How Does One Go About Finding Abbey Road Keys?

[jjkjjk]

Really wishing I was a reason user when this was a thing . . .

[Gardinski]

Honestly, it's pretty clunky, and has been massively superceded by many, many other alternatives. (I was going to say it sounds "dated", but I realise that's a foolish choice of words when it comes to something like the Abbey Road collection, which seeks to capture that swinging sixties retro vibe.) But honestly, there are far better ways of assembling the same kit.

Let's see: From memory (because I don't have it to hand), there's a couple of pianos in there (the Challen and the "Mrs Mills"), which you could replicate perfectly well with, say, Radical Piano, (not to mention the couple of hundred other variants that package would give you).

There was also:
- A Mellotron, an instrument which is covered in FAR more breadth and depth in the GForce ReTron.
https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/re-tron/

- A Hammond organ, for which you'd want Jiggery-Pokery's B3, (or perhaps Revival).
https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... els-organ/
https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/revival/


- And I think there might have been a Harpsichord, which again is probably covered by a number of Refills, or indeed the onboard FSB. (I believe Jiggery Pokery has a newish RE devoted to Harpischord, but I've yet to check that out.)
https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... rpsichord/

I realise that the list I've given you would require you to buy several separate items, and I understand the desire to have all of those bases covered in one single refill, but honestly - I think you'd be disappointed by the sound quality and the limited scope of the refill, in comparison to what you'd get from the options I've suggested.

[jjkjjk]

Thanks! Would radical or reason pianos come closer?

[Gardinski]

Sorry - I was mistaken. No Harpsichord, but there were Tubular Bells and a Celeste, both of which I'd imagine could be replicated impressively in the new "Resonans" rack extension from Robotic Bean.

[Gardinski]

Thanks! Would radical or reason pianos come closer?

Good question! Um... I'm very fond of Reason Pianos, as it often seems to have a warmer, richer sound than Radical. But I was thinking Radical, because I thought perhaps there might be more opportunity to mangle the sounds a bit and perhaps age them or make them a bit more dissonant, if that's what you're after. (That's sort of what I meant by "clunky". The Mrs Mills and the Challen, as I recall, both sound pretty old and weather-worn, whch is of course part of their charm.)

[Gardinski]

If you wanted to get 'really' strange and psychedelic, it might be worth checking out Apex Kompozre, from Softphonics. It's essentially a "Steampunk Piano". Very hard to explain without actually playing it for you, but I'm sure if you check out Softphonics site there will be a demo which can convey the idea far better than I can in words.

http://www.softphonics.com/apex-kompozre/4593521672

Also, "Zombie Fights Shark" does a couple of very strange (and inexpensive) refills which cover 'prepared pianos', which may also help recreate the experimental nature of that era (albeit with a bit of a twist).

https://gumroad.com/l/preparedpiano#
https://gumroad.com/l/mecanique#

[Mysterygrimms]

I disagree the Abbey Roads reason refill library is phenomenal. Op, I would try Amazon or Ebay, to see if anyone is selling an unopened copy of Abbey Roads with the license key intact.

I absolutely love the Challen, Mellotron, Mrs Mills Piano and Tubular Bells instruments. Garniski is right about the B3 organ though. Also, ReTron is excellent as well. I would definitely recommend Jiggery Pokery's B3 organ for sure though.

The B3 is my favorite out of all the organs that he offers, but their all excellent otherwise. Reason Pianos Refill package is another excellent product if you can find that as well. I do not own Radical Pianos so I can't speak on that.

Sent from my SM-G550T using Tapatalk

[QVprod]

Agreed with Gardinski, You can probably find a 2nd hand copy on Ebay if you're willing to take that gamble. Otherwise I believe Radical Piano can get you closest to the Abbey Road piano sounds than most being that they're character piano sounds (one being a prepared piano) and not meant to sound the most pristine.

[Bunja]

dude your world just opened up to this forget abbey roads

http://www.imperfectsamples.com/

[Bunja]

it was this specific piano from them guys i was on about


http://www.imperfectsamples.com/website ... tpiano.php

[Gardinski]

Wow, Bunja - I love those! The 'broken upright' Brasted piano is brilliant, (in a "Tom Waits at his most derelict" kinda way!)

[eusti]

it was this specific piano from them guys i was on about


http://www.imperfectsamples.com/website ... tpiano.php

Nice one!

D.

[Bunja]

No worries i like the upright from them , i havent bought it yet coz i dont know if there vst version is 64 bit the other one is kontakt i think .

[Bunja]

Standard version is only 39.99

[Lov2sing]

Get Keyscape Spectrasonics, it's incredible. Some of the best pianos I've ever heard. It also allows you to create some pianos that have never been physically created. I have the Abbey Roads refill but Keyscape is better IMO. I believe I have every piano refill and I use the combinator to get the sounds I want. That may be your other option.

[Gardinski]

Funnily enough, I was just looking at a demo of Keyscape a few hours ago, and it does indeed look/sound fantastic. It's a bit more expensive at around $400 / £300, but it's seriously powerful and covers a great range of sonic territory.

https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/ ... .php#video

(That demo is worth watching just for the musicianship. It features, among others, Greg Phillinganes, who I saw live nearly 30 years ago. Phenomenal keyboard player.)

