|
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano or simply Fender Rhodes or Rhodes) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became particularly popular throughout the 1970s. It generates sound using keys and hammers in the same manner as an acoustic piano, but the hammers strike thin metal rods of varied length, connected to tonebars, which are then amplified via an electromagnetic pickup. The instrument evolved from Rhodes' attempt to manufacture pianos to teach recovering soldiers during World War II under a strict budget, and development continued throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Fender started marketing the Piano Bass, a cut-down version of the piano, but the full-size instrument did not appear until after the sale to CBS in 1965. CBS oversaw mass production of the Rhodes piano in the 1970s, and it was used extensively through the decade, particularly in jazz, pop and soul music. It fell out of fashion for a while in the mid-1980s, principally due to the emergence of polyphonic and later digital synthesizers, especially the Yamaha DX7, and partly through inconsistent quality control in production due to cost-cutting measures. The company was eventually sold to Roland, who manufactured digital versions of the Rhodes without authorization or approval from its inventor. In the 1990s, the instrument enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, resulting in Rhodes re-obtaining the rights to the piano in 1997. Although he died in 2000, the instrument has since been reissued, and his teaching methods are still receiving active use. ==Features== The Rhodes piano features a keyboard with a similar layout to an acoustic piano, but some models contain 73 keys instead of 88. The touch and action of the keyboard is designed to be as close to an acoustic piano as possible. Pressing a key results in a hammer striking a thin rod connected to a "tonebar" resembling a tuning fork, known as a tine. The resulting vibrations from the tine sit below a pickup, which induces an electric current in a similar manner to an electric guitar. The basic mechanical act of hitting tines does not need an external power supply and a Rhodes will make a sound even when not plugged into an amplifier, though like an unplugged electric guitar the sound will be weak.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Electric Piano Models Emulated by the EVP88 )〕 Some models of Rhodes include a built-in power amplifier and a combined tremolo and auto-pan feature that bounces the output signal from the piano in stereo across two speakers. This feature is mistakenly called "vibrato" (which is a variation in ''pitch'') on some models to be consistent with the labelling on Fender amplifiers. Although the Rhodes has the same mechanical operation as an acoustic piano, its sound is very different. The sound produced by the tines has a more mellow timbre, but varies depending on the location of the tine to the pickup. Putting the two close together gives a characteristic "bell" sound.〔 The instrument's sound has been frequently compared with the Wurlitzer electric piano, which used a similar technology, but with the hammers striking metal bars instead of tines. The Rhodes has a better sustain, while the Wurlitzer produces significant harmonics when the keys are played hard, giving it a "bite" that the Rhodes does not have. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「rhodes piano」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|