Topic: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

I happen to love the sound and playability of the Roland MKS20 module.  I am wondering if Pianoteq is able to do a great emulation of the MKS20?  Are there any patches, either factory or user created, that do this convincingly?  Thanks.

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

Not really - perhaps you should try to find someone who sampled MKS-20, because MKS uses samples as well.

Hard work and guts!

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

EvilDragon:  thanks for the response.  Although, I'm pretty sure the MKS-20 is purely a modeled piano using Structured Adaptive Synthesis.  This is why I was hoping Pianoteq as another modeling piano technology might be able to emulate the MKS20 pretty closely if its parameters are tweaked.  Any further thoughts?

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

stephenchoi wrote:

EvilDragon:  thanks for the response.  Although, I'm pretty sure the MKS-20 is purely a modeled piano using Structured Adaptive Synthesis.  This is why I was hoping Pianoteq as another modeling piano technology might be able to emulate the MKS20 pretty closely if its parameters are tweaked.  Any further thoughts?


SAS is rather different than Pianoteq. You'd really have to ask the engineers of Roland to tell you (if they would!) how they did it. I, for one, think that Pianoteq's modeling is actually much better and more precise than what Roland did 20 years ago. So, perhaps you COULD get somewhere by tweaking the parameters, but no user did that yet, so there are no MKS-20 presets in the Files section as of yet...


Also, isn't MKS-20 half samples, half physmod? Like TruePianos?

Last edited by EvilDragon (06-08-2010 10:38)
Hard work and guts!

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

I suspected something along those lines. SAS being a different modeling technology, may not be able to fruitfully reproduce the MKS20 sound and playability.  As for certain whether it actually has samples in it, I'm not 100% certain. I thought it was pure modeling. Tho, I have seen your posts in other forums, ED, and I know you are very knowledgable about synths.  As such, I value your input.  Thank you for sharing!

I actually like the MKS20 for what it is and the nature of the imperfect piano sound.  Has a distinct character that appeals to me.  Was hoping for a reasonably close software version to use on my laptop.

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

I think this topic is quite interesting. So I've had a go at this.

I'm not at all familiar with the MKS-20, so going by only a couple of youtube recordings, I've attempted to create a similar kind of sound.

The .fxp can be found in the files section of the forum:

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...%20%20.fxp

It may not be quite what you're after, but it sounds nice all the same.

"In dust we trust"

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

stephenchoi wrote:

I suspected something along those lines. SAS being a different modeling technology, may not be able to fruitfully reproduce the MKS20 sound and playability.  As for certain whether it actually has samples in it, I'm not 100% certain. I thought it was pure modeling. Tho, I have seen your posts in other forums, ED, and I know you are very knowledgable about synths.  As such, I value your input.  Thank you for sharing!

I actually like the MKS20 for what it is and the nature of the imperfect piano sound.  Has a distinct character that appeals to me.  Was hoping for a reasonably close software version to use on my laptop.

Read the article here: http://www.novelmusic.com/roland/Technical/default.htm

There's no way they had the CPU power back then to pull realtime full physical modeling - they did use samples and resynthesised them to attain specific timbral properties.

Hard work and guts!

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

I've uploaded a second attempt at recreating the MKS20 in the files section (http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...7075e16489)

I've tried to model it on an example found here:

http://www.samplesets.scorpionshops.com...aiting.mp3

I don't think it's yet quite possible to capture the warm pad atmosphere in pianoteq, but still, it's closer than a stock C3 preset

Last edited by ToneF (06-08-2010 22:12)
"In dust we trust"

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

I bet the analogue MKS-10 sounded cooler

http://www.analoghell.com/studio/mks/index.cfm?mks=10

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

The MKS 10 certainly looks old skool!

I wonder if anyone can find a demo of it somewhere?

As for the MKS20 presets, I've added a slightly improved preset, with better ambience, and not quite as harsh a tone.

I'm having a blast playing with this latest one. It sounds quite brilliant  tonally (if I do say so myself)

(http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...KS20-3.fxp)

Even if it doesn't quite hit the mark, it's still a unique and beautiful snowflake, er... I mean instrument.

Last edited by ToneF (07-08-2010 14:11)
"In dust we trust"

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

stephenchoi wrote:

I happen to love the sound and playability of the Roland MKS20 module.  I am wondering if Pianoteq is able to do a great emulation of the MKS20?  Are there any patches, either factory or user created, that do this convincingly?  Thanks.

Wasn't the MKS20 the module version of the RD1000 ?

The RD1000 was I think the first electronic instrument that not only attempted to recreate the sound of a real piano, but also succeeded, to some degree that is, and compared to what had been tried until then. It was Roland's first in a long line of RD-xxx pianos.
It was expensive and heavy weight, and the look of Roland's current V-Piano very much reminds me of that old RD1000.

If you hear it with modern ears it sounds typically Roland, but not quite like a real piano :-)

Re: Roland MKS20 Re-creation

Arrghh - I want to move on from that MKS-20 sound thanks.    (I had an RD-300S which had a cut-down MKS-20 engine in it, and I'm sick to death of the sound!! ;^)

Is that pad sound the MKS-20, or something else? If it's the MKS, I didn't know it had that type of sound.

Greg.