piano soft synths

[mewman]

Seeing as how all the piano players are weighing in... I have a Roland A-80 Midi controller in my studio and I really like the action. It's weighted 88 keys are a pleasure to play. I can change the nature of the touch sensitivity if I want. I also have a Fatar studio 610 controller I use on occasion, but I was raised on an acoustic piano and just can't get used to the organ action. I have a 1936 Wurlitzer baby grand as well as a Milton upright, which has killer bass , but I rely on the Midi setup for recording because I love how I'm able to control the reverb settings, the ability to edit, and really appreciate that my Yamaha sample (came with Logic 7) is always in perfect tune!!!

[brindabella]

Jul 8, 2009, 6:50pm, mewman wrote:Seeing as how all the piano players are weighing in... I have a Roland A-80 Midi controller in my studio and I really like the action. It's weighted 88 keys are a pleasure to play. I can change the nature of the touch sensitivity if I want. I also have a Fatar studio 610 controller I use on occasion, but I was raised on an acoustic piano and just can't get used to the organ action. I have a 1936 Wurlitzer baby grand as well as a Milton upright, which has killer bass , but I rely on the Midi setup for recording because I love how I'm able to control the reverb settings, the ability to edit, and really appreciate that my Yamaha sample (came with Logic 7) is always in perfect tune!!! Yeah! Tuning and termites are something I dont miss!

[brindabella]

Jul 8, 2009, 1:51pm, jude3 wrote:I dont see why the midi controler matters other than having enough notes and personal neurosis. hahaha You are at the mercy of the sample in terms of expression per note. Weighted or not, I have always found I needed to use the midi editor to get it perfect.I dont agree with that, I think you put your own personal touch and it carries on to the sampler, otherwise we would all sound like robots. I use midi to correct mistakes, wrong notes, etc. and then add reverb, eq, whatever, but the rest is me. We could both play the same song with the same controller and sampler and it will sound different!!

[jude3]

Jul 8, 2009, 7:10pm, brindabella wrote:Jul 8, 2009, 1:51pm, jude3 wrote:I dont see why the midi controler matters other than having enough notes and personal neurosis. hahaha You are at the mercy of the sample in terms of expression per note. Weighted or not, I have always found I needed to use the midi editor to get it perfect.I dont agree with that, I think you put your own personal touch and it carries on to the sampler, otherwise we would all sound like robots. I use midi to correct mistakes, wrong notes, etc. and then add reverb, eq, whatever, but the rest is me. We could both play the same song with the same controller and sampler and it will sound different!!In terms of expression, I do think we sound more like robots on a VI piano.I would be interested in doing that test. I don't think we would sound much different playing the exact same thing.But on a real grand piano...........yes.

[brindabella]

Ok, is it real or is it Memorex? http://www.taximusic.com/stream/237202/EnAutomne.mp3

[wings]

Jul 8, 2009, 8:11pm, brindabella wrote:Ok, is it real or is it Memorex? http://www.taximusic.com/stream/237202/EnAutomne.mp3If it's real - it's incredibly mechanical, imho.

[brindabella]

Jul 9, 2009, 5:14am, wings wrote:Jul 8, 2009, 8:11pm, brindabella wrote:Ok, is it real or is it Memorex? http://www.taximusic.com/stream/237202/EnAutomne.mp3If it's real - it's incredibly mechanical, imho. Aw, c'mon! My fault for chosing this one. Not much room to be "expressive" in a piece that is mainly about what I call " piano Gymnastics". If you think this sounds mechanical , then blame me, not the sampler, it would sound the same played on a "real" piano.

[wings]

Jul 9, 2009, 8:27am, brindabella wrote:Jul 9, 2009, 5:14am, wings wrote:If it's real - it's incredibly mechanical, imho. Aw, c'mon! My fault for chosing this one. Not much room to be "expressive" in a piece that is mainly about what I call " piano Gymnastics". If you think this sounds mechanical , then blame me, not the sampler, it would sound the same played on a "real" piano.I think I'd beg to differ on one point. The tone of a real piano differs when "attacked". And it has to do with the way the sound bounces within the case before it exits. Good samples catch this. (which is why I like EWPG - you get to open and close the case!!)For example - in your very last note in your piece - it would be ok to lengthen that just a bit, imho. It's the end of the piece - so it's ok. But will your piano sample be able to handle it? On the same token, if you were to record this on a real piano, are you going to be able to capture it so "dry" that the real piano's notes won't flow to the next note? If it's raw piano you're trying to capture - do you really want it so dry (which is what's probably making it sound so mechanical)?Eh.. just .02. ~wings~

[brindabella]

Like I said, I chose a bad example for this. There are so many notes in just one beat that making it less dry will result in mud, even with a real piano, at least with me doing the sound engineering. And the last note is short, I was being faithful to the composer. After all that Machine-Gun Kelly playing , it ends like nothing happened before. Look for it online, its called " En Automne" by Moritz Moszkowski. I found only two recordings of this: Seta Tanyel and Arthur Rubinstein.

[markjsmith]

Anyone try the Pianoteq?