KVR Audio

93143 · Post by **93143** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:18 am

No answer? Oh well; it wasn't much of a question...

I've got a Millenia HV-3B solid-state stereo preamp and two Neumann TLM-127 large-diaphragm condenser mics. I hope I can dig up enough blankets to hang around the recording area and make this thing sound halfway dry...

I've been reading up on piano tuning, and apparently this one is more moist than it should be, because the middle of the keyboard range is less flat than the ends...

I'm going to sample this weekend, and I'm unlikely to see the boards again until Monday. I'll post a report then.

bobbyblank · Post by **bobbyblank** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 6:08 pm

sorry,93143, I've been busy with performances. XY is great for pianos, your dead on.
tha piano of yours is gonna sound massive with the gear you picked, good job!
I really can't wait to hear this.

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 6:20 pm

93143 wrote:No answer?
I've been reading up on piano tuning, and apparently this one is more moist than it should be, because the middle of the keyboard range is less flat than the ends...

moist??

clueless · Post by **clueless** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 6:24 pm

intriguing...

93143 · Post by **93143** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:03 pm

Yeah, moist. High humidity causes the soundboard to swell and the middle starts to buckle, stretching the strings.

I used something not entirely dissimilar to the coincident technique - I figure the diaphragms were maybe 5-7 cm apart (they're big capsules), at head level a bit back from the edge of the keyboard, at a mutual angle bearing a passing resemblance to 90 degrees (45 and -45 from the piano). The area around the piano was draped in blankets. Recorded chromatic pp, mp, f, ff with and without sustain pedal. Didn't get anything done with the soft pedal, but I figure one crossfade is quite enough to go on with considering I've never done this before...

I am, in fact, still working on my M.Sc. thesis - so we'll just have to see how fast I can get the samples denoised, chopped and programmed. I think I may just add a bit of optional tuning, so that the pitch wheel or something can be used to bring it a bit closer to A440. Or would it be better to use some other controller and leave people the freedom of the pitch bender?

Oh, and I curse birds, cats, cars (especially police cars), and all manner of aircraft...

lunarhalo · Post by **lunarhalo** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:15 pm

http://www.pianosounds.com/

bobbyblank · Post by **bobbyblank** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:59 pm

93143, I don't think anyone will miss bending pitch or the soft pedal. It's a very cool idea to swoop into a different tuning, kinda like a pedal steel. some people might prefer that assigned to the mod wheel, but it's anybody's guess as to what you have planned for that. good luck with editing and programming.

halo- that's just a well tuned steinway,right? i don't think that's what we are looking for.

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:43 am

93143 wrote:Yeah, moist. High humidity causes the soundboard to swell and the middle starts to buckle, stretching the strings.

thanks for that clarification, just never heard it described as such.
I've measured some extreme cases of strings as much as 45-50 cents sharper than the rest of the piano right in the octave of middle c to the c below it.
even though I had tuned it 3-4 months previous.

93143 · Post by **93143** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:19 pm

I've finished denoising the samples, using the demo of Adobe Audition. I tried to use Voxengo Redunoise, which seems at least its equal in functionality, but I couldn't optimize it as fast. It requires more skill.

Anyway, the noise in the tone samples is pretty much gone, but anything I couldn't hear properly because of the noise is gone too. Don't worry too much; at a level where listening to the ff samples is comfortable, the original noise floor is pretty much inaudible anyway...

The key clunks and pedals couldn't be washed as hard, being low-level broadband sounds themselves, but they aren't going to be layered as thickly, so it should be okay.

androidlove · Post by **androidlove** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:27 pm

i can't wait. no more tricks to get a nasty piano. i'm still lookin for a free honky tonk. we need a prepared grand

Katzenjammer · Post by **Katzenjammer** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:45 pm

Not sure if these have been suggested, but how about Presonus Prepared Piano or John Cage Prepared Piano?

http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/detail.html?321
http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/detail.html?325

androidlove · Post by **androidlove** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:48 pm

i wouldn't contribute to the "estate of john cage" even if i had $200
i need to find a beat up piano. they're always at the salvation army for $50. i should start saving

safeaim · Post by **safeaim** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:10 pm

I'm thinking about programming a multi-velocity layered old piano for Kontakt, SF2 and Halion, got a little demo-like thingie of it here:
http://privat.bluezone.no/safeaim/pianowreckie.mp3

Free!

Anyone interested?

Robot5 · Post by **Robot5** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:32 pm

safeaim wrote:I'm thinking about programming a multi-velocity layered old piano for Kontakt, SF2 and Halion, got a little demo-like thingie of it here:
http://privat.bluezone.no/safeaim/pianowreckie.mp3

Free!

Anyone interested?

Sounds good to me Safeaim!
Im interested

Robot

androidlove · Post by **androidlove** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:35 pm

safeaim wrote:I'm thinking about programming a multi-velocity layered old piano for Kontakt, SF2 and Halion, got a little demo-like thingie of it here:
http://privat.bluezone.no/safeaim/pianowreckie.mp3

Free!

Anyone interested?

that's smooth. it's a little too in tune for me, but it'll work.

thanx

Does an 'old piano' sampleset exist??