Topic: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

Even with inexpensive headphones, it seems to be relatively easy to get good sound from Pianoteq- a lot of definition, clean midrange etc, but with speakers it's a different story. With every stereo sound system I use for small gigs clarity suffers, especially in the midrange. The most success I've had to date has been with 10" woofers in a 2-way system. Larger speakers give better bass but seem to add muddiness in the center octaves of Pianoteq specifically, but a lot of piano software in general. At home, I have 12" 3-way Pioneer cabinets that sound quite good, but these are not suitable for gigging.

I've been considering that a 1/3 octave, 31 band EQ might provide the answer. Does anyone have any experiences with live sound that might point me in the right direction?

Michael

Last edited by Michael H (12-08-2010 21:26)

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

A good monitor solution for piano sound on stage is a big challenge. In my experience there're at least four things which will destroy your own sound: 1) room acoustics and reflections if you are in noisy place (when you are playing outside this is not that much problem). 2) Sound system which is giving back to you all the unwanted frequencies 3) (related to 2) bad sound engineers who doesn't know how piano is supposed to sound. Usually they put too much bass and quite often treble also. Of course sound is bad to audience as well but to you it's kind of "monster piano". 4) Your fellow musicians stage monitors which are giving bad piano sound to you. All this can cause phase problems etc. etc.

More often than not, these four things make it quite impossible to get a good sound for yourself. Then there's also often a time factor: 5) you don't have enough time to fix these things as good as possible (there's maybe 15 minutes "soundcheck" between two groups).

Of course I don't mean to say that there are no good monitor solutions for piano players. My main thing is that bad sound usually comes, not from your own monitors, but from other things. Some time ago I did test some of those high-quality near-field studio monitors on stage, but my conclusion was that even if they work perfect on studio situation, they hifi sound is quite useless on stage. What I personally need is a good and powerful middle (and upper too) range and you need to have EQ to balance it to this stage sound. Bass is not so important - you will hear these frequencies anyway from other devices. As been said, a good stereo perspective is very important for a acoustic piano player. (This is why I'm a little skeptical about those "stereo" keyboard amplifiers)

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

The QSC K-series(K12 etc) are supposed to have excellent clarity and especially midrange...


Hugh Sung wrote about the  QSC HPR122i with pianoteq:

http://www.hughsung.com/blog/index.php?...p;catid=19

Last edited by bebop603 (12-08-2010 23:37)
Pianoteq 5, Dell Studio 14 (core i3 2.26 ghz), M-Audio Uno midi connector, Echo Indigo Djx (expresscard), Little Dot MK V Headphone Amp, Senn 580 Headphones, Kawai MP9000 digital piano

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

Ecaroh,
Thanks for the reply. Your emphasis here is not the same as mine, because at this point I'm doing mostly solo work, and if not, it's generally with acoustic instruments in small venues, and at low volumes, without a sound engineer.

I only need to worry about producing a good sound for myself, and that's enough of a challenge for me.

Last edited by Michael H (12-08-2010 23:38)

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

bobop603, those certainly look impressive. They're a bit out of my price range though, right now. Thanks.

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

Hello Michael,

You might try shutting off Pianoteq's internal reverb when you are performing in a live amplified venue.  Otherwise, Pianoteq's reverb might combine with the room's own acoustic and "mudifi" the sound heard by the audience.

Cheers,

Joe

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

Thanks Joe, I'll give that a try!

Michael

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

I'm very happy with a pair (or two!) of DB Technologies Opera 410D (yes 10", 2 way, but bi-amplified as well), very lightweight, very powerful, clean sound, not expensive, not a lot of bass though, you might need a "sub" in some halls.

Re: Live Piano Sound: Speakers, Amps, Processing

Luc Henrion wrote:

I'm very happy with a pair (or two!) of DB Technologies Opera 410D (yes 10", 2 way, but bi-amplified as well), very lightweight, very powerful, clean sound, not expensive, not a lot of bass though, you might need a "sub" in some halls.

Thanks Luc,
I'll look into those- the specs look really good. AFAIK there's only one distributor here in the U.S. though, so trying before buying is probably out of the question.

This week I expect to be listening to some Yorkville speakers also, they have a good reputation, especially their Elite line.

Cheers,
Michael