Instruments Included in VKC

Scarbee C.E.P. (Classic Electric Piano) - is the sound of a hot-rodded wonderful electric piano from the 70s! C.E.P. has expression and dynamics ranging from warm and mellow, to bright and ‘barking’, but can also produce a dulcet bell-like tone very suited to jazz, funk and R&B.

How much detail is there in the instrument? To start with, all samples are full length and unlooped. Each of the 73 keys of the original instrument was sampled at 12 different velocities - ranging from 0 to -26 dB - but this is only half the story. In order to capture that magical feel of really 'playing' the original instrument, we also recorded 'release' samples for each of the 12 velocities, at the exact same level as the corresponding 12 sustain samples. The release tone - a sound created when a damper bounces against the tine as a key is released, is an intrinsic element of what musicians recognise as the original sound.

Scarbee E.E.P. (Edgy Electric Piano) has a dynamic and versatile sound and tends more towards an 'edgier' sound. Certainly, it can deliver a 'soft and sweet' tone, but its light action allows players to easily deliver a performance with more 'bite'.

How much detail is there in the instrument? In order to accurately reproduce the dynamics of the original keyboard, both the sustained and release sounds of each of the 64 keys has been sampled at 16 different velocities – resulting in a total pool of over 2000 24 bit wav files. All samples are full length and unlooped and we also recorded 'release' samples for each of the 16 velocities, at the exact same level as the corresponding 16 sustain samples. (except those for the top 5 keys which have no damper, causing the keys to ring out to their end).

How much detail is there in the instrument? In order to accurately reproduce the original Clavinet™ dynamics, both the sustained and release sounds of the D6 has been sampled at up to 20 different sustained velocities - including samples of the occasional 'off center' string strike, a well known characteristic of the original instrument. All samples are full length and unlooped and with the F.E.P., Scarbee introduces 'Horizontal Release Technology', whereby release samples are chosen from the wave pool depending on how long a key has been held - allowing a staccato played note to create a different release tone to a note which is sustained for a longer period. To achieve this, each key sampled on the F.E.P. has 24 release samples assigned to it alone! This was the only way to reproduce the very special action and soul of the original instrument.

We sampled each of the 4 standard pickup settings: CA (Lower Pickup), CB (Upper Pickup), DA (Phase reversed), DB (Both Pickups) - in both a standard version and a version with mutebar switched ON, resulting in 8 unique sounds! We also made it possible to switch Standard/Mute with Mod-Wheel.

Scarbee S.E.P. (Sticky Electric Piano) has a sound that sonically lies somewhere between the reedy bite of the E.E.P. and the purer bell tone of the C.E.P. The result is a vibraphone type tone with a very percussive envelope and almost no dynamic response due to it's "sticky hammers".

How much detail is there in the instrument? Well, this unique keyboard used a special technique to produce it’s charming sound: so-called ‘sticky hammers’ made from rubber lifted the tine - more or less like a Harpsicord and when a hammer released its tine, this classic sound was produced. This technique means that the instrument is virtually without dynamics - but even so, it’s got a really cool sound!

Sampling 6 velocities more than covers the pianet’s dynamic range, but as with the F.E.P., S.E.P. takes advantage of 'Horizontal Release Technology', whereby different release samples are chosen from the wave pool depending on how long a key has been held - allowing a staccato played note to create a different release tone to a note which is sustained for a longer period. Due to the simple mechanical design of the instrument it was only necessary to make 5 release samples per key to obtain a perfect simulation of the original keyboard.