Seems like you should read up on it first, and only then comment. In the meantime, please explain "stupidly" deep"...

 

I mean: Scarbee sampled 4 pianos at (I think 30 velocity layers (which is itself probably overkill), they sound wonderful and the whole thing clocks in at 13Gb or something. So, 3 Gb per instrument. Excessive library size usually equates to lazy sampling and/or marketing.

 

The GM Neo-Soul Keys Studio one you mentioned earlier shows as 50gb on the official website. I was trying to see if the released Kontakt X3 library was the same thing. It contains Mark I Suitcase, Mark I Stage, and Wurlie 200A. But it is under 10gb, which is probably enough EP for me anyway. Maybe it is "minified", but I do not mind that either.

 

I play keys, not really a Rhodes 'expert' - though, besides a classic piano, it is the second one I turn to for throwing down ideas. And I believe I'm not the only one. After some testing, I liked most and got myself Orange Tree's The Famous E. (they have that annual 60% off sale right now, I believe)

 

The Famous E by Orange Tree is a nice option at 3.7 GB, respectively.

 

they called scarbee excessive in its day
and some even said look how tiny Lizard is compared
as if
a good amp and mda e-piano (can) lead to some great results
for "stranger" sounds Lizard
for broken the old Ni E-Piano
forgotten, there are some great digital pianos in the UVI libs
and acousticsamples have some Great ones!!

thanks for the suggestions guys

 

Orange Tree Samples – The Famous E Electric Piano is the one that just nails it for me. You don’t get a collection of pianos, but what you do get is the definitive sampled version of a particular 1971 Fender Rhodes MkI Suitcase which made its way onto hit record after hit record and acquired legendary status in the LA studio scene. The inventor of the electric piano himself referred to the "E" as the best electric piano he had ever heard. There is just something about it that feels so right.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/orange-tree-samples-famous-e-electric-piano

I’ll add that the Arturia Stage 73-V is really good at versatility, and Lounge Lizard from Applied Acoustics is fantastic as well – and it’s on sale for $99 right now. The NI Scarbee EPs are more than usable if you are a Komplete Standard owner or want to become one (the value for what you get is insane).

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2023

Keyscape is what you want. Not only does it have pretty much every electroacoustic piano you can think of, but each instrument is captured in stunning detail. There's so much to a Rhodes piano. I don't even think the official Rhodes plugin comes even close to Keyscape. Much less all the others.

 

Hammers and Waves - Suitcase 73
Acoustic Samples - VTines

 

I use a lot of Rhodes, not necessarily in conventional ways. Played by a great player it's certainly one of my favourite instruments. There's something quite beautiful about the vibe. It has a timeless, ethereal quality that other electric pianos lack for me. In my book there are only two types of piano, acoustic and Rhodes.

My gotos are Lounge Lizard and Keyscape (via Omnisphere) for both natural and sound design variations. There's nothing I can't achieve with those two.

 

I quite like both the Scarbee Classic EP88s and the various EPs in Keyscape. Keyscape also has beautiful Wurlitzers.

 

Fair point, but let's not forget releases, and RRs for notes and releases, as even if you only have a few, those add up, per note and per velocity. I know a lot of people overlook that in the size of the realsamples piano libraries. I suppose there may be some ridiculously un-truncated samples with a good portion of what amounts to silence like you'll find in some libraries created by lazy bastards who don't want to clean up a few thousand recorded samples, but I tend to see that a lot more in acoustic piano libraries.

50GBs is pre-compression and is the core library minus the expansions, and is in whatever format they use that's similar to NI's .ncw.
The thing unltimately sold me on Neo-Soul Keys studio 2 is that it has a... kind of make-your-own-EP feature, where you can customize six lines of layering, including everything from the notes, tines, releases, etc., etc., as well as stack EPs, and if that isn't enough, you can dive in under the hood and fine tune everything on a micro scale, including the randomness of... well, damn-near everything—it's a beast if you want to geek out on it. There's more than a handful of actual EPs sampled which explain the size, from wurlies, to Rhodes/Mark, to Clavinets, and even the CP-30 (the famous "D'Angelo" piano.) I just got the second expansion, and with the Mark VII expansion installed as well, it weighs in at 23.5GBs. Considering I don't just produce with it (I also play it in my spare time, as I have a PC dedicated to my Gig Performer setup,) it could be four times that size and I wouldn't care, so I *am admittedly biased towards forgiveness as per size goes; that said, for how extensively they sampled *everything, and all the EPs, 23.5GBs seems completely reasonable to me.

