Classic Rock snapshot suggestions

Zynthianic Sounds
1

I’m creating a “Classic Rock” snapshot for Zynthian, that I hope to contribute as a factory built-in.

I also plan to make a Zynthian Youtube demo highlighting these classic sounds, aimed at the keyboard player, for live or studio use. It’ll also be a good way to show how cheap Zynthian can be, since I use a no-hardware build.

When I first tried out Zynthian, I checked out a lot of the factor snapshots and found a lot of very interesting stuff, but it was a wild hunt looking for the kinds of things I was interested in. As a Boomer, that’s Classic Rock. (Cue the “OK Boomer” jokes, I love them.)

Anyway, in addition to working on building up the Zynthian Soundfont library, I’m putting together a snapshot of the bread&butter sounds we old dogs use when playing classic rock and blues. Here’s my current list.

  • piano - (new in Vangelis) zynthian accurate grand
  • Hammond organ - setBFree
  • Rhodes - jRhodes
  • Wurlitzer epiano - wurts (the best so far but I’m looking)
  • Clavinet - (new package) Stevie Clavinet
  • DX7 epiano - Dexed FullTines
  • Mellotron - mellowtron, but looking for others
  • synth strings
    • standard simple, like in Spirits in the Material World - MDA JX10
    • Jump – because why not? - Obxd
  • synth leads
    • Lucky Man - MiMi-d
    • Rocket Man (not done yet, plan to use MIMI-D)
  • steel drum - jSteelDrum (new package, available soon)
  • marimba - Terkelsen Marimba (new package, available soon)
  • soul brass (I haven’t created the sfz for this yet. Still haven’t quite found the three horns I want.)

That’s 14. So far it plays without xruns.

If there’s call for a few more, I can add some ZS3’s. I’ll need to actually learn about them first.

The target audience is for keyboard players in cover bands. I have it set up now so that my stage piano is set to multitimbral mode and I can press a patch button to select the sound, and my top keyboards is set to chain mode, so I can use the UI to select what it plays (typically Hammond or strings)

I hope to make a youtube demo with this, too. That’ll be fun, since I’m not a great keyboard player and I’ve never made a youtube demo or any kind of video. We’ll see! But at least I do know classic licks/tunes to play for each of the patches.

Please feel free to offer suggestions/comments/criticisms/jokes. Especially jokes. I’m blond too (or used to be, now it’s more gray.) How many blonds does it take to … never mind.

Regards, Jeff

6 Likes
Minimoog-like synth with vibrato depth controlled by mod wheel?
2

My classic licks for various instruments:

  • piano - too many to count
  • Hammond organ - Lighter Shade of Pale, Green Onions. Fourplay, if I could play it.
  • Rhodes - Pretzel Logic?
  • Wurlitzer epiano - What’d I Say, Goodbye Stranger, Mama Told Me Not to Come
  • Clavinet - Superstition, Use Me Up
  • DX7 epiano - Babe
  • Mellotron - Nights in White Satin
  • synth strings 1 - Spirits in the Material World (boring?)
  • synth strings 2 - Jump, of course
  • Lucky Man - obvious
  • Rocket Man - obvious
  • steel drum - Jimmy Buffett Volcano
  • marimba - probably some Jimmy Buffett tune, and Under My Thumb
  • soul brass - lots of classic soul options, might want a backing track

What are yours? The winner gets to see me hack my way through trying to play it on Youtube.

1 Like
3

I would add a drum kit too. Although it may not be used by keyboardists, it may be useful for providing rhythm accompianment for practice or for recording. Something like the Black Pearl 4A would probaby work.

2 Likes
4

Good point. And I forgot a bass or two! Sadly, I didn’t find a very good one on Zynthian when I looked, though I probably need to look again.

Thanks for recommending a good all-round drum kit. Very useful. Demo: Wipeout! :wink:

5

I would add Rdpiano and CP80
:slight_smile:

1 Like
6

My favorite is also a Dexed FM-Piano.

:wink:

2 Likes
7

Thanks!

For my purposes, one Rhodes is enough, and I like the one I made! :wink:

Ah, CP80 – I got an (ab)used CP70 in 1982 and for 15 years it was my main piano and I loved it! But, I was SO glad to donate it after I replaced it with an Ensoniq MR76.

Now, when I play CP80/CP70 samplesets, I’m reminded of what I didn’t like about it (as a piano) and miss what it was so fantastic at (dynamics – no sampleset ever seems to recreate that.)

So, I kinda hate those sampled pianos! But it definitely is a classic rock sound, so I’ll hopefully find a way to fit that in as a ZS3, once I figure out how to use those effectively. And another Rhodes. I’ll check out rdpiano. I think I did, but I checked out lots of stuff and didn’t keep notes. SIgh.

2 Likes
8

Actually, I already have that in, but forgot to include it [edited in just now]. Thanks! I might be using a different DX7, maybe an sfz, but I do believe Dexed is the one to use. One big advantage is it has lots of presets, IIRC. Much better than just one DX7 epiano cast in stone.

2 Likes
9

Big thanks to @riban and @tunagenes who helped me get MiMi-d working great for Lucky Man!

2 Likes
10

FTW, added. Thanks again! Suggestions like this for the best plugin for a sound are very helpful.

11

Someone please recommend a good kit for classic rock, especially one that plays well via keyboards (rather than one that’s fine tuned to work for an e-kit – different goals!)

12

The various Black pearl kits seem to address this to a certain extent…