Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard
Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard [5-User Family Pack]
Pre-Order from Amazon (free shipping)
Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard
Evp88Emagic Electric Piano Pleasure ModelReviewed by Sleen, 09/03/01Get Winamp Introduction
Olivia Newton-John can say it. Kormaha can say it. But Emagic can't. One thing they can do is put together the best physical models of Electric Pianos yet to be presented by any music technology organization. My first exposure to the humble evp88 was at winter NAMM 2001. I had heard of it but did not know what to expect from Emagic. With so many things going on at NAMM, it would have been easy to overlook had Dave Smith not pointed it out. I plunked a few chords on their delicate controllers and tried to hear and feel what was happening over the competitive din of bigmouths with headsets and amplifications. I guess it was ok. I thanked my cool friend for showing it to me. I noted that it was coming out of this sexy little thing called an EMI 2/6...you put your sound in there. But it was difficult to appreciate as were most things of any subtlety on the NAMM circus floor. The next day I was talking to Gerhard Lengeling when he mentioned the evp88 has no samples. What! No samples! Is it FM synthesis? No. Is it a physical model? He got a wierd look on his face and I thought I heard a dove fluttering away behind me. Here, you must try it. The booth had cleared out a little and it was a good thing because my digits were starting to twitch. No samples my ass! If it wasn't FM, and it wasn't a keymap, then it had to be a physical model. Or a pleasure model...Gerhard dialed up one of the stage pianos and this time I played while keeping in mind that everything I heard was from the power of magic numbers. I was thinking what kind of model. Everything must start with a sine wave or a short burst of noise that is then funneled down stages of equations that represent filters, amplifiers, feedback loops, and non-linear distortion. Gerhard was not shy with the parameters as I ran through the standard things I know sound approximate for electric piano. I kept right on playing as he worked the mickey...moving through models...changing fx values...switching through different presets. We made a good team while it lasted. Half as long and twice as bright as it could have been but now I know better. You have to turn down that TONE knob. With this introduction I was more than surprised. I was almost dumbfounded. However they managed to accomplish this model, it sounded amazing.
The product box consists of standard Emagic fare. A manual, registration card and the install CD. For this version of the technology, you must have Logic Audio already installed on your computer. The cd is for both Mac and PC and contains the evp88 version 1.0. Install is a breeze and the copy protection involves authorizing your hard disk. It writes to the boot sector of the disk/volume so if you have multiple partitions and hardware profiles, then plan on authorizing every instance of win98se and lite you are experimenting with. The instrument itself is comprised of multiple models of different vintage electric pianos. Perhaps they are all one model with different settings internally though they sound very distinct from one another and have different playing characteristics. Lets have a look at the models that come with evp88: Rhodes:
Wurlitzer:
Hohner:
As you can see, the selection there is certainly vintage. What may be seen as missing are the Dyno Rhodes and DX7 variants. But as this emphasis seems to be on vintage models, then it is appropriate not to include the later modifications. Also, since the DX7 was an emulation, why emulate an emulation as so many companies seem to be doing these days? Screenshot The Overdrive is a software emulation of the non-linear saturation effects introduced by Overdriving a Tube Amplifier. It also has a tone control to adjust the EQ going into the tubeamp before drive. This is helpful as the drive section is the first effect in the chain. Use this section with moderation and remember to adjust the audio instrument output to compensate for the gain created here. The Phaser is very similar to that found in Logic Platinum and Gold with the exception of having a little distortion itself. This makes it sound more like vintage phasers that behaved this way. They have listed a 'color' parameter for the phaser. For those