Second, a dampening knob simulates the position of a real Clav’s damper lever, which produces a muted sound when engaged, and “click” can add the sound of the hammer pulling off the string on key-ups. Third and foremost, though, is the wah effect. It’ll follow a built-in LFO, velocity, or a MIDI message such as a control pedal. It’s got a salacious quality, the sonic equivalent of dancing that would not have been allowed on TV in the ’50s.
Without the wah, though, Ticky Clav has a character from, say, middle C on up, that reminded me of both a banjo and an Ensoniq Mirage-era sampled electric guitar, and I couldn’t get entirely rid of it no matter how I twiddled the knobs. It’s not in the attack or release characteristics, which are all fine — it’s more in the actual frequency content. Still, put this criticism in brackets, as this is a free software instrument.
INSTRUMENTS
Hohner Clavinet C.
PLUG-IN FORMATS
VST, AudioUnits.
PROS
Realistic pickup controls. Flexible and funky built-in wah effect.
CONS
Unadorned Clav sound isn’t totally authentic.
BOTTOM LINE
Not as good a Clav as the other freeware plugs are electric pianos, but fun as hell when you play it with the wah.