Instrument Description


MrRay73 Mark II is a digital simulation of the famous american
electro-mechanical piano of the seventies, invented during World War
II by a music teacher, Harold B. Rhodes (1910 - 2000), and widely used
in almost all musical genres ranging from soul/black music to jazz,
blues, modern and pop. This instrument has rapidly become a legend,
and is still used today, altough samples have replaced the real thing
so that very often music producers use huge sample libraries or
hardware keyboards / workstations to achieve this kind of sonority,
and often the result is a cold and 'dead' sound, with no vitality, no
warmth, nothing that even compares to the unpredictability and
genuineness of the real thing.

In 2007 an enterprising and far-seeing american businessman has
started a new Company with the aim to re-manufacture the piano using
the same recipe of the old factory, employing the same ingredients and
offering the same "taste" of the vintage instrument. The new "Mark 7"
piano was presented at the NAMM show and it was a big success. It's on
the market again, after about 20 years, with the same name, same
"soul" but largely improved under many important technical aspects.



In a similar manner, MrRay73 Mark II is the second version of MrRay73,
after two years from its introduction to the public, but with a huge
difference in sound and functionality. While the old MrRay73 was one
of the first successfull simulations of such an instrument, capable of
offering similar vitality, warmth and richness of the real thing, the
new "Mark II" version brings many new improvements, first of all for
what concerns "THE SOUND".

As opposite to sample libraries, a real-time reproduction of a certain
sound has the ability to interact with the musician, producing
different behaviours from time to time. Hardly you will hear exactly
the same "waveform" twice. MrRay73 Mark II is a complete digital
reproduction of the real instrument, with all the moving parts that,
together, generate to the sound.



Summary of the main features:

Full Polyphony (73 notes E - E)

No note-stealing

Adjustable single sound elements (metal, wood, pedal and damper
noises)

Sympathetic resonance and harp vibration

Sustain pedal re-pedaling feature

Six-stage vintage style Phaser effect

Dual mode Tremolo effect

Power amp simulation (Suitcase model)

Adjustable wear of mallets and other elements (Piano Age)

Stretch tuning or Equal Temperament

Four velocity curves plus an adjustable "Dynamic range" level

Fully Midi controllable with MIDI-Learn function

Very Low CPU and memory usage

Some details about the sound generation:



* Full Polyphony & No note-stealing: on the real vintage instrument
you have a single "generator" (called "tone-bar") for each single key,
so when you hit a key, the corresponding tine is put into vibration
thus producing the sound. When you hit it again holding your foot on
the sustain pedal, you add further energy to the vibrating tine, but
depending on the relationship of the tine and the hammer-tip, you can
either add or remove energy with each key press. This causes subtle
variations with each note played.



* Sympathetic resonance and harp vibration: when you hold the sustain
pedal, all damper felts leave the tines, so they all are free to
vibrate, but if you hit a single note, the surrounding tines also get
part of the mallet's energy and produce a slight vibration. Also, when
the sound of a note decays completely but you are still holding the
key down, playing other notes may introduce what's known as
"sympathetic resonance". This is more evident on a classic piano, less
audible on the electric piano but still there. Part of the vibrations
is spread along the whole harp and captured by all pickups, giving the
overall tone a more "alive" sensation.



* Sustain pedal re-pedaling feature: when you're playing holding the
sustain pedal down, you may release it and depress it again
immediately. In this case, the dampers don't stop the tines
completely, but still leave a residual vibration. Sometimes, the
dampers can even introduce a further energy as if they were "picking"
the tines.



* Six-stage vintage style Phaser effect: MrRay73 Mark II also includes
a phaser effect. It is modeled after a vintage stomp box of the
sixties, sold in Europe under the name "Maestro PS-1". It was a
6-stage phase shifter, one of the first effects of this kind, with a
deep and "liquid" tone.



* Dual mode Tremolo effect: the tremolo effect is an essential element
of the classic Electric Piano sound of the seventies. In MrRay73 Mark
II you can have the effect of the classical analogue tremolo driven by
the photo-coupler element which gives you the smooth passage from one
channel to the other. As an alternative, you can have the monophonic
vibrato like the one found on the classic "Tweed" guitar amplifiers.



* Power amp simulation (Suitcase model): MrRay73 Mark II has a
built-in FET power amplifier simulation with three degrees of "power",
to bring you the classic tone of the famous "Suitcase" electric piano
models. Turning on the simulation, you'll hear a darker tone with a
punchy low-end, a slappy attack and a slight saturation on the high-end.

http://www.genuinesoundware.com/

Download File Size:11.49 MB

---