Favorite Pianos

[pianoman1976]

Here's a song I did in February that makes use of a piano from NI's Kontakt2: The Lingering Haunt

 

I think the piano sound is phenomenal (play it through some nice monitors to really appreciate it), so convincing with lots of dynamics. This patch was called "Ambient Piano" I think. There are several pianos that come with Kontakt2 that are more crisp and 'standard' sounding. The Yamaha Grand is mighty tasty! :)

 

My computer monitors are not the greatest, but from what I can tell that piano sounds really accurate. Deep, haunting song there my friend - that female species sure has a way of inspiring, or should I say "haunting" us. ;)

 

Are you using a sustain pedal?

[freeztar]

My computer monitors are not the greatest, but from what I can tell that piano sounds really accurate. Deep, haunting song there my friend - that female species sure has a way of inspiring, or should I say "haunting" us. :D

 

Indeed, can't live with them and can't write without them. ;)

Are you using a sustain pedal?

 

Nope.

I'm guessing that the sustained/'ambient' sound of the samples is coming mainly from some natural reverb treatment a la a nice room/space where the recording occurred, and maybe partially through some sustain treatments. I'd have to load it up to be sure, and it's not on my laptop I'm using now.

Of course, if I had used a sustain pedal, then I probably could have controlled some of the ambiance better, but that's easy enough to mix in via mouse or controller. I liked how it sounded when I recorded and so I just stuck with the dark and distant sound for this piece. ;)

 

You mentioned that you play rock and funk and really like to pound on the keys. That brings to mind a sound similar to what Tarantism described. Perhaps you should look towards an EP or something like this, which I highly recommend. :)

MrRay is an Electric Piano emulation. It is capable of producing the sound of the Electric Pianos of the seventies, like the Fender Rhodes and the Wurlitzer EP, as well as the Yamaha DX7 FM Piano.

 

If you want to stick with acoustic, then I would recommend looking at specialty libraries for the sound you want. What sound do you want? :D

[pianoman1976]

 

 

Nope.

I'm guessing that the sustained/'ambient' sound of the samples is coming mainly from some natural reverb treatment a la a nice room/space where the recording occurred, and maybe partially through some sustain treatments. I'd have to load it up to be sure, and it's not on my laptop I'm using now.

Of course, if I had used a sustain pedal, then I probably could have controlled some of the ambiance better, but that's easy enough to mix in via mouse or controller. I liked how it sounded when I recorded and so I just stuck with the dark and distant sound for this piece. ;)

 

 

I didn't mean to imply that your piece sounded sustained. In fact I was betting that there wasn't any sustain on it. Yes, there's an ambient reverb - but that's different.

 

I was thinking that a sustain pedal, used correctly may just bring the notes together - creating a more seamless feel to the passages.

 

You may very well have been going for a more disjointed piano feel, which I can understand might match the "haunting" nature of the song.

 

For me, I always use the sustain pedal - actually, I insist on it. It really brings the notes together, smoothes everything out. Although used incorrectly, it can turn your song into mush. I'm wondering, in the software realm can you add a filter to add correct sustain pedal to your notes? I don't mean a blanket sustain over the whole piece, rather an accurate 'pedal up' 'pedal down' sequence synched to your recorded notes? A sort of wizard that can analyze your sequence and figure it out for you? Maybe this is what you were talking about?

 

Thanks for the MrRay link. When I get my Mac up and running, I'll be sure to check that out. It looks REALLY cool.

 

As for what I'm looking for, I'd say I'm mostly interested in accurate representations of acoustic and electric pianos - any and all of them. Stuff I can trigger with my controller piano - not just program - but play/record live.

 

:)

[freeztar]

I was thinking that a sustain pedal, used correctly may just bring the notes together - creating a more seamless feel to the passages.

 

You may very well have been going for a more disjointed piano feel, which I can understand might match the "haunting" nature of the song.

 

Spot on there. I wanted a disjointed feel, hence the off-beat stabs and slinky feel.

For me, I always use the sustain pedal - actually, I insist on it. It really brings the notes together, smoothes everything out. Although used incorrectly, it can turn your song into mush.

 

Yeah, I need to get one, it's been a while.

 

I'm wondering, in the software realm can you add a filter to add correct sustain pedal to your notes?

 

In the MIDI world, you can control the sustain via a CC#.

 

I don't mean a blanket sustain over the whole piece, rather an accurate 'pedal up' 'pedal down' sequence synched to your recorded notes?

 

Depending on the piece, this can be easily accomplished using MIDI plug-ins.

 

A sort of wizard that can analyze your sequence and figure it out for you?

 

If you are synched to the beat, then it is only a matter of creating the appropriate LFO oscillation. If you want more control of when it is pedal up vs. down, then you can edit the 'curves' in MIDI.

Maybe this is what you were talking about?

 

Certain programs can detect initial wave amplitude and also frequency, but are generally inaccurate in analyzing analog data. If you stick with MIDI, then you can always tweak to taste later, which is much better than automation imo.

 

Thanks for the MrRay link. When I get my Mac up and running, I'll be sure to check that out. It looks REALLY cool.

 

I use Mr. Ray 2.0 in about 85% of my songs. It is extremely versatile and sounds great. It's definitely a tool worth keeping in the toolbox.

 

As for what I'm looking for, I'd say I'm mostly interested in accurate representations of acoustic and electric pianos - any and all of them. Stuff I can trigger with my controller piano - not just program - but play/record live.

 

Well, it sounds like NI might be the best choice for you if you have the dough and computing power. If not, then consider Sampletekk.

[Tormod]

Pianoman, sorry for my late reply (I'm on holiday). I run NI Komplete 4 on a PC desktop with an AMD x2 3800 CPU, an Audiophile 2496 PCI soundcard, 2GB RAM, and 2x250GB SATA harddrives. It works fine. I have also ran most of this software on a MacBook Pro but it was before I got my current Intel one (at that time none of the NI products were Universal Binary so I have not continued to use my Mac with the NI stuff).

 

I've used Absynth and and Kompakt (not Kontakt) since version 1 several years back. I got Komplete 2 almost by accident for $500 online, and have kept upgrading it so now I have just about all versions of their plugins. Everything runs fine on my PC.

 

My favorites are the Ak and El Pianos, and the FM7/FM8 synths. However, since I'm a guitar player I also use Guitar Rig 2 with the foot controller. I have recently ordered the NI Kore controller to organize all the Komplete 4 plugins and sounds.

 

Here is a track where I play FM7 for the keyboard and Guitar Rig for the guitar:

http://hypography.com/forums/tracks/0511_kovacs___myse.mp3

 

(I use a sustain pedal with my keyboard btw).

[pianoman1976]

Tormod,

 

Thanks. Your song is great - you should send it to the networks. It would fit a "CSI" type crime drama.

 

Ryan :doh: