"If you do a search for "tapper" or "thunker" from the home page of rhodeschroma.com, you'll find a number of mentions of this feature of the Chroma. It can also be turned off. In the interview I did with Phil Dodds and Tony Williams, I asked how the "thunker" came about: http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=doddswilliams#thunker"
When I recently played a Rhodes Chroma for the first time I was astonished by the feel of the keyboard and the sound it produced. I had no idea what to expect, would this be a somewhat thinned down polysynth or would it have the brawn of the mighty poly analogs like the Oberheim OBXa, SCI Prophet 5, or Roland Jupiter 8. Well let's say it pretty much holds its own against these classics and actually outdoes them in some ways. The sound is absolutely full, thick analog, and the flexibility of routing and modulation options out does the above. But... this is not the point of this post. When I was playing with the Chroma I noticed a sort of thick clunk when pressing its membrane switches and for some parameters I heard this when moving its one editing slider. It through me off and I actually thought it was broken! I was actually a little relieved as at that point I figured there was no way I'd be tempted to buy this particular unit. But then it occurred to me that this might actually be by design. I played with a bit more and sure enough it was clear that this was on purpose. After using it a bit I began to appreciate the thudded tap - it added a certain weight and tactile response to editing the synth which would be missing without it. I find it fascinating that they took the time out to implement this and I'm left wondering if there are any other synths with it. At this point there is none that I know of. Title link takes you to more on this unique feature on the Rhodes Chroma site. BTW, I'm still blown away by the resources and support available on the Rhodes Chroma site. If there was ever a synth resource award, Chris Ryan would be on the top of my list. Links via Chris Ryan on AH.
Two links on the tapper:
http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=emm#shapingthesystem (picture)
http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=diagnostics#tapper
Yeah, those tappers. Cute little buggers.
ReplyDeleteThe way they can loosen chips sitting upside down in sockets on that tapped panel.. heh.
Ain't they adorable? ;-)
Still playing around, aren't you?
ReplyDeleteCan't see the reference your making on AH. On which posting where Chris Ryan said that?
Samppa
I sent you the email Samppa. Also you can also search for one of the linked URLs in the post here: http://www.retrosynth.com/ah/.
ReplyDeleteIf you do a search for "tapper" or "thunker" from the home page of rhodeschroma.com, you'll find a number of mentions of this feature of the Chroma. It can also be turned off. In the interview I did with Phil Dodds and Tony Williams, I asked how the "thunker" came about:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=doddswilliams#thunker
--Chris
You can always disconnect the tapper and install a Sonalert type device instead. Then it will just chirp when you hit a button.
ReplyDelete