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I would have to agree that the lower octaves definitely need some work. I'm really hoping to make it sound more rhodes-like. If 7XL or any of the rhodes owners here would be willing to contribute some A/B comparisons of this and the rhodes in action, I think it would be a great help.

I'll get some sound samples to you in the next few days.

Nice one, thanks!

I have a Wurlitzer 200A. If that could be of any help, just say the word

Sharc, My Brotha',

It is indeed a noble effort. At present it has a really cutting sound, which I feel would be what's needed for an EP which uses a Wah-Wah, Flanger, or Phaser. This is an Electric Piano, not an electro-mechanical.

The decay is appropriate for this style and sound though, as it would carry the effect better. I.E. on a Rhodes to get it to sound good w/ FX, one must make it bark, by hitting harder velocities which in turn create the longer sustain of the heavy part of the sound. The long decay of the upper end harmonics ( bellish sound ) comes from the actual sustain provided by the release of the key when playing with extreme dynamics.

I am in no way discrediting this great device at all, just stating facts as I had the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, RMI, and Hohner at one time or another. The Rhodes and Wurlitzer were the only ones that I liked. The others were cheezy sounding, but I have heard them in recordings where they fit right in, just not in mine.

You are on the right track though, as this has been needed IMO for a long time. Just make it sound the way you like it. For a guy who doesn't play piano day in and day out, it's another sign of your excellent ears. If you played more I'm sure we would really be singing your praise.

If you really want to hear a great solo Fender Rhodes, listen to Bill Evans. If you want to hear what it sounds like in a group scenario, try Return To Forever's Light As A Feather, or Spain. Chick Corea really plays so tastefully and uses the full spectrum of dynamics. There are many, many more, but these guys sold me on it.

To hear a Rhodes w/ the widest range of effects, Weather Report's Joesf Zawinul is amazing. If I could only hear him live just one more time. I would fly to Vienna just to hear him play. He'll make you cry. For his sounds and style try Heavy Weather, A Remark You Made, and Tale Spinnin's Man In The Green Shirt. You will also hear some of the finest synthesizer chops there too. I play these songs from time to time live, but in Vegas they go over like a Reggae Band at a Klan Rally, but I love them so.



Outstanding Work My Brotha',

Checked it out briefly last night and I do think it sounds more wurlitzer-like than rhodes-like. The rhodes is much softer and warmer. This has a very 'FM-ish' sound although not like the infamous 'DX7 bell rhodes'. Nothing wrong with that at all but it doesn't sound like a rhodes You might want to look into emulating a wurli instead with this device.

A small suggestion - you may want to look into integrating some kind of amp/speaker simulation circuit as the rhodes really needs some amp/speaker action, the raw output just sounds too clean and polite (obviously have a dry output too so that people can use alternative amp/speaker devices).

Incidentally, I actually preferred Ken's original 'seventy-three' patch compared to the more recent 'setenta tres' patch. The original was much much warmer and deeper sounding, the recent one had a harsh FM-ish sound IMHO.

scope4live - which Hohner did you have? The Pianet T is actually a really nice sounding instrument, sounds a lot like a rhodes to me although its way more limited in terms of dynamics. It's a lot more portable than a rhodes too

cool! thank you!!!

wow, can't believe I missed this! This is great!!! Again, I'm not sure what the reality is, to spend DSP on limited polyphony, but with enough tweaking, I think the rhodes sound can be recreated quite well.

I think the big difference between the ver1 of my rhodes patch and the newer setenta-tres version is the attack, and the presets.. I think the trick is in the non-linear response of the 4 vital zones, bass, middle-C region chords, right hand solo/melody zone, and super high bell tones. If I remember, ver1 had more modules dedicated to getting these zone specific responses right. It's hard because you have to limit the modules to keep polyphony.

This is awesome tho, this will mark the first official EP device for scope! Thanks for doin' this sharc! Originally, I was trying to beat CW to the first rhodes emulation, but it's cool that the first one came from one of us.

