Rhodes for Psr Sx900

[bhergar56]

Hello everyone,

Probably this is a repeated question, sorry if it is. I need the Rhodes Affair sound (voice) in the Psr sx900, please your opinion, witch of the preset installed voice is the most similar or equal to? or do I have to download/find this voice from any other library? My other question is, why the yamaha music voice library don't use the term "Rhodes"? Most people recognize the "Rhodes" term with a type of sound. My apologies if this is a question with out any sense, but don't know the answers. Thanks.

Best regards to all

Bernardo

[mikf]

 Bernardo

My understanding is that Rhodes Affair is a commercial name for a set of virtual Rhodes sounds which work from the computer. You can't load them into the SX. I guess you could buy that package and load it in your computer then play it from your keyboard.
Are you looking for a Rhodes voice you can load into the SX, or just which existing SX voice sounds closest. I don't have an SX, but in my opinion some of the electric piano sounds on the Yamahas are quite Rhodes like. If you have a SX900 why don't you just listen to the demo sounds and see which one sounds closest to you. Why ask for other peoples opinion, surely your own ears can tell you just as well as theirs, and at the end of the day it's you who have to decide whether you like it or not.

Mike

[mikf]

Another thought on the Rhodes sounds. Those of us who played gigs back then know that the Rhodes weighed a ton, and cost a LOT. And it was in some ways a failed attempt to make something that felt and sounded like a piano. In fact I think its early success was for playing bass. It was a bit of luck really that it turned out that people really liked the bell like 'piano' sound, even though it was nothing like a piano.  Then when Yamaha brought out the DX7, it was a game changer. It was cheaper, lighter, and had pre sets that reproduced many, many sounds, including the Rhodes. So you didn't need to be a guru to have a lot of sounds at your fingertips, like a Moog. And many people thought the Rhodes pre set on the DX7 was every bit as good as the actual Rhodes! The Rhodes almost disappeared overnight and the Yamaha DX7 not only took over the market, but radically expanded it because it was so affordable and versatile. 
Yamaha have a very lengthy history of reproducing the Rhodes sound.
Mike

[bhergar56]

Thanks Mike, I'll keep your thoughts in mind, and continue investigating and trying to compare and select the best sound (voice) that I need/matches with the ones in the Psr sx900. I still don't know why yamaha doesn't use, in the voice name: the term  "Rhodes" this is  ac common term  in other equipments  , any ideas? Thanks for your feedback.

Best regards

[mikf]

No idea. Maybe they think it is unnecessary, maybe there is a royalty payment involved, maybe there is some history between the brands??
Mike

[bhergar56]

Yes... thanks Mike. 

[andyg]

You would be amazed (or maybe not!) just how protective some companies are about their names and logos. So most avoid using each other's trademarks - unless money has changed hands!

[EileenL]

Have you tried the Yamaha Vintage Piano pack which has DX7 voices in it.

[andyg]

But the DX7's electric pianos aren't the same as the Rhodes, Eileen! Too metallic and they don't 'bark' when you hit the keys hard.

Best solution I came across (but very tricky in a live situation) was a virtual Rhodes instrument on a computer. One of the sounds in Scarbee Vintage Keys IIRC. Probably used as much memory for that one Rhodes sound as I had for all the voices in that keyboard!

[overover]

@bhergar56
Hi Bernardo,

Fender Rhodes sounds often have the term "Suitcase" in their voice names in Yamaha jargon. (They don't use the brand Fender and the instrument name "Rhodes" because of copyright laws.)

Have you already tried all "Suitcase" preset voices in the Panel voice folder "Piano & E.Piano" and also in the "Legacy" voice folder (subfolder "E. Piano")?

To select the Legacy voice folder touch the "UP" arrow symbol when you are in the Voice Selection display (Preset tab) and go to Page 2. There you should see the Legacy folder.

You could also try out the E. Pianos of the GM&XG voices. Note: The GM&XG voice folder cannot be called up directly on SX models, but you can download this folder here (provided by Eileen):
>>> https://www.psrtutorial.com/forum/index.php/topic,56679.msg441186.html#msg441186

Copy the unzipped folder onto a USB stick and select the voices using the Voice Selection display (User tab > USB1).


P.S.
Adjusting of voices (and/or the effect/EQ settings used) to your personal taste can be done relatively easily (simply "by ear"). You can use the Mixer display, the Voice Part Setup display and/or the Voice Setting display for this. If you have any questions, just get in touch here again.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Chris

[bhergar56]

Thanks a lot Chris, as always your answers very clear and accurate. Sorry not to respond before, I was having an issue with my eyes.

Please let me tell why I'm looking for this specific piano sound (voice). Here in Latin America there is a very popular Mexican singer known as Luis Miguel, perhaps he is also listened  in some places of Europe. Ballads and boleros is the type of music he sings. The pianist (Salo Loyo) or keyboard player of his orchestra, a very talented musician, uses I think Rhodes Affair 1 or 2 mixed with Ballad EP that comes in NORD equipment, but I can see in his presentations he plays a Yamaha keyboard.

As I told, what I need is to get the best approach of the PSR SX900 and try to mix or obtain this particular piano sound with the voices pre installed in the yamaha in order to get Luis Miguel songs sound the best I can, and without the need to buy aditional sofftware, voice libraries or conect iPads or pc or macs to the keyboard.

