KVR Audio

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:18 am

Hey guys,

What do you think of this piano sound for a blues/rock tone?

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/tipitina.mp3

(not me playing)

The recording is completely dry.

Jake Jackson · Post by **Jake Jackson** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:28 am

I generally like the timbre for the intended purpose, but wanted a better a response to velocity--it seems to be always crisp. I wanted a softer sound at low velocities.

K-Slash · Post by **K-Slash** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:58 am

Does this mean that you're developing a Piano VSTi

?

That woul be cool, because the tone is really nice.

But talking about dynamics, yeah it need more softer sounds, because it seems that it's the same velocities but played at a lower volume

.

Shy · Post by **Shy** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:08 pm

I'm sorry, but I think it just doesn't sound good. Reminds me of the piano sound in old cheap Yamaha keyboards. Sounds somewhat resampled (as in sample rate). The tone's balance itself is fine, but it just sounds weird. The attack of the keys is too similar on all notes/velocities, and there's fuzzy brightness in all velocities. I really don't wanna discourage you

so at least I'll say I think that with some processing it could sound much better, and could probably sit well in a mix, since except sound issues that could be partially covered, and the brightness issue, the tone sounds balanced.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:04 pm

The reason I only sampled one velocity (then using LP to simulate lower volumes), is because of the other specs of the sampling:

- Sampled all 88 keys
- Release samples
- 9 different mic combinations to choose from
- pedal noises
- hammer retract noises (not in the MP3 demo)

The piano itself is pretty worn in, so it's bright, and some of the tone is a little uneven. Seeing that the samples already total over 1.7 gigs, I decided not to sample more velocity layers. One cool thing about the multiple mic feature is that you can pan them apart as far as you want.

K-Slash · Post by **K-Slash** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:12 pm

Even if it's already 1.7 GB in space, if I were you, I'll sample more velocities... If we have 8 velocities (which would be great

), I'll will take a maximum size of 14 GB, which is correct for a good library with all the microphones positions.

When you look at NI's Akoustik Piano (okay there are 4 pianos), but it takes around 20 GB too and the disk, same for Synthogy's Ivory.

So why not 8 velocities

?

P.T. · Post by **P.T.** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:51 pm

I prefer 1 velocity layer rather than a small number of layers.

With a few layers there is the problem of hitting a different layer when you play a little lower or louder and the sound changes too drastically and sounds like a different piano.

Besides, with a real piano, a bright piano doesn't become soft just because you play quietly.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:07 pm

This particular piano doesn't have too much tonal variety in different velocities, as P.T. explained. A piano technician needs to come by and use pins on the felt on the hammers... but then again, right now it's got a nice blues/rock sound to it.

I'm aiming for a downloadable thing, so over 1.7 gb is a little impractical...

If I was to sample 8 velocities, doing that by hand is not the best route, since that usually results in unevenness. You need to use a piano that has been hooked up with a MIDI system, and then feed it MIDI data to play exact velocities.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:53 pm

Here's a demonstration of the release samples:

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/pianoreleases.mp3

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:52 pm

So is this going to be a commercial soundset? Any info on that?

Brent

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:51 am

koolkeys wrote:So is this going to be a commercial soundset? Any info on that?

I would imagine so, but I can promise you it would be very affordable.

Right now I just wanted to see if anyone was interested in the tone of the piano as a blues/rock sort of thing.

Nikolas · Post by **Nikolas** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:01 am

The sound itself is rather fine.

But it is a bit of a problem with 1 velocity layer, I have to admit. I mean this piano will be aimed at very specific pieces of music (which ok, makes sense) but also at very specific dynamics as well (forte and above, prolly).

Now if you were to add another 2-3 layers, and manipulate them through audio? Then you wouldn't really have to have such a constistancy in recording it yourself, and if one note was a tad louder, you could always edit it. Or maybe take just 1 velocity layer and EQ the hell out of te new and the old one, to get 4 velocity layers? some ideas.

But then again 1.7GBx4 is a good 8 GB, so donwload it's a bit too much, I can understand that. And honestly for a piano of 8 GB (so it's a bit of waste in hard disk), I would like something rather good. I did delete 2/3 pianos in Ivory myself. And the price would have to also mirror that I think. You just can't get 8 GB of samples for 20$.

At least my opinion.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:59 am

Oh, I already do have LP filter to simulate the tonal change a little bit in different velocities. I'll definitely work on it more in the future to get it sounding more realistic.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:04 pm

I put in the hammer retract sounds. They add a lot, surprisingly! Especially in the very highest octave-and-a-half where there are no dampers on the strings, so the hammer retract noise is even more noticable.

Here's some improvisation I played on my keyboard:

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/improv.mp3

Jake Jackson · Post by **Jake Jackson** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:18 am

Needs a soft layer. Subtractive just can't do it.

Rock Grand Piano