Reply by Paul

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Re: New K1 piano!

Thanks to all contributors. I'll try to summarise...

Jake Johnson wrote:

Paul,Are you using the Standalone? Are you set up with a mic or two?

Yes these tests are in standalone mode. Worth bearing in mind the changes that might occur in a sequencer (Cakewalk for me) when exporting a multi track performance. I don't have a set-up with mics currently.

sigasa wrote:

Paul,
...can you change the sensitivity of the midi sensors installed in your grand piano? I mean, do you have options to choose 'hard, medium or soft touch'?One thing I notice in the midi file you posted is the leap in velocity at the beginning of the piece. It's not a fault in your playing.

No there's no settings there. I have though had it all apart in the past (guided by manufacturer) to adjust the sensors that had gone out since new.

sigasa wrote:

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...202%20.fxp
actually, this .fxp is more balanced.
http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...ay%202.mp3

I've played along with this today and no doubt about it - it's a huge improvement. This becomes very apparent when I switch back to default - it sounds (to quote Jake) not very subtle and loud. That has given me the impetus to maybe fine tune some more. Problem is I like to play rather than tweek - which implies I'd prefer you guys to do the hard work! This all very worth while though. Many thanks again for your time

Jake Johnson wrote:

This is what I hear: All of the notes are loud and bright so the individual notes don't have definition? No subtly?

I agree. Thanks for your helpful suggestions and I will in time try a few more adjustments. For now I'll stick with Chris's .fxp as I find too many changes at once addles the brain!

Glenn NK wrote:

I've concluded that this whole subject of what sounds best is extremely subjective.
Glenn

I don't think you can argue with that. I have a decent quality Schimmel acoustic and I tell my (well respected) tuner about some 'off' notes, especially at the high end, which he tells me are fine. So I'm more than ever convinced my hearing is well under 100% and deteriorating and differs on any given day.

Ecaroh wrote:

Good player like Hugh Sung can adapt his playing to get best out of some virtual instrument like PTQ.
... the sound which was working best in this musical situation was maybe the last one I'd like play with.

There's no substitute for being a good player (unfortunately for the likes of me). I've also found that playing and listening to the results can be different experiences.

Thanks again everyone. Any help I wonder to tb303 who started this part of the thread?

Reply by sigasa

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Re: New K1 piano!

tb303 wrote:

Hi,
I was hoping that somebody here in the forums could offer me some guidance. I have purchased Pianoteq but I am having extreme difficulty in getting it to sound like a real piano. I notice especially in the mid range (around middle c (C3 piano) that it sounds like a synthetic electric piano. I have tried playing around with the mic positions etc but to no avail (Not that I really know what I am doing here). I personally find the K1 piano very harsh and sounds strange in the base register. I am using an M-audio fast track external soundcard and a fast pc. When I listen to the youtube video of Hugh Sung playing Claire de Lune it actually sounds fantastic but I (As well as other users based on the youtube comments) have failed to get pianoteq to sound like this. Has anyone any suggestions please....Thanks in advance

What keyboard do you use?


Chris

Reply by johnrule

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Re: New K1 piano!

Has anyone else noticed the odd mic placement for K1 "Close Mic"? Two of the mics are way off to the left (you have to have move the piano quite far to even see them).

I also had to change the damper range setting...G5 and above were resonating for 10 seconds after I pressed the key.

JR

Reply by Jake Johnson

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Re: New K1 piano!

tb303 wrote:

Hi,
I was hoping that somebody here in the forums could offer me some guidance. I have purchased Pianoteq but I am having extreme difficulty in getting it to sound like a real piano. I notice especially in the mid range (around middle c (C3 piano) that it sounds like a synthetic electric piano. I have tried playing around with the mic positions etc but to no avail (Not that I really know what I am doing here). I personally find the K1 piano very harsh and sounds strange in the base register. I am using an M-audio fast track external soundcard and a fast pc. When I listen to the youtube video of Hugh Sung playing Claire de Lune it actually sounds fantastic but I (As well as other users based on the youtube comments) have failed to get pianoteq to sound like this. Has anyone any suggestions please....Thanks in advance

tb303:

Could you try this fxp and see what you think?

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...0tb303.fxp

Does it give you a sound closer to what you want?
By the way, when you speak of a sound that seems off to you, are you speaking of individual notes, or the sounds of chords?

Reply by sigasa

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Re: New K1 piano!

K1 Demo using my latest velocity curve

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...kovich.mp3

Reply by Paul

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Re: New K1 piano!

sigasa wrote:

K1 Demo using my latest velocity curve

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...kovich.mp3

Sounds great to me and nice to have the complete version. As I said the other day, this inspired me to get the sheet music as it's always been a favourite piece of mine. I'm working on it and I'll bear in mind your signature whilst I do so...