[Bunja]

£300 is too much for a piano vsti it must also turn into holly.willoughby at night and pleasure me for that much jeez lol must be one hell of a plug in

[Gardinski]

Now you've got me wondering whether you can press 'tab' on Holly Willoughby and flip her rack around so you can plug stuff into her CV inputs. (Purely in the interests of science, you understand.)

Who knows? Maybe that's coming in Reason 10.

[pedrocaetanos]

I own Abbey Road Keys Refill, Reason Pianos and several other things mentioned.
What was your objective in getting ARK?
What instruments did you want? all? a specific one?
What kind of sound are you after?
I may be able to advise (according to my point of view) if I get more details.

[jjkjjk]

I record and perform a lot of original, Beatles-inspired tunes and I'm also a worship musician (so there's a pretty heavy Ian Macintosh influence). Looking for a go-to piano, Rhodes, and mellotron

[Gardinski]

There isn't a Rhodes in Abbey Roads Keybds, and the Mellotron was pretty limited, especially in comparison with GForce Re-Tron, (which I think you will love).

For Rhodes-y goodness, you really can't beat Radical Keys.

[pedrocaetanos]

I record and perform a lot of original, Beatles-inspired tunes and I'm also a worship musician (so there's a pretty heavy Ian Macintosh influence). Looking for a go-to piano, Rhodes, and mellotron

What are the advantages of AK refill (regarding to Beatles)?
1) It has the emmotional connection - it was recorded "there"!
2) It has sounds recorded with the same techniques and the same gear (kind of)
3) It uses hypersampling with the possibility of choosing multiple mics in order to customize your studio sound

I don't think you really "need" ARK for your purposes, and while you don't find ARK for sale you have plenty of alternatives.

A) "go-to" Piano
- Factory soundbank has B GrandPiano 1.0 for NN-XT, decent enough.
- Reason Pianos Refill sounds great.
- Radical Piano RE has a more artificial and nasal sound, but I'd say you could get it to sound like ARK pianos, that are a bit honky-tonky, a bit out of tune.

B) Rhodes
- As said, there is no Rhodes in ARK.
- ElectroMechanical Refill (free) has a Rhodes MkI and a Rhodes MkII, good sounding, plenty of choices. I'm not sure if it's still available from PH, but latest Reason version (9) factory soundbank includes all ElectroMechanical samples and patches.
- Radical Keys RE is a very good for Rhodes

C) Mellotron
- ARK mellotron only includes 3 sounds: Cello, Strings and Flute. You may want more, or different sounds... (but probably you want the flute )
- Reason factory soundbank includes "MTron Flutes" for NNXT
- There is the Sonic Reality Mello-T refill (https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/mello-t-refill/), with lots of decent quality Mellotron patches, you even have a patch called "Strawberry Feel"
- Re-Tron RE, as already recommended - I didn't like it, it has a big focus in a modernized sound: too clean and most/many sounds are new (modern) tapes, instead of the classics. Just trial to see if you like it.

[QVprod]

I record and perform a lot of original, Beatles-inspired tunes and I'm also a worship musician (so there's a pretty heavy Ian Macintosh influence). Looking for a go-to piano, Rhodes, and mellotron

For Ian McIntosh kind of stuff, you wont need Abbey Road Keys. The ID8 Grand and Upright pianos will suit you needs just fine (They're cut down versions from the Reason Pianos refill). If you want some extra control, then get Reason Pianos (It's on sale$49). I've watched a few of his videos, and what I noticed is he's big on using heavy effects on Piano sounds pretty much treating it as a synth. Usually Id suggest the VST/Kontakt options, but you won't need it.

[Gardinski]

C) Mellotron...
- Re-Tron RE, as already recommended - I didn't like it, it has a big focus in a modernized sound: too clean and most/many sounds are new (modern) tapes, instead of the classics. Just trial to see if you like it.

This is true, but there are quite a few of the more traditional Mellotron soundbanks in there, (ie. the flutey/choral sounds), and you could always grunge things up a bit with carefully chosen effects. Audiomatic springs to mind, and maybe a nice phaser like Synapse's 90 (or even the T2 Phaser from That Music Company, which is admittedly not as 'vintage-sounding', but has the advantage of now being 'free', thanks to the developer's generous move last week!)

I'd forgotten about the Sonic Reality Mello-T refill. It's not bad at all, and it's very inexpensive, for what it is. One site is listing it for $7.50 ( http://shop-vst.com/1930 ), and it's also available as part of their 20-volume "Gold Bundle" which is listed at $35. Never heard of this site before, so I can't vouch for its legitimacy, but it looks OK.

(Sonic Reality's own site has both listed as downloadable files, but I couldn't find a price or an order button when I looked just now.)

[Dabbler]

For anyone who has ARK. Listen to the harmonium. Then listen to the harmonium in Cry Baby Cry.

As pedrocaetanos said "kind of"

I would love to know what they did to that harmonium to get it to sound like it does in CBC.