Quote:
Originally Posted by Infa 
1 - Buy a original older one ? If so, which one ? Is the Mark V the best ?
2- Buy a Soft Synth Rhodes Keys plug In ? If so which one is the best ?
3 - Buy a newly manufactured one from Rhodes Music Corp ? If so which one is the best ?
THANKS !!!
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1. you can buy an old Rhodes that's still in a good, playable condition. I have a Rhodes that I bought about 2 years ago, for $500. It just took a little tune up, which I did myself, so basically I didn't spend any extra $$ on it.
I guess I could improve things here and there. Some dampers are sluggish, the keybed could be have a little less wiggle. But as it is, it plays, and has an awesome sound.
The Mark V is supposively the best, with an improved action over the older ones (MK1 and 2), overall lighter, but it's also ridiculously expensive (you occasionally see them on ebay for $3500+)
2. Going the soft synth route can be a good option for a lot of people. Some of the emulations come really close. Lounge Lizard makes a pretty good emulation, MrRay is also a very good one (a lot of people say it's the best emulation out there), and there's some sample library (forgot the name), which is apparently really good too.
On the hardware side, you can also try the Nord stage or electro. The Stage has weighted keyboards, which is nicer to play Rhodes than using a waterfall keyboard (electro), but the stage is also much pricier.
3. The new ones look tasty, but I have some skepticism. They went from a rugged Rhodes (mk1 - 5), that includes it's own flightcase, to some glossy, scratch prone plastic, which makes it lighter, but it's still Rhodes heavy and takes either a dolly or 2 people to move around. Aside from the plastic shell, they seem like really nice pianos, apparently modelled after the Mark V, and improved upon. They also offer active models, that have tremolo, which is nice to have. The passive models require a preamp, so you can't just plug them into your soundcard and record tutt