Voce Electric Piano

It is very easy to use because there is not much to do.
Some presets are only availible through MIDI program change
massages, but these presets are unimportant.
The Manual is useful.

It can play 32 Notes at the same time, if you switch the
chorus on the polyphony shrinks to 16.
There are many MIDI functions implementet, you can program
everything through a MIDI controler.
There are 4 built in effects, Chorus, Tremolo, WahWah ans Overdrive.
They can be modified with a Rate and a Depth Knob.
There is also am awesome WAH WAH that can be controled with an
continous foot controler (e.g. Roland DP-8) or switched to Auto-
it respondes to the velocity of your playing which can sound
extremly funky.
There is of cousre a Volume Knob and last but not least the
overdrive knob that shakes your speaker...

There is at first only hiss, so you have to manage some noise
reduction in your setup.
At second you need at least a reverb because without its dry
like a desert and no pleasure to hear it.
If u got that u can enjoy a wonderful warm sound that is very
full.
The suitcase Rhodes patch is the best of the unit, it is realistic.
If u ever played a real Rhodes u know that it is absolutely
surprising how many different kinds of sounds you can do just through
different velocitys and the bass and trebele knobs. The Voce is of
course not that versatile but it covers a range of what a Rhodes
can do. And if you turn the Tremolo on and hear how the sound travels from the left to the right and back its awesome.
Add some overdrive and you are back in the 70's.

There are also some very god clavinet sound that come to live if
you turn the Bass on your EQ up and hit the AUTO WAH button. The
most funky thing! With a phaser effect it becomes even better.
(sounds like in Propellerheads-Spybrake)

To have all the old pianos on board there is an Rock Mount
Instruments (RMI) electa patch that is very funny to play with
courus, its nearly a kind of organ.
2 Yamaha DX pianos that are the brightes sounds on board.
And a harpsichord makes you feel like on a vampir party, its useable.

There is more:
the two Wurlitzers sound good, too.

With the unit you have the whole arsenal
of vintage electro mechanical and vintage synth piano sounds
at your fingers. They do not sound exactly like the originals
but there is musicality, little velocity switching, and charachter
that make it unique as it is.

Copmpared to modern Roland samples its sounds dirty, but thats
something modern synths cant offer.

To make the unitsound good u need at least an EQ, Reverb and a effect
proccesor and a stereo amp. Without that its just flat and noisy.

If u play a long time it gets warm and the warmer it is it detunes a bit. I opened mine and built a cooler in it, now it stays in tune.

It is built pretty well and did not do something unexpected over
the years.

voce does not exist in this form anymore.
there is a website www.voceinc.com
a did not deal with them...

You can compare it with the Roland MKS-20 (without the piano sounds).
It's not the original sound reproduced but the charachter.

If u find one try it with reverb and tremolo and the suitcase patch
and play some dense chords..... you will like it if you like old
E- Pianos.

i don't own a Voce Electric Piano, but I wanted to comment on Dave Oberman's review; he asked that the Clavinet patches, which use names like ClavinetAC, ClavinetBD, and ClavinetII, etc. were more descriptive, those are actually very descriptive names. All of them except the ClavinetII patch are clearly meant to be Clavinet D6 patches (I own a D6), and it has two switches, one labeled "A/B" and the other "C/D", which have a huge impact on their sound. As a D6 user, I am happy to see that those patches are there!

easy to turn the knobs
unluckily the sounds do not match w/ the manual
This wouldn't be a problem, if I could recognize the sounds (I had a Rhodes, a Clavinet and a Pianet in my life, so I know most of it).... but sound quality, well, see below

Good polyphony
No expansion
Midi sufficient for a box like that (in, thru,omni mode, multitimbral on three conscutive channels)
Effects - Tremolo and Chorus ok, the Overdrive is a laugh
No sequencer, the factory demo did not work.
The rubberstands have been glued to the top.... argh! (how to take it and play it at a jazzclub, where you just find a masterkeyboard?)

