anyone else like wurly/rhodes/clavinet/organ here?

[yorgatron]

if so, do you play the actual electromechanical keyboard, or patches on synthesizers?

[georgemarauder]

A Rhodes piano patch is essential to my production. I used to own a Rhodes Mark II but sold it. Still, I always use Rhodes patches in my music and play them via midi. Lovely sound.

[mpa1104]

I have a Rhodes Mk II 73 (flat-top ... which is great because the SH-202 fits very nicely up there ). I'm extremely fond of it and have used it often. It was recently pressed back into service after some time out due to bad tuning and action, and I decided to give it some much-needed care and attention.


Organ? My Roland VK-8M is exclusively for Hammond duties, it can be tweaked in a similar way to the real thing. It's controlled via a Korg Triton Le and I've never really liked the key action on this synth, so I recently went as far as taking the Triton apart and making the key action quite a bit shallower so that the playing style for the Hammond sounds was more like the shallow key action on the real thing (it also made the onboard Triton sounds more playable!)

[commodorejohn]

I love the sound of all the above, especially in the context of '70s rock/prog. I've got a Hammond L-133, but it's currently in the process of getting fixed up as I find time (for $60, I can't complain too much, but it does need more TLC than I initially guessed.) There's also an old Rhodes Stage 73 in slightly battered condition in my area that I'm seriously considering picking up - it's definitely in need of repair (the keysprings are all pretty mushy and it probably needs new felt,) but the owner only wants a few hundred bucks for it...

[Swayze]

I'd love a wurly or a hammond in my setup. During my studio internship I got to play a handful of these and see the guts of an a200 and a C3 while they were under repair...beautiful instruments. The real deal just wouldn't be practical for me at this time so I'm forced to coax those sounds out of synths and software.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

I love my 1976 Rhodes 73 Mk. 1 Stage Piano. Would love an 88 Mk. 1 Suitcase as well as a Wurli 200 but I just don´t have the space for either of them.

A B3 would be fantastic as well, and a CP70 to perch a Four Voice on top (or a Prophet 5) but...

Stephen

[tomorrowstops]

Love, love, LOVE my MKII 73. It's really the centerpiece of my home setup. Synths of all kinds have come and gone, but the Rhodes sticks around. And will FOREVER.

It's carcass was given to me a few years ago. Missing some tines, tone bars, keys, etc. I spent a couple of months restoring her back to full glory. In addition to replacing the missing parts, I replaced every piece of felt, installed new hammer tips, installed the backcheck mod, replaced allll the screws and springs for the tone bars, and did a full re tune and voicing. I even made a fresh new top (didn't have the original) out of wood.

We've got a MKI 88 at the studio - mine kicks its a*s. But it hasn't had the same wrench time put in to it.

I'm in the process of restoring a Wurly 200. Different beast altogether. Super touchy electronics and quite frankly, a ridiculously overcomplicated action. The sound is cool, but not something I want to sit in front of all day, so it probably won't stick around. We've got another on at the studio anyways.

Organs are cool, but that's my studio partners wheelhouse. He's got a B3 (technically a loan/storage deal), a Porta-B, a few incarnations of the old electronic ones - 2 or 3 farfisas and a vox, as well as an old pump organ.

I would LOVE to own a Clavinet at some point, but they fetch so much $$!

[Rezisehtnys]

Sadly I have to rely on samples, if I had the money and space I'd have physical versions of each keyed instrument ever made. At one point I had an acoustic piano and a small dual tier organ, but moved into a smaller place and they had to go. One of of these days...

[KevBKeys]

I have a Hammond SK-1 organ which is compact, light and sounds pretty awesome to me. It has some piano and other sounds too. I play the electric grand and Rhodes sounds quite a lot. The piano and mellow wurly sounds are good too.

The SK-1 Rhodes is quite close in tone to my real Rhodes which is a late seventies Mark 1 (1977 I think). Some work has been done on my Rhodes and it sounds really nice. Needs a bit more work on the action so it feels a bit nicer to play too.

