NOW AVAILABLE!
THE FAMOUS ELECTRIC PIANO
The Famous E Electric Piano is the only virtual electric piano in the world that was sampled from the one and only E Rhodes; the electric piano that Harold Rhodes proclaimed "the best Rhodes I have ever heard". The E Rhodes is the legendary instrument that was used on over 200 recordings in the 80s and its 'voice' has captured the hearts of countless devotees around the globe. It is considered to be the Holy Grail of electric pianos. The E Rhodes has been the treasured possession of George Mamalakis of Santa Barbara, CA, since he acquired it from Andy Leeds of Leeds Rentals of North Hollywood in 1985.
After over four years of meticulous attention to every detail, the E Rhodes has been sampled to perfection in the form of The Famous E Electric Piano, making it possible for musicians everywhere to enjoy its magic. The E Rhodes was sampled at 96k sampling rate; every sample was recorded through the entire natural decay of the note strike, thus requiring no looping. There are 18 velocity layers per note. Multiple release samples round out the realism of touch and response. Every conceivable effort has been made to ensure that The Famous E Electric Piano compares as closely as possible to the unique instrument it was sampled from.
Comes with FREE Kontakt 6 Player
The dawn of a new Mornin'
One of the many popular tunes of the early 80s that features the exceptional sound of the E Rhodes was Al Jarreau's Mornin', written by David Foster, Jay Graydon and Al Jarreau. I asked a good friend of mine to play, produce, and record his version of Mornin', this time playing The Famous E Electric Piano. Johan Landqvist has been a devotee of the E Rhodes since the early 80s and, though he lives in Sweden most of the year, he visits my studio in California and plays the E Rhodes often. Please listen to Johan and friends playing Mornin' on the virtual version of the E Rhodes: The Famous E Electric Piano!
Johan Landqvist - The Famous E Electric Piano
Pär Hedtjärn - Drums
Tomas Bergquist - Bass
Joakim Lundgren - Percussion
Pål Svenre - Synthesizer solo
Please click here to enjoy a video of Johan Landqvist (playing The Famous E Electric Piano) and vocalist Andreas Aleman, performing "Not Like This", written by Jeremy Lubbock and originally performed by Al Jarreau.
Johan Landqvist is a pianist, musical director, conductor, arranger, composer for film & TV, songwriter & producer. He has worked in productions that included the Swedish Royal Family, Andrea Boccelli, Lea Michelle, John Cleese, Lionel Richie, Il Divo, Ronan Keating, Leona Lewis, Seal, Paul Carrack,
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ABBA's Bjorn & Benny and QUEEN's Brian May & Roger Taylor. Johan was the bandleader for the longest running live TV-show in Scandinavia for 20 years.
Hear and See for yourself!
Stefan Olofsson, Swedish musician and music producer, playing a medley of Al Jarreau tunes, illustrates the incredible sound of The Famous E Electric Piano and how faithful it is to the sound of the legendary E Rhodes that was played on the original Jarreau recordings. Stefan's playing is outstanding as well!
This is a solo originally played by Terry Trotter on "Mulberry Street" (that I transcribed years ago) and that I have always loved to play on the actual E Rhodes. Here I'm playing it using my favorite preset on The Famous E Electric Piano: GM01 THE FAMOUS E.
In my studio it sounds just like the actual E Rhodes sitting next to it. (Not visible in the video.) I programmed the bass and percussion parts to mimic the original recording. -GM
an overview of
The Famous E Electric Piano
THE PERFORM SCREEN
The Perform Screen features the instrument's essential controls you'll want to have access to as a performer; as though you're sitting in front of the real instrument.This section includes a four-band EQ modeled after analog circuitry, and a tremolo that closely emulates the behavior of the sampled instrument's actual built-in optical tremolo. Additionally, we've included several custom chorus models that have been meticulously designed to recreate the sound of their real-world counterparts. These aren't based on Kontakt's own chorus effect, but use our own proprietary DSP to provide you with the sound of vintage as well as modern chorus effects.
A click of the tool icon opens a drop-down cover (see illustration and explanation below).
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THE PERFORM SCREEN (with drop-down door)
The Perform Screen quickly makes precision EQ adjustment controls available with a drop-down cover actuated by the tool icon .
The center frequencies of all four bands are user adjustable, with Q (width) control on the two Mid controls and bell/shelf options on the Bass and Treble controls. Once set, clicking on the tool icon closes the cover and reveals the chorus control module (See above left).
THE EFFECTS SCREEN
The Effects Screen provides up to 8 effects 'modules' that can be included in your effects chain. The order of the individual modules in the effects chain is customizable using the arrow buttons on the left. The scroll bar on the right allows visible access to any and all modules included in each preset snapshot. In addition to EQ, compressor, phaser, delay, and other staples, it includes an impulse-based reverb effect of four iconic rackmount reverb effects.
The drop-down module selection menu (far left)
appears when clicking on the plus (+) button.
THE ADVANCED SCREEN
The Advanced Screen. The controls in this section allow you to fine-tune the behavior and playability of the instrument, from the velocity response curve to stretch tuning and other features designed for power users.
THE PERFORM SCREEN - preset snapshots
The Perform Screen dropdown menu provides access to all of the factory presets. The E Rhodes, from which The Famous E Electric Piano was sampled, is known for its incredibly beautiful voice, and we are providing many variations of the iconic sound of the E to choose from. It also follows that owing to the incredible sonic depth, dynamics, and dimension of this one-of-a-kind instrument, it lends itself to emulate many other electric piano sounds of the past decades. Or start with any of our presets and edit them to develop your own User savable custom sounds.
Jay Graydon and Greg Schlaepfer are in the process of creating their own favorite presets. Meanwhile, I am previewing the 15 that I created so that you can get an idea of what you can expect from The Famous E Electric Piano.
George Mamalakis
co-developer of The Famous E Electric Piano,
Owner of the E Rhodes
GEORGE's PRESET PREVIEWS
Below are demo tunes I played and recorded to illustrate the sounds of the presets that I developed. The Famous E Electric Piano is so rich in sonic depth and beauty that it offers tremendous versatility when editing with our built-in effects and EQ controls. My goal was to feature and embellish the iconic sound that the E Rhodes is known for, and also to illustrate that The Famous E Electric Piano can closely emulate the signature sounds of many of the recognizable Rhodes instruments and players heard on recordings over the past six decades. gm
Tomas Bergquist-Bass, Niklas Thelin-Guitar,
Johan Landqvist-Drums & Percussion
Mark Howell-guitar, Tom Etchart-bass
Johan Landqvist-Bass, Drums, Percussion
Tom Etchart-bass
George Mamalakis - all keyboard parts; bass, drum, and percussion programming except as noted.
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