ElectriKeys
is an Electric Piano emulation based on vintage Fender Rhodes MK1™,
Hohner Clavinet D6™, Wurlitzer™ and Yamaha™
CP-70 e-pianos. Available
for Windows and Linux
based VST/FST hosts.
Features
Sound
is generated
via a hybrid method that combines synthesis and sampling techniques,
to create the most realistic sounds of these vintage electric pianos.
EP
Selector. One instrument offering the sound of four legendary e-pianos:
Fender Rhodes™
Electric Piano
(Stage Piano Mark I)
Hohner Clavinet
D6™
Wurlitzer™
Electric Piano
Yamaha™
CP-70
Electric Grand Piano (Brilliance: Mellow, Normal and Bright)
Tremolo
Section: Recreates the classic
effect (which was called vibrato on the
real
Rhodes™
front panel). Contains a LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator)
with modulation depth, frequency
and offset. The panning slider controls the output effect distribution between
left and right speaker and to help create a broad spectrum of stereo tremolo
effects.
5-Band
Parametric Equalizer: EQ composed of five parametric
filters with Frequency, Bandwidth and Gain knobs. Equalization allows you to lower or raise the volume of specific frequency
ranges for bass and treble manipulation. Also contains global gain wheel to
adjust the overall volume (Turn the wheel to right to boost a band, or to
left to decrease its level).
Decay
& Release Time:
Decay sets the
note decay while the key is pressed. Release
sets the release (fade out) time after the key is released, offering unique
tone to each player.
32
presets for Tremolo effects and Parametric EQ ready to play. Creating new sounds is as simple as combining these
presets in different ways and tweaking any associated parameters from there as desired.
"
E L E C T R I K E Y S " is based on 4 Vintage Electric Pianos
1)
Fender
Rhodes Mark I™ (1969-1975) The Fender Rhodes product line evolved quickly as the 1970's began. The
73-key Electric Piano was renamed the Fender Rhodes Suitcase Piano in
1969, featuring a black harp cover and a stereo 80W amp, and by 1970 the Fender
Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano was available. The Stage Piano was the piano top
from the Suitcase model, modified for use with an external guitar or bass
amplifier. The Stage model featured detachable legs (parts from a Fender pedal
steel guitar), a sustain pedal and pushrod (part of a Rogers hi-hat stand), and
a simplified front panel with only volume and bass EQ controls. Internally, the
Stage Piano was nearly identical to the Suitcase
model. Over the last few decades, the electric piano has played a
central role in music of all types, from jazz/fusion and funk, to rock
and dance. The Rhodes was used much in jazz-fusion throughout the
1970s. Chick Corea's album Light as a Feather and Miles Davis's In a
Silent Way featured the Rhodes throughout the whole album. Joe Zawinul
of Weather Report, Jan Hammer of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Herbie
Hancock also used the Rhodes.
Classic
Rhodes™
Effects The piano's
clean tone is what you hear on many essential Fender Rhodes recordings,
but definitely not all of them. The Rhodes sounds even better with the
right amp and effects. The Suitcase Vibrato was the original
Rhodes effect, built into all versions of the Suitcase piano (as well as
Stage models with the Super Satellite & Janus I
systems). The idea behind the Vibrato was to simulate a rotating
speaker, although the actual sound was quite different. The first
version of the Vibrato was in mono, a tremolo effect that varied the
amplitude of the piano's output in a square-wave pattern. When the
Suitcase amps went stereo in 1969, this pattern was translated into a
panning effect. Front-panel controls were provided for Speed and
Intensity.
Musician
and inventor, Ernst Zacharias, designed the first of these, the
Cembalet, in the 1950’s. This was intended to be a portable,
amplifiable version of the Cembalo, or Harpsichord. This worked by
plucking the end of a flat reed with the key, which was then picked up
and amplified in much the same way as an electric guitar. A little
later came the Pianet. Both the "CH" and "N" models once again used
flat reeds, but employed a very different plucking/striking action.
When a key was depressed it engaged a "sticky pad" with foam backing
which actually stuck to the reed. When the key was released, the pad
came unstuck causing the reed to vibrate which was then amplified. The
Pianet model "T" came much later and utilized the suction of a soft
rubber pad onto the reed. This was somewhat superior to the "N" and
"CH" models, but still had several drawbacks. Although made very
popular by bands such as the Zombies and Small Faces, there
wasn’t much dynamism available from the keyboard. As all the
reeds were damped upon release, this negated the possibility of
obtaining sustain via a foot pedal.
The D6 was later superseded by the model E6 and the Clavinet/Pianet
Duo. These were basically the same, but more roadworthy and better
protected against proximity hums and generally quieter than previous
models. However, these models came just a bit too late on the scene in
the age of electronics to be as successful as they deserved to be.
