http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMfI0jMznow


To get away from the rather exhausting Korg/Yamaha discussions, how about this:
Recently I was at a friend's and sitting behind his keyboard I recorded some chords with the acoustic piano sample. My question to you would be, from which keyboard or manufacturer is this piano sample , and second how would you rate it on a scale from one to ten ?
Please disregard my technique, I play keyboard and all I am trying to play here is a chord sequence.
Be interesting to see your responses and find out your views here !!

have a guess,
John Smies
Holland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMfI0jMznow

it's like playing a guitar, recording it, and asking 'what brand of guitar is that? Have a guess'.

Just a wild quess John a Kawai
My rate is 7

Bosendorfer

rating 6 1/2

Casio.
DonM

OLD Roland .... 16 voice polyphonic. Not very true in the bass register.
How we doin so far? Anyone close?

John,
I listened to it again ... a little louder this time, and it didn't impress me any more. I hope this does not disappoint you or sway your choices at all, but I really don't care for the sound much at all. Reminds me of the old Yamaha CP70 series....very weird, loose, electric sounding bottom end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ieBg52Lzg


Sorry Uncle Dave, and to all of you but I made a mistake in the audio configuration while putting this sample online.
I have replaced the link, see below for new link, so 'old man ',if you care to give it a third try and see whether you still cling to your beliefs ?

A small hint, in particular Don is disappointing me with his Casio appraisal, as he, of all people, should know better......
enough said so far ??

John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ieBg52Lzg

Actually, I love the piano on my Casio WK3000. Organ is good too. That's about it though!
DonM

Hi Don,

YOu don't mind keeping the suspense going for another while do you ?!!

best wishes,
John

ROLAND FP8?

Its the Audya

Sounds a bit like a Casio PX-3 or Casio PX-330.

It's not bad at all.

Ian

A Roland piano1 from a Sound Canvas engine...most likely a E-56, E-66, or a E-86....

I give it a 7 rating..

sounds like my little M-Audio controller plugged into garage band or Virtuosso piano app

An old Korg? It doesn't sound like anything I've heard from the last ten years, anyway (unless it's one of those 'legacy' patches buried in the back of a modern keyboard).

Goes into the loop WAY too early, only seems to have one velocity level. They stopped doing that YEARS ago....

Okay guys, fun is over. I guess Al gets the award, though it was not the Audya but it does originate from the Ketron sources. In actual fact it is the main piano sample of the little SD-2 module which retailed at a very low price and which you can pick up used for approx. 200 euros. It has over 400 samples from the SD keyboards and as such I was referring to you Don, cause to the best of my knowledge you owned the SD1 , prior to your Audya adventure.
I concur with Ian in that I think it is a pretty good sample, and I am baffled by Diki's response which goes to show there is no accounting for tastes...........

regards,
John Smies

"It's not bad at all" doesn't mean "It's pretty good", at least in MY book..!

Just goes to show that reading and comprehension don't mean the same thing! And if a simple sentence can get interpreted to mean something quite different, it's hardly surprising that we can have wildly different viewpoints of a SOUND.

My new piano favorite is on the Kronos.

Ha ha...well, in my vernacular here in Cape Breton, the expression "it's not bad at all" is usually interpreted as being, or meaning, "good".

I suppose it could be read as "not bad at all" and understood as "not very bad", but "not much else".

However, I liked the sound...it was a tad tubby in low end, but the mids were okay as were the highs...decay a mite short, but very passable.

I have never played a Ketron of any sort...they are Yeti here in my neck of the woods, but I have played lots of Casio as there is a dealer 5 minutes from my home.

I thought Fran's guess was pretty close as well, as I had used Roland Sound Canvas extensively many moons ago...it is close to that sound for sure.

Ian

You know, there are several pianos in every keyboard, and I've had COUNTLESS keyboards. It's hard to remember what each one sounds like.
I think the Ketron pianos are all very good. I like the Yamaha piano too, and they sound quite different from each other. As I said before I like the Casio piano as well. Now, if I were a piano player, I might have greater appreciation for the nuances. I just want it to sound like a piano in the mix.
Anyway, it was very interesting John. Keep up the good work on the Korg. I will audition the PA3X, but don't expect to love it.
However that's how I got a couple of my wives!
DonM

Probably one of my main decisions to remain with the G70 has been the main piano. Taken straight from the FantomX, four velocity layers per note, warm AND dynamic (hard to find those two in the same piano set), delicious stereo detail that collapses decently to mono (better than most do, anyway)...

For some insane reason, Roland re-programmed it for the E80, made it muddy without tweaking the filter... People got to realize when they have reached the zenith a sample can go. All they can do is make it WORSE past a certain point.

But I am optimistic about the future, after seeing the Kronos. Streaming from a SSHD seems the OBVIOUS way to get past ROM limits, or unreliable regular HD's and streaming, and all the demos I've heard of the Kronos' piano sound are stupendous. I guess, when you have 12GB of samples to play with, rather than maybe 3-400MB, you can get things pretty good!

BTW, don't forget about the excellent Purgatorycreek.com website. You want a straight apples to apples comparison of sampled pianos, there is none better. If you want to hear the G70 piano there, listen to the FantomX Ultimate Grand. They are identical...

I wish the E50 had the G70 piano in it. I wish the E50 even had the E80 piano. Maybe the module will.
DonM

It did, Don. It's the 'Classic Piano', if I remember rightly... But like the E80, Roland messed with the basic voice programming, so you have to open out the cutoff parameter a bit, to get rid of some of the 'mud'. Plus, of course, Roland (as do most manufacturers) skimped on the overall D/A quality and length of the samples to fit it in the budget line.

You might, just for home use, keep an eye out for a used Fantom XR, the rack version of the FantomX. That would have that piano in it...

I will be interested to see if the BK-7m gets the G70 piano, but I have my doubts. It seems, for some crazy reason, that after getting it RIGHT for the G70, they second guessed themselves away from the sound... I don't know about you, but ever since Eric Persing left Roland to form Spectrasonics, they seem a bit lost when it comes to nailing great sounds in their keyboards. Probably wrong, but they do seem a bit confused, these days. Great hiphop, but some real headscratchers in the voicing department, lately.

I have made tweaks to the Classic Piano to get it sounding o.k., but it's still lacks something. I need to take time to play with it some more.
DonM

It would help if you had someone with a G70 or FantomX nearby, to help you know when you have it nailed (as much as it can be, anyway).

Mind you, I think I have a friend that just got an E60. Let me see if I can get a hold of it for a day, and I'll do some side by sides...

That would be GREAT. Thanks!
DonM