Rhodes piano connected to analog synths

[mindmuzack]

Hey,
 I just saw this youtube video of this guy who connected his Rhodes to a ARP2600.  I thought it was quite cool to say the least.  But I am sure the  ARP2600 is a little hard to come by and most likely way out of my price range.  I was curious if anyone knows any other analog synths you could use in conjunction with the Rhodes or other ways to get a little more unique sound out of the piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiJDFN9TxGM

[jim]

I've run it through a roland sh-09 with pretty cool results.

[Tehu]

I know a guy that use it with a Minimoog

[pianotuner steveo]

How do you connect a non midi keyboard to another instrument? Do you run the audio thru the synth somehow?

just curious

Steve O

[Mark II]

yes, some synth have a audio input in order to manipulate external audio signals with the internal filter/ ADSR envelope of the synth. (older analog synths)
newer digital workstations can route the external signal to dynamics and effects section

Mark II

[atraintocry]

i'll just add to what mark ii said: synthesizers are almost always designed around a collection of elements which can be linked to each other in various ways. in the bad old days they were in their own modules, but even digital synths are still designed with this mindset. the exception being FM synths & samplers.

a very boring but typical synth would start with:

a trigger or gate that sent a signal to the oscillator (VCO).
then the signal could pass through various amps (VCA), a popular one being the ASDR envelope.
there might be an LFO, which is pretty much the same as the VCO but it is connected to a VCA. ie it doesn't create the signal, it creates a control voltage for a circuit that's shaping the signal.
perhaps most importantly, there is a low-pass filter or a set of them, which are controlled by hand or with more VCAs.

now, if you replace the original signal generator (the VCO), you can still use the other 90% of the synth. this is the idea behind vocoders, guitar synth effects, etc.

the cool thing is, the rhodes can do a lot sound-wise that an oscillator can't. so you can really breathe some life into simpler synths this way, assuming they have an input.

[pianotuner steveo]

Thanks for the input guys, I really missed the boat on synths. I'm old enough,but I have never owned one or even really used one.I grew up with a Hammond and an acoustic piano.I drooled over the Rhodes on Frampton comes Alive and wanted one from that point until I finally got one a few years later.Got into EP's in the late '70's when I moved away from home and needed something to play on. And that is how I became a tech-out of necessity...my 1st wurli was $80 and barely worked and my 1st Rhodes was free but was in pieces.(I bartered some piano tunings for it)

[Rob A]

Wow, they succeeded in making an ARP 2600 sound like a cheap phase shifter.  :?

[thermionicjunky]

Some of this information is mixed up. A gate or trigger triggers an envelope generator, which can send a control voltage to a VCA (or anything else).

The best way to send the Rhodes signal through a synthesizer is to have a small modular system which is specifically put together for processing external audio. You need some kind of preamp because modulars are usually designed for audio signals with an amplitude of 10v p-p. Most modulars offer an external input module which amplifies the signal and generates  a control voltage which follows the input amplitude and a gate signal for triggering. Then you can choose any effects modules that you desire. There are filters, phasers, flangers, delays, frequency shifters, waveshapers, etc. An audio and/or low frequency oscillator can be used to provide cyclical modulation of volume (with a VCA) , tone (with a filter) or any voltage controllable parameter (including the frequency of another oscillator). Very interesting effects can be achieved by modulating with an audio-rate signal.

If you don't need to generate any triggers you may just want to look into voltage controllable effect pedals such as Moogerfoogers and Frostwave pedals for synth-like effects. The Moog CP-251 can add some more control features to a voltage controlled pedal setup.

[atraintocry]

Some of this information is mixed up. A gate or trigger triggers an envelope generator, which can send a control voltage to a VCA (or anything else).

whoops. so the envelope generator is controlled by the gate or trigger. its output drives a VCA, which acts on the signal.

does that mean the oscillators are always "on"? i had figured that they only stay on while triggered or during the time the gate is open.

[thermionicjunky]

Right. Typically an oscillator will just run free.  I do have some thyratron tube oscillators  that will shut off  when a negative control voltage drives it down lower than it's lowest pitch. If you have a modular or semi-modular synthesizer, patching the oscillators somewhere without attenuating them with a VCA will result in a drone.

If all that is desired is to process the Rhodes with a synthy-sounding filter, running it through a synthesizer is more trouble than it's worth. The Moog and Frostwave stuff will get the job done. Specifically, for the ARP sound, you would want the Moog MF-101 low-pass filter. ARP designed their filters to sound like Moog - so much so that they were sued.

[atraintocry]

that makes sense. i've got a roland that leaks a little, i don't know why i didn't figure out that it was the VCO. seems logical, since it always drones on the last note you played

i was about to recommend the moogerfooger, but i see you've already done that. i'm a big fan of the 102 (ring modulator). i just like the sound of ring modulators.

the microkorg will do some things with an input, but a lot of its effects (distortion or delay for instance) are not that great. then again, there are a lot of vocoder presets that might sound good on a rhodes.

i just picked up a boss oc-2 (octave). doesn't have a huge frequency range, but where it does work, it sounds good. obviously it's not something you can leave on all the time, but for doing the occasional weird lead or really deep bassline, it's quick and easy. if you listen to any 80's grateful dead then you'll know what it sounds like

[keysandslots]

Try out some of the Nord line of synths.  The G2 and G2X make great hosts for running external sounds through.

Randy

[nick]

the yamaha CS line (cs5, cs10, cs15) are great, (relatively) cheap analog synths, especially for doing this sort of thing.  All of them have inputs to run external signal through the filters and the CS5 will cost you about $250.  These are amazing little monosynths that for whatever reason havent caught on and skyrocketed to rediculous prices.

[just say maybe.]

i've plugged my rhodes into my alesis micron and got some real nice delay and reverb effects with it.

hello everyone, by the way.  i'm new here.  :0  i play an 88 key mark I.

[daswans]

I've run my Rhodes into my SCI Pro-One with interesting results.

[rhodespower]

It's me & friend and my Rhodes MkII + ARP2600 you see on the video.

I just connect the MkII to the the preamplifier section of the ARP2600 and set the amplification to x 1000.
I set the oscillator 2 to a low frequency by turning off the keyboard CV and brings It in to the filtermodulation like a simple LFO.

When the filter of the ARP2600 is shaping my barking (tnx Freddan Adlers!) Rhodes MkII with added internal stereo spring reverb in the ARP2600 It really gets you there!
It get's so damn organic, fat and sweet and also in stereo out of the ARP2600!

The sound qualitiy of the video doesn't even come close to the real deal.
I also only used the internal ARP2600 speakers when I made the clip.  

[modorange]

Some synths allow audio input, such as the minimoog, but do not have an envelope follower, so you have the input audio that only sounds when the contour generator is activated by either a trigger or the keyboard being depressed.

Some other synths, however, such as the ARP 2600, the Roland SH-1 and the Sequential Circuits Pro-One, and others, have an envelope follower built-into the audio path from the external audio input, so that the piano can be fed into the synth and it will be able to produce filtering effects when the piano sends audio into the synth. Then the effected audio goes out the output of the synth back into the piano on a suitcase model on the effects loop on the front panel, or for a stage piano the signal goes into an amplifier. This is using the synth as an effects device.

I play my suitcase piano through a Roland SH-1 all the time. If I only want the piano and none of the oscillators to sound I just turn the oscillators down or off on the audio mixer.
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