I'm putting your recomendation, in practice and trying to get the sound looking in the library of the sx900, not easy. To give a better idea of Luis Miguel songs,  and more or less the piano arraignments and sound, I'll share two llinks of intros made by youtubers, the original songs of course have a better and richer piano sound.


Thanks to all for your valuable recomendatios.

Best regards

Bernardo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_xa3xfyL738
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__pIZEpI3mM

[mikf]

Bernardo
As I said before, there is no such thing as a Rhodes Affair instrument or voice. Its just a name for a collection of piano sounds marketed by a company. Some of the voices are probably emulating the original Fender Rhodes, some are probably not. It s not a collection that is available for the arranger, but then there is already a very good collection available on the Yamahas and they can be tailored.
I am sure the Rhodes affair collection is very good, I have read some positive reviews, and what you like comes down often to personal taste. And if you want to copy the exact sound this particular player uses, you would probably have to purchase the VST version and link the computer to your keyboard to access them. That is probably what the guy you are referring to does. There are many people on this forum who use VST voices that can advise how to do this.
But I know this without ever hearing or trying them, the difference will be small because the sounds on the Yamaha - and most other top of the line brands - are already very good.
A great player using any decent voice will always sound great, and a mediocre player on the greatest voice or instrument will still be a mediocre player.
Mike

[bhergar56]

Yes you're right Mike, I'm trying to work on the ones pre installed, an also looking at the yamaha home page for the vintage piano voices and construct from there. I also took the opportunity to ear the Rhodes Affair marketed and yes is very good, but not for my budget and needs.

Thanks again for your feedback and support. I'll keep looking and working on it.

Best regards and take care.

Bernardo.

[Jeff_M]

I find the "Suitcase" setting on the Legacy voices for electric piano to be very Rhodes-like.  Give it a try.

[panos]

Hi Bernado,
Just wanted to say a couple of things if I could help although not a sound expert or something, neither I have ever tried to replicate the exact sound of something.

If you want a specific sound that you have n your mind, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to use just one preset voice.
Especially on your SX900 you have 3 voices to combine.
That means you could choose a basic voice that sounds similar to what you want to achieve and afterwards you can add a second and a third voice in a much lower volume so to make your first voice sound brighter or more "bassy"(E.g the 2nd or the 3rd voice could be one octave down) and change the overall sound.

You can also set the voices that way that the first one will sound in the center, the other a little bit to the right etc.

Don't forget also to experiment with the tons of effects that there are inside the Mixer and the voice edit.

Also, you can use the Harmony with the Octave and set it on a much lower volume so the keyboard will automatically add the same notes that you are playing but in one octave lower

Another option is to set the release effect(something similar to the sustain button) for each voice individually in order to control the fade out of each voice.
The sustain button has a preset and long fade out.
That's why I propose the release effect.
As I can see, the keyboard player controls the fade out with his pedal.
But many of us don't use pedals on the keyboard,so.... 

Anyway this is pretty much the way that I edit the preset voices.
My goal is not to replicate a sound, but to archive something that sounds nice with a song, a style and the next set of voices I will use.
Maybe some ideas could be helpful to you in general

Chris is right about this kind of "Rhodes" sounds are inside the Electric Piano folders because we all recognize them in general as electric piano sounds.

To me, although "Rhodes" reminds me of an island, ()
this type of electric pianos voices, sound like a mixture between different kinds of piano sounds combined with different kinds of vibraphone sounds in order to give that "metallic" sound.

[bhergar56]

Jejeje thank you Panos, yes I understand about the island, (Rhodes) nice point. I'll keep in mind all your valuable recommendations, and start mixing voices and take approach of the good option settings that this new keyboard has. There are so many parameters involved and that can be use, that you have entertainment for a while, good point. Thanks a lot to to all of you folks for your ideas and nice thoughts, very kind.

Best regards

Bernardo.

[EL1TE23]

Hi Bernando, I also listen to Luis Miguel music, and enjoy the "Rhodes Affair" sound that is used in his music, as well as other musicians (e.g. Whitney Houston).

In saying that, I have also tried to recreate the sound that is used in Luis Miguel's music on my Yamaha PSR SX900 by mixing three sounds. They are the Modern EP (Found in the Legacy section in the E.Piano category), Super DX (Found in the Legacy section in the E.Piano category) and then lastly I either use DX Sweet (Found in the normal Piano category) or TX warm (also found in the normal Piano category), depending on how I want the sound to be like.

Also, I have found that Yamaha keyboards such as the Yamaha ModX6/X7/X8 have the "Rhodes Affair" sound already installed in them. That way you won't have to buy it from AudioLounge.com and have to connect it to a computer/laptop to have the sound.

Hope this helps you.

Regards,
Ian

[bhergar56]

Thanks Ian, very good appreciation, I have tested the combination of voices you tells us and I have to say that they work and sound very very well, almost as the rhodes affair package. I have being testing with one and another of these voices, adjusting parameters etc. and the the results are very satisfactory and we can get a very nice voice combination. I am recording those adjustments with Registrations (think is one way to do it) in order to have them for later use. Thanks all for your thoughts.

Best regards

Bernardo.