Once again, AAS raises the bar in the recreation of the classic Rhodes™ and Wurlitzer™ electric pianos. Not only does Lounge Lizard EP-3 deliver the authentic tone of the originals, but it also preserves their action and feel. Once you get your hands on Lounge Lizard, that elusive electric piano sound becomes a vivid reality.

Using our award winning physical modeling technology, we've come up with refinements that take one of the most impressive and unanimously acclaimed software to another level.

What's New in Lounge Lizard EP-3

• Presets  The brand new modeling library fully exploits the refinements and covers all your electric piano needs.
• Effects  The high-end effects section has been extended with tremolo, wah, chorus, phaser, delay, reverb, and EQ making Lounge Lizard a complete and self-contained electric piano solution.
• Pickup model  Two pickup types are now available for a wider character range: electromagnetic (Rhodes™) and electrostatic (Wurlitzer™). In addition, scaling has been added for even volume across the entire keyboard.
• Fork model  The new and improved Fork model adds upper harmonic content for an even more authentic sound.
• Damper model  The improved Damper now closely interacts with the Fork and provides superb dynamic response.
• Audio Recorder  The integrated Audio Recorder captures inspired moments on the fly.
• Micro-Tuning  Custom tunings are now possible with the added support for Scala files.

Presets and Effects

Lounge Lizard comes with an extensive preset library that is simply inspiring, giving you access to the Rhodes™ and Wurlitzer™ sounds popularized by musical legends like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, and George Duke. There is a choice of pure and true tones as well as a selection of processed ones courtesy of the high-end effects section.

The effects section includes the classic tremolo, chorus, wah, and phaser effects as well as EQ, delay and reverb. These effects are specially designed for the electric piano, making it very easy to create your own distinctive custom tones.

EP Character and Beyond

The original Rhodes™ pianos provided timbre and volume adjustments by letting you position the tines in relation to the pickups. These adjustments were at the heart of the electric piano's character as they controlled the harmonic content, attack, and decay of the sound, offering unique tone to each player. But there was a price for this flexibility. Several painstaking hours with a screwdriver and incredible patience was needed to change the sound of an electric piano.

Suffer no more! With Lounge Lizard, the preset library provides a selection of thoroughly chosen Tine/Pickup configurations. You also have the ability to make those adjustments in real time via two simple controls: Distance and Symmetry.

It doesn't end there. Because controls are provided for the various electro­mechanical components, Lounge Lizard can be pushed far beyond hardware equivalents, opening up a completely new realm of sonic possibilities!

What's more, since the interaction between the tine and pickup is quite unique, its effect can't be obtained with the filtering provided by samplers. This limits sampled solutions to one or two fixed configurations and brings physical modeling to the forefront of the electric piano recreation.

Lounge Lizard EP-3 Highlights

• All the classic electric piano sounds: Rhodes™, Wurlitzer™, RMI™, Hohner™
• Entirely based on physical modeling for outstanding sound quality
• Top quality preset library—vintage to modern
• Integrated browser and locate function for easy navigation and organization of presets
• Fast preset loading time
• Hands-free operation via custom MIDI programs
• Every parameter can be controlled via MIDI or host automation
• Intuitive and ergonomic user interface for preset creation
• Fast installation
• Real-time calculation of sound. No samples
• 32bit floating point internal processing
• Audio bit-depth and sample rates up to 24bit/192kHz
• Import/Export functions for easy sharing of presets
• Unlimited undo/redo capability
• Standalone operation. No host application required, and standard plug-in format support
• Full audio and MIDI hardware support
• Simultaneous operation of multiple MIDI ports
• User defined MIDI maps with MIDI Learn function
• MIDI clock, tap and host tempo synchronization
• Dynamic voice allocation and CPU overhead protection

Modeling an Electric Piano: How it works

The electric piano was invented by Harold Rhodes (1910-2000) during the forties when he was in the army. The first instruments he built were made of aircraft pieces and were intended to entertain army servicemen. It became a very popular instrument in jazz and rock, and has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years through it's extensive use by the world's top hip hop, R&B, and house producers.

The mechanism of the electric piano is, in fact, quite simple. A note played on the keyboard activates a hammer that hits a fork. The sound of that fork is then amplified by a magnetic coil pickup and sent to the output, very much like an electric guitar.

"With Lounge Lizard EP3, I predict that many musicians may well desire it more than the acoustic instruments it models — it just feels so good to play, you forget within a few seconds that you're not playing a real acoustic instrument, and there are hundreds of variations and refinements available that don't involve a technician manhandling 73 tines and pickups! Lounge Lizard EP3 is quite simply the new benchmark against which all electric piano sounds must be judged."
-Martin Walker - Sound On Sound (Read the full review here)

"...In a word, it sounds incredible. There are other virtual electric pianos, but none with this high level of sophistication. Every conceivable detail has been considered, and the sound reflects it."
-Remix Magazine

"Lounge Lizard has become my #1 Rhodes/Wurlie of choice for the recordings I'm doing with Nile Rodgers. It sounds great, gives me amazing flexibility in the sounds, and runs on all my computers including my iBook. I can use it with Pro Tools, I can use it with Cubase SX, and I can use it as a stand-alone instrument. I love having it with me when I'm on the road with Chic. It's the lightweight electric piano I've always dreamed of! "
-Rich Hilton - Nile Rogers Productions (David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Chic, Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Ramones)

"I love it. I hear the sound improvement (in version 2). I like the way the presets have been organized. It is definitely a powerful plug in. I have been using in lot of my projects and it is also a great inspiration for my original pieces.."
-Jetro Dasilva - Berklee College Of Music (Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Faith Hill, Brandy, The Pointer Sisters)