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I don't use my CP5 very much since there's almost no work. I picked up a job for Saturday so I've been re exploring its sounds.

The Wurlitzer piano sounds really suck. I'm not thrilled about the Rhodes but with two layers it's serviceable.

I will be trading this in on the next generation. Who knows I might even consider something else than Yamaha.

Just ranting.

Dave, I believe there was a firmware update that addressed the lack of timbre variation in the Wurly. I don't know whether that would be sufficient to make it suck less...

Perhaps the SV1 (or next generation SV2)?

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Yea, I did the update, didn't notice any difference though to honest I wasn't looking into the Wurly sound, just updating the slab.

Dave,
Ditto to what box voxpops said. When I owned my CP50 I updated the firmware and the Wurly sounds got a lot better. I think it may be the same basic Wurly from the Motif, and I've used that on a couple of records and thought it sounded pretty realistic in the mix. I preffered both the Rhodes and Wurly sounds in the CP to the ones in the RD700NX that I now have, by the way. And the CP5 sounds better than the CP50 IMO.

Wes

I just looked up how to tell what version the OS is (press and hold USER and EXT while powering up) and I have 1.20. That's the latest - and the Wurly still sucks.

The Korg SV1 looks interesting and I've seen other videos about it. I would really want all the acoustic pianos first with the rest as icing. The SV1 is just vintage electric pianos, not acoustic.

No, it has two acoustics - Japanese and European. The basic tone of these is quite nice, IMO, but the originals were noted for having short decays and obvious loops. The Soundpack 2 addresses this to a certain extent, I believe. Be aware that there is no layer blending on either EPs or APs in the SV1.

I keep getting tempted to dive into the SV, but am resisting, for now.

BTW, the Kawai MP6 is a nice little all-rounder...

After I posted a did a little more research and learned that.

I'll have to give it a test run though to be honest I've never been thrilled with Korg.

There is a post by Yuri Pavlov with a reference to a test where we can hear the same piece rendered by different acoustic digital pianos (hardware and software). The SV1 does not come out badly.

Rhodes are working awesome for me.

The Wurly works good for me too, especially this patch I made.
The first half is dry, second half has Chorus.

I will put up a Rhodes sample next...

http://soundcloud.com/adamecomp/rollin-on-through

Rhodes and Dyno Rhodes. 1 layer each. (Sloppy playing today, but the idea is there)

I like them better than most keyboards, that is for sure...

http://soundcloud.com/adamecomp/rhody

Dave, I feel your pain. That's why I finally gave up, got a Muse and put software in it. It can be a hassle getting software installed, but I have been a lot happier with those sounds than any dedicated digital piano/el piano I've tried.

Mychal

Mychal, what I find surprising, the CP300 had a very nice Rhodes and Wurlitzer. I'll just wait until the next model comes out and trade up again.

A side note, there was a jazz festival this weekend in the major city next to where I live and I saw a handful of Rhodes being used in several of the outside locations. Having played and schlepped a Rhodes many years ago, I'd still take a newer stage piano with its less than desirable (in the case of the CP5) Rhodes.

I really do not understand the mentality of using a real Rhodes unless of course it is the New Rhodes with midi capability. (You still have the weight to deal with though ... and it is pricey as well.)

I thought the 300 was a better sounding instrument than the CP5. There was such a massive amount of hype with the CP5 and CP1, Yamaha created all kinds of unrealistic expectations.






Interesting. Did the festival provide those, or were the keyboard players bringing their own Rhodes to the gig?

Is this the site for a new Rhodes el piano?

http://www.rhodespiano.com/rhodes_products.htm

I haven't tried any of the new ones. How did they sound at the festival? Were they suitcase models, with the keyboards sitting on the speaker cabinet, or stage models?

Mychal

The Rhodes I saw were all privately owned by the guys who played them and they were all old, I saw no New Rhodes.

I played the New Rhodes years ago at the Frankfurt Messe and it was very nice ... and very expensive ... and if it were a publicly traded company I would not have invested my money.

Oh ok. That is surprising that so many keyboard players are carrying a Rhodes around - maybe because they're jazz guys, and they don't like the sound and feel of the digital keyboards trying to replicate it. I can relate to that, but like you I wouldn't want to have to move that thing around anymore. I had two different suitcase 73 Rhodes, and I loved them both. They kicked ass for playing with a band. But they're a load to move...

Mychal