I have no idea why anyone is bringing up Lounge Lizard in this conversation at all. The question is "...the best," not "...your favorite."
For the record. I appreciate Lounge Lizard for what it is; it's a solid VST that deserves all of the accolades it gets, for what it is, but calling it the best is like saying UJAM makes the "best" Bass VST, it's simply not the case. Also, I'm not aiming at you directly, @Haze , you were just the last person to mention Lounge Lizard, so I quoted you.

 

Keyscape all day. Roland XV-5080 is a cheat code as well.

 

In defense of Lounge Lizard, it’s crazy how many parameters can be tweaked. Nothing else comes close. You can even take a screwdriver to it like studio techs used to have to do. It’s very playable and to many ears sounds great. I know professional keyboardists who rate it best, as do several reviewers. For the unfamiliar, it’s a modeled instrument, not a sampled instrument.

Soniccouture EP73 is another one worth checking out for similar reasons. You can get a huge variety of sounds out of it.

Still, I’ll stick with my original choice of Orange Tree Samples and the Famous E Electric Piano. It basically sticks to being one thing, but it’s the very best version of that one thing, if that makes sense.

 

Best, really is highly subjective and a matter of taste and judgement is it not? It's all about context and I've found over the years that the best tool for the job has often been Lounge Lizard because it can be tweaked to sit where I want it in the mix. If I gravitate towards it more often than other sources there's surely the argument that it is providing better results for me than other options.

Sure, taken in isolation it may not be the most natural and authentic sounding choice but how often is a solo Rhodes called for? In that instance I'd likely choose Keyscape or another library such as Orange Tree or Scarbee.

Yes I get that eXACT_Beats_, your points are perfectly reasonable and delivered politely. I have absolutely no problem with disagreement or genuine criticism; I welcome it as a source of additional knowledge.

 

For beautiful sound and playability, I currently like the Scarbee EP-88s - that thing is silky smooth, with a lot of nice sound design and presets. I also like the Acoustic Samples V-Tines - their plugins generally are pretty nice. Lounge Lizard, sure, but I'm not a huge fan of physical modeling when it comes to keyboards; seems to make more sense to me when the instruments require a lot of technique and thus can be heavily automated and controlled (thinking of the SWAM brass and string instruments).

Usually, I just end up using my own Rhodes plugin as I'm generally trying to get things to sit nicely in a mix vs a nice, lush solo sound, and I know the distortion will cut through if I need it, I know what all the effects do, ect. I think maybe it's better to know one or two plugins intimately vs having a collection because they simply won't ever get used.

All that being said, these days use whatever Rhodes plugin you've got; they are all fairly comparable at this point, and in skilled hands pretty much every modern plugin can be made to sound gorgeous. However, I would definitely tend towards the plugins that have more sound design, presets, effects, amp-sims, reverbs, ect. as these things can be incredibly useful vs if the plugin subjectively sounds "the best" - the aforementioned plugins fit the bill. Things like amp/cabinet sims maybe aren't as important for a Rhodes, but for a Wurli, a lot of the times that stuff IS the sound of classic recordings...

Here's my Rhodes Blog (the Canterbury is missing as I don't own it):

https://adammonroemusic.com/blog/best_rhodes_vst_2020.html

 

Interesting enough, we just released our brand new Dyno-My-Piano Expansion. We think this one came out special indeed:

-

-

 

Lounge Lizard & NI Scarbee Mark I

 

SCARBEE CLASSIC EP-88S

i didnt like the original Scarbee rhodes, but this is ace
the lower notes make it alot more versatile imho

 

I like the old one too , depending on what sound is needed . VTines is nice for my taste and the UAD Electra