Is The Electro Harmonix Key9 A Disappointment

The other day, I was able to sit down with the Electro Harmonix Key9 Keyboard Modulator pedal. It was exciting. This is probably one of the most anticipated pedals of 2015. I know that there isn't a shortage of media out there about this pedal, but my experience was a little surprising.

The Sounds

Let me begin with the B9 and C9. These two pedals do similar functions. They both make you guitar sound like different type of organs. Piano sounds seem closely related to organs, so the Key9 seems almost a shoe-in for EHX. However, The two instruments are vastly different, thus the Key9 and the B9/C9 must make very different sounds. And they do. In my own head, I expect to be immersed in the polyphonic tones of keyboard when I plugged into this pedal, however when I ran the pedal 100% it still produced guitar like sounds. To be honest, I'm not extremely familiar with all the instrument the Key9 emulates. In my opinion the best sound the pedal made were the ones that were ones most different than the guitar. Steel Drums and Vibe were my favorites. They were convincing and a lot of fun to play.

The Disappointment

The Rhoads. I wanted this pedal for one reason. The suitcase setting was supposed to reproduce the famous Fender Rhodes suitcase piano. The demo EHX put out was a little underwhelming when it came to this setting. The flanger that is included on the setting is a little off putting as well. Even at the lowest setting it was a little too much. (of course the knob is there for 'speed' and not depth or mix so it's a little hard to tame in that respect) My biggest gripe is that this setting and others weren't far enough away from the guitar that originated the signal.

WHY?!

Yes, why is this pedal the luke-warm brother to the two coolest pedals in recent years? I have a prospective answer. Where as the organ is typically played by air moving through pipes, or some approximation of this, the piano is a string instrument. Yes, its played with a keyboard, just like an organ, but the sounds are derived just like a guitar. The Key9 emulates electric pianos, but the electric pianos were the 80's answer to acoustic pianos. So in reality the Key9 tries to sound like something trying to sound like a piano. It's modulation inception!

In Conclusion

I probably won't be buying this pedal. Even though I loved the concept. I was rather disappointed by the sounds. Maybe I had to much expectation going into this. I really wanted to be blow away by how authentic the sounds were, just like when I played the B9 and C9. However I was left turning knobs trying to coax a little more piano out of the box. I'll keep my eye out for some videos and or posts with hints to maybe get some more realistic tones and maybe revist this one, but right now it is proving to be a substantial let down.