Name that piano?

[hao nao]

well it still needs a name, so how about Alyosha?

[AD80]

Really nice Piano DevonB. It has a clean sound but still sounds full. It sounds better than my Triton pianos did thats for sure.

[griels]

Too flat sounding. When I played it the first time, it was 'wow!', but that's because the best I had at the time was a 64 meg 4 layer piano for my EMu. Once I heard the Steinway B, I couldn't stand it anymore.

Hmm... You mean the East West Steinway B Giga? I checked out the demo mp3 on soundsonline. To my ears, it was one dimensional... No definition in the low dynamic range. It's difficult using words to describe sounds, but to me it was pretty damn 'flat' sounding. Are you sure you hit the keys hard enough when you played the Gigapiano? :p You do have to whack it a bit if you're using a weighted keyboard. If I want it to cut through a mix, I do a bit of low-medium cut and add a bit of Dominion or Endorphin for a bit of warmth and dirt.

I ended up getting the Steinway D as my main piano, which I somewhat regret, and really would like to get a Yamaha C7 instead. I use the Kawai piano in its place most times though, and was totally worth the $32 I paid for that.

Devon

Heh, as you say, horses for courses... I personally can't abide the sound of it, but then again I love jazz, so draw your own conclusions It just sounds so sterile and cold to me.

Out of interest, what do you think of the Artvista Malmsjo Acoustic Grand? Or the Maestro Grand? Or the White Grand? Or the upcoming PMI Emperor ?

[DevonB]

Hmm... You mean the East West Steinway B Giga? I checked out the demo mp3 on soundsonline. To my ears, it was one dimensional... No definition in the low dynamic range. It's difficult using words to describe sounds, but to me it was pretty damn 'flat' sounding. Are you sure you hit the keys hard enough when you played the Gigapiano? :p You do have to whack it a bit if you're using a weighted keyboard. If I want it to cut through a mix, I do a bit of low-medium cut and add a bit of Dominion or Endorphin for a bit of warmth and dirt.

Oh yes, I whacked the keyboard hard enough. I remember I was using it on one project, and was getting pissed off at its tonal characteristics trying to get it 'bright' enough for that 'ch ch ch ch ah ah ah ah' kinda horror filmy sound, and was NOT happy with the quality. As for the Steinway B, I liked it better than GigaPiano, but I actually PLAYED it, not just listened to an MP3 demo. Then, once I played Steinway D, I could immediatelly hear how much more dynamics IT had over The B, and stopped liking it as much too.

Heh, as you say, horses for courses... I personally can't abide the sound of it, but then again I love jazz, so draw your own conclusions It just sounds so sterile and cold to me.

Out of interest, what do you think of the Artvista Malmsjo Acoustic Grand? Or the Maestro Grand? Or the White Grand? Or the upcoming PMI Emperor ?

I hate piano mp3 demos, period. It's like listening to a guitar demo, as they are almost worthless because its your own playing style and CONTROLLER that *TOTALLY* changes how it sounds. I played the Steinway D on my synth weighted keyboard for my friend, turned around and played THE EXACT SAME THING on my Fatar piano weighted keyboard, and he thought I'd changed the piano sound I was using. Nope. The manual even says for the STeinway D that that piano was deisnged using that EXACT keyboard, so to me, it sounded pretty good. Still, I wish it was brighter. It was also a matter of at the time, the choices were HALF of what we have now. The last year has been pretty prolific for new pianos, that's for sure. Still, it seems, I turn to my Kawai piano for most piano duties now, and that is a paltry 1 layer and 850 megs of samples! Still, like the way it sounds on my controller...

So I can't really say on what I like based on some mp3 demo. Purgatory Creek is even worse! I have grown to hate that tune, and that's not my playing style. But I do feel arguing what's the best piano is pretty much pissin' in the wind. Too many brands with too many toanl characteristcs based on your controller just make it a nightmare to recommend anything.

Devon

[griels]

I hate piano mp3 demos, period. It's like listening to a guitar demo, as they are almost worthless because its your own playing style and CONTROLLER that *TOTALLY* changes how it sounds. I played the Steinway D on my synth weighted keyboard for my friend, turned around and played THE EXACT SAME THING on my Fatar piano weighted keyboard, and he thought I'd changed the piano sound I was using. Nope. The manual even says for the STeinway D that that piano was deisnged using that EXACT keyboard, so to me, it sounded pretty good. Still, I wish it was brighter.

Sure, mp3 demos can only tell you how good or bad a piano is at playing a particular style. It just seemed odd as the only mp3 demo provided (on East West's own web shop) lacked any kind of low velocity dynamics. Surely East West would prefer to blow their own trumpet, and not just on Quantum Leap Brass? Most of the other sampled pianos have demos showing a variety of dynamics - why does this one not do so?

