I recently programmed this synthesized clavinet sound using the DSI Tempest. There are no samples involved, only analog oscillators. It turned out to be quite effective thanks to the speedy envelopes in the Tempest synthesis engine. I added a little reverb and delay to give it a little bit of space. I also used a sustain pedal on part of the phrase, something that you cannot do on a Hohner E7.
Tempest Synthesized Clavinet
I recently recorded a few passages of clavinet on a piece I’ve been working on for a while. My Hohner E7 is still in disrepair, so I had to rely on a sampled version of the instrument. I processed the sampled version in a similar way to how I would have processed the real thing.
Generally I tend to try new things rather than rely on previous settings and techniques, however, I almost always starts with compression on the clav. This time, I followed the compression with amp modeling, chorus, and reverb. The context is the key to what kind of processing I’ll use on this versatile instrument.
Fire Diamond Segment
I just recycled this ten year old recording made on my Hohner E7 Clavinet. It was originally a track in the piece Onikoroshi on the album Super Structure Baby (2004, Unearthed Music), which I think was recorded in 1999.
Unfortunately the rubber hammers on my clav have deteriorated so it is no longer playable. I have been meaning to restore it when I can find the time, but it is apparently a time consuming and arduous undertaking as you can tell from this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZXYU48P90Q
Robot Clavinet