of you who know phasers well, this is actually the phaser FEEDBACK amount. What electric piano would be complete without Tremolo? It is a welcome addition to the fx included for this plugin and has the additional parameter of stereophase to control the amount of tremolo applied to the left and right outputs. Tremolo is actually Amplitude Modulation and was also used on vintage guitars and vibraphones as well...and sometimes human voice. Before you ask, you techno freak; no, the tremolo is not clock syncable. Remember, this is VINTAGE. If you want something like that, then apply the clock syncable effect of choice in the next effect slot of the audio instrument. And of course they had to add some Nacho flavor with the much over used Chorus effect. They didn't bother offering any more parameters for the Chorus besides intensity. Things like number of voices, stereophase and feedback(color) were probably excluded with the hopes that you don't use it. That's basically it for the internal effects. Next, lets look at the rest of the Model Parameters and Intonation Control. Basic envelope controls are offered in the Decay and Release parameters. It should be noted that these are intended to behave like their physical analog and not like a synthesizer envelope per se. The Decay parameter for example will affect the higher harmonics differently than the main tone over a range of values. Likewise with Release. Its behavior is intended to be more like setting the level of a damper. Overall volume vs time will change, but so will frequency content. The Bell parameter adjusts the amount of high inharmonic content in the model output. You may remember from FM days having to add a transient high frequency operator to simulate the tap of a virtual mallet. This is not it. This parameter is just the taco-bell like portion of the sound, though a seperate parameter for tap amount would have been nice. An analog for hammer material for example. But this is version 1.0, and if you want a different kind of attack, simply select the model that suits your needs. The Damper parameter adjusts an approximation of Damper noise when releasing a key that comes from the Damper felt. The Stereo parameter controls the left to right keytracking or width of the electric piano in the stereo field. At higher values the lower notes are pushed further to the left and higher notes further to the right. At the lowest values, the sound is squashed into the center. As suggested by Emagic, this parameter could be used to perform further processing on the high and low note ranges. By using an extreme Stereo value and seperating hard pan left and right; you could split the output of the audio instrument and then apply additional effects. The Stretch and Warmth parameters are a little confusing without experimenting with them directly. The Warmth parameter introduces random tuning changes for each note. They could have called this the Sour or Lameness parameter. Other companies would have said Phat, or Color. But since they already used 'color' to describe phaser feedback, this year it was the adjective 'Warm', usually reserved for saturation discussions. The Stretch parameters lower and upper, change the tuning of the key ranges of the evp88. Trying to follow the manual discussion on what these are actually doing was miserable and I am suspicious that Pythagoras was confused with Fourier. Also, that harmonics are confused with fundamentals. But simply put, these controls offer a deviation from Equal Temperament if mixing the evp88 with instruments tempered to Just or Pythagorean Intonation, which happens all the time. Each Lower and Upper knob would seem to offer adjustment for an approximation of the Pythagorean Comma. For a discussion on what this is and why harmonics are of cosmic importance visit here. With all these models and parameters to select from, you may be interested to know that the evp88 comes with a collection of presets to try out. Organized in a flip menu by Model, you can see how some of these electric pianos are intended to be used. The selection includes common settings for the Phaser, Tremolo and Overdrive, and funky versions of different models. The facility is obviously there to store your own presets to use in other logic songs. Just like loading and storing settings for other plugins, you can manage your evp88 patches in a consistent fashion. Sometimes getting that phaser 'just right' is too subjective when you can simply store the setting!
