Korg Forums

[AntonySharmman]

WavesArt proudly presents 2017 flagship sample modeling Grand Piano based on 3 real stereo velocity layers
of 88 notes (samples per semitone) 4/4 Grand Acoustic Piano , looped at their natural strings modulation that
can sustain note with advanced EG techniques up to 30 seconds for lower notes as in natural piano , including
natural release of 88 samples , with 5 velocity layers emulation (10 mono OSC) , extra layers for after G6
sustained notes area , resonance and all natural articulations & FX of acoustic piano like hammers , pedal FX
and also featured with release velocity behavior of hammers and strings release , in the 24 OSC Sound limit of
Pa4X and in the extraordinary small size of 220Mb (compressed) ... at last , for first time a real piano for arrangers !
For more info read official presentation C7 Concert Grand Piano

Thanks for reading







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Music Conductor - Sound Engineer & Developer - Automotive SMPS/RF R&D - Electronics Engineer
PaSeries Demos - WavesArt.eu - KorgPa.gr <> Facebook

Keyboards : Steinway-D, Kronos X, Pa5X 76, Pa4X 76, Montage M7 , Roland-XV88, Emu3,Emax II,Synclavier II,Yamaha DX Series, ΟΒ-8V

[Sam CA]

It sounds very good! Congrats!!!
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Sam

[mintjamman]

WavesArt Yamaha C7 Sampled Piano Pa4x


Recently our good friend and expert contributor Antony Sharmman from WavesArt invited me to take delivery of his latest sample set for the Korg Pa4x and try it out and gather my own opinions in the process. This opportunity was very welcome because while I am happy with the on board stock pianos on the Pa4x in the context of style play mode and using them in the context of an arranger, if like me you use the Pa4x in other situations such as a band or other ensemble or need solo piano the stock Piano offerings were not cutting it for me, more on this below.

I won't during the course of my review get into the technical aspects of this sample set as Anthony will I am sure furnish us with those salient details but he has I think worked wonders with the set which had an original sample size of some 3GB and by WavesArt magic he has the sample set down to a more comfortable resource size of 270mb. So I was eager to see in practice how this sounded on the Pa4x and if anything had suffered in the reduction in sample size.

I am happy to report that what WavesArt have ended up with is a sample set of Piano samples that features three real stereo velocity layers with all 88 notes sampled along with articulations and FX present such as hammer noise and pedal FX having been sampled.

We all know that Piano sounds are very subjective and one Piano might suit one player but not another and this I think goes for both acoustic as well as digital pianos, briefly while I think the stock Pianos are good on the Pa4x and they work beautifully in style play mode when it comes to having a High Quality Piano suited to either solo or band work the stock Pianos fell short for me on a number of counts and using them in the latter situations I found them to be lacking in the middle ranges and dynamics along with a lack of weight, it seems the louder they got in a live situation the worse they sat in the mix even running through Professional top end sound reinforcement. Again this is a personal opinion but one that a few Pa4x owners I know have agreed with me on who have such a requirement.



Regarding installation of the Yamaha C7 sample set, WavesArt supply full instructions which are simple to work with and within 20 minutes I had the set installed ready for use. Personally my favourite two Piano manufacturers are Steinway and Yamaha and maybe the styles of music I play are suited to the timbres of instruments made by these two brands. The Yamaha C7 is I think a superb model to sample and having played a few of these I find that they are bright in the treble and a little more amenable to pp playing. I don't know the exact details of how these samples in the WavesArt collection were made but what is clear is that WavesArt have attended to many details in the sound such as the artifacts, string modulations, natural release and even provided a extra layer for notes from G#6 upwards (very nice). The resonance and other articulations like hammer, release and pedal effect have also been attended to nicely.

What this all adds up to is a very usable and delightful sample set of one of the best acoustic Pianos and I would say that currently based on my experience it's the best Piano of any arranger I have yet heard and with rumours of the arrival of the next Yamaha arranger I would be very surprised if the main piano samples approached the quality of this collection. The only thing I would wish for is that Korg had made the Pa4x 76 with a weighted keyboard as that would compliment this set so well adding to the feel and experience.

The sample set has a Grand, Bright and Dark Pianos and after much to and throwing I have come to like the Grand and Bright sounds the latter which cuts live with the bottom end being powerful and full. WavesArt also have thoughtfully provided a Grand Piano Pad which is Piano and strings, two string pads, Pad 1 and Pad 2 and also a Grand Style Piano which is designed for style play mode the difference that only ten oscillators are used as opposed to the full 24 oscillators on the aforementioned Piano variations. There are also keyboard sets and sounds in full and split modes that offer a comprehensive selection.

So what does this all sound like ?

The sound is clear, beautifully detailed, the upper notes speak with clarity while the muddy mid regions sometimes found in such sample sets or even some hardware Digital Pianos have been avoided, when playing note clusters in the mid region each note is heard which is great for Jazz playing. When playing you become aware that the Piano is very very dynamic right across the range of the keyboard and playing pianissimo through to mezzo-forte to fortissimo the full dynamic range is available and due to the dynamics I found that I needed to adjust the Velocity curve on my Pa4x compared with the stock Pianos you are definitely aware of so much more expression and control. Playing in Sound Mode the Piano can easily be customized in the E.Q section of the Pa4x quickly and simply and adding other effects is also straightforward.If you couple the Pa4x to a weighted Midi keyboard this makes so much more fun but as it is the collection is fully usable on either the Pa4x 61 or 76 models.

The other thing that surprised me was that after a lot of playing I decided to raise the volume while sustaining notes to see if there were any extraneous noises such as microphone gain hum, there is none !