I wanted to use it as an addition to the EPianos I have in my Yamaha P50-M - that I thought are not sufficient. I wanted a better Rhodes sound plus a Clav with more "balls".

Listening to the Voce I understand now what fantatic jobs the Yamaha folks did - ok, the Wulitzer is not bad in the Voce, the Clav as well - but all others are not definable and do sound as in my ancient Korg Poly-61 - crab. No way to accept these sounds. Well, might be a bit harsh, but I find that the Voce has no balls at all.

One good thing (the only more or less) are some of the effects (chorus and tremolo) but even the wah sucks - I cannot believe that somebody would use this honestly on stage with the randomized "control" over the modulation wheel. Might be better using a pedal (but why the heck do they offer a control function that doesn't allow true control?????)

No idea.

No idea

Well, having checked it out, I will send it back to the shop and ask for refund. Luckily the dealer is a pro and friendly so there won't be a problem.

I am playing 31 years now, various instruments, styles and bands, currently I am in a Jazz and a Funk project.I did intend to use the
Voce in the funk area, but it is not reaching the lower limits for me.
My other stuff: Doepfer LMK2+ Masterkeyboard, Yamaha P50-M (buy it if you find one!!!!) and Gem Equinox 61 (even this one has better and very very very nice EPiano sounds, but I have to use it for Hammond and Synth things in the band!).
Instead of the Voce I'll most probably get a nice effect unit for my Yamaha, then the only two positive points of the Voce are in my rack.

Summary: Look at whatever, but not at the Voce Electric Piano. Might have been good at its time, but I cannot accept this box in my rack.

OK, one more review, as the last one is a bit misleading.
Usability is ideal, I like that the first 17 presets dial in the raw sound without effects.

16-32 Voice polyphony / 16 e-piano sounds / 3 Effects chorus, tremolo Wah-Wah

OK, the electric piano was released in 1995 (or even 94). After the end of Voce inc. DR-Music made a rerelease in 2000. That is the reason why it is still sold. Definitely its technology is outdated. (yes the Nord Electro does sound different). But still I think it is a very playable Module. As all Voce stuff there is some analog circuitry inside, providing a bad signal/noise ratio but also a warm tone. Someone mentioned it sounded digital, that may be for the reason of sample technology but not for the overall tone.
The rhodes are the weakest point, wurlis/pianet are usable, and for me the clavinet sounds are really good. I like the analog Wah-Wah that can be controlled via velocity or via an CV-pedal.
Don't expect it to sound exactly like the originals, but its sound has a musical character. The distortion could be heavier and is static, not varied by volume (as stated before that means there is no expression-pedal)

I didn't try but all I heard about broken Voce gear it has become very difficult to find support.

I bought it because it was so cheap and I was curious to test it. It is not worth the price you usually pay for a new one, so I would not replace it if stolen. It has its own (imperfect) character and I got inspired playing it - something that usually doesn't happen with ROM-sample stuff. My Kawai MP9000 has good but almost too clean and perfect sounding E-pianos - as an addition the voce is very nice. Using the clavs with pedal controlled Wah-Wah once a gig makes a really good effect.

It is easy to use, just a few rotary knobs, But they tend to switch between one sound and another on their own.

Built in EFX, Crap
No expansion capabilities
Features are limited

This module has supposed to emulate Rhodes, Clavinet, RMI, Pianet etc.
Well, it is terrible to be totally honest. I hated it so much that I took it back to the shop for a refund.
This is the worst emulation of the classic electric pianos available.
No Expression, Nothing like the originals, loads of white noise which is very annoying.
Save your money and by either the real thing or a Nord Electro

As I said before, it changes sound on its own, very flimsy.
Had I have kept it, it'd probably lasted only a few weeks on the road.
But as I did not keep it I will not give my rating.

