Roland MKS-900 User Manual download pdf (Page 9)

MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE

January 2011

Lately, the characteristic Rhodes sound has been

much used, especially in house, nu-jazz and R & B

productions, leading to an increased demand for old

Rhodes pianos.

On a Rhodes the sound is generated by an ‘asymme-

trical tuning fork’. This fork consists of a stiff 1mm

diameter wire (the ‘tine’), which is hit with a rubber-

tipped hammer triggered by the keyboard. The tine is

xed via a metal block to the tonebar, a resonator that

resembles the bar of a vibraphone. Thus, by playing

a key on the keyboard the two sides of the tuning

fork are brought to oscillation. This results in both

low-frequency sounds and high-frequency harmonics.

However, due to the disharmony the harmonics are

very widely spread, there being no string tension as

on a conventional piano. In fact, the tine is actually a

cantilevered string. The rst

overtone has 7x the frequency

of the basic tone, the second

overtone has 21x the fre-

quency. The harmonics of the

output signal are generated by

a magnetic pickup, which is

inherently nonlinear.

So, like a vibraphone, the

tonebar cannot go out of tune.

The pitch of the tuning rod is

determined by a spring which can be positioned on it.

The Rhodes is, therefore, detuned by transportation

rather than by differences in temperature, as is usual

for a conventional piano. The sound is amplied via a

pickup similar to that of an electric guitar.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Rhodes

MOTIF MKSensation

This library provides a sample-based emulation of the

legendary Roland MKS-20 digital piano. The MKS-20

is the rack version of the RD-1000 digital piano intro-

duced in 1986, and was the rst to apply SA synthesis

(Structured Adaptive Synthesis).

Considering the possibilities at that time, the MKS-20

offered very realistic piano and electric piano sounds.

Nowadays, thanks to the

continuing development of

sampling technology, much

more authentic piano sounds

are possible. However, just

like Yamaha‘s CP-80, the

MKS-20 achieved cult status

thanks to its unique sound and

is still much sought after on

the second-hand market.

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Roland MKS-900 User Manual Page 9

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