Product Review: Viscount Legend ’70s – Modular Vintage Stage Piano

With the Viscount Legend ’70s, the name says it all – and it fits the retro vintage design of this stage piano. It is lightweight, compact, and modular! By selecting the sound modules you like best, you can customize the Legend ’70s to suit your needs. Sounds exciting, but does it also sound good?

As with home pianos, well-known manufacturers from Japan and Sweden dominate the stage piano market. However, it would be wrong to call Viscount a newcomer, as the Italian manufacturer is one of the oldest instrument makers in Northern Italy. Musical instruments – mainly keyboards – have been designed and manufactured here for decades.

With the Legend Live and Legend Solo combo organs, Viscount also offers vintage keyboards – what was missing until now was a stage piano with a vintage focus. However, the Viscount Legend ’70s is more than “just” vintage, as its modular design keeps it flexible and modern.

Light, Compact, Mobile

Let me start by saying this: I really like this retro stage piano, and not just because of its low weight. When I played it for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent electric piano sound – but first things first.

For this review, we received the 73-key Artist Compact model together with a stand, which is optionally available for about 190 Euros. While this may seem pretty expensive at first, it firmly screws onto the stage piano – and its four legs really add to the retro look. The stand comes with a bag to safely store the legs and upper part. Overall, the entire instrument seems to be of high quality and makes a good impression.

Hammer Action Light

The keyboard on the Legend ’70s is not a highlight compared to classic digital pianos, but it has a pleasantly light feel and a very smooth touch. A good compromise, especially when it comes to vintage feel. If you’re looking for a more “pianistic” feel, you’ll want to go for one of the two 88-key models of the Legend ’70s, which offer exactly that. The Artist W even comes with wooden keys.

In terms of weight, the Legend ’70s Artist Compact has a lightweight hammer action keyboard. This may also be the reason why it produces quite loud tapping noises when playing. While this won’t bother anyone when playing live, it can become distracting when practicing at home.

Retro Control Concept: Lots of Knobs and Buttons

Like other vintage retro instruments, the Legend ’70s is littered with knobs and buttons. However, Viscount has its own approach here, which you can see in the modular concept.

I like the handling of the Viscount Legend ’70s, as it is perfect for live use. LEDs illuminate many of the functions, and the basic operation is practically self-explanatory. All the modules work the same way.

Viscount Legend ’70s – Main Module

The Main Module is the basic unit of each model. It contains the EQUALIZER, REVERB, EFFECTS, and PROGRAM sections. All other modules connect to this “base station” to access these four sections. Our test unit had the E.PIANO, PIANO, SOUND COLLECTION, and CLAVI modules installed. In a practical setting, it would be no problem to layer and play them with pedal.

The EFFECTS sections are probably self-explanatory. However, we will discuss the PROGRAM section in more detail, as it is a kind of control center for the entire instrument. You can store the settings of all modules here and recall them as a complete registration. What I really like here is that each program actually contains four programs that you can switch between in a flash. A very useful feature when playing live: It allows you to create several variations of a sound at the same time, e.g. with special effect settings, layers variations, and more.

Cool Effects

Cool effects play a big part in the typical vintage sound: Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Wah, etc. Not only do they come in good quality, but you can also edit these in great detail. The display gives you access to more parameters than you might think. Moreover, you can adjust the most important parameters, Rate and Depth, directly from the main panel.

With the reverb effects, the scaling of the Dry/Wet control in the lower third of the range is a bit unfortunate: It’s easy to overload the sounds with lots of effects – this requires a bit of skill and experience. Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about – on the contrary: the effects sound consistently good and authentic, and even include spring reverb and amp simulation. If you’re looking for vintage, you’ll find everything you need here.

The E.PIANO Module

Setting the standard: The Legend ’70s electric pianos are at the top of their game in terms of sound, articulation, and dynamics. This section is dedicated exclusively to the vintage electromagnetic electric pianos of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s: Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and an E-Grand a la Yamaha CP80. With five Rhodes and two Wurlitzer variants, this is a good selection. The sounds cut a fine figure, especially when it comes to dynamics.

One of the special features of the E.PIANO section is that all sounds are physically modeled, allowing for nuanced sound dynamics. With the Physis Piano, Viscount is one of the pioneers of this technology. It has evolved considerably since then, as the initial latency problems of the Viscount Physis Piano are no longer noticeable on the Legend ’70s.

On the contrary: The electric piano sounds are all very direct in their response. I like the Rhodes variations best, but the Wurlitzer and E-Grand are also great to play. In addition, the electric piano section includes the authentic Tremolo/Vibrato effect. You can use this either in stereo, such as with the Suitcase Rhodes, or in mono, such as with the Wurlitzer electric piano. Last but not least, you even get different tremolo waveforms

Viscount Legend ’70s – Sound Collection

If you miss the FM electric pianos of the ’80s in Viscount Legend ’70s, you’ll find them in this section. Otherwise, the Sound Collection includes everything you need for splits and layers: synth pads, strings, organs, basses, horns, and more. Once again, the quality is just right and all sounds emphasize the overall warm sound of the Viscount Legend ’70s.

