|
Post-CBS "Rhodes" Models
 Not long after CBS brought the Rhodes product line to an end, the brand name was sold (or practically given away) to Roland in 1987. Around 1990 new "Rhodes" synthesizers began to appear, the most notable being the MK-80, a weighted-action 88-key digital piano. This synth featured several Rhodes patches, along with acoustic piano, vibraphone & clavichord simulations, and effects including chorus and phase shifting. The concept was a great one, but the sound was not: Harold commented in an interview with Keyboard Magazine that it made him "sick". The engine behind the MK-80 was Roland's S/A synthesis model, used in the RD-series pianos at the time. CBS engineers had created a single-key model of the Rhodes, an adjustable-pitch tine that could reproduce any note across the entire range of the piano, which Roland analyzed in developing the S/A patches. Again, this seemed like a great idea at the time, but the model was far from accurate.
Also offered was the MK-80's little brother, the MK-60. This was a stripped-down version of the synth with only 64 keys and 8 patches, none of which could be edited. As a result it was cheaper and more portable, but the sound was just as inferior. And then there was the VK-1000, an early predecessor of Roland's VK-series tonewheel organ emulators. Features included 76 weighted keys, drawbars for realtime control of the organ tones, and additional patches that included other piano/synth tones and Rhodes sounds from the MK-80. This keyboard would be reborn years later as the Roland VR-760, after a huge leap in technology and sound quality. Finally, there were the Rhodes 660 & 760 models, 61- and 76-key versions of Roland's U-20 synth marketed under the Rhodes name. There were no Rhodes-specific sounds here: it was simply an attempt to sell more keyboards.
|
|
