Topic by edge-records

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  • edge-records
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Topic: Newbie questions (Model D bad freqs / Roland A-90 Midi / Imperfection)

Hi all,

I'm new here, in fact very new to piano sounds not created on the digital piano itself but on a computer. I've bought a new Roland A-90ex about 23 years ago, when I was a teenager, that was my second keyboard ever, and so far my last one. Despite it being a proper master keyboard with loads of Midi stuff, I never used it for that really, I was too busy actually playing to pay much attention to all the stuff that happened in the industry, and just played with the on-board sounds all that time.

First I didn't have the money to spend on any midi expanders, now I would have the money, but am a Linux-only user since 10 or 15 years, and there never was anything out there I could natively use. Some years back I became aware of the samples of "Imperfect Samples" and I love them, esp. the Steinway Walnut job, but since I can't use it on Linux I gave it a miss.

This week I finally became aware the first time of Pianoteq, and that it runs on Linux natively, so I've hooked up my A-90, installed Pianoteq 7 stage, got rid of the lag, and am since then browsing through the different pianos, to decide whether I'm going to buy it, and if so which 2 packs I'll choose. So far my favourites are the Bluethner, and U4. So here are my questions:

1) The Steinway Model D (mostly the NY one, but also the Hamburg one) have some really loud and hurting noises on the B5 and C6 on the left channel. It really hurts my left ear on my head phones (AKG K500), so I've discarded the Model D, but otherwise I kinda liked them. Am I doing something wrong? Do others get that too? I'm sure a real Steinway D wouldn't hurt my left ear more than my right ear?

2) I've tried to set up the Midi settings in a way so that I can use my A-90 to remote control most bits of Pianoteq. I did manage to get that done for some bits but not for others. My A 90 gives me loads of Controllers that let me set something between 0 and 127 via sliders, but I can't seem to find an elegant way to use it to select different sounds in a bank, or the banks themselves, because as soon as I choose "Next Instrument" or "Previous Instrument" in the Pianoteq Midi settings I don't have a range to set anymore or something to make it work. Since I'm not very good with Midi, am I missing something? Is there a way to do this? Does someone maybe have a Roland A-90 set up with it all and could send me a screenshot of their Midi settings?

3) .... and this is a long shot I guess, and rather vague ... So I really think the sound samples of the "Imperfect Samples" pianos on their web site still sound a bit better than Pianoteq. I figured out that with the "Dynamics" and with the "Condition" sliders I could get it a bit closer to what I've got in my mind's ear, but it's still not quite there yet. Unfortunately "Imperfect Samples" aren't a good option on Linux, so would like to know how close you think I could get to them with Pianoteq. Would I be able to with the Standard or Pro version? The high price of them is putting me off a bit tbh, I'm more a "switch on and play" kinda guy, so the Stage philosophy of presets appealed to me a lot ...

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give me!
Stephan

Reply by Qexl

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Re: Newbie questions (Model D bad freqs / Roland A-90 Midi / Imperfection)

edge-records wrote:

Am I doing something wrong? Do others get that too? I'm sure a real Steinway D wouldn't hurt my left ear more than my right ear?


1)

Hey Stephan, no, wouldn't say you're doing anything wrong re the left ear.. esp. if loud, there's often more bass on the left side (like a real piano) - esp. in "Player" style presets (compared to ones with mics in audience area, or to the side of the piano). Audience perspective mic arrays in real life also can have bass bias L or R (look for preset names like B/A or A/B - it's traditional piano mic arrangements which do that). It's possible in Standard and Pro to use all kinds of mic arrays from reality, or your own experiments - up to 5. It's a fantastic area to experiment within Pianoteq.

So, definitely, check out the mics which are used for the presets - and maybe beging by trying a narrower stereo width on a preset (a tool in output pane where mics are - found by clicking the small microphone icon) if it's to your taste to get bass into the middle.

BTW - if you use a DAW.. my long-time fav thing for nice piano across stereo field, is using Mid/Side output (EQ bass in the middle, balance for sparkle on the sides! - or whatever works for a particular production).. look for DAW plugins which allow that (not talking about the M/S mic array - but you can get into experimenting with that too, as well as other mic arrays in Pianoteq). I love experimenting with mics in Pianoteq, and particularly love not having to do this with real cables and patch bay spaghetti on hands/knees IRL

2)

edge-records wrote:

something to make it work

Try in 'file manager' or other, (in Linux you might use shell).. try this:

In the Pianoteq preset manager, right-click a preset you'd like in your set list.. select "open folder" - and you'll see it there, a file with a .FXP extension.

Just copy that file to a new folder above, call it something like MySetlist2020 or such - and.. back in Pianoteq's preset manager, you may now see that new folder with 1 preset listed within it.

If you then add more into that new folder, when you begin with one, you can MIDI control stepping through them (naming conventions worth experimenting with, alpah/numeric could keep simple.)

If convenient, pressing normal qwerty keybaord letter "n" will step through these in order.. or "p" to go in reverse.


3)

edge-records wrote:

how close you think I could get to them with Pianoteq

Definitely very close - check out this "Pianoteq Fine Details of Sound" page describing the sound details and giving an overview making controls understandable.

Esp. check out these "Pianoteq workshops" for a great start point to understand how to get good results greatly changing the pianos and presets.

You could make a very similar walnut piano (I do remember liking that one - turn up various things like hammer noise on main interface.. in the "Action" button.. make a louder key release noise and pedal noise - even change dampers.. it was way looser than default IIRC)..

or any kind of treated piano - esp. with Standard or Pro down to individual note level. The price I find reasonable - so many pianos and options - whereas a sampled piano is similar in price but so much more limited for one example.

Check out the "Pianoteq FXP corner" too, where you can load interesting piano variants made by others here, for some idea of how you can get vastly different sounds, even from 1 starting piano.

Let us know how you get along - and good luck - I hope Pianoteq is your choice as it is mine (no longer use any other VSTi pianos, sampled or other - it's just so editable!).

Hope this helps!


[Edit to add link to FXP Corner in text above]

Last edited by Qexl (14-12-2020 01:34)
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