Korg Forums

[jorgschwendele]

Hi, probably has been asked before, but could anybody recommend the best Fender Rhodes sound equivalent on M3? Which of the factory sounds is the closest and which effect should be used to simulate it the best?

Thanks, Jorg

[iluvchiclets]

Hi jorgschwendele,

There are quite a few Rhodes sounds on the M3...as far as which is the best one, the question must be asked, "What kind of Rhodes do you want?"

There are vintage Rhodes, trebly Rhodes, Rhodes with lots of tine sound, dirty Rhodes, etc...

The best way is to use the category search, and select the sub-search "Real Electric Pianos". Most of what you will find on the M3 are Rhodes simulations and a few Wurlitzer ones. You should be able to hear the difference.

I hope this helps!

[jorgschwendele]

I have been browsing though electric pianos and you are right, I should have been more precise. Actually what I'm looking for is the best simulation of the Rhodes Donald Fagen used with Steely Dan, songs like Babylon Sisters etc. Any ideas?

[iluvchiclets]

I assume you are familiar with the M3 Pro Vintage Keys assortment?

This is a set of electric pianos free for your M3.

Simply go to http://www.korg.com/m3

- Click on "Support and Downloads"
- Click on "Soundware"
- Scroll down to Pro Vintage Keys

There are specific instructions on how to download, and where the 32 programs will end up on your M3. These are expanded versions of the EPs already on your M3.

Of special note is the programming done by Jack Hotop. In each of the programs, the default tweakable parameters almost always include a phase shifter. Whatever model he chose, he did a fantastic job of recreating that late 70's phase vibe.

It is this phase sound that is crucial to Babylon Sisters (and pretty much everything else on the Gaucho album!) Try out some of the Pro Keys sounds and play with the Phaser knob. I think you'll be impressed...you don't have to pay too much attention to the Rhodes models themselves in this instance, as an authentic phase pedal tends to blur the rhodes, and takes away a fair bit of detail of the sound.

I haven't had my Korg fired up in a while, I will try to sit down with it and highlight any patches I think will help you. But this should be a step in the right direction.

[Synthoid]

[jorgschwendele]

thanks to both for a good advice. I'll check Vintage keys and available Phase effects. I'm still curious if I could get Steely Dan sound with one of factory sounds.

[iluvchiclets]

Just got back from playing with my M50 and the Pro Vintage Keys assortment.

Wow! What a lot of fun - I forgot how nice they sound. I just played Glamour Profession and it sounded fantastic.

The first approx. 15 patches are wonderful, and any of them with the default phase shifter added will please your ears. I think you can identify the ideal Rhodes - use any of the patches that do not include the word "Dyno" in the title.

The Pro Keys assortment uses the M3's internal waveforms. They are not samples, nor do they take up any additional resources or tax your M3 memory wise in any way. They are simply custom Rhodes programs, so don't be shy adding them to your keyboard. If you want to be able to add these effects to your favorite existing patches, I'm sure our readers can describe the steps to "copy effects". Or, open up the effects pages and see what the programmer has done.

Don't hesitate - it's free and should likely fill most of your Rhodes needs.

[jorgschwendele]

Thanks, Pro Vintage keys are amazing.

[iluvchiclets]

Can anyone confirm what control on the M3 is used to add the Phase Shifter effect?

I am using an M50, so I know what the M50's 4 knobs do with the Vintage Keys assortment (ie, reverb, delay, etc...)

Which sliders or controls on the M3 are default using the Vintage Keys program?

[iluvchiclets]

As a footnote to this posting:

I happened to be using the NORD forum today, when I noticed a topic regarding Donald Fagen's Rhodes usage. There was an excerpt from a 2006 Keyboard magazine article where Donald mentions he used two phase pedals together to create the extra depth and swirl. Very interesting!

Here is the quote from the magazine as posted on the NORD forum:


SH: So what’s the secret formula for your trademark phasey Rhodes sound?

DF: The trademark is, first you try and find those little orange boxes, I forget what they’re called, and if you can’t find the little orange boxes [MXR Phase 90s] from the late sixties, and if you can’t get them you go get the big orange boxes from a slightly later period, and—

SH: Phase shifters—

DF: –they’re just phasers, that’s all they do, and you use two of them, so they’re stereo, and you keep ‘em on a slow pace, and that’s about it.

SH: Sometimes the effect is like you’ve got them on a trigger pedal–

DF: It’s all random.

SH: That’s cool. And on some of the tunes, obviously, the Rhodes is straight.

DF: Right. I like the phasers, because they even out the signal, for some tunes, especially if you want it to sound a little more like an organ tone, or you need to sustain things a certain way, with a kind of compression, they’re useful, it makes it less boring, because you’re hearing some modulation or something. It’s a nice sound.

SH: So the stereo thing, with the two of them, that’s the secret, ‘cuz you can hear it with the headphones for sure.

DF: Yeah, they modulate with each other—

SH: They’re not exactly locked in together, so you don’t get that predictable back and forth sweep.

DF: And it’s random, so it’s not like some kind of synthesizer. On the attack sometimes you get some random nice little whops.

SH: That’s why I though there might some kind of a wa pedal—

DF: No, no, it’s more often than not you’ll get some kind of interesting thing happen on the attack.

SH: That’s really cool.

DF: You gotta kind of whop the keyboard, too.

A special thanks to our friends over in the NORD forum for posting this snippet.

[SanderXpander]

I like the way he talks, reminds me of a colleague, haha