SRX-07 vs SRX-12 Rhodes sounds...

[psalms34n1]

Which one has the best rhodes sounds? I cant decide which one to buy and the local store only carries the SRX-12.

[bassman]

Hello psalms34n1,

I have SRX-07 and have heard SRX-12.

07 is OK, but 12 has the killer Rhodes.

Bassman

[Jimknopf]

There's no alternative to SRX-12 (not even on other workstations from Korg and Yamaha), if you want a hardware Rhodes sound which deserves the name.

I could mock all day about what many people in the music business over years now seem to take as a "Rhodes sound", but what in 95% of the cases is not more than a faint, crappy allusion to a Rhodes, speaking of the tonal quality, the sustain, the dynamics and flexibilty of something like a real Rhodes MKI. To play the cheap substitute sounds is ok if you do so consciously (like using lofi sounds consciously), but not if you want the real deal.

SRX 07, which I use besides SRX 12, has some useable bass sounds and some useable (after tweaking and using an external Leslie sim) Hammond organ sounds which should have been part of the original Fantom X sounds (the latter being very weak in both areas), besides *lots* of more or less useless low quality toy sounds (Rhodes, clavis, synths etc.). So the Rhodes sounds of the SRX-07 are just more variations of the low-quality Rhodes sounds in the Fantom-X itself.

You should probably be happy about an SRX-12 and get your hands on Rhodes and D6 Clavi sounds which are close to the real instruments...

While todays software samplers offer endless streams of high quality sounds in all sound areas, the times of cheap mini-sampling typical for many workstation sounds and expansion sounds of the last years are definitely over anyway (except for, as I said, conscious use). So better don't go that step backwards, but that step forwards to quality. Roland will have no alternative at all than moving in this direction as well, no matter if with SRX-boards or new workstation designs.

[Maureez Plays the Keez]

Thanx Jimknopf. I was this close to buy an srx7 (not for the Rhodes sounds, but for the vintage synth sounds and to get some of the organs back I used to use when I had the Keyboards of the 60's and 70's JV expansion in my former XP 30). But reading your post I'm sure I'm first gonna try the SRX 12. I use Rhodes sounds most of the time (playing in a dance classics band), so if you say there's a big quality leap I'll have to make sure if I'm not far better of with 2 or 3 great sounds instead of 300 more middle of the road sounds... Honestly the SRX12 demo isn't very convincing but of course it is hard to experience the dynamics of the sound just listening to it...

[Jimknopf]

The only problem with the SRX-12 preset sounds is that the Roland guys

a) didn't do a good job on velocity layering. Four velocity layers are a minimum to provide Rhodes dynamics, and you will have to find your own layering adjusted to your playing style to avoid too obvious stepping between different velocities.

b) they failed to program a good, broad variety of well known effect Rhodes sounds as presets with the Rhodes. They just did some elementary stuff here.

The good news is that the basic waveforms are single sampled high quality tones and both of the above can be done by you...

[psalms34n1]

Thanks Jim. I took the plunge and bought the SRX-12 last Thursday and I am definitely happy with it. Used it for a wedding this past weekend and pumped it thru the house system and I just wanted to drool! It is very well done. The wurlies suck, but I'm not into them anyway. I definitely will have to adjust the velocity switching to match my playing style, but even outta the box it is still fantastic!

[Jimknopf]

Hi psalms34n1,

one of the typical Rhodes SRX-12 layer schemes I use is:

Layer 1: 1-40
Layer 2: 41-90
Layer 3: 91-127
Layer 4: 127-127 plus Velo Fade Lower ~18

If you take that as a start and perhaps modify it a bit according to your own playing style, you should be fine.

[Reef Ranger]

Hello All!

Question regarding SRX-12 Rhodes . . .

I'm still a relative beginner with the Fantom X8, so this may be a foolish question to an experienced user, but the individual patch names on the official Roland Patch List for the SRX-12 board do not identify which patches are a "Rhodes" EP. Several other SRX boards do (SRX-07, etc.), but not the SRX-12.

So, without listening to every single EP patch to discern, how does one know which of the +/- 105 different patches are a Rhodes? Is it strictly by listening? Seems rather tedious.

Thanks.

[Maureez Plays the Keez]

Reef Ranger:
There are (apart from the clavinet sounds) only 3 EP's on SRX 12: EP1 and EP2, both being Rhodes, and Wurly (Wurlitzer). All patch names refer to these 3 types, so it's really simple to identify the type of sound.