Elektrik’s largest sample sets weigh in around the 60–70MB range, and can stream from disk. Stay away from the “small” samples — they’re audibly short on dynamics and expressiveness. To my ears, “Mk I Essential” sounds exactly like a Rhodes Mk I Suitcase in brand-new condition: on the gentle side, with a bell tone that’s pronounced but not overwhelming. The mod wheel brought in a beautiful stereo tremolo. When I hit the keys hard, I got the amount of bark and pop I’d expect from a cared-for, calibrated Rhodes, i.e. nowhere near the extremes that are possible with Lounge Lizard. At times I wished it could get a little more rude. For Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” or Bob James’ Taxi theme, I could play Elektrik for hours, but I couldn’t find anything in the Mk I or Mk II banks to evoke that scene in The Blues Brothers where Ray Charles shows Jake and Elwood that there’s “nothing wrong with the action” on the Rhodes in his music store.
If I have little to say about the Wurly, that’s only because it gave me everything I wanted and nothing I didn’t. The Clav is sampled from an E7, the model that improved upon Hohner’s D6 with reduced hum and tougher construction, but was otherwise identical. I borrowed a real E7 for comparison, and Elektrik nailed it. In fact, the low end had a certain warmth that I couldn’t quite coax out of Apple Logic Pro’s über-tweakable EVD6 (see page 30). On the other hand, Elektrik doesn’t provide the realistic filter and pickup rocker switches that you get with EVD6.
INSTRUMENTS
Rhodes Mk I, Rhodes Mk II, Wurlitzer 200A, Hohner Clavinet E7.
PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED
No.
PLUG-IN FORMATS
Mac: AudioUnits, VST, RTAS, standalone. PC: DXi, VST, RTAS, standalone.
PROS
Authentic sounds. Simple interface. Emulates all three keyboards: Rhodes, Wurly, and Clavinet.
CONS
Each preset can have only four realtime controls at once. Relatively pokey sample load times.
BOTTOM LINE
A great choice to load ’n play classic sounds and not worry about what goes into them.