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Free Rhodes VST Plugins

The All-Time Best Free Rhodes VST Plugins

Looking for the perfect free Rhodes VST plugin in 2021?  Look no further!

Over the past 13 years, I have searched through hundreds of plugins and spent hours and hours trying to find the gold amongst the endless sea of shitty free VST plugins.

Hence how this list was born, and now I get to share it with you fine people.

If you feel like some extra light reading, Ive also compiled a list of FREE Piano VST plugins, and FREE Kontakt libraries.

All-Time Best Free Rhodes VST Plugins

  • NoiseAsh Sweetcase
  • Mr. Ray 73
  • Keyzone Classic
  • Clavia Lab
  • LazySnake
  • DSK Elekrik Keys
  • DSK Rhodez
  • EP-Station VST
  • 4Front R-Piano
  • MDA ePiano

NoiseAsh Sweetcase

Free Electric piano VST Plugins
NoiseAsh Sweetcase VST

Features Include

This free Rhodes VST plugin is by far the sexiest and one of the best sounding and includes features such as:

  • Reverb
  • Master Volume
  • Bass Boost
  • Bell shape
  • Panning control

If you are wanting more control, then you will have to get it by using third-party plugins in your effect chain.

How does it sound?

Warm, shiny realistic and customizable professional vintage electric piano sound that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. 

The quality of the sound is A grade and requires little to no mixing meaning it won’t need to be tweaked too hard to generate that clean modern analog vibe.

  • All samples were recorded, mixed/mastered through classic analog gear such as tape saturators, tube eq, and compressors.
  • Many different velocity layers and round robins.

Pros

  • Sounds amazingly clean and fresh
  • Super cool 3d interface
  • Reasonably small download

Cons

  • Minimal control

Mr. Ray 73

Free Rhodes VST Plugins
Mr. Ray 73 VST

Mr. Ray 73 is an Electric Piano emulation and is capable of producing the sound of the Electric Pianos of the ’70s, like the Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes.

Features Include

  • 4 different mallet and noise options
  • Phaser effect
  • Tremolo with Mono/Stereo options
  • And a really cool control to change the age of the piano

These features give the user a fair amount of control and make using this free Rhodes VST plugin really interesting and fun.

How does it sound?

Mr. Ray is characterized by a series of purposeful imperfections introduced in order to reproduce the typical 70’s analog sound. The mallets, noises, and changes of volume are different for every single note meaning you will never hear the exact same sound twice.

One of my favorite features is the growl that’s produced when hitting the lower notes with velocity and hitting higher notes hard also create some really cool overtone effects.

Pros

  • Lots of control
  • Really cool velocity samples
  • Never hear the same sample twice
  • Piano age function
  • Tiny download

Cons

  • No reverb effects
  • No ADSR controls

Keyzone Classic

Free Rhodes Piano VST Plugins
Keyzone Classic

Keyzone Classic is a sample-based piano consisting of 5 different piano options.

Features Include

  • Piano from Keyzone 1.
  • Yamaha Grand Piano.
  • Steinway Grand Piano.
  • Basic Electric Piano.
  • Rhodes Piano.

The interface includes a decent reverb, ADSR controls, detuning, master volume, panning, velocity curve options and some LFO options that allow the user to fully customize their sound.

If you are looking for a great all-rounder that comes packed with other useful instruments, then this free Rhodes VST plugin is a great option.

How does it sound?

Being a sample-based instrument means the samples are as close to the original sounding Rhodes instrument as possible.  The only factor to consider is the quality of the recorded samples and I must say that they are of very high-quality.

Pros

  • 5 instruments in total
  • High-quality recordings
  • Lots of controls

Cons

  • LFO doesn’t sound too good
  • Large download

Clavia Lab

Free Rhodes VST Plugins
Clavia Lab VST

If you need an electric piano but are looking for something more than the usual Rhodes or Wurlitzer clone, then Clavia Lab is the instrument for you.

Features Include

  • 4 different waveforms to choose from
  • 8 note polyphonic
  • Octave Control
  • Amp Envelope settings
  • Modulation control with tremolo and wah-wah
  • VU meter indicates when tone is likely to distort (distortion is actually very pleasant in most cases)
  • 8 presets plus room for 8 more

How does it sound?

This is a hybrid analog/physical model uses experimental techniques to create the complex changing harmonic content of an electric piano.  These techniques can get reasonably close to the hardware it is modeled after although, in my opinion, it can sound a little cheesy.

Pros

  • Waveform control
  • Wah-wah modulation

Cons

  • Can sound cheesy

LazySnake

Free Electric Piano VST Plugins
Lazysnake VST

LazySnake is a virtual electric piano with a very simple and easy to understand user interface.

Features Include

  • Polyphony 1-16 voices.
  • +-24 course tuning & finetune controls.
  • Lin/Exp/Log velocity curves with depth control.
  • Wah-wah control with cutoff & resonance and sync options.
  • Tremolo
  • MIDI automation and MIDI learn.
  • Skinable.

