Rhodes - why only new pianosamples and no proper Rhodes

[white elefant]

@Mr G
Excuse me but that is bulls... . Just yesterday i played a electro-chanson like gig with a lot of Kronos rhodessounds. It was wonderful. I would prefer Nord in terms of weight and interface. But the Nord rhodes is just a remarkable decline. When I played my Nord Stage before it was only half of the fun. That is not subjective you can read this comparison in many tests. Don't denigrate professionals as people who are never satisfied with that what they have.
Sorry

[Mr_-G-]

I read my post again and can't say I found any "bulls"/untrue facts or denigration in there.
But glad to hear that you found that the Kronos has a Rhodes sound you like.

[bassoon36]

there is a lot of variation from one rhodes to another... I suppose maybe it was the choice of which one to sample. If you really want to give a real rhodes sound, you would have to randomize those aspects of the rhodes that has variation and have a different sound (derived from the original sampled instrument) for each serial number.

It wouldn't be a rhodes, it would be YOUR rhodes.

This won't happen but I honestly think the Electro does a great job at giving me the rhodes sounds I need. We are all just stuck with rhodes models with identical "personalities."

[emartin149]

> so, I don't understand why people continue to complain about the Rhodes on Nord....<

Becasue there are too many to choose from. One Wurlitzer (basically) and one Clavinet - everyone's happy. Or at least they don't complain as much. Seven Rhodes, all with hinky-dinky differences that are not easy to hear on the website, so you download them all and try to figure out which is best...then you end up keeping four or so because they don't take up much room...then it's time to pick one and it's "damn, why isn't there a super-sample that is universally known as the Nord Rhodes go-to?"

Cast your vote: http://www.norduserforum.com/general-no ... 10950.html

[adoors]

I received the following feedback from Nord, which I really appreciate:

"Thanks for getting in touch, and for your pointer to the forum thread! I can’t provide a very detailed answer, which would address the points in the forum thread, but we do listen to, and appreciate the feedback. In short: There are certainly no plans to stop adding to the electro-mechanical side of the Nord Piano Library, although there are no specifics to be given as to what/when (as you may understand).

We aim to provide a large variety of sounds, hence the substantial amount of additions in the acoustic categories, and the new Synth Piano category. Again, that does not mean we won’t revisit the EP sounds."

Not all hope is gone. Thanks, Nord!

[emartin149]

<although there are no specifics to be given as to what/when (as you may understand)>

Well, I don't understand so quickly. Possible reasons for this lack of specifics:

1) The Nord rep who is saddled with browsing these forums is just a front-office sales flack whose job is to mollify excessively picky customers. After a year the job passes on to the next new hire.

2) Nord sampling/modeling is sooper sekret, no gurlz allowed ever since Yamaha planted a spy in their labs that cost them 8 points of market share back during the Synth Wars.

3) There are no specifics because Nord only decides on new samples after an extensive drinking game - winner gets to pick - and Dolph keeps winning and he has a grand piano fetish.

4) "the new Synth Piano category" pretty much answers your question. No one in Sweden remembers the 1970s anymore, but Miami Vice reruns are HOT.

miami-vice_thumbsup.jpg (45.33 KiB) Viewed 2076 times

[adoors]

Although I realize your sarcasm, I find the his answer understandable and reasonable. Why should he reveal Nord's plans and commit to a schedule? This would be a competitive disadvantage. Plus, whoever worked in an innovative company knows how difficult it is to predict when marketing and engineering ultimately settled on the release. Most importantly, it is not selected from a set of standard texts but written by a human who read and understood my question.

I think though, Nord gets something wrong here. Get the basics down first and then take care of add ons. They should strive to get the best quality for the sounds that are used most often: Piano (check), Organ (check), Synth (check), E-Piano (to-do), then add others. So, before adding ancient Maya instruments to their library Nord should revisit the EPs and provide a set of rich and complex HQ sounds.

Again, thanks for listening, Nord!

[jazzystu]

Sometimes it reads like these forums are populated by Nord Staff and Nord Shareholders!

Getting a straight up suitcase piano, setting it up properly and sampling it properly is not rocket science. If you plug headphones into a suitcase, they all pretty much sound the same. It just seems that Nord have got very close to doing it with Ep1 and Ep7. The rest of them are just sh1t. I don't want a 1951 sparkletop prototype, or a dyno-my-piano percussion kit chorus model, I just want a straight up Rhodes. Ep1 is missing the top end and Ep7 is missing something else. Not sure what. How about, before embarking on a metal-tipped Mk5 special black edition, we get the basics sorted out?

In the meantime, we have perfect renditions of every acoustic piano known to man. You want the Model D Steinway Liberace edition? Here it is.

Just....you know what. I'll buy another one. I'd be prepared to pay for a decent job, it just seems that not only do Nord not do a good job, they don't give us the option to pay for it either.

I HATED dragging my suitcase 88 around. It was a real ball-ache. All I want is something to give me the bread and butter and not weigh much. This is 2016, not 1966. It is possible, they just need to pull their finger out.

OY NORD, GET A BLOODY GRIP!!!!!

[emartin149]

I still think that the principal reason you aren't seeing a lot of effort spent on this anymore is because the 70s are out, and the classic Rhodes is just not a popular sound right now.

Look what they are doing now - "synth pianos" - it's telling. The Mark V, our poll current leader, is an 80s keyboard too...

[Quai34]

I've never played any real Rhodes, whatever Mark 1 or Mark 10 it is but I'm very happy with all the E. Piano we have. If I cannot find an E. Piano that matches the sound I want I look at the huge collection of 2 layers E. Piano programs posted on this forum (I download them all in my stage 2) and it's very rare that I cannot find one that matches. And lastly, I could still build one on myself with the slot A and B...If you really don't like their samples, buy another keyboard....but stop putting s*** on one of the few companies that gives you free access to an ecstatic number of sounds, E. Piano included....I still cannot understand why the largest amount of responses on a topic (5 pages on this one) is always the one that complain about sound and especially Rhodes.....Play music, post programs, help others with their little issues, even post scores but please, stop "spitting into the soup"....