EMU VINTAGE KEYS MODULE

[the velour fog]

does anyone have this or played around with it??
I'm curious as to how they sound. Especially interested in the rhodes and mellotron sounds.

[alarmo]

You mean like the VK-6, or the rackmount version, whatever it's called - Vintage Pro, I think? I've been wondering about that too....

The last thing I need is another keyboard since (1) I can't play keys any too well and (2) i have a couple sitting around already that i use for random bits..... but it sure looks interesting....

[NewAndImprov]

I played with one a long time ago, as I recall the mellotron sounded great, but the rhodes was not so great. But I'm kinda a rhodes snob, so I may be too picky. Had some nice organ patches, too, as far as I remember.

[friendlybunny]

I like it. It doesn't sound completely "real," but there are a lot of great sounds on it. Check out the band Spoon, and the album "kill the moonlight," the vintage keys is all over that album.

[TapeOpHillary]

i have one...it's pretty cool, although i was hoping for more analog-y sounds...
i only started using it at the end of my band's *career* so i haven't really played with it much but it's too cool to sell...
!
hillary

[ottokbre]

the latest issue of Future Music has a review. according to them, the Rhodes ain't so hot. lacks the "feel" of a rhodes that some other moduals have. however, they said the clavia was smokin as were other settings.

[the velour fog]

I like it. It doesn't sound completely "real," but there are a lot of great sounds on it. Check out the band Spoon, and the album "kill the moonlight," the vintage keys is all over that album.

NICE! That's a great album...I didn't know they used the vintage keys on it!!

[apropos of nothing]

Can't speak to the Vintage Keys in particular, but Emu has put out about six keyboards with all the same hardware, but different ROM sounds. I have the Ensoniq Halo model, and I have to say that I've been very happy with it.

The Emu architecture took a little head-wrap-around-ey for me, but its pretty nice once you get used to the interface. Its got awesome subtractive synthesis, and the multi-sampled waveforms are remarkably weirdness-free. You get four layers (split or stack) per patch, and patches can also be stacked. The only thing I don't like is that I'd like to be able to goof with the waveforms a little more, but that'd be getting into sampler-land. Oh, the knobs are assignable to MIDI CCs so you can get knob-wiggy into the sequencer and be assured it'll play back the same way.

I do have to reiterate that I love the analog-esque things that this architecture can do. Its not an ARP2600, but I've gotten some pretty phat philtration out of it. In addition, the drums sounds mine came with are very full-sounding, varied and current.

Another thing I like is that there're like 20 buttons on the front that you can program to bring up whatever patch. If you hit a key and then switch patches, notes sustain properly.

The analog outputs are quiet, the waveforms decay quite naturally (no aliasing distortion as it fades to 0). The thing I like most about it is how light it is. After years of Ensoniqs and Kurzweils, thing's like a like a feather.

All in all a nice package. Workstation or performance-wise they're amazing for the price.

Hmmm. I mean nothing beats a Rhodes, and barring that nothing beats Emagic EVP-73 or EVP-88 (software synthesis), but barring those options, I think the classic keys would certainly be a very decent next-best.

$.02.

(D'oh! I just realized you're talking about the module, not the keyboard. Ignore the bit about the buttons -- I think everything else applies.)

[the velour fog]

so you would choose the e-magic plug-in over Emu? I've heard lots of good things about the EVP73...does anyone know where I can find one that will work with PC?

[alarmo]

so you would choose the e-magic plug-in over Emu? I've heard lots of good things about the EVP73...does anyone know where I can find one that will work with PC?

The evp-73 that comes with the Logic Audio Big Box claims to be for Mac and PC - I've just been using logic just on mac though (and wishing they'd deliver an OS X version of the evp73!) so I can't completely vouch for the PC version. But it says it has windows and mac versions. yep.

(that makes the second time in a row i've accidentally hit "submit" instead of "preview" when posting. hrmmmm.)

[apropos of nothing]

[quote="thegunshyboy"]so you would choose the e-magic plug-in over Emu? I've heard lots of good things about the EVP73...does anyone know where I can find one that will work with PC?[/quote]

EVP just does Rhodes. One-trick pony. If you're looking for a general purpose box, the CK is the way to go.

Oh, here's a link:
http://www.emagic.de/products/si/evp73/ ... hp?lang=EN
http://www.emagic.de/products/si/evp88/ ... hp?lang=EN

I've been using it with PC Cubase.