Clavinet

Today we're putting the real thing against the software.

Here beside me is the Hohner Clavinet D6 and Rhodes have just launched the Clav Pro, a new software instrument sampled from a rare 1977 D6 transition model.

Let's see how the Clav Pro stacks up against the real thing.

Stevie Wonder, Superstition.

The Hohner Clavinet D6 Clav Pro Higher Ground by Stevie Wonder and this uses the Wah Wah Clav Pro.

Honour Covenant D6

Rufus, tell me something good.

Clav Pro.

Um, and I essentially started as a keyboard tech.

That included everything from, you know, Rhodes, Wurlitzers, Clavinets, and then into Hammond organs, um, into, uh, transistor organs, all sorts of, uh, all sorts of stuff.

Um, synthesizers as well.

Um, and in that role, I, I became, I fell into the, the fabricator machine shop guy.

Yeah, yeah.

Clavinet is so closely related, you know.

And when it comes to like, you know, especially if you use a wah-wah with a clav, you know, it gets me.

Guitarists are, you know, one or the other, yeah.

This was, you know, plug and play, you know, patchwork quilt kind of things.

And so gradually over a period of some years, I developed a rig of, oh, maybe five or six or seven keyboards that would be involved in either triggering synthesizers or they were instruments that were electronic unto themselves, like the Hohner Clavinet was an early one, the Farfisa Organ was another, the Fender Rhodes electronic piano.

Those were some of the early keyboards that I played back in the, you know, right, 67, 68, 69.

Then gradually, as the technology increased, The technological capability increased, but I was really very involved in that for that decade that you mentioned.

Hopefully you've had a few wait that's a D-50 moments along the way.

If you enjoyed this, there are full synth icon episodes on the Korg M1, Prophet 5, Roland Jupiter 4 and 8, Honor Clavinet D6, the Yamaha CS80, Vangelis Sound, and the DX7, all packed with famous riffs and original hardware.

You'll find links to those in the show notes.

If you want one-to-one lessons on how to program or produce in Logic Pro or you'd like help programming synths, analog or VST, head over to my website and get in touch.

I remember the first song was Night by Night, which Donald had written and Donald and Walter.

And I got to... play Clavinet on that particular song.

I'm the Clavinet player.

And on the next album, Katie Lied, I got to play on Black Friday and Dr.

Woo.

But it was always fun and interesting with Donald and Walter making records.

Yeah, absolutely.

And before, again, we jump into Toto, David, you just mentioned again, the Clavinet, you had a Rhodes originally.

I had a Clav.

My first demo that I ever made, I took my Clavinet and plugged it into a guitar amp and mic'd to the guitar amp and played guitar chords.

Oh, that's crazy.

Like that kind of stuff.

The Hohner Clavinet D6, the ultimate funky keyboard.

This instrument defined the sound of the 70s and made its way into funk, soul, reggae and even classic rock.

It's been heard on Stevie Wonder, Les Zeppelin, The Commodores, The Meters, Bob Marley and so many others.