I wrote to Voce and asked what I am doing wrong, why does it sound nothing like the originals. Following the rave reviews on the V5 organ module I expected more.
They just made excusses and told me that I am using the wrong Midi keyboard. (a studio logic SL161 and also Roland XP50)
Not good feedback

If I still had it and it was stolen I would not be too bothered, I would use the insurance money to by a real Rhodes.
I do own a Rhodes and Clavinet, this instrument is no comparison, infact it is the worst I have ever played. The sounds on the Roland expansion card Keyboards of the 60's and 70's is better. The Nord Electro is the closest that I have come to my real machines.

The other reviews here provide the basic technological info on this Voce module, so I will stick to pros and cons.

The unit is a simple-to-use box, stripped of all but the most basic knobs (preset patches, volume, overdrive, transpose, rate and depth) or buttons (chorus, tremolo, wah and auto-wah). The transpose knob is a little annoying because it forces you to transpose only in one direction (up) -- for example, if you want to play in C but have it sound in the B below middle C, you need to set the transpose knob to the B above middle C and then shift your hand position down. In addition, Voce has added four transpose octave jumps (two up and two down), which I guess can be useful if your controller isn't a full-size keyboard. I would rather have had eight or so half-step settings above middle C and the same number of settings below middle C and just skip the octave jumps altogether, but on a unit this size, I guess the manufacturer's options were limited.

The major drawback of the preset patch knob has already been mentioned by another reviewer. The increments are so small and delicate that you can't make jumps very accurately or quickly. And if the stage is dark, you'd really be lost. Another minor drawback to the preset patch knob is that only patches 1 through 22 are directly accessible via the knob. The last ten or so presets have to be accessed via the midi controller's program change.

Features are minimal in number, but how many bells and whistles does this thing really require? Its purpose is to simulate the popular electro-mechanical pianos and keyboards of the 1960s and '70s, and most of those instruments just plugged in, turned on, and (generally) played.

Kudos to the choice of preset patches themselves. Many of these instrument simulations are sounds that you just cannot find cloned anywhere else. Is there another board or module out there that has an RMI electric piano simulation? What about a Hohner Pianet? Maybe one or the other, but not both.

I just wish that the patch names were more informative -- the Wurlitzer 200 and Wurlitzer 120 patch names are obviously fine because they "map" to specific models. But many of the other names are generic and thus slightly confusing. For example, the Clavinet patch names are "Clavinet AC," "Clavinet AD," "Clavinet BC," "Clavinet BD," and "Clavinet II." I have no idea what those designations mean. I would prefer to have patch names that map to Clavinet models that we're all familiar with: "Clavinet D6," "Clavinet E7," etc. There *is* a "Pianet T" patch name, which is actually a Pianet model, but the other Pianet patch is named "Pianet A." Now what the hell is a Pianet A?! That convention (screwup) makes me doubt whether the Pianet T patch is actually meant to simulate the Pianet T. (Actually, both Pianet patches sound like the N model.)

Also, the onboard demo could be more comprehensive. I counted only about seven or eight different sounds in its run-through, but I guess this is a minor point.

I specifically bought this module because I wanted the Hohner Pianet sound without having to pull my hair out over dried-up sticky pads and other mechanical problems associated with these 30-year-old boards. It's nice having the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, RMI and DX-7 patches, as well, although based on what others have said, several of those (the Rhodes, the Wurly and the Clav) come up short (but then again, don't they always in digital clones?).

I am very happy with the Pianet simulation -- and that's what I was after. In addition, I find some of the Clavinet voices very usable, particularly once you throw on the overdrive and the wah. The Pianet patches actually sound best dry, and I think they're damn good simulations of the Pianet N.

So far, no problems -- but I've had it for only about three months. I hope it holds up, and have no reason to suspect it won't.

Haven't had to deal with Voce. I don't know how helpful they are.

Again, the strength of this module is that, although it isn't the best Rhodes and Wurly simulation around, no other unit combines so many different classic electro-mechanical piano sounds, and several of these sounds (RMI, Pianet) are probably not cloned anywhere else.

If you need a usable collection of 1970s-style electric piano patches, this is a great unit to start with. It might not blow you away with its sonic or ambient accuracy, but it isn't as terrible as the naysayers have it, either. It's a great concept -- a great idea -- and maybe Voce (or some other manufacturer) will improve it in the years to come.