I agree completely with the people above: The graphics are outstanding, the idea is excellent, an amp sim. would be nice. this doesn't sound like a "real life" el. piano, but more like a synht. the 'seventy-three' patch is heaven to me! if collossus would go more in the direction of 'seventy-three' ( soundwise) I will be loving and using this keyboard forever!

that being said: the sound of this device it totally up to you !( the developer of colossus) if you wanted it to sound this way, then this is the way it's supposed to sound! if it is supposed to sound like a real life el. piano, tweak a little more, and i'm sure you will succeed! ( the 'seventy-three' patch designer surely succeded!!)
thanks alot for your effort, and thanks alot for this device!!!

btw: how do i raise polyphony ? i cant seem to find a button for this?

Ken, yes it definitely had a different attack. Interesting point about the different keyboard zones, that's very cool. Sadly, 'seventy-three' takes way too much DSP for me... after trying to use emulations of rhodes for years (the EVP88 mk1 model was the best I found overall) I just gave up and bought a real one

Ken, I'm really glad to hear that you like the idea.

I think the big difference between the ver1 of my rhodes patch and the newer setenta-tres version is the attack, and the presets.. I think the trick is in the non-linear response of the 4 vital zones, bass, middle-C region chords, right hand solo/melody zone, and super high bell tones. If I remember, ver1 had more modules dedicated to getting these zone specific responses right. It's hard because you have to limit the modules to keep polyphony.

Ah, I was wondering about that. I'd figured it was a safer bet to go for the newer patch 'Setanta tres', but I was thinking at the time that I remembered 'Seventy-Three' sounding better. I should probably have checked

This won't be a problem though. I'll take a look at the 'Seventy-Three' patch and see about adjusting the algo to suit. I'm thinking about having 5 or 6 types of E.Piano sound to choose from. It should be possible to switch the unused bits off dsp as you switch between the algo variations.

Petal - That would be great if you could send me some dry recordings of your 200A. A few people have said already that it sounds more like a Wurlitzer at the moment, So I don't see why one of the 5-6 types couldn't be based on the Wurlitzer sound.

I've been thinking about the name. 'Electric Piano for Scope' could maybe give the wrong impression. Could change it to 'Electric Piano Synthesizer'. That way the 64-voice Synthedit version will make more sense.

Joking aside, I think it maybe does need this name change. I don't want to be misleading anyone. What do you guys think?

Thanks again everyone for all the feedback and constructive criticism. It's really helped to put things in perspective and I'm confident that I can still do a good job on this one.

btw: how do i raise polyphony ? i cant seem to find a button for this?

It's just the usual live bar method. I could also add a voice-count control though. It definitely does sound a lot more like a synth when you've got it set to one voice

I think the multi EP approach is way cool, so what if it takes more DSP.

As far as the naming game goes,.......Tine Machine has that, unambiguous, non-infringement, politically correct, copy protected type name that infests all virtual inmstruments these days.

It is a unique sound though as it doesn't fall off of the fence but has a taste of many. I would follow up on this as it is a very strong sounding EP, worthy of vintage effects. Just try two instances of it, one w/ the DAS Stone Age Wah-Wah, and one w/o any effect, run them both through the stock CW Limiter and vary the wet / dry. You will then see it's strengths as a great way to do some of the old funk / fusion. I am digging everything you are making, as I am still adding vintage sounds to my set-up, this is just one more.

I Think Your Ears Are Smokin',

Good thing! But I definitely will use it as a new kind of EP sound, not as Rhodes' emulation.

There are 2 bugs.
1. No presets and there even no place to save own ones.

2. midi channel is unchooseable.

Thank you once again!

Ed,

sharc wrote:It's still early beta so no parameter readouts or presets just yet.

it's not a bug, it's (still) a feature

-greetings, markus-

Ed, you should be able to change the midi channel in the live bar next to where you set the voice count.

Any updates to this yet? Just been tinkering and it would be nice to have a version with presets and any new features that have been added.

Mr Arkadin wrote:Any updates to this yet. Just been tinkering and it would be nice to have a version with presets and any new features that have been added.

+1

+1
well Sharcy, this could be gold if you could make it to an adventure in sound and chemicals

No updates on this one at the moment.

I've been working on another project for the past few weeks, but I promise to come back to the Colussus once it's completed.

The long overdue C4T update will have to wait I'm afraid, as the CAT I was using for reference has broken down on me (must've used up it's 9 lives )

I've still got high hopes for Colussus though