It’s Large
http://rapidshare.com/files/9681209/Wersi_Grand_Piano.MP3.html

Enjoy

Hi Abacus,

What a brilliant Demo!!!! Wow! Just Wow! This demolishes everything I have ever heard.

Did you play these short piano excerpts yourself? I loved each one from your simple improvisations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars to the fully arranged songs beginning around 7m 30s.

Lady in Red was superb followed by the smashing reindition of Chariots of Fire. You put the original recording to shame.

Killing me Softly was superbly arranged and so was Windmills of your Mind. I listened spellbound and amazed all through that 16 minute presentation. Each excerpt was a knockout.

What struck me was the absolutely convincing Grand Piano Voice backed up by very realistic and robust backing instruments. I don’t think I have ever heard drums as clear as this with such a realistic acoustic double bass and brushes.

I know you have always raved about the Wersi in the past on this forum. This single demo proves your point. The Yamaha Tyros2 and the Korg PA800 have a long way to go to catch up with the Wersi. Your keyboard is in a league of it’s own. I had no idea this company was so advanced.

I guess it is only the high cost and lack of dealer representation that is keeping the US customers from enjoying this fantastic instrument.

I would encourage all Synthzone members to download this 37.7 MB file and listen to this presentation. It is recorded at a high bit rate of 320 kbs and shows the sparkling realism of the Wersi.

Could you please give us more details about the specific model and preset you used? What was the sample size of this Grand Piano? Was this a special add-on? What is the list price of this model?

Thanks for sharing this New Years surprise!

Tapas




[This message has been edited by Tapas (edited 12-31-2006).]

WOW! Each and every one of those songs ended much too early. I want the full versions. Now really is that you playing or is that a factory demo.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 12-31-2006).]

There is no doubting the great sound of the piano. But were any actual styles used in the demo Abacus ?

Thanks for the great post .

The performances you hear, are professionals playing the instrument, and were recorded just after the Grand Piano had been launched in 1990.
The Grand Piano (which looked like a Mini Grand design) had a fully weighted hammer action type keyboard. The instrument contained 8 voices which included 2 Grand’s, 2 Stage, 2 Electrics and 2 Harpsichords, which were all contained in a 3Mb Rom Bank. It was based on the Livestyle sound system which Wersi had introduced in 1989. (The first with 24 bit processing and 64 note polyphony) As a comparison the current Wersi Giga Piano, has Grand Piano sample sizes of over 1 GB per voice and 256 note polyphony with 32 bit processing, and operates under the Wersi OAS system.
The Demo itself is in 2 parts, the first half was designed to show the piano in a live situation, and therefore features Real Bass and Drums for backing, the second half was produced to show how it could be combined with existing electronic instruments, in this case the Wersi Spectra Organ. (Which was released in the mid to late eighties, and featured 16 Bit processing with a 128Kb Rom bank, and a matching 128Kb Ram bank with 32 notes of polyphony)
The backings used for the second half were a combination of the Spectra Styles and its sequencer. (All the sounds (Except of course the Piano) were standard Spectra voices)
As to the availability and price of the Grand Piano, they do occasionally show up on eBay. (Mainly the German one)

Bill

that piano was produced using only 3mb of rom ?? Seems like some of the giga pianos that i have heard are a backward step !

The performances are excellent. I don't see what the big deal is about the piano sound. For its era it is superb but beyond that I think much of its impressiveness in the recording stems from the quality reverb, the fact that it was played on a fully-weighted action, and the excellent performance. A great musician will make any instrument sound great.

I have to disagree with much of your statement. A great musician may sound great no matter what they play but that doesn't mean the sound of the instrument they are playing is any good. Also, a nice reverb cannot mask a poor quality instrument no matter how good the FX device is.

I can't count the number of times I've recorded a musician who had inferior equipment thinking it could be helped by high end FX, that just isn't the case. Putting a crappie instrument through great FX just sounds like a crappie instrument going through great FX. A turd is a turd no matter how much you polish it.

Also, I have worked with many exceptional musicians and I can tell you first hand I've yet to see a single one use an inferior instrument to get their sound.

Maybe the Wersi tracks sounded great because the Wersi is actually an exceptional instrument? Since I personally own a Wersi Abacus Duo Pro myself I can attest to its exceptional sound quality so these demo tracks did not surprise me in the least. The instrument is just that good!


[This message has been edited by Ensnareyou (edited 01-05-2007).]

Don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not saying that the piano sound was poor. It was good but to my ears it was definitely not in the same league as current high-end piano sounds coming from top synths and softsynths. Again for 1990 it was no doubt superb.