The best (Free) Acoustic Piano sample?

[aMUSEd]

I'm finding part of the problem is SFArk as well. I' pretty sure I got a complete download but SFArk really takes ages to uncompress and seems to eat every CPU cycle I have as well - and even then spits out a file with 10MB missing. Trying again now.

I never liked SFArk - although it has to be said it's compression ratio is slightly better than SFpack's in every other respect SFPack is better - it's less CPU intensive, much faster at packing and unpacking, easier to use (just right click) and I've never once had an error while unpacking.

[aMUSEd]

although it has to be said it's compression ratio is slightly better than SFpack's

Correction - I just recompressed the file using SFPack. It comes to 69 MB with SFPack and just over 71 MB using SFArk so SFPack rules across the board. And it managed this in less than a minute and didn't kill my CPU doing it either.

So if anyone wants to post a compressed sf2 please consider using SFPack not SFArk.

[McLilith]

anyone know what type of piano used for the splendid sf?

It was created from an Akai sample set. The Akai samples were created from a Steinberg grand piano.

[McLilith]

now that the sfz format is available, you could download all those Iowa Uni samples and knock together a soundfont in a text editor in 2 minutes.

I'm afraid it's not that easy. First, all the files need to be translated to WAV format. Then, you'll find that every file needs a to have some blank space trimmed off the beginning of the recording. You will probably also need to trim the tails of the recordings, to save on computer resources. Then, you will probably want to make adjustments to the volume of every file, because these are recorded rather faintly.

Once you've done all that, and placed all the files in a common directory, you can start writing your sfz file.

That being said, I'll probably do all the above, and write an sfz file for the edited WAV files. In fact, I'm downloading the collection of AIFF files as I type this message. I'll possibly download the rest of the instrument collection as well.

[McLilith]

One word of warning to anyone wanting the piano samples from U. of Iowa: This is a huge download!

In fact, it's 1,415,729,072 bytes of huge.

Still, there's only 3 velocity layers! Imagine what it would have been like with more layers.

[koorby]

Wow! This turned out to be quite a long-ish thread. I have downloaded about 10 grand pianos now, and despite rave reviews for a whole bunch of them, I simply cannot fault Splendid played with sfz. I've made some songs solo and inside a mix, and Splendid seems to really have a nice, warm, solid feel to the tone and it sounds the most "real".

Best of all, it's a 100% FREE solution. I have the 72MB, 132MB and 256MB versions. I use the 72MB in sfz "draft" mode for very low CPU composing with my other VSTi's. (To be honest, the playback quality in sfz's draft mode is quite stunning). Then I switch to the 256MB version when I freeze my piano track in Tracktion.

Well worth the download!

[Markleford]

Three cheers for Splendid!

- m

[deastman]

For a while now I've been toying with the idea of making my own sample set from my parents 1928 Steinway Model B grand piano. Only problem is, I can't think of any way to accurately and consistently record different velocities for each note. It seems like I'd have to have one of those testing devices which piano repair people use to mechanically strike each note at preset velocities.

[P.T.]

Is there a difference in sound between the 3 splendids, or is the extra size just velocity layers?

I have the 76mb version and am wondering if I should go ahead and download the others.

[koorby]

Not sure about whether the 132MB and 256MB versions have more velocity samples (check with Simeon Amburgey at http://www.soundcreationsinc.com/splendid/), but I find the larger versions to sound more full and robust and have less distortion.

To be quite honest though, I use the Splendid 72MB version for most of my composition work and it sounds better than the Akai GigaPiano Lite (380MB), MegaPiano and other 300MB+ so called "pro" pianos out there.

[pough]

now that the sfz format is available, you could download all those Iowa Uni samples and knock together a soundfont in a text editor in 2 minutes.

I'm afraid it's not that easy. First, all the files need to be translated to WAV format. Then, you'll find that every file needs a to have some blank space trimmed off the beginning of the recording. You will probably also need to trim the tails of the recordings, to save on computer resources. Then, you will probably want to make adjustments to the volume of every file, because these are recorded rather faintly.

Once you've done all that, and placed all the files in a common directory, you can start writing your sfz file.

That being said, I'll probably do all the above, and write an sfz file for the edited WAV files. In fact, I'm downloading the collection of AIFF files as I type this message. I'll possibly download the rest of the instrument collection as well.

Goldwave can do batch conversions. It can probably also do the trimming at the same time. And one of us geeks should be able to whip up a PERL script to automagically create the text file...

[Captain]

Goldwave can do batch conversions. It can probably also do the trimming at the same time. And one of us geeks should be able to whip up a PERL script to automagically create the text file...

I actually made a perl script that downloaded all the files, trimmed the silence from the beginning, and renamed the files so that their order is correct when sorted alphabetically, and the name contains the note in a standard form (C1, C#1, and so on). This way, I could very easily make an EXS24 instrument from the samples since EXS24 can "guess" the root key from the file name. Just "load multiple samples", and it's there, no sample-specific work needed.

I played with the piano a little. Sounds good overall, but there a few problems:

Then, you will probably want to make adjustments to the volume of every file, because these are recorded rather faintly.

This is the first and obvious one. There is a LOT of unused headroom in the samples. Of course, since everything is free, you cannot really complain, but maybe someone should teach the guys @ the university why you should always record as loud as possible. Obviously, you should _not_ touch the files themselves, since you can probably make the output "hotter" during the playback phase. This is always better, since changing the volume of the original files happens in 16-bit domain.

The second one which I noticed quite soon is that there are little strange clicks in some samples. The clicks are always right after the initial attack, but not in the very beginning. Fortunately it's possible to find them with a sample editor, and "draw them away", but this is very time consuming..

[scuzzphut]

And hey, Scuzzphut, as soon as I get the whole file I will send it to you by snail mail. OK?

Oooh! Thanks very much

I'm going to try Firefox at this end, so check with me before you send .......

[jens]

i'm getting exactly the same - I've downloaded 4 times now and it's always around the 50meg mark


can anyone recommend a good - spyware free download manager , then?

I'm using Mozilla - it has its own...

[P.T.]

Is the Splendid piano 256mb no longer available?