Post Description

Adam Monroe's Mark 73 Electric Piano was sampled from a 1976 Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano. The entire keyboard was wrapped in tinfoil, which virtually eliminated EMI noise. The piano was sampled DI through a Radial Pro 48 DI box, and the signal was routed to a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, recorded relatively clean through an AEA R84 Ribbon Mic and AEA TRP Preamp.

Each note of the 73 note of the Rhodes Piano was sampled 3 times at 10 velocity layers. Releases where sampled for the DI signal as well as the amped signal, but the amp release notes sounded a bit out of place, so the decision was made to only include DI releases. The sound of the amp can be heard in the amp samples, as a Fender Reverb Deluxe is a noisy amp, even without a signal. The DI samples are relatively clean by comparison.

This particular Rhodes Piano was relatively in-tune, but some post-processing re-pitching was necessary in order to bring every note into a -2 +2 cent variance of equal temperament. The "bass boost" knob of the Rhodes Piano was set to 1 and the volume knob was set to 9. The instrument was left natural sounding, without eq tweaking, although one note was eq'd in order to make it fit with the rest.

The phase of the two signals had to be carefully adjusted by hand for each note, as the amp signal significantly lagged behind the DI signal. The settings on the amp were treble: 5 bass: 5. The amp signal has a slightly more agressive tone, well the DI signal is warmer and fuller. Samples are 16 bit, 44.1 kHz wav files.

FEATURES:

10 velocity layers, 3 note round-robin.
DI and amped samples.
73 key range from E1 to E7.
Built-in reverb and distortion.
Over 6,500 samples (including releases).

nJoy!