How does it sound?

Straight out of the box this free Rhodes VST can sound pretty bland, boring and lacking character but after some tweaking with the overdrive and harmonics controls it begins to come to life. 

It can’t precisely emulate the hardware it is modeled after, but it does a decent job.

Pros

  • Looks nice
  • Simple to use interface

Cons

  • Sounds a little cheesy
  • Requires some tweaking to sound decent

DSK Elekrik Keys

Free Elecgtric Piano VST Plugins

This little bad boy has got quite a lot inside and gives the user many tools to play with.

Features Include

  • Many different presets of analog electric keys
  • Can have up to 2 different layers
  • 13 waveforms
  • Octave select and micro-detuner
  • Delay and flanger effects
  • Can automate many controls
  • Pitch bend and modulation range control
  • ADSR control
  • Portamento

How does it sound?

The factory presets aren’t anything to rave about, but with a little bit of tweaking and with the help of some external effects this free Rhodes VST can produce some really nice sounds close to the hardware it has been modeled after.

Pros

  • 2 separate layers
  • Decent amount of presets
  • Pitch and modulation range control

Cons

  • Outdated interface
  • Some of the presets sound a little bad

DSK Rhodez

Free Rhodes VST Plugins
DSK Rhodez VST

The second installment from the DSK team is DSK Rhodez and is specifically modeled from a Rhodes machine.

Features Include

  • 6 Rhodes piano variations
  • Velocity-sensitive
  • ADSR
  • HP & LP Filters
  • Reverb, Chorus & Flanger

How does it sound?

Surprisingly this does sound pretty decent and the 6 piano variations tend to lean more towards an airy sound rather than the harsher Rhodes sound. 

Everything is velocity-sensitive and you can still hear the typical Rhodes growl when pushing notes hard.

The only thing this VST is lacking some clarity and presence making it better for a backing piano rather than a lead.

Pros

  • 6 Rhodes piano variations
  • HP & LP Filters
  • 3 x effects

Cons

  • Lacking clarity and presence
  • The interface is a bit crappy

EP-Station VST

Free Rhodes VST Plugins
EP-Station VST

Boring interface, right?  Well, beggars can’t be choosers, I guess. 

This free Rhodes VST includes a user interface that’s targetted more for the advanced user, or maybe they just tried to make it confusing?

Features Include

  • Tremolo
  • Phaser
  • Stereo Chorus
  • Auto-pan

How does it sound?

EP-Station uses FM modelling to re-create classic electric piano sounds.  It generates sound by mixing 3 different raw electric piano FM models and sending that signal through the effects to create the final output.

There are a bunch of presets out of the box but only a select few of them sound really nice.  The rest can sound a little cheap and empty.

Pros

  • Small download
  • Lots of presets

Cons

  • Outdated interface
  • Presets can sound a little cheap

4Front R-Piano

Free Rhodes VST Plugins

This is a vintage piano module with a characteristic recognizable sound and a gentle overdrive.

Features Included

  • Envelope Settings
  • Filter control
  • Master volume
  • Drive and Dynamics
  • Preset functions

How does it sound?

This free Rhodes VST plugin tries to replicate the classic sound similar to RSP73 pianos. The sound generation is not entirely based upon samples, and also uses synthesizes modulation to create the sound. 

Although it is synthesized it does a decent job at creating the typical Rhodes characteristics.  Hard button pushes generate a growling sound in lower notes and a nice overtone effect in higher octaves.

Pros

  • Never crashes or freezes
  • Uses sample and synthesized processing
  • Drive effect makes things shine

Cons

  • The interface could be better
  • Lacking effects

MDA ePiano

Free Rhodes VST Plugins

This free Rhodes VST plugin is modeled around 12 carefully sampled and mastered Rhodes Piano samples.

Features Include

  • 1-32 voice polyphony
  • Gentle muffling filter
  • Amp Envelope with Decay & Release
  • Stereo Width control
  • Velocity sensitivity
  • Muffle and hardness Amount adjustable.

How does it sound?

Don’t let the piece of shit interface fool you because damn, this actually sounds quite dreamy! Drop a good reverb and delay on this and you are about to get transported to another dimension.

The only problem there is with this synth is that it’s completely synthesized taking that typical Rhodes character out of it. 

On the other hand, at least you won’t cap your download limit.

Pros

  • 1mb download
  • Sounds pretty decent
  • Filter sounds nice

Cons

  • Looks like a piece of crap
  • Lacking some Rhodes character

Summary

I hope this has helped you save some of your precious time in trying to find the perfect free Rhodes VST.  I have been producing music for over 13 years and over that time have spent countless hours searching for the perfect plugins.

If you fine people know of any other free Rhodes VST plugins that you think should belong on this list, please leave a comment below, and ill be sure to add it!

Interested in other awesome free stuff lists?

As always, good luck and happy producing.