After listening to some of your pianos and listening to other piano samples last night, I couldn't help thinking how good your pianos sound. I'm not sure if it's just good compression on the samples, longer experience in creating piano samples, or just better ears, but the upper velocity strikes on the Sonic Reality pianos just seem to have more presence than those on many other (often much larger) libraries.
On the other hand, I want more layers: the difficult soft layers that most libraries seem to use hard strikes for, so the pp layer is really a much harder strike (you only have to load the sample into a wave editor and listen to it at the original, default volume to hear how hard).
Squids, you if anyone could create this great library with 6-7 layers, keeping the great sounding upper level strikes and creating authentic low level strikes. Say you'll do it. (Say you've done it and I just haven't seen it yet. But I think you said the the new M-Audio piano you folks created is 3 layers?)
Say yes, please. There must be 100 piano libraries out there now, and I haven't found one that gets the soft, and most of the middle, layers, right.
Any plans for a big Piano library sample from Sonic Reality?
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- KVRian
- 859 posts since 14 Sep, 2004
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- Sonic Reality Head Chef
- 8566 posts since 11 Mar, 2002 from Florida
Thanks Jake. We don't compress the pianos at the sample stage. What you hear is the natural unprocessed instrument. A lot of it has to do with finding a great piano in the first place and not just doing it "by name" but by ear and feel (you have to LOVE the piano and WANT it bad... also because sampling a piano is SUPER boring! 
). Then a lot has to do with HOW it is played when you sample it. You have to know what you are going after. For instance, there is a balance of wood knock noise to fundamental and harmonics you want to achieve for samples and do it by playing it going for certain dynamics (which means I'll hit the key 20 times or more until I get the sound I want from that key sometimes).
Honestly, if we sample a piano it isn't because we want to make a big piano product to compete with all the rest since there are so many of those already. If we do it this would be because I've run across a piano that I wish I owned and have captured it for the love of the instrument (to preserve it and have it to use whenever I want as a multisample... and thus for anyone else who wanted to buy it). So, any pianos we've sampled in the last 2 years were done with at least 3-4 dynamics. I'll probably do 8 dynamics the next time I sample one (to use with streaming samplers).
We have the M-Audio 3 layer piano and there may be another one coming with M-Audio from us as well (fingers crossed... hard to play piano that way though
).
Some have asked about a piano plug-in. We might do a Piano Collection 2 at some point at least. As for a dedicated piano plug-in, let's just say that it would have to be a step forward with some innovation for me to want to do it. Something that the others don't have and it'd have to be significant to bother. I have some ideas in that area for sure on how to improve the piano VSTi. However, since there are a TON of those and NONE like say Studiophonik, our concentration is to make THAT something amazing right now. By the way, it does have one or two incredible pianos itself.
). Then a lot has to do with HOW it is played when you sample it. You have to know what you are going after. For instance, there is a balance of wood knock noise to fundamental and harmonics you want to achieve for samples and do it by playing it going for certain dynamics (which means I'll hit the key 20 times or more until I get the sound I want from that key sometimes). Honestly, if we sample a piano it isn't because we want to make a big piano product to compete with all the rest since there are so many of those already. If we do it this would be because I've run across a piano that I wish I owned and have captured it for the love of the instrument (to preserve it and have it to use whenever I want as a multisample... and thus for anyone else who wanted to buy it). So, any pianos we've sampled in the last 2 years were done with at least 3-4 dynamics. I'll probably do 8 dynamics the next time I sample one (to use with streaming samplers).
We have the M-Audio 3 layer piano and there may be another one coming with M-Audio from us as well (fingers crossed... hard to play piano that way though
). Some have asked about a piano plug-in. We might do a Piano Collection 2 at some point at least. As for a dedicated piano plug-in, let's just say that it would have to be a step forward with some innovation for me to want to do it. Something that the others don't have and it'd have to be significant to bother. I have some ideas in that area for sure on how to improve the piano VSTi. However, since there are a TON of those and NONE like say Studiophonik, our concentration is to make THAT something amazing right now. By the way, it does have one or two incredible pianos itself.