I recommend playing with this control a bunch and setting up more presets, as I found this knob brought out the biggest variation in usable tones overall.įinally, the Character and Tremolo controls round out the bottom section. The knob changes which harmonics sing out and just a slight change makes a huge difference in the overall tone. The control ranges from 0.00 to 2.00 most of the presets are either at 0.63 (standard), 1.05 (dark), or 1.44 (bright), but there is so much control there to play with that it’s hard to really describe. When I first tested out this plugin, I assigned the knob to an outboard MIDI controller to get more instant control, and simply had a blast playing with it. The Pickup Symmetry knob is probably my favorite out of all – it allows you to fine-tune the virtual pickup inside the Fender Rhodes in relation to the hammers and tines. The level of detail put into this functionality is incredible, as you can actually turn the Tone Amp all the way down and recreate the sound of the hammers hitting the tines with no power to the amp, a very neat addition. The Fork Tine Bar control adds an interesting sparkle to the notes, while the Tone Amp acts as a master gain control for the simulated electric piano’s circuitry, with a very pleasant breakup starting just above 0dB. Starting from left to right, the Hammer Noise knob adds a very cool ‘spank’ to the sound of higher-velocity notes starting at around -15dB is where it really becomes noticeable, especially with the onboard compressor disabled. The rest of the controls in the top two sections are fairly self-explanatory though advanced users will probably prefer to chain in their own favorite plugins for compression, EQ, and reverb, having all of the essentials built into the plugin will definitely help users with less powerful computers save on some valuable clock cycles, since turning on all of the functions at once did not cause any noticeable spike in CPU usage during my testing.Īs I mentioned in the introduction, the real magic happens in the bottom section of Lounge Lizard. And believe me, once you dig into the actual piano controls, you’re going to want to save a bunch of cool presets. This allows for the existing presets, which are very well thought-out and wonderfully tuned, to be copied into separate banks in order to add quick access to different flavors of the same presets to suit the user’s taste. Clicking the ‘Manage’ dropdown brings up a whole menu for saving, copying and deleting presets (called ‘Programs’ in this plugin), all arranged into banks: Right off the bat, I have to say that this plugin’s preset functionality is fantastic. There is also a handly 7-octave piano roll for the mobile musician. It contains hammer noise, fork tine bar and tone amp, pickup symmetry, character and tremolo controls, and has a switch to toggle input from your keyboard’s pitch/mod wheels. The bottom section is where the real magic happens with this plugin, which we’ll detail in the next section. The middle section has the appearance of rackmount effects, complete with compressor, EQ, chorus, phaser, and reverb. The top section has all of your preset functions, a MIDI light with a cool vintage jewel light look, a fine-tuning tool, MIDI voice control, output volume control, and a handy meter. Lounge Lizard Session has a very straightforward presentation. I’m obviously no Ray, but the way this plugin absolutely nails that Rhodes sound made me feel like I could be, even if just for a moment. That instantly recognizable Fender Rhodes electric piano sound filled my ears, and I just had to try to recreate that intro. The second I loaded up Lounge Lizard Session by Applied Acoustics Systems, it was suddenly 1971 in my home studio and Jim Morrison was in the booth next to me stinking of Chivas. Whenever the intro to ‘Riders On The Storm’ plays, in particular, we all have had the urge to air-keyboard along with that iconic riff, right? Or is that just me? I have to believe that every one of us at some point in our lives has pantomimed like we were Ray Manzarek.
#LOUNGE LIZARD SESSION REVIEW HOW TO#