INSTRUMENT BACKGROUND
The Rhodes Piano was invented during WWII by an american music teacher, Harold B. Rhodes (1910 - 2000), and has been widely used for decades in nearly every genre of music ranging from soul music to jazz, blues, modern and pop. This instrument quickly became a legend, and is still used today. In 2007 it had a first rebirth thanks to an American entrepreneur who tried to restore the glory to this instrument, so the Mark 7 was born, but unfortunately his venture failed after a few years. In 2021, a group of British entrepreneurs acquired the brand and put a revamped edition of this instrument back into production, the Mark 8.
In digital territory, the sound of a Rhodes piano is an important part of every digital piano / keyboard / workstation, and is reproduced mainly using samples, and in a few cases using some kind of synthesis. The
Crumar Seven is one example of a hardware digital piano that uses real Physical Modeling to recreate the sound of a Tine Piano, i.e. it doesn't use any samples to recreate the sound, just real-time math calculations.
GSi Magic Tines uses a different approach, which consists in both sampling and modeling, whereas all attack and release transients come from recordings of real life electric pianos, and the body of each note is recreated by a special synthesizer that uses math functions to simulate the exact behavior of a steel tine being struck by a rubber hammer tip. What is excluded by the synthesis engine is compensated by the sampled material. In other words, the best of the two worlds.
Main features
- Hybrid Modeling engine (samples + synthesis)
- Full Polyphony (up to 88 keys)
- Three EP models to choose from
- Parameters for adjusting both the sampled part and the synthesis part separately
- Three band semi-parametric EQ
- Mono or Stereo tremolo with opto-coupler panner
- Amplifier simulation with 5 different models
- Tube overdrive effect
- Adjustable stereo chorus
- Phaser effect with six different models
- Stereo Delay effect
- Stereo Reverb effect
- User programmable Velocity curve
- Built-in programmer with unlimited Programs
- Embedded user's manual
- Available as Stand-alone application and audio plugin
- Very low CPU and RAM usage
- AUv3 for iPad and iPhone
- Supports Background audio and Bluetooth Midi