Anyway, there are online .gig demos available of the White Grand ( http://www.sampletekk.com ) and the Maestro Grand is free (all 800MBs of it) so you can easily check those out. MAG is $50 and well worth it IMO, although a much darker tone than what you are looking for, I suspect. And of course, no one can try the PMI Emperor because it's not out yet. I just love the sound of that demo, and I suspect I can alter the velocity curve of my controller to get a similar sound.

So I can't really say on what I like based on some mp3 demo. Purgatory Creek is even worse! I have grown to hate that tune, and that's not my playing style. But I do feel arguing what's the best piano is pretty much pissin' in the wind. Too many brands with too many toanl characteristcs based on your controller just make it a nightmare to recommend anything.

Devon

Could we hear some stuff you've done with the Steinway B then? Very interested to hear that.

It's true though, talking about music is like dancing about art, as the saying goes

[DevonB]

Sure, mp3 demos can only tell you how good or bad a piano is at playing a particular style. It just seemed odd as the only mp3 demo provided (on East West's own web shop) lacked any kind of low velocity dynamics. Surely East West would prefer to blow their own trumpet, and not just on Quantum Leap Brass? Most of the other sampled pianos have demos showing a variety of dynamics - why does this one not do so?

Probably because quite honestly, the low dyanmics weren't all that great from what I remember. I do remember loading in the Steinway D for the first time and going 'DAMN, this sounds *SOOO* much more dynamic' from my synth weighted keyboard. The piano weighted, I have a much harder time extracting out the low level layers like the pp and ppp.

Anyway, there are online .gig demos available of the White Grand ( http://www.sampletekk.com ) and the Maestro Grand is free (all 800MBs of it) so you can easily check those out.

and I will! Thanks!

Could we hear some stuff you've done with the Steinway B then? Very interested to hear that.

If I had anything with it, I would, but I don't. It was my friend's library, not mine, I just got to play with it. I just remember flipping back and forth between both the Gigapiano and it, and liking the Steinway B better. I think he deleted the Gigapiano off of his hard drive too. Was a real pisser that you HAD to install it during your install back then. Again, this is all like 2-3 years ago for all of this. Old stuff man! Now I do have examples of the Kawai though if you want to hear 'em.

Devon

[griels]

OK, can we hear some stuff you did with the Steinway D then?

Thanks.

[DevonB]

OK, can we hear some stuff you did with the Steinway D then?

Thanks.

I'm PRETTY sure I did this with the Steinway D. Quite honestly, I kinda stopped using it after I got the Kawai. I'm sure I'll use it again, but it's just a bit too dark for my taste in most instances.

Devon

[griels]

OK, can we hear some stuff you did with the Steinway D then?

Thanks.

I'm PRETTY sure I did this with the Steinway D. Quite honestly, I kinda stopped using it after I got the Kawai. I'm sure I'll use it again, but it's just a bit too dark for my taste in most instances.

Devon

Thanks! That was very informative, Devon. I listened to the demos on the PMI site as well. I think I'll save my pennies for now

[DevonB]

Thanks! That was very informative, Devon. I listened to the demos on the PMI site as well. I think I'll save my pennies for now

Glad that helped. It's just so hard to actually recommend a piano, because really, most of them ARE good if they're in the big 800meg to 4 gig catagory, it's basically down to taste. Still, they can still make subtle improvements with the engines to start getting sympathetic resonances of the sound board and strings for keys not playing that'll add just that much more realism, but it just depends where your 'give a shit' threshold really is for ultimate realism is.

Devon

[DevonB]

Anyway, there are online .gig demos available of the White Grand ( http://www.sampletekk.com ) and the Maestro Grand is free (all 800MBs of it) so you can easily check those out.

Ok, I'm blind, where is it on their page?

Devon

[griels]

Anyway, there are online .gig demos available of the White Grand ( http://www.sampletekk.com ) and the Maestro Grand is free (all 800MBs of it) so you can easily check those out.

Ok, I'm blind, where is it on their page?

Devon

http://sampletekk.com/wgresource.php

Check here:

http://www.postpiano.com/tests/Index.htm

For the PMI Old Lady .gig demo (which is pretty good), and soon, a PMI Emperor .gig demo. Enjoy!

[DevonB]

And the Maestro Grand?

Thank god I got cable modem that delivers 3 megabit on a good day....

Devon

[griels]

And the Maestro Grand?

Thank god I got cable modem that delivers 3 megabit on a good day....

Devon

Seems to have gone offline Devon... I guess the bandwidth issues were a concern - it was a hugely popular download whilst it was online. Unless someone knows better...