| Developer | Sono Elements |
|---|---|
| Released | 9 August 2018 |
| Instrument type | Sampled, physically modelled electric pianos |
| Sounds | 7 |
| Formats | VST and AU instrument |
| Systems (original page) | Windows 7, 8, 10 and macOS |
| Launch price | US$19 |
| Status (checked 2 Nov 2026) | No longer sold; original store page gone |
Overview
Model Keys launched on 9 August 2018 alongside eTron. Where eTron captured one famous instrument, Model Keys took a different route: its seven electric pianos were not recordings of particular vintage keyboards but new instruments built with physical modelling, a technique that simulates how a sound is produced (a hammer striking a metal bar, the bar vibrating near a pickup) instead of recording it.
Sono Elements then sampled those modelled pianos at several velocities, so that soft and hard key presses trigger different recordings, and packed the results into a plugin. The approach combines the flexibility of modelling during sound design with the low CPU load and predictability of sample playback.
The sound names point to the families of electric piano they draw on. “Rhody” and “Wurly” nod to the two classic mechanical designs: pianos that strike thin metal tines, and pianos that strike flat steel reeds. “FM” refers to the bell-like electric pianos of 1980s frequency-modulation synthesisers, while “Analog”, “Lofi”, “Honor” and “Reed” cover rounder, dirtier and more character-heavy variations.
The design brief was the same as eTron’s: as few controls as possible, so the player spends time playing rather than editing.
Hear for yourself
Model Keys demo: Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 1
According to the original page the demo used no external effects, so it presents Model Keys on its own.
The recording belongs to the developer and is hosted by SoundCloud. Nothing is loaded from soundcloud.com until you click; after that, SoundCloud may set its own cookies (see the privacy policy). Open it on SoundCloud.User Interface
Model Keys shared eTron’s one-window layout. The diagram below follows the control names given in the developer’s manual.
- Sound selector: arrows cycle through Analog, FM, Rhody, Wurly, Honor, Lofi and Reed.
- Main and Pregain: overall pan and level, plus a pregain that pushes the selected piano into gentle or heavy distortion.
- Tremolo: the auto-pan style stereo tremolo that tine pianos are often played through.
- Effects and noise: room reverb, a low-pass cutoff, and adjustable vinyl crackle, tape hiss and hum.
Features
- Seven physically modelled electric piano sounds
- Each sound sampled at multiple velocities
- Amplitude ADSR envelope
- Stereo tremolo, room reverb and low-pass filter
- Adjustable vinyl crackle, tape hiss and electrical hum
- Main parameters controllable by MIDI CC (list in the FAQ)
- VST and AU instrument for Windows and macOS
Sounds
- Analog
- Rhody
- Wurly
- FM
- Honor
- Lofi
- Reed
System requirements
- Windows 7 or 10, or macOS High Sierra or later (the product page also listed Windows 8)
- At least 1 GB of free disk space
- At least 2 GB of RAM
- A VST or AU host (DAW)
- Intel Core i5 at 1 GHz or better
Manual
Sono Elements Model Keys User Manual (PDF, about 210 KB)
Uploaded by the developer to the Internet Archive on 10 August 2018 and still available. Model Keys needed more disk space and memory than the other plugins because of its multiple velocity layers.
Purchase
At launch Model Keys cost US$19 and was sold through a Gumroad store page linked from the original article. That store page no longer exists: the link returned “not found” when this archive checked it on 2 November 2026. As far as this archive can tell, the plugin is no longer on sale anywhere.
This site does not sell Model Keys. It cannot issue licences, resend downloads, process refunds or look up past orders, because it is not run by the developer. See the FAQ for what we do and do not know.
By 2020 the product page also carried a short warning that Model Keys did not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) and that an update was on the way. The warning is missing from captures in December 2019 and present from September 2020. This archive has not been able to confirm whether that update was ever released, and it has no information about later macOS versions or Apple silicon Macs.
Sources
- Archived Model Keys page, 9 Nov 2020 (Wayback Machine)
- Model Keys user manual, uploaded by the developer (Internet Archive)
- KVR Audio: Sono Elements releases eTron and Model Keys (Aug 2018)
- KVR Audio product listing: Model Keys
Original page: Wayback Machine capture of 9 November 2020. Last legitimate capture of this URL. Release date source: Atom feed of the original blog (captured 3 Dec 2018). This page was written on 2 November 2026 in new words; facts were checked against the sources above.