3)
Wurlitzer™
Electric Piano
Inventor
Benjamin Miessner had designed an amplified conventional upright piano
in the 1930s, and Wurlitzer used his electrostatic pickup design, but
replaced the strings with struck steel reeds. The instrument entered
production in 1955 as the EP-112 and continued to be produced in
various forms until about 1982 when production of the EP-200A ceased.
The Wurlitzer piano is usually a 64-note instrument whose keyboard
range is from A an octave above the lowest note of a standard 88-note
piano to the C an octave below the top note of an 88-note piano. Tone
production in all models comprises a single steel reed for each key,
activated by a miniature version of a conventional grand piano action
and forming part of an electrostatic pickup system using a DC voltage
of 170v. A mechanical sustain pedal similar to that of a conventional
piano is fitted
Compared with its erstwhile rival, the (Fender) Rhodes electric piano,
the Wurlitzer has a brighter, more hollow sound. When played gently the
sound can be quite sweet and vibraphone-like, becoming more aggressive
with harder playing. In a pop or rock band setting with guitar(s), bass
and drums the Wurlitzer has a distinctive and clear sound where a
Rhodes would tend to blend in. However it has also been used
successfully in MOR ballads and even country music.
4) Yamaha
CP70™ Electric Grand
The
quest for a portable piano has been around since the invention of the
Fender Rhodes and the Wurlitzer. Of course, neither of these actually
sound like pianos... they have a pleasant sound that is 'piano-like'
but in no way are they a substitute for the real thing.
Several companies tried all sorts of things (including some fairly
horrible electronic things) but it wasn't until Yamaha released their
CP70 'Electric Grand Piano' in the mid-'70s that I had something
approaching a 'real' piano that could be toured around and amplified
easily without any difficult mic techniques.
There were three models in the product's lifetime... the original CP70
(73-note keyboard) which was superceded by the CP70B (with balanced
outputs) and the CP80 (a full 88-note keyboard version).
The
Rhodes name and logo are trademarks of Joseph A.
Brandstetter.
The Fender name and logo are trademarks of Fender Musical
Instruments.
Clavinet is a registered trademark of Hohner International.
Wurlitzer is a registered trademark of the Baldwin Piano Co.
Yamaha is a registered trademark of Yamaha Corporation.
These trademarks are not
affiliated or associated with Syntheway and are mentioned only to describe the
types of sounds reproduced by ElectriKeys Electric Piano.
:: MIDI Implementation Chart for
ElectriKeys Electric Piano :
:=
FULL
MIDI Automation =: Complete
MIDI Continuous Controller
(Control of all
parameters for use with external hardware control). The following MIDI
CC messages are recognized and affect the described parameters:
Processor:
Pentium®, Celeron® or equivalent - 500 MHz or more
(recommended).
RAM:
64
MB of memory minimum (128 MB or higher recommended)
VST
plug-ins can be "plugged in" to any host application that supports
them allowing the same VST plug-in to be used with many different audio
programs. In example host applications VST
2.0, 2.3 like: FL Studio 9.xx, Steinberg
Cubase 5.xx - 4.xx,
Synapse Audio Orion 7.xx, Sony Acid Pro 7.xx
- 6.xx, MakeMusic Finale 2010
v.15 - 2009 v.14, Mackie
Tracktion 3.xx, Cockos Reaper 3.xx,
Audio
Mulch 2.xx, Steinberg Nuendo 4.xx - 3.xx, Magix Samplitude 11.xx - 10.xx,
Cakewalk SONAR 8 (Producer Edition and Studio Edition), SONAR Home
Studio 7, Magix
Music Maker 15.xx, M-Audio Ableton
Live 8.xx, 7.xx, M-Audio Evolution Sound Studio
II Standard & Pro 2.xx, PowerTracks Pro Audio, Making
Waves Studio 5.xx, n-Track Studio 6
and more
...
Graphics
(minimum): 16-bit 800x600
ToneWise's
DirectiXer 2 VST adapter for DirectX host applications. The program wraps
VST plugins so that they can be used in DirectX host applications, such as
Cakewalk SONAR, Sonic Foundry Vegas, Syntrillium CoolEdit and many others.
DirectiXer fully supports VST 2.0 instruments, exposing them as DXi instruments,
and parameter automation recording and playback (host support is required).
Via
FXpansion's VST-to-RTAS
Adapter: Converts VST plug-ins to Digidesign RTAS format for use in Pro
Tools HD, LE, and M-Powered.
