Both have hammer force and stiffness controls on the left, and master tone and volume on the right. In the middle of Mr. Ray are knobs for tine sound level and tone bar decay and release, which go a long way towards replicating various models and conditions of Rhodes pianos. Mr. Tramp has like controls for the Wurly’s reeds, and both have Damper knobs to add some realism-enhancing key release noise. Mr. Tramp includes an authentic tremolo, but you’ll have to add tremolo to Mr. Ray with some other audio plug-in.
While these physically-modeled instruments offer somewhat fewer controls than commercial counterparts such as EVP88 and Lounge Lizard (see pages 28–30), their basic sonic integrity is in the same league. Guido accepts PayPal donations, so if you like either of these as much as we did, we ask that you kick down what you can. Work this good deserves the support of all of us.
INSTRUMENTS
Mr. Ray: Rhodes Mk. I. Mr. Tramp: Wurlitzer 200.
PLUG-IN FORMATS
VST.
PROS
Warm, real, and soulful. Wide range of tone in response to velocity.
CONS
Mr. Ray 73 has no tremolo.
BOTTOM LINE
We can’t believe these are free. A must-hear.