Voce has started marketing this unit again, even though it first came out several years ago and really seems outdated now. Its very simple to use. Most functions operate off of buttons or knobs on the front panel. Its a half rack thing, so its easy to take around, set it on or near a keyboard, etc.

I'd been curious about this product for a long time, because I think the Voce organ modules are so good, really underrated in terms of the attention they get versus the B-3 clones made by the bigger companies. I figured, maybe the Electric Piano could be the same kind of thing -- a great product virtually no one knows about. Not so. I finally found one in a store, played it for about 20 minutes, and was not much tempted to buy it.

OK, so there are clav's, rhodes, and wurlitzers, and I think that may be all. The effects are chorus, wah, auto-wah, and distortion. Possibly reverb, but I'm not remembering now. There are a number of variations for each type of keyboard, but to my ear the variations are not that different from each other.

If you're looking for a good rhodes sound, this isn't it. I think the rhodes patches are thin sounding, and their is no dynamic cross-switching to change the timbre as between a soft and hard hit. Most good sample playback keyboards nowadays do that for a somewhat more realistic rhodes playing experience. This doesn't, and in that respect, as well as in the sound quality, it just feels like old technology.

The wurlitzer patches are somewhat better. Not the best imitation I've heard, but respectably good. Again, I didn't notice any dynamic cross-switching.

The clavs are the best sounds in this unit. I would use them. Dial in some autowah and some distortion, and you've got a pretty funky and useable sound there.

As for the effects, the chorus is just OK, nothing impressive. The distortion is not nearly as good as you'd get from a tube preamp or a stompbox like an Ibanez Tubescreamer. The autowah is nicely done.

I've owned Voce products. I don't think they're all that reliable. If the product is good, I'll use it anyway. Such is the case with the organ modules. But from a reliability standpoint, Voce is not in the same category as Roland.

As I see it, this module offers some cheesy, unimpressive rhodes sounds, some OK wurlitzer sounds, and some pretty good clav sounds. You can get a wicked clav autowah out of it, but is that reason enough to own this thing? I think the world of Voce. Its a quality small company trying to compete with the big boys. The Voce organ modules are classics. Don't waste your time or money on this thing.

It's a no brainer. MIDI in and Thru, 2 1/4" outs (only tremolo is stereo), MIDI channel selector, wall wart, expression pedal jack, patch select knob, effects are all independent (on/off, depth, rate, overdrive). One complaint here: There are 22 increments to the small patch selection knob. You won't be able to tell whether you're at 1,2, or 3 by looking. You can only get an idea of the range you're in (i.e. you can't reliably jump from 3 to 20 w/o maybe landing on 19 or 21.)

It's a module, no keyboard.
Sounds are: fender rhodes, hohner clavinet, wurlitzer ep, DX ep, RMI, etc., etc. (early electric pianos).
It's got chorus, tremolo, wah (with expression pedal), and auto wah (envelope).

This is the important part.
It's highly over-rated. I own a rhodes suitcase, wurli 120, and D6 clav. None of these patches could replace a single one of these (and believe me my back wanted me to replace all of them). They are "digital sounding" and not nearly expressive enough. There are not enough "tonal shades" available via velocity sensing. I really only heard two different timbres normal and brash. Normal could get pretty quiet but didn't change in timbre as it quieted down (woulda been more realistic if it had). The harsher sound the rhodes and wurli produced when banged was kinda realistic. The overdrive knob was too subtle and further minimized the expressiveness. I didn't like any of the on board effects relatively speaking. They're OK, but all achieved better elsewhere. But that's not why i bought it.
It really needs a more expressive timbre palette.

Plus, it produced a lot of high-end hiss.

?

?

Could spruce up a MIDI rig. Add round tone to a MIDIed patch. Could be used for recording. Might be OK for quiet "back of the mix" usage. But, not a replacement for the units it sampled. I wouldn't solo with it "up front".