Via
FXpansion's VST to AudioUnit
Adapter for Mac OS X: Converts VST plug-ins to Apple Audio Units for use in
AU-compatible applications including Logic Pro, Garage Band and Digital
Performer.
Other
Components: PC configured according to the specifications of the host
application
An ASIO® soundcard is recommended for
low latency real-time play.
Please
test extensively the demo version of your selected product (s) in your
host to
make sure there are no misbehaviors before purchasing.
Installing and Uninstalling VST Plug-in
To install VST plug-in,
follow these steps:
The
files must be in a directory where the VST host is looking for VST
plug-ins.
Unzip and extract
*.rar file
RAR file contains
*.dat & *.dll files.
Put both files into VST Plug-ins Folder
of your host application.
Note: RAR
file extension: The files are compressed
with WinRar for minimum file size. RAR is a format like ZIP. It is a compressed
archive. You must to extract the RAR contents using WinRAR: It's free from www.rarlab.com/download.htm.
Like unzipping a *.zip file, extract "*.rar" into VST Plug-ins Folder.
(RAR Contains "*.dat" & "*.dll" files). Right click on
*.rar, select 'extract Files' from the menu.
To uninstall simply
remove the *.dat & *.dll
files of your VST
Plug-ins folder.
Version
History
v1.0: Initial version.
Plug-in Credits
Design, optimization, DSP and GUI
by Daniel Alberto Laiseca
Evaluation & Registration
The code for the licensed and evaluation versions of this software are
identical. The Demo Version
is full functional. You can do anything you can do with the full
version, you can even save your presets. Also in the demo are some
presets included to demonstrate the instruments
capabilities. The only restriction:
The
Demo generates a short beep in all output channels every 10 seconds.
THE REGISTERED VERSION DOES NOT HAVE THIS INTERMITTING NOISE.
The
program is a SHAREWARE. You are hereby licensed to use this software
for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 30 days. If you
use this software after the 30 day evaluation period a registration fee
is required.
The
full version is available to purchase, as downloadable software, the price is US$35,
and you can download the full version as soon as your payment is received
(normally the same day)
Paypal
(www.paypal.com), the Internet's leading payment network
PayPal
allows anyone to send and receive money instantly through a
secure method of online payment.
VST
is a trademark of Steinberg Soft- und Hardware GmbH
The
Rhodes name and logo are trademarks of Joseph A.
Brandstetter.
The Fender name and logo are trademarks of Fender Musical
Instruments.
Clavinet is a registered trademark of Hohner International.
Wurlitzer is a registered trademark of the Baldwin Piano Co.
Yamaha is a registered trademark of Yamaha Corporation.
These trademarks are not
affiliated or associated with Syntheway and are mentioned only to describe the
types of sounds reproduced by ElectriKeys Electric Piano.
es product line evolved quickly as the 1970's began. The
73-key Electric Piano was renamed the Fender Rhodes Suitcase Piano in
1969, featuring a black harp cover and a stereo 80W amp, and by 1970 the Fender
Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano was available. The Stage Piano was the piano top
from the Suitcase model, modified for use with an external guitar or bass
amplifier. The Stage model featured detachable legs (parts from a Fender pedal
steel guitar), a sustain pedal and pushrod (part of a Rogers hi-hat stand), and
a simplified front panel with only volume and bass EQ controls. Internally, the
Stage Piano was nearly identical to the Suitcase
model. Over the last few decades, the electric piano has played a
central role in music of all types, from jazz/fusion and funk, to rock
and dance. The Rhodes was used much in jazz-fusion throughout the
1970s. Chick Corea's album Light as a Feather and Miles Davis's In a
Silent Way featured the Rhodes throughout the whole album. Joe Zawinul
of Weather Report, Jan Hammer of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Herbie
Hancock also used the Rhodes. 
Musician
and inventor, Ernst Zacharias, designed the first of these, the
Cembalet, in the 1950’s. This was intended to be a portable,
amplifiable version of the Cembalo, or Harpsichord. This worked by
plucking the end of a flat reed with the key, which was then picked up
and amplified in much the same way as an electric guitar. A little
later came the Pianet. Both the "CH" and "N" models once again used
flat reeds, but employed a very different plucking/striking action.
When a key was depressed it engaged a "sticky pad" with foam backing
which actually stuck to the reed. When the key was released, the pad
came unstuck causing the reed to vibrate which was then amplified. The
Pianet model "T" came much later and utilized the suction of a soft
rubber pad onto the reed. This was somewhat superior to the "N" and
"CH" models, but still had several drawbacks. Although made very
popular by bands such as the Zombies and Small Faces, there
wasn’t much dynamism available from the keyboard. As all the
reeds were damped upon release, this negated the possibility of
obtaining sustain via a foot pedal.
