, and do gigs also, as it's ASIO 24bit, and GSIF drivers are stable and mature.

I used it live w/ my hardware years ago and Gigastudio. I have since replaced most of my hardware w/ their products, and replaced several hardware samplers to run K2 and Gigastudio.

I still use hardware analog synths, and reverbs, but Scope has replaced the real big analog synths, and the B3, while K2 and Gigastudio forced me to sell my samplers while their prices were still somewhat high.

www.soniccore.com (http://www.soniccore.com)

www.planetz.com (http://www.planetz.com)


I can get all of the sounds and effects I need using my hardware / software hybrid rig.

It's really big in Europe, and fairly unknown in the States, which is fine w/ me. I learned that Hans Zimmer did a few movies using Scope / Giga DAW's and had to have a couple. ;) I could have been a contender if I had these in the '90's.

[dewdman42]

+1 for Scarbee

[Ouch that hurts]

+1 more for Scarbee. Absolutely awesome. In fact it's my favourite sample library out of everything I own (for ALL instruments).

[aLfR3dd]

Scarbee rhodes is amazing

[mojamusic]

Scarbee for president!

[dewdman42]

yep. Plus he includes that excellent Vintage FX plugin. The whole package is stunning.

His new bass packages are equally stunning BTW

[Wallabear]

There are several options:

(1) Scarbee Vintage Keyboard Collection - http://www.scarbee.com/products/vkc_k2/index.php

(2) Lounge Lizard EP-3 - http://www.applied-acoustics.com/loungelizard.php

(3) Native Instruments Elektrik Piano - http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=elektrikpiano

As the others have already suggested, Scarbee R.S.P. '73 would be a great addition, as well.

Check out the track "You Give Me Something" by Best New Artist 2008 James Morrison. :D


I play a lot of quirky experimental jazz stuff and have some fantastic rhodes sounds on my Roland XP-80 (Keyboards of the 60\'s/70\'s expansion card) and am in need for a rhodes for Giga. I am using the VR rhodes right now with Giga which sounds pretty good also, but I need more options. Any suggestions on a good rhodes library? So far, the only one I\'ve heard is Xsample and it does indeed sound good. Any others out there? I\'ve played a real rhodes quite a bit, so realism is a must.

[elcabong]

Scarbee CEP is superb, but I'll add one more, RHODES Premier's RHODES Suitcase which has 16 velocity layers and release trigger sound with 4 velocity layers. It's for Halion, Kontakt and EXS24, unfortunately not available for Giga.
http://www.rhodes-premier.com/rhodes_suitcase.html

The site is written in Japanese.:(


Since it's all in Japanese, is it even possible to buy this outside of Japan? If so, how?

[Tatsu Nagao]

Since it's all in Japanese, is it even possible to buy this outside of Japan? If so, how?

I don't know how, but this is their contact form, http://www.rhodes-premier.com/contact.html
The first box is for your name, the second is for your e-mail address, the third is for a question or comment.

They seem to have some overseas customers, and probably they can read and write English.

[JimB]

If Scarbee were a woman it'd be Adriana Lima )(~

[NeoDavinci]

I had a Rhodes too, so believe me when I tell you the Rhodes in Logic is fine. Also, my Promega 2 had a great Rhodes (it's modeled, not sampled), and their new module, GEM RP-X, supposedly has the same one. That's certainly not to dissuade you from Scarbee's product; I've never tried it, but I'm sure they did a great job.

[DKeenum]

Scarbee for sure, but Sampletekk's rhodes and wurlie are also interesting.

[Knut Skaarberg]

I really like the e-pian Kontakt patch from AcousticsampleS, lots of character, dust and bark. €49 for a download version.

All the best,
Knut Skaarberg

[Eric Matlock]

Of course this is a sample forum but I have to say the variety and quality of the Rhodes samples on the Nord Stage are excellent. I still tend to use Scarbee in the studio, but mostly because it's more convenient than bringing the Nord into the house, plugging it in and setting levels.

[Jeff4h]

I am in the market for a Rhodes and wurlitzer. After extensive listening to the demos the scarbee seem the best to me.

[mojamusic]

Scarbee Rhodes are the best. I've had them all. Some things are subjective... some things are fact. You're gonna love the sound and feel of these. Try the KGB. It comes with incredilble FX.

[Tatsu Nagao]

Perhaps Scarbee is not running alone anymore.

Pianoteq 3 Electric piano　
http://www.pianoteq.com/audiodemos?select=pianoteq3&type=electric&pianoteq=689cdb4f352b9cdc30aea3a06b84d58c

[coenm]

I heard Vintage Road Keys just released two new Rhodes samples for EXS24. By the sound of their youtube promo it sounds quite nice.
Never heard of the company before, they seem quite high end... might be worth a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM7yRETOFDk&feature=related

http://www.vintageroadkeys.com/product794146_3583469.aspx