Creating an FXP that sounds like Klavins Una Corda

Hello Mr. lo134,

I watched the video associated with your link, and was essentially immediately able to reproduce it with Pianoteq.  How?  I modified the Concert Harp Dreamy preset in the following manner:  1) Reduced all hammer hardness values to their minimum values;  2)  reduced dynamic range slider to only 10dB; 3) Modified the spectrum harmonics to favor only the first, second and fourth harmonic -- reduced all other spectrum values to their minimum settings (each -15dB), and raised the first harmonic to +4dB and second harmonic to +2dB.

The above three actions have gotten me 90+% of the way to the audio sound track in your referenced link.  The remaining 5 to 10% may be achieved by modifying the impedance to lengthen the sound.

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The reason I chose the Concert Harp within Pianoteq is because there is inherently only one string per note in a harp.  Moreover, the audio track in the associated video sounded more harplike than pianolike.

As a piano tuner, I chuckled at the blatant misinformation printed in the NI advertisement, specifically:  "... moving the hammers closer to the strings to further alter the sound."  Anyone who has played an upright piano (which means all of us, right?) knows that depressing the leftmost pedal is a non-functioning imitation of the left pedal in a grand piano.  Restated, an upright piano's left pedal only shifts the hammers closer to the strings, but does not alter the harmonic content in the way that a grand piano's left pedal shifts the entire keybed to the right, and a softer (less used) portion of the hammer contacts the strings in a grand piano.  Put still another way, the act of moving a hammer closer to a string before striking the string ... does nothing to the sound that we humans can perceive.

I also take strong exception to the advertisement's contradictory narrative that says something to the effect that, placing fabrics between the hammer and the strings is normally used to dampen the strings and soften the strings, BUT Frahm's cloth preparations [also placed between the hammers and strings] produce rich, percussive textures with ADDITIONAL overtones.

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Back to the matter at hand, Pianoteq is able to mimic the una corda piano by using an una corda instrument (namely, the harp) and modifying its hammer hardness to soften the initial attack, and to minimize odd harmonics.

Enough of my rambling.

Cheers,

Joe

That's simply brilliant Joe!  So intelligent, well thought out and clearly explained.  I can't wait to try it.  The only problem is that now I will be tempted to purchase the concert harp!

You are right, after reading your explanation the Una Corda definitely sounds more like a harp than a piano. 

Thank you so much.

Roger

I'd gladly create an .fxp, except that it requires a harp license, which not everyone has.  If you'd prefer a regular piano .fxp, for every one I would submit, someone else would want it with a different piano base.  (And then, within each piano base, someone else would want the Daily preset or the Recording preset, etc. etc.)  So rather than flood the forum with .fxp's, I offer these suggestions for anyone to experiment with the piano base of their choice:

1)  Select your favorite piano, whether that is Model B, Blüthner, D4, K2m Kremsegg, etc. using your own personal favorite preset as a starting point.

2)  If a piano base is selected, move the Unison Width slider fully to the left -- to minimize detuning between adjacent strings of the same pitch.  Ignore this step if you have selected a Harp preset as your starting point.

3)  Slide all three Hammer Hardness sliders to their far left (i.e., minimum) positions.

4)  In the eight vertical Spectrum Profile sliders on the front page, reposition Slider #1 to +4dB, Slider #2 to +2dB, Leave Slider #4 at 0dB, and move all of the remaining sliders to -15dB, their lowest positions.

5) Since Step 4) above will reduce the overall volume of the piano, reduce the Dynamic Range slider to only 10dB, and upwardly adjust the Volume slider to taste -- loud enough but without going into overload distortion.

6) Optional:  Adjust the Soundboard's Impedance slider to taste -- in the event that the sustained sound is either too long or too short.

There you have it.  Have fun & happy experimenting.

Cheers,

Joe

One appreciates the creativity of the effort, as one chuckles at the self-confidence with which you present the results, but … 90% likeness??? Seriously? Your Harp-modification, I'm sorry to say, sounds nothing like the Una Corda. In fact, claiming that there’s a 0,001% likeness would already be an exaggeration. To my ears anyway.

I recreated your Harp-modification to the letter, and then gave both the Una Corda (default ‘Pure’ patch) and Pianoteq the same material to play, and here’s the result. (Fragments first played by the Una Corda, followed by Pianoteq.)

Despite the UnaCorda having only one string per note, the instrument still sounds essentially like a piano, not a harp. (As I think this example and the NI video both clearly illustrate.) Hammers hitting a string, not fingers plucking a string — big difference.

Here's another audio example of the Una Corda. As before: default sound of the 'Pure' patch, and no additional processing.

I also have tiny bit of a problem, by the way, with you calling ‘blatant misinformation’ what is in actual fact a correct statement. When hammers are moved closer to the strings, they simply can’t generate as much power as they can when at their normal distance — basic physics — and thus make the instrument produce a less dynamic, slighty weaker sound. Very much my experience anyway, and an audible one too, when playing an upright.

Also: some specially prepared cloths might perhaps increase overtones and produce rich percussive textures, yes, but a piece of felt — which, unless I'm seriously mistaken, is what the NI-video seems to be talking about (and which is a technique that Nils Frahm used to record an entire album with) — placed between the hammers and the strings does indeed dampen the sound of the instrument considerably.

You’re allergic to NI and its products, or what? Because all your chuckling and ‘taking strong exception’ does hint at a certain unkind bias towards the company, if you don’t mind me saying so.

Anyway, the reason I buy and use libraries like the Una Corda is because they produce a sound which the current version of Pianoteq is quite unable to generate. Pianoteq can do a lot, but not everything. (And if I had to have a go, I’d think I’d ignore the harp completely and would look in the direction of combining a normal piano patch, extensively edited probably, with a faint presence of the clavichord, also extensively edited.

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