Last edited by Paul (01-04-2010 16:52)

Reply by tb303

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Re: New K1 piano!

sigasa wrote:
tb303 wrote:

Hi,
I was hoping that somebody here in the forums could offer me some guidance. I have purchased Pianoteq but I am having extreme difficulty in getting it to sound like a real piano. I notice especially in the mid range (around middle c (C3 piano) that it sounds like a synthetic electric piano. I have tried playing around with the mic positions etc but to no avail (Not that I really know what I am doing here). I personally find the K1 piano very harsh and sounds strange in the base register. I am using an M-audio fast track external soundcard and a fast pc. When I listen to the youtube video of Hugh Sung playing Claire de Lune it actually sounds fantastic but I (As well as other users based on the youtube comments) have failed to get pianoteq to sound like this. Has anyone any suggestions please....Thanks in advance

What keyboard do you use?


Chris

Hi Chris,
I am using a Studiologic SL990 XP. Thank you and everyone for so kindly offering such helpful advice / input

Reply by tb303

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Re: New K1 piano!

Jake Johnson wrote:
tb303 wrote:

Hi,
I was hoping that somebody here in the forums could offer me some guidance. I have purchased Pianoteq but I am having extreme difficulty in getting it to sound like a real piano. I notice especially in the mid range (around middle c (C3 piano) that it sounds like a synthetic electric piano. I have tried playing around with the mic positions etc but to no avail (Not that I really know what I am doing here). I personally find the K1 piano very harsh and sounds strange in the base register. I am using an M-audio fast track external soundcard and a fast pc. When I listen to the youtube video of Hugh Sung playing Claire de Lune it actually sounds fantastic but I (As well as other users based on the youtube comments) have failed to get pianoteq to sound like this. Has anyone any suggestions please....Thanks in advance

tb303:

Could you try this fxp and see what you think?

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...0tb303.fxp

Does it give you a sound closer to what you want?
By the way, when you speak of a sound that seems off to you, are you speaking of individual notes, or the sounds of chords?

Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to upload this file for much appreciated. To be honest it sounds a little to aggressive and bright sounding on my setup at the moment. I tried downloading also the fxp file for Paul and this seemed to have fit the bill alot better for the sound I was looking for. When I said initially that the sound seemed off I was talking about certain notes in the mid register really that sounded very synthetic to me. I think the hight register sounds really nice in Pianoteq and I could not ask for more (Very realistic). I am using the C3 preset and find that around the mid range it sounds a little like an electric piano but having said that I am aware that this may be down to tweaking. I found myself softening the hammer strikes to try and muffle the sound a little to disguise this artificiality (to my ears) but I ended up with a very muffled sounding piano. I think the previous fxp that I downloaded (For Paul fxp) sounds nice. Thanks a million for all your input...
Niles

Reply by sawtooth

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Re: New K1 piano!

Someone asked what type of stuff I play earlier in this thread and I had posted a link to my youtube channel, but here is a piece that I just got done learning that actually sounds good with a slightly modified K1 preset.

The piece is Tracce by Ludovico Einaudi.  A slow piece in a nice minor key with some low bass notes and fun to play dynamically.

http://www.box.net/shared/csrllovr3o

It's a K1 Binaural preset with more dynamic range, slightly less hard hammers, not as much soft pedal effect and maybe a bit more resonance and maybe a few other small changes.  I didn't play around with it for all that long though.

Reply by Paul

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Re: New K1 piano!

sigasa wrote:

K1 Demo using my latest velocity curve

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...kovich.mp3

By the way, don't be offended if you think nobody has listened. I have done several times and the Dwd counter at Files is still stuck at zero! There again others jump x3 each time so something amiss there.

Reply by Jake Johnson

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Re: New K1 piano!

sawtooth wrote:

Someone asked what type of stuff I play earlier in this thread and I had posted a link to my youtube channel, but here is a piece that I just got done learning that actually sounds good with a slightly modified K1 preset.

The piece is Tracce by Ludovico Einaudi.  A slow piece in a nice minor key with some low bass notes and fun to play dynamically.

http://www.box.net/shared/csrllovr3o

It's a K1 Binaural preset with more dynamic range, slightly less hard hammers, not as much soft pedal effect and maybe a bit more resonance and maybe a few other small changes.  I didn't play around with it for all that long though.

Sawtooth:

That recording sounds very good. It exposes the K1 well. It would be a good demo for it, in fact.

Will you be sharing the fxp, lad?