I have a friend who has a lovely Wurly EP200 and it's definitely a nice instrument to play, but I'm not so sure I need that sound for my music, so i've never been tempted to buy one.

I don't have a Clavinet, but I do have a couple of Hohner Pianets. The Pianet N has an wonderful organic sound. I like using it straight, maybe with just the built-in Vibrato and some reverb. The Pianet T is great for putting through external effects, especially distortion, phasers, delay etc. It has rounded keys so is great for slides and general mucking around/crazyness.

I'd like a CP-70 but don't think I'll ever have room.

[Tchammosaur]

I discovered the sound of a Rhodes pretty late, but I fell in love with it immediately. When I started playing with bands, the Rhodes sounds on my Clavia Nord Electro were the sounds I used the most.

[Aaron2]

I own two organs, a Hammond M-series (maybe an M102, not sure) and a Wurlitzer 805 Centura Professional with the Orbit III monosynth. I was first drawn to keyboard instruments (after playing guitar for many years) because I wanted to learn to play the organ. That fascination eventually morphed into my love of synthesizers. Nowadays, the organs are mostly decorative, but I still play them occasionally. If they weren't so expensive and unreliable, I'd also love to have a Vox Continental. That, and a Rhodes Piano Bass on top, like Ray Manzarek.

Frankly, I don't like the Rhodes piano sound. Perhaps because it was so overdone on the DX7 during the '80s. But for some odd reason, I've always wanted to own a Rhodes Fifty-Four. They're so compact and cool-looking! Not to mention fairly rare. I know I'd hardly ever play the damn thing, but I'I wouldn't mind adding one to my collection.

[rschnier]

I have a 1980 Rhodes Mk II and a Wurly 200 and love the sound of both. For me, using samples of either would be way too sterile -- the actual instruments have a "liveness" and randomness that completely disappears when using samples.

I love the sound of a Hammond B3 but don't own one. The only synth/sample version of that that I would consider using is the Hammond B3 module, but I suspect even that would be lacking the realness and other quirks of the actual magnetic tonewheels in the real thing.

[commodorejohn]

Frankly, I don't like the Rhodes piano sound. Perhaps because it was so overdone on the DX7 during the '80s. But for some odd reason, I've always wanted to own a Rhodes Fifty-Four. They're so compact and cool-looking! Not to mention fairly rare. I know I'd hardly ever play the damn thing, but I'I wouldn't mind adding one to my collection.

There's a world of difference between the "DX7 piano" sound and the sound of a real tine piano, though. I actually like the DX7 E.PIANO 1/FullTines sound on its own merits (over-used as it is,) but it's nothing like the real deal.

[KevBKeys]

Frankly, I don't like the Rhodes piano sound. Perhaps because it was so overdone on the DX7 during the '80s. But for some odd reason, I've always wanted to own a Rhodes Fifty-Four. They're so compact and cool-looking! Not to mention fairly rare. I know I'd hardly ever play the damn thing, but I'I wouldn't mind adding one to my collection.

There's a world of difference between the "DX7 piano" sound and the sound of a real tine piano, though. I actually like the DX7 E.PIANO 1/FullTines sound on its own merits (over-used as it is,) but it's nothing like the real deal.

I like the DX7 E Piano sound too (although I don't always like how it was used). When I first had a DX7, I think it was pretty much permanently set to the E Piano 1 patch. It's an expressive sound, with dynamics that are much more controllable than the average Rhodes. I found it good for writing. Thinking back, both the Rhodes and DX7 E Piano may have been a gateway to synthesis and a far greater palette of sounds.

[Black Tomorrow]

I have a Hammond M-143 in need of repair, as well as an old reed organ. Everything else, I'd have to use samples. I'm not a big fan of the Rhodes (or the DX imitation of it), but I'd take a wurly, CP-70 or Clavinet in a heartbeat if someone offered.