ELECTRIC
by AIR Music Technology · Keys · Electric piano
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ELECTRIC emulates classic electric pianos such as Rhodes and Wurlitzer models, with pickup, envelope, bell and noise controls.
It has five built-in effects and 80+ presets, and costs $99.
Best for: Keys & Synths. Genres: R&B & Soul, Pop, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical.
Keywords: electric piano, hardware emulation, drum machine, FM, classic, 60s, 70s, airy, inspired by, live performance, preset-driven, standalone app, tube, vintage.
What it does
ELECTRIC is AIR's electric piano collection, covering Rhodes and Wurlitzer-style keyboards, FM electric pianos and more. It builds on AIR's Velvet and uses what the developer calls "dynamic modelling", a mix of optimised sampling and modelling.
- Instruments: recreations of classic tine and reed electric pianos plus FM-style keyboards, all in one plugin.
- Pickup: a dedicated pickup section for shaping the core tone of each piano.
- Envelope and Bell: separate sections for the note envelope and the bell-like attack component.
- Noise: a noise section for the mechanical sounds that make an electric piano feel real.
- Effects: tremolo, tube distortion, chorus, delay and spring reverb.
- Presets: more than 80 factory presets.
- Standalone and MPC: a desktop player app for live use with a MIDI controller, and it runs on Akai MPC and Force hardware.
Sweetwater notes that the software is non-returnable.
Source: AIR Music Technology product page
When to use it
ELECTRIC is a compact, quick-to-tweak electric piano for producers rather than a deep-sampled collector's library. Compared with Keyscape, which uses large, detailed sample sets of specific instruments, it is far lighter on disk and puts tone shaping up front with its pickup, bell and noise sections. Compared with Waves' Electric 88 Piano, which focuses on one instrument, it covers several piano types, including FM keyboards, in one plugin. Addictive Keys offers more mic and room options, while ELECTRIC adds MPC and Force support that most rivals lack.
- Best for: Rhodes, Wurli and FM electric piano parts in beats and pop tracks, on desktop or MPC.
- Genres: R&B, soul, neo-soul, hip-hop, lo-fi and pop.
- Look elsewhere if: you want the most realistic, detailed sampled electric pianos; Keyscape goes deeper.
Where to buy
- Best Service: $99
- AIR Music Technology: $99 (list price from KVR Audio; airmusictech.com shows prices only in its shop)
- PluginFox: $99
- AudioDeluxe: $99
- Plugin Boutique: $99
Tutorials and reviews
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