I have spent countless hours under the hood with a nut driver and a phillips head screwdriver adjusting the pickup distances and tone bar positions. They stay in tune pretty well, but the tone and dynamics of each note can vary with the climate, or shift unpredictably after moving the instrument. Maintaining these instruments is not easy. I also had Mark II Stage that I sold to a friend who still has it. I currently own a Mark I Stage that I use for performances and a Mark I Suitcase model that stays in my studio. Even Rhodes of the same models have these distinctions, which come down to micro adjustments in the action and especially in the pickup distance and tone bar positions. These subtle differences are what makes the Rhodes one of the keyboard instruments I adore the most.

This set of features addresses one of the main concerns I have had switching from a real Rhodes to sampled or modeled emulation, and that’s the unique characteristics of each individual instrument. For example VTines MK1 allows for the adjustment of around 9 parameters on a per key basis! In other words you can adjust the virtual “pickup distance”, “tine height”, and more for individual notes on the instrument. Although VTines MK1 provides only one electric piano model, is it by far the most adjustable of the examples I have used.

The latest Rhodes VST that I have found interesting is VTines MK1 from Acousticsounds. No emulation has the ability to replace the Rhodes, but I’m hoping to find a satisfactory facsimile for live performances. This article is a reflection on a new-to-me VST that might just work in my weird and atypical performance and studio setups. Over the years I have used Lounge Lizard ( Electric in Ableton Live), Arturia’s Stage-73 V, and several others with limited success. Since the Rhodes (the actual 130lbs version) has been the instrument of choice for me for many years, the first thing I wanted to determine was if there was an electric piano VST that could emulate the Rhodes well enough to satisfy my ears. This is an approach that I have used in the past, and one that many professionals choose, so I have decided to explore a few modern examples of this possibility in detail. Keston with a Rhodes EP at the McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center, MinneapolisĪs I continue my search for the “perfect” stage piano (spoiler: there isn’t one) I have been asking myself if it is practical and/or desirable to use a VST instead of a dedicated hardware instrument.

Arturia rhodes plugin