An electric or electronic instrument that recreates, or at least approximates, the sound of a piano. Prior to about 1970, the most commonly used electric pianos consisted primarily of conventional piano or celeste mechanisms, with the electronics aspect being confined to amplification, some tone control, and perhaps an effects circuit or two. RMI, starting in the late 1960s, introduced electric piano models which were fully electronic; a specialized type of oscillator circuit generated the basic timbre, and an envelope generator and VCA gave it the general dynamic characteristics of a piano. Several other manufacturers went this route in the 1970s, with mixed success, while most players tended to stay with the common Rhodes or Wurlitzer mechanics-based electric pianos.