Waves Electric 88 keyboard plugin - Alternatives?

Dont forget its great but another reason to charge you WUP...

Kronos. EP1 engine. Mk1, Mk2, Wurli, Mk5, and some kind of DMP thing I've never played the real one (80s?)....they did what some of these may be doing now 5 years ago--they recognized that the playability and customization comes from modeling the attack/noise/release, but the realism comes from good disk streaming sampling. Why Scarbee SOUNDS killer....plays....ehh....EVP88 plays killer and sounds....ehh....they edited all the samples to not include attacks or releases and such....and layered a modeling layer with all that over the top of the sustain samples.

The EP engine is actually the reason I bought it. I was on the fence whether I should buy an old Wurli and Rhodes 88 and be done with digital keys forever....but, I figured then I'd need to keep some digital board around to sequence drums/horns/strings....so, when I played it, I was sold--single keyboard for the first time in my studio life since I was a kid. I've always had racks of modules....big interfaces....SMPTE (in the the tape days)....multiple weighted and unweighted boards....software samplers (later VIs) since like 2000....Now? Just the Kronos and my VIs. And honestly? I don't use anything but Addicitve Drums' one Fairfax kit....and my VSL strings. The rest sits idle because they're worthless to resell. Including the Scarbee EPs.

I will point out that if you got the whole Scarbee set--the Clavinet is still far better than the Kronos. I'm not much of a clav player (i DO play guitar, you know)....but....worth noting.

Thing is....sound is only half the thing. A neighbor has an old Wurli--it's a joy to play. My Kronos sounds every bit as good....but, there's something so much more immediate and connected with analog instruments. but, on the flip side--Rhodes generally play like dogshit unless someone's modded them a lot....so, my Kronos sounds like one but plays BETTER in that case.