Topic by kinnypiano

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  • kinnypiano
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Topic: Yamaha NU1 Hybrid piano with Pianoteq

Hey everyone, first post for me a long time lurker.

After many years with a Yamaha P120 (with only 3 velocity layers so no good for Pianoteq) I finally upgraded.
I've just taken delivery of a Yamaha NU1 hybrid piano with the real upright hammers etc. I swayed between this and the yamaha Clavinova 585 but an in-shop comparison and the desire for simplicity convinced me to get the NU1. I also tried the Kawai equivalent but wasn't happy with the sound.

So i'm incredibly happy with the NU1 and so today decided to try it with Pianoteq 5. Setup was a breeze of course and it sounds very good indeed.
I decided to make my own custom velocity curve but I wasn't happy with the result. The standard Pianoteq straight line seemed much better which of course it shouldn't so i'm going to try again at some point.
During the calibration Pianoteq reported that the NU1 doesn't give out note-off info (probably due to the way the sensors work) so I have no idea if that has any effect on the finished curve.

The D4 sounds and feels beautiful, the K2 not so much. The U4 upright was really great, possibly my favourite and i'll be buying the add on for that. The Model B and Bluethner were also really satisfying but not sure if they justify the purchase yet, for me at least.

The NU1 onboard piano sound based on the latest Yamaha CFX Concert Grand appears to have a lot more weight in the lower end compared to the Pianoteq models but this may be due to it being optimised for the speakers or the need for a better audio device from my computer as I was just using the headphone out. I'll be experimenting and A/B-ing some more later.

I've only ever used Pianoteq with a synth keyboard thus far so finally getting some weighted and hammer connected keys was fantastic. It really feels like i'm getting the dynamics of Pianoteq now and it really is amazing.

Reply by dklein

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  • dklein
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Re: Yamaha NU1 Hybrid piano with Pianoteq

Congratulations on your new "piano".

While your Yamaha P120 may only have three velocities for its own sampling, doesn't the MIDI output support a full 128 levels of velocity? Before I moved to a real piano with the MIDI sensor strip, I was using a Casio WK 3000. This was my introduction to Pianoteq, and it was amazing that it did have the ability to output 128 levels of sensitivity (zero – 127) when used as a controller. It still didn't have a great feel, and the real piano is much better, but you can get much better and more subtle tones out of Pianoteq using a low to mid cost arranger than out of the arranger using the sampling software that is bundled into the arranger itself.

David

- David

Reply by kinnypiano

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Re: Yamaha NU1 Hybrid piano with Pianoteq

Thanks.

I connected up the old Yamaha P120S to Logic Pro using a MIDI to USB adapter last year so that I could use it as a master keyboard. I could only ever get 3 levels of velocity out of it using the Logic soft synths and the Komplete suite of synths. I also tested what was then Pianoteq 3. Still the same 3 velocities. So I gave up on that plan. It's great as a stand alone piano though and quite sought after so I hopefully should have no trouble selling it. It has a great pad sound which i'll miss from the NU1.

Reply by sigasa

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Re: Yamaha NU1 Hybrid piano with Pianoteq

Welcome 'long time lurker',

Kindest Regards,

Chris