KVR Audio

digitalboytn · Post by **digitalboytn** » Wed May 21, 2014 9:40 pm

The best sampled piano out there is the American Concert D from Synthogy...

It's a real joy to play that instrument

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Thu May 22, 2014 12:52 am

One thing that can help for ambient piano tracks is to use velocity scaling to limit the playable dynamic range to the sweet spot you need; this obviously works best with deeply sampled pianos. Along with key-tracked filtering, it can go a long way towards finding a sound that works for a particular track. I've yet to find a piano that just nailed it for me out of the box.

cytoSonic · Post by **cytoSonic** » Thu May 22, 2014 5:36 am

This may seem like a ludicrous suggestion (and it was even derided earlier in the thread), but may I suggest The Giant? I, too, absolutely HATED the sound of this thing when I first got Komplete 9 last year. It was oh so obnoxiously in-your-face and grating! But the other night I was messing around with it and realized that it can be coaxed to get some really delicate tones.

The original poster set as a benchmark Morton Feldman (whom I love btw). And the reason I am suggesting The Giant is the ability to completely control (with fine detail) all of the auxiliary sounds of the instrument (damper, hammers, overtones, pedal movements, etc.). These things all add to that Feldman "intimacy" that you find in his later works. Not to mention the sustain on this instrument goes on forever.

So don't (like me) judge this instrument from the presets that it comes with. I agree, they're horrible. I do think it is a very capable instrument and might be (with a little TLC) just the thing for Feldman-esque compositions.

FWIW, the following is the result of my noodling the other night. This little snippet is all "The Giant" (of course you'll hear some digital manipulation in there, too, but alas I didn't save the original renders). Just an example of some of the more unconventional sounds to be gotten from the samples...
https://soundcloud.com/cytosonic/giantdemo

-Brad

Thomas_Pynchon · Post by **Thomas_Pynchon** » Thu May 22, 2014 6:45 am

Thanks still checking things out, tried the piano in blue, its not bad, but still the softer sounds are too 'hard' sounding. Im looking for a warm velvety sound, like a real grand sound, maybe i need to play with some of the parameters and mic positions more.

Thomas_Pynchon · Post by **Thomas_Pynchon** » Thu May 22, 2014 6:47 am

digitalboytn wrote:The best sampled piano out there is the American Concert D from Synthogy...

It's a real joy to play that instrument

I wasn't able to find a sample of their softer sounds in their demos, can anyone provide a demo of the that? Thanks

Thomas_Pynchon · Post by **Thomas_Pynchon** » Thu May 22, 2014 6:56 am

cytoSonic wrote:
The original poster set as a benchmark Morton Feldman (whom I love btw). And the reason I am suggesting The Giant is the ability to completely control (with fine detail) all of the auxiliary sounds of the instrument (damper, hammers, overtones, pedal movements, etc.). These things all add to that Feldman "intimacy" that you find in his later works. Not to mention the sustain on this instrument goes on forever.

-Brad

Thanks Brad, do you have a sample of solo piano? I agree those very soft tone colors are all about intimacy and very subtle sensation, finding that difficult to find.

I found pianoteq didn't work so well blending with other sampled instruments, lacking a full bodied sound, that was a trial version of 4.

kbaccki · Post by **kbaccki** » Thu May 22, 2014 7:25 am

Checkout Soundiron's Emotional Piano… it's designed specifically for "emotive" stuff, film work, whatever… might be just what you're looking for…

http://soundiron.com/products/emotional ... er-edition

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu May 22, 2014 7:30 am

Thomas_Pynchon wrote:I found pianoteq didn't work so well blending with other sampled instruments, lacking a full bodied sound, that was a trial version of 4.

Time to try version 5.

bigcat1969 · Post by **bigcat1969** » Thu May 22, 2014 12:35 pm

https://soundcloud.com/bigcat1969/the-whisper

You could try my version of a soft piano, The Whisper. It's based on a Baldwin so it has a slightly different sound. At any rate its free and easy to delete if you don't like it.

http://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2 ... ction.html

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Thu May 22, 2014 1:41 pm

Thomas_Pynchon wrote:I found pianoteq didn't work so well blending with other sampled instruments, lacking a full bodied sound, that was a trial version of 4.

You must adjust the curve of velocity to your style of play (and to the balance between the left part and the right part of the keyboard). And you'll see... It changes absolutely everything!

It's an aspect which is generally totally forgotten, and yet it is one of the most important aspects for the soft playing, especially in physically modelled pianos.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Thu May 22, 2014 3:14 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
BERFAB wrote:My new go-to is the 'Mellow Piano" patch in Halion Sonic 2. It has a very nice collection of many different types of pianos and keys.
That's weird, I don't seem to have that patch

It doesn't seem to be in the patchlist either, is this one you made yourself?

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Thu May 22, 2014 3:23 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
aMUSEd wrote:
BERFAB wrote:My new go-to is the 'Mellow Piano" patch in Halion Sonic 2. It has a very nice collection of many different types of pianos and keys.
That's weird, I don't seem to have that patch
It doesn't seem to be in the patchlist either, is this one you made yourself?

No, I don't do anything like that myself anymore. I'll check my patchlist tonight to double check the name. I may be confusing the names, but it is definitely a HS2 preset (not HSE2).

murnau · Post by **murnau** » Thu May 22, 2014 4:29 pm

As mentioned before it's very important to set the velocity curve right. Nothing else gave such an impact to the overall sound eypecially when it comes to soft tones.

cytoSonic · Post by **cytoSonic** » Thu May 22, 2014 7:41 pm

Thomas_Pynchon wrote:Thanks Brad, do you have a sample of solo piano? I agree those very soft tone colors are all about intimacy and very subtle sensation, finding that difficult to find.

Yeah, sure. Here is a more Feldman-esque example...
https://soundcloud.com/cytosonic/giantdemo2

The Giant may be more "un-natural" than what you're after. But I am finding it quite an interesting instrument for getting more nuanced recordings. I like that it can sound as if you are "inside" the piano. If you are going for a more natural sound, then look into the other examples mentioned. I just wanted to point out that The Giant can sound a lot more interesting than what the demos and presets lead you to believe.

Let us know what you decide on. This is an interesting topic to me.

-Brad

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Thu May 22, 2014 10:39 pm

bigcat1969 wrote:http://soundcloud.com/bigcat1969/the-whisper

The nightly ambiance of the most quiet parisian cabarets in 1910 at Montmartre...

Lovely!

I adore!

Best sampled Piano with beautiful soft tone when played QUIETLY