Operating the evp88 requires a host program in this case Logic Audio. Emagic has since released a vst version of this technology that can be used from within your host of choice. From Logic, setting up the evp88 could not be simpler. All that is required is to have an audio instrument setup and selected in the Arrange Window that will accept your incoming midi controller events. Visit the environment layer where that Audio Instrument lives and assign the evp88 in one of the insert slots. Now start playing. Some concerns may arise about the load that a virtual instrument like this may impose on the host system. These days people have their computers loaded down with fx and virtual instruments and still complain about timing. It's refreshing to find out how efficient the evp88 is. Since a full technical evaluation was not the goal of this review, I can only say that the evp88 is extremely efficient compared to other plugins that do not even sound as good. Even with extreme polyphony settings (voices), the evp88 did not choke or drop out when doing full runs with the sustain pedal down. I noticed no compromise in host performance when using the evp88 with other sequences and plugins. The midi controller list is comprehensive for all the model and effect parameters. So setting up a patch for your pc1600x would allow you to tweak and automate all these values in realtime without having the evp88 window actually open. Changing parameters too quickly causes something like zipper noise, but only occasionally. This may be related to the driver and buffer settings being used. Once you have recorded a midi sequence that is playing your evp88 audio instrument, you may be ready to render. This is another part of using the evp88 that is dreamy. The signal never leaves the host application so there is no way to collect additional analog or digital noise and artifacts. By using the Bouncedown operation you create a pure digital wav or aif file from your performance. It is essentially a dream come true and it brings to mind many noisy modules used in the past just to get down that EP track. So if noise isn't a problem, then what is the compromise? Perhaps latency. Depending on your audio card driver settings you may get some latency in the audio delivery after your midi event. Certain audio cards will perform better than others, and the speed of the host computer is also a consideration. If you are still running a soundblaster on a pentium I system or are trying an ASIO hack, then forget it. You should be playing some lame soundfonts anyhow. Or playing Quake. These days however, its not uncommon for desktop musicians to be using fairly powerful 'professional' interfaces connected to computers that run at speeds above 500mhz. With clean configurations and minimal extension sets, you can achieve a level of performance and consistency usually only found in hardware synthesizers.
So you think you can play eh? Well, what you play with the evp88 will make a big difference. If you are an old school musician who can actually name off the notes in a C minor chord, then you probably have something better than a $70 usb keyboard controller. And if you are a die-hard sequencer or synth programmer then you have probably come across these things called Velocity Curves. VC's are maps that are between your meaty fingers pounding out comps, and the loudness that comes out of the speakers. Using different curves is necessary when you run out of twiddly bits and groove templates that everyone else is using and hunker down to actually PLAY a part. Whether you are playing a drum, a piano or an electric piano, or a zombie french fried pan puke from Mars; you have to deal with these curves to get the response you want out of the instrument. In the case of the evp88 it really matters because we are talking about a very sensitive instrument. Most decent semi and weighted controllers have velocity curves or adjustments on board. Emagic says that if your controller does not have velocity curve settings, you can create your own velocity curve within logic just prior to the audio instrument running evp88. You can setup a transformer object within the environment, using a velocity map. Its up to you to set the type and convexity yourself. Various models also react differently to your playing to reflect their pleasurable counterparts. I found the key-up behaviour of some of the models to be very interesting and admirable in detail. The preset sounds of the evp88 are very good, but almost too bright. I found myself turning down the tone parameter within the drive control because of its effect on the attack of the sound. At higher levels, though pleasant in sustain; there was too much obvious initial tap that sometimes creates things that sound like artifacts when listening back without any other effects. If you want some more crunch and rumble, then push up that drive parameter...you won't be disappointed. Follow with some brightness control and some mild phasing. Add some stereophase effect and we already have a nice full, evolving and CLEAN sound. The Stereo effect does a great job of moving your fingers around the stereo mix so try that out if you get a chance. You are also given basic EQ controls to change the overall bass and treble response. In vintage fashion, these filters are very wide so you don't have to turn those knobs much to get the tweak you want. The evp88 is incredibly tweakable inside, and out. Remember, there are no samples being used so you won't get sick of this sound for a long time if ever. Give up those crude velocity switched multisamples and get into the Pleasure!
