Hi, I've noticed that many of the presets have the delay effect enabled.
Even the first default Prelude, and the Player presets which you would think are the most basic presets have delay.
Why is this? Delay is not an effect I would associate with piano and I think it Sounds better without, but what are they aiming for here?
i'm not an audio expert, but my understanding is that delay can be used to add the effect of space to the sound. so it helps simulate the effect of playing a piano in a space. reverb can achieve a similar effect, but it can also make the sound appear too distant and washed out.
hopefully someone with more knowledge will give an answer.
Your explanation makes sense, although I thought that the spacial delay was usually the initial part of the reverb, called early reflections. A bit unconventional perhaps to have a separate delay for that.
I switch off all delay and reverb when playing on speakers, since natural reverb is produced in my own studio. On headphones, a touch of room reverb can help against the dryness.
When you have two microphones in the player position, there is a stereo image of horizontal spatiality. However, with the delay effect, you have a depth perception because as the grand piano is extensive, the resonance produced at the end of the harmonic board takes a few milliseconds to reach the player's ear. Using the delay effect, this depth can be felt using only two speakers in front.
My favorite preset is Steinway D Player Wide. In my opinion, after many tests, this best simulates this depth effect, as it uses 5 microphones strategically positioned around the entire piano, covering the entire dimensionality of the instrument. But this dimensionality can only be felt due to the delay effect on each of the microphones and the master effect. Otherwise, the frequencies would come together in the speakers and there would be phase cancellations or, at best, a merely horizontal perception of sound, without depth.