Cherry Audio | Introduction to Rhodes Chroma

Synth designer Mitchell Sigman of Cherry Audio introduces Rhodes Chroma, Cherry Audio's virtual instrument that emulates the 1982 Rhodes Chroma polyphonic analog synthesizer and its Expander unit.

0:10 Introduction
1:18 User Interface Basics
4:44 Voice Architecture and Patch Configuration
9:43 The Chroma Arpeggiator
11:37 Sweep Generators (the LFOs)
17:02 Envelope Generators
19:46 Chroma CPU Usage

The long-awaited and often requested Rhodes® Chroma synthesizer is a virtual instrument that brings back the spirit and sounds of the iconic Rhodes Chroma polyphonic analog synthesizer from 1982 with the utmost accuracy.

Originally released by Cherry Audio in May 2024, the Rhodes Chroma plug-in by Cherry Audio has now been rebranded through a collaboration with Rhodes® Music. This rebranding marks a new chapter in the synthesizer’s legacy, aligning the product with its historical roots under the Rhodes name. The plug-in remains a faithful recreation of the original 1980s Rhodes Chroma, enhanced with modern features that make it accessible to today's musicians and producers, offering them the chance to experience one of the most iconic synthesizers in music history.

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Rhodes® is a registered trademark of Rhodes Music Ltd.

#synthesizer #vst #vstplugins
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[paulgrooveside]

As a former sound designer for Fender UK in the 1980s and an expert user of the Chroma, I can honestly say that I'm delighted with what Mitchell and the team have done.

Most importantly of all, the Cherry Chroma sounds exactly like a hardware Chroma. That's first and foremost what I was wishing for. I used to say that nothing else sounds like a Chroma, but now I can say that the Cherry Chroma and the Rhodes Chroma have that sound. Wonderful!!!

It has at least some of the enhancements I'd have wished for and the user interface is faithful to the original yet much easier to use by making the parameter buttons reveal their menus with clicking and sliding.

I'm working away from home for a few weeks so it will be some time before I can delve more deeply into it, but I'm thrilled with what Cherry Audio has achieved.

Brilliant!!!

[simonwilkinson]

As someone who owned an original (purchased 1983) for 20 or so years, I've been waiting for a plugin version to arrive! Fantatastic.

[DRP]

HOME HARD WORKERS AT CHERRY AUDIO PUT IN THE WORK!!!

[stevehofer]

Congratulations! This is the synth emulation I was looking forward to the most because I was so curious about the original. I bet there are people at a certain company that begins with "A" cursing you under their breath as they stare at their pre-alpha build they have been working on for at least 5 years. (Pure speculation on my part.).

[blackbeardsghost]

Cherry Audio reaches into my wallet AGAIN. They're making incredible synths faster than I can refill it!

[dylangadwa]

As someone who has only had a chance to play the Original Chroma on seldom occasions many years ago, this machine has been on my wish list for many, many years. Thanks for all of your painstaking work on this. Insta-buy!!

[MPHORROCKS]

Just demoing it. It'll be a learning curve, for sure, but what a phenomenal achievement all at C.A! Amazing work! It sounds absolutely GLORIOUS!!! :)

[thirdmanzither]

No shade on the GX80, but I think this is the flagship of CA's emulations, and a wonderful achievement. Bravo!!! But, I did find myself pulling out ye olde Chroma Parameter Chart to help get reoriented. 😁

[keykiyox]

Thank you, this vid is really helpful to skip reading manuals. I haven’t even turned on my pc after the installing, but I know I can operate Chroma nicely next time I use it. Kudos to filter/resonance which is convincing.

[kobbyfoof]

Thank you for making this video. Great to get a run-thru directly from the creators!

[electronodyssey]

Congrats guys! Looks and sounds fantastic.

[chrisstrobel]

Man I wanted a Chroma big time back in the day, I ended up with the lowely Jupiter 8 instead 🥺 But hey! Now I have a Cherry Audio Chroma! 😀👍

[MsInstrumentalBeatz]

Ohhhh my! I was literally looking for an emulation for this yesterday and then this video pops up. Thank you!!

[titovalasques]

YES!!!! Herbie Hancock fan favourite!! Instant purchase!

[brumd]

Admittedly, before wednesday I had never heard of the Rhodes Chroma, and I really try not to accumulate too much gear/VSTs, but I did download the demo yesterday, and it kept me fascinated for hours. It's surprisingly easy to make some tweaks to a preset and hit so many sweet spots. I really really like it, and will most likely buy it. One of the fun things I discovered is you can set a different pitch bend range for the synth and for the expander, and use the pitchbend wheel to create different chords; I have never seen this on any other synth. Really nice!

[kalahmusic]

Excellent!! Brilliant!👍👋👋👋🎹😊 Thank you!🙏

[The_Digital_Arts_World]

Congrats, 🍒 Cherry Audio on another big and interesting (a.k.a., a bit challenging) synth offering. It is one that I intend to add to the box of chocolate cherries of course.

A few things regarding the “intro video” though to be taken constructively …

1. This video recording suffered from camera shot flutter between two different sources. For example demo on physical Chrome fluttered with virtual Chroma in several segments.
2. A bit more unsettling was that the type for different things including guidance dialogs appears to be out of focus which was a bit frustrating when I thought I needed my reading glasses and found out it was the actual video slightly defocused. It makes things hard to read when shifting between things.

Those were the techie things. On the Implementation side, I found the CA implementation of complex settings to be very helpful. I think I would have gone bonkers with a chart and physical Chroma. There are some questions though that I had about the UI/UE. If only working with one signal path, it would seem ideal to actually “gray out” the other volume control so that it is more obvious that it is disabled. This is just a minor thing that I think could enhance the user experience and could be applicable to anything where things get disabled with settings. Just my take and definitely not a critical thing; but, a “maybe” on the next revision. I am afraid though, that my non-familiarity with Chroma would make any further suggestions obtuse so I will save that for later when I have had the time to tinker with Chroma and understand it more than I do now.

As always, I personally find it to be extremely incredible that the Cherry Audio Team can crank out a new synth offering so darned quickly. Not to knock them; but, CA’s rate of rolling out virtual synths is much higher than Arturia which I was use to before settling into nirvana with Cherry Audio three years ago. Great talent there as well as commitments and we all love the surprise YouTube teasers before these roll out on the bit-boggling assembly line.

NICE JOB, EVERYONE‼️

[GlenBerry]

Maybe do a Chroma Polaris in the near future, to keep this one company? 🙂

[garyphillips]

I own an original Chroma Polaris with a newly installed membrane control surface. I would definitely purchase a model of it as I'd be familiar with it's GUI. FYI - UVI has a sample-based version in their vintage vault which is my favorite synth in their sample collection.

[furiobisotti]

As usual a masterpiece of an emulation. I never played a Chroma so I cannot tell, but experts here seem to agree. What about Tim's review?