Vintage vibes

Thanks to the genius of software developers, who’ve managed the mind-boggling task of replicating almost every vintage keyboard made in plugin form that can be loaded into a DAW and conjured up with the click of a mouse, today’s computer muso has never had it so good when it comes to getting their hands – literally – on pretty much any exotic or esoteric keyboard from days of yore. Manufacturers such as Native Instruments, Arturia and Modartt have come up with brilliant products like Komplete, Analog Lab and Pianoteq to name but a few, meaning that the entire gamut of sought-after keyboard sounds from Wurlitzers and Rhodes to Mellotrons and Minimoogs are accessible at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. If you want the real shimmering tones of a Hammond B3 organ through a Leslie rotary speaker, or a Stevie Wonder clav sound, you got it! However, for a really authentic sound, it pays to know a little bit about how each would actually be played, as they each demand their own different piano/keyboard technique.