Ok, I am no headhunter or mother of invention but I can try to get across some of the things this perky little plugin can do. Winamp playlist anyone? Here is an example of the Wurlitzer 200A model. I used some amount of drive and phaser on all of these examples, so pay attention to the models not the fx. For the wurli example, a segue from a Steely Dan part into Billy Joel is presented. This next one is an example of the evp88 Rhodes Mark I model. Played here is an exerpt from an original composition. You can hear that tap pretty clearly. Nice width and response. Coming up next is the Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano. It opens with an excerpt from Sheep that goes into an excerpt from Dupree's Paradise, which is Frank Zappa. After this it goes into a version of a composition I am trying to finish the arrangement for. Yeah, I could have backed off on the taco factor a little. In fact I should be able to set velocity sensitivity for all those blasted parameters. Rhodes Mark II Bright Stage Piano come on down! Here we have a beautiful and bright stage piano perfect for any kitchen or song! Notice the clean lines, the sassy exterior finish and the firm round bottom! Demonstrated through another Sleen excerpt in the style of left heavy brazilian rhodes players. Hey its that RubberRoads patch! No, it isn't. Its the evp88 doing a Rhodes Mark II Hard Stage Piano model. Again, a Sleen excerpt of a bad habit from highschool in yet another time signature. You can hear that spank in the bass that is just like this petulant little frenzy. I probably could have used a tougher curve but my fingers were already in bad shape from tweaking sensitivity over about 6 hours. The index finger on my left hand at this point had some of those little straight blood blisters that happens when your finger starts to seperate from the nail. I tried to play as staccato as possible to demonstrate the mean comping potential of this badass patch. "You are the echo of my wife..." Opens this one and then moves into an improv performed to demonstrate the extreme hygiene of the Mark IV model. Notice the beating in the right channel of the very high notes. No Gerhard, I guess they really aren't samples! Now those are tines. Like drops of love from heaven you can set the mood and mode for your music. The system used for rendering these files is a Pentium II 450/192, Echo Layla, LAWP 4.7.2, Win98se, Ensoniq KS32.
Huey Lewis wanted a new drug back when I dreamed of having the right gear for a fanstasy job of playing keys in an eclectic band. What he didn't have was something that some of us have found: Fascination. I borrowed the Fender Rhodes from my highschool's jazz band and was told I could use it as long as money was not involved. Luckily there never was. But when it did become an issue I was stacking this legend of sonic beauty; the FB01 with another tower of fatness; the DX11. Split up between left and right PA's with some mild detune, I could get a sound big enough for big hair and Mullets. The heck with meat and potatoes, I was lucky to get slim jim and a stale french fry. Don't get me started on the organ situation. Or my affinity for things around 60hz. I don't care what you sound like, just leave the Budweiser sign on dern blammit! My, have things changed. If they saw me walk in with a spiky bleached haircut and a laptop under my arm I am sure they would have kicked my LPF into a state of self oscillation. Anyhow, even today people are wary about the incoming rush of virtual instruments and how this will affect the livelyhood of all the real synths whose jobs they will be replacing. Its not stable. You'll be embarrassed on stage. Hey did you hear me? I said a DX11 and an FB01! That I had to smack on the side to get its little orange screen to light up. Don't tell me about embarrassing when I had become an expert at troubleshooting the myriad Radio Shack Adapters I needed to get my synths into one amp; while soloing. This was BEFORE Greg Mackie saved all our lives. The evp88 is tight, authentic, efficient and on time. It has a beautiful sound that none of my past or current synths can come close to when it comes to EP. It is optimized to work within an application that I am using everyday anyhow and there are no shack adapters involved. The playback engine is as sensitive as anything I have played...to the point of pleasurable harm. It can be clean or dirty depending on your mood. It will follow your every move with the automation features in logic and can be tweaked out to get that vintage timbre, or new flavor. The presets are tasty and trimmed down to just what you need. The odd naming of parameters and touchyness about its pleasureability makes one wonder. And then you go back to playing because thats all that matters. How it feels, how it bites, and how it sounds. The FX are great and the interface cool on the eyes. I would gig with this model in a heartbeat and its unfortunate that only those who are online know about this instrument because many a road warrior would dig its personality. The evp88 has its own share of artifacts, but they are charming and entirely addressable. The evp88 just plain kicked my ass and I can't imagine using another EP after this review. Every music store should have this software running on the floor to get the players in the know. Its too good for desktop musicians. I would like to thank Dave Smith and Gerhard Lengeling for introducing me to this fabulous instrument. Any similarity to other reviews is absolutely coincidental. For more information visit Emagic.
|
|