What’s more, the Legend ’70s can sound pretty rich! This may partly be due to the fact that you can layer two sections of sound from the SOUND COLLECTION module. The Sound Collection is a worthwhile addition for anyone who wants to master a wide range of sounds with just one stage piano.

In the Keys category of the Sound Collection, you’ll also find several other piano sounds, including grand piano, house piano, electric grand piano, harpsichord, and clavinet. These sounds are all decent and a good addition to the digital piano section. If you want to expand this category, you can purchase the PIANO module, which specializes in acoustic pianos.

Acoustic Pianos

Compared to the acoustic pianos in the SOUND COLLECTION module, the sounds in the PIANO module have subtleties such as string resonance, key-off, and pedal noise. The result is a more authentic playing experience and vibrant articulation. The included piano sounds are well chosen: American Grand, German Grand, Japanese Grand, and many variations thereof. The acoustic pianos sound clear and broad, delivering exactly what you need for live performances: Powerful, assertive, dynamic piano sounds.

For Some Funky Stuff…

The CLAVI module is a great addition for anyone who loves the authentic sounds of the Hohner Clavinet D6 and E7. This module also uses physical modelling and offers many of the original settings. There are different pickup positions and a mute function to reproduce the many expressive possibilities of the Clavinet. The sounds and the typical “smack” when a note is released have a nice attack.

Editor Software Included

If you like to tinker with electric piano sounds, be sure to get the free Editor for Windows, MacOS, and iOS devices. With the Editor, you can fine-tune the electric pianos by adjusting key position, hammer strength, tone bar decay, and sound details such as release and pedal noise to give the sounds a personal touch.

As you tune the pianos with these options, you will immediately experience the immense advantages of physical modelling over sampling technology. Anyone who has ever tuned and voiced a Rhodes will be thrilled: The sound generation responds to voicing with amazingly authentic sonic behavior. For example, if you increase the intensity of the Hammer parameter, the attack noise does not simply get louder (as is the case with many sampling instruments) – the hammer element brings more power to the tines: The harder you hit the keys, the stronger and denser the sound becomes. Really sensational.

By the way, the CLAVI and PIANOS modules are also available in the Editor and offer similar voicing options. Even if the graphics of the editor look a bit old-fashioned: It’s really well done!

Viscount Legend ’70s in Practice

Although it takes a little getting used to, the instrument is basically self-explanatory. That’s the advantage of a control concept that provides a separate knob or button for (almost) every function. Of course, this is in keeping with the retro-vintage style, but more importantly, it is convenient and just right for anyone who likes to tweak the sounds. You need this kind of control concept for an authentic vintage electric piano experience.

Fender Rhodes sounds live from the fact that you can quickly increase the rate of a phaser or chorus, or increase the delay time to emphasize a chord or riff. This works really well with the Viscount Legend ’70s, which is of course due to the great electric pianos themselves. It may seem minor, but I find it annoying that turning an effect on or off always interrupts the sound for a moment.

Another positive feature of the Legend ’70s is its polyphony. The sounds of the physical modeling modules (E.PIANO & CLAVI) are fully polyphonic, all sampling sounds have 128-voice polyphony. In its basic configuration, the Viscount Legend ’70s is equipped with the Main Panel and the two E.PIANO and SOUND COLLECTION modules. The latter also contains other piano sounds, so this is a good place to start. If you want even better piano sounds, you can add the PIANO module or the EXTERNAL MODULE (which was unavailable for testing).

The Legend ’70s connects to mobile devices via USB, transmitting USB MIDI and USB audio in parallel. The latter works in one direction only: Audio from apps is loaded into the Legend ’70s audio system and can also be adjusted in volume via the system menu.

Conclusion: Top Stage Piano in Retro-Vintage Style

I was pleasantly surprised by the Viscount Legend ’70s. The retro-vintage concept of the instrument works and the modular design is very practical. The keyboard may not be the flagship of the Legend ’70s, but it is lightweight and easy to play. The rather loud tapping sound of the keys is noticeable, but it won’t bother anyone when playing live. However, it can be problematic when you practice at home.

Among current stage pianos, the Viscount Legend ’70s offers by far the best electric vintage piano sound. While there are undoubtedly other good sounds out there, what the Legend ’70s’ physical modelling sound generation achieves in terms of authenticity, expressiveness, and tonal and dynamic response is remarkable!

Viscount Legend ’70s – Overview

Release date: 02.2020
Keyboard: Graded hammer action, 73 keys (Artist Compact) or 88 (wooden) keys (Artist W)
Polyphony: Fully polyphonic (physical modelling: E.PIANO & CLAVI), 128 voices for sampled modules
Included Accessories: Sustain pedal, music stand
Piano App: Editor software for Windows, MacOS, iOS; free of charge
Manufacturer: Viscount