Best EP plug in Ive ever used
I didnt become a fan of the Rhodes piano until a few years ago when I attended a Frank McComb concert. Since then, Ive tried to have that Rhodes sound on just about every track I have recorded. I first started with Reasons Electromechanical plug-in, which isnt a bad plug in at all, and then moved on to Velvet for Pro-Tools. When I first heard about Neo-Soul Keys a couple of years back, I definitely questioned whether it could hang with Velvet. After watching enough developer videos by Jamal (in studio quality headphones) and comparing it to what I was hearing from my current EP plug-ins, along with classic songs from Roy Ayers, Patrice Rushen, and Herbie Hancock (to name a few), this plug-in is the best out there in terms of raw sound and samples from the SC73, Mark I, and A200 keyboards.
I had concerns of how it would sound on the iPad, given that it does not have the same level of RAM and ROM power as a conventional laptop. I downloaded it last night to give it a test run, and suffice it to say, I bought all 3 after just listening to a few chords.
The plug and play recognition of my Yamaha MO8 into the iPad 4 was instant. I still had all of my apps running in the background, and yet it still loaded within 5 seconds or less (usually 10 seconds or less on iPad2 from the vids I saw).
The other thing that I liked was that it saves the settings that you left it at when you last opened the app, so if you left on the Chorus and the Spring Reverb, it will stay on when you load it back up.
The only caveat is that you could not use this on a traditional MIDI controller as the iPad wont support having to power both the app and the MIDI controller, so you will need a traditional keyboard with USB MIDI capability (hint: best to use a hammer weighted keyboard to get a more authentic playing experience).
Not sure if its in scope with Version 2 (which Jamal has informed me is around the corner), but it would definitely be nice if some of the effects that are in the desktop version are included (such as Phaser, Wah-Wah effects) or even a group of presets that mimic certain styles (similar to Velvet).
Bottom line, if you are a fan of EP sounds like I am, then this app is a must buy.
RichBrand about
Neo-Soul Keys