I thank WavesArt for allowing me to try this collection and it has been a joy playing songs with just solo Piano and the fact that my audience at one of my hotel gigs seemed to appreciate my renditions of standards which I would not have bothered with as solo Piano previously bodes well for this carefully crafted Piano Set.

This has been a eye opener for me in that this really makes the Pa4x shine and you start to see what the Pa4x is capable of in being able to import other sample libraries, the Pa4x really is a great instrument and even if your happy with the stock Piano sounds this really compliments the instrument in all play modes.

In conclusion I would highly recommend this sampling collection and once you have it you might wonder why the Pa4x arrived without such a Piano sample set onboard of this quality especially as the Pa4x is the Flagship of the range. I wish that WavesArt might now turn their attention to the Electric Piano and gives us a high quality Rhodes sample set, now that would be something !

Here are a couple of demos which have been played using the WavesArt Yamaha C7 sampling set the first using the C7 Grand Sound the second using the Bright C7

https://soundcloud.com/mjs-243607493/wavesart-demo-pa4x-yamaha-c7-grand


https://soundcloud.com/mjs-243607493/wavesart-yamaha-c7-bright-grand
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Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4

[D575]

A comprehensive and detailed review and beautifully played by Bob goodwin (mintjamman) this shows off the hard work involved in this very interesting product development, this certainly steers me in the direction to find out more....well done to all concerned here .
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Korg PA5X-76 : Yamaha Montage M8x : Roland Jupiter 80 : Waldorf STVC : Roland Integra 7 : Waldorf Streichfett : Focal Trio6 ST6 : Studio Outboards/RME Audio Interface/A&H SQ Mixer :

[AntonySharmman]

This is a real professional presentation , over any of my expectations ... Respect !
You've made me really believe in this superb creation !
A complete picture of piano , framed by excellent demos (of a real talented pianist) , that I will certainly borrow ...
Thank you mr Bob Goodwin for your wonderfull review and cooperation in this ...
_________________
Music Conductor - Sound Engineer & Developer - Automotive SMPS/RF R&D - Electronics Engineer
PaSeries Demos - WavesArt.eu - KorgPa.gr <> Facebook

Keyboards : Steinway-D, Kronos X, Pa5X 76, Pa4X 76, Montage M7 , Roland-XV88, Emu3,Emax II,Synclavier II,Yamaha DX Series, ΟΒ-8V

[QuiRobinez]

Great review and fantastic demo songs!

[Marcel Munter]

I have the C7Grand Piano for one day now
And it is the best piano ever in a keyboard

thanks AntonySharmman



Greetings Marcel

[AntonySharmman]

By the way , this is the original Kronos C7 Piano of Gbs from where this Pa4X Acoutic piano was made !



This is a non Jazz Demo of Pa4X Yamaha C7

_________________
Music Conductor - Sound Engineer & Developer - Automotive SMPS/RF R&D - Electronics Engineer
PaSeries Demos - WavesArt.eu - KorgPa.gr <> Facebook

Keyboards : Steinway-D, Kronos X, Pa5X 76, Pa4X 76, Montage M7 , Roland-XV88, Emu3,Emax II,Synclavier II,Yamaha DX Series, ΟΒ-8V

[chelsea4023]

Hi,

Just to say that I am a very happy owner of Antony's Yamaha C7 piano for my 61 note PA4X. It sounds excellent and I'm looking forward to playing it midied up to an 88 note weighted piano keybed.
A special thanks to Antony who kept in touch by email to make sure I did not encounter any problems with the installation (which is straightforward I might add).

Chris

[Ed4keys]

Greetings,

Over the weekend I got Antony's great set of C7 samples and installed them with ease following his instructions. These are a wonderful set of samples that let me hear more nuances and dynamics when playing with the styles or just playing solo piano and immediately made playing more fun. Bob Goodwin's note on adjusting the velocity curves let me really find the sweet spot for the touch!

I had never installed samples before on previous keyboards I have owned. Now having done it on the Korg Pa4x I think the technical quality of this machine is more than proving to me that my investment will be long lasting and worth the cost.

Thanks again to Antony for all his hard work putting this together!
Always nice to make a good sound investment!!
_________________
Ed
Have a lot fun!

[Sovereign]

Let me put in a good word for this piano as well. Got it about two weeks ago and it's now the only piano I'd turn to on my PA4X. This is how a sampled piano should sound.
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Korg PA4X - 76 + PAAS
Yamaha CVP 605
Technics KN7000

[AntonySharmman]

Thanks all of you for your nice words !
As a freelancer VST developer for 15 years for known brands you all use , I had a personal challenge to create
the best pianos for arrangers/workstations in nowadays where custom Ram samples size have a decent size where
now I'm capable of developing real instruments like pianos where keyboards brands (maybe on purpose) fail !

WavesArt has already presented excellent and unbeatable pianos in Kronos pianos suite EXs but the latest creation
of "C7 Rock Concert Grand" has overcame every expectation of the highest quality Grand piano ever made for a
keyboard and can be compared only with the 2 best industrial VST ... Keyscape & Ibory 2 ! no worksation / sampler
stage piano can't even approach it !
This piano will be included in its full version in new "Kronos Pianos Suite 2" and the lighter version of 3 layers & 450 Mb
samples size will replace "Pa4X Yamaha C7" library and "Pa4X Pianos Suite" will be discontinued from now on !

Older Pa4X C7 was excellent as many users already mentioned , but a perfectionist and restless mind like me is never
satisfied with a less of perfection !
Therefore some resonance artifacts on D3 region , some unwanted harmonics created by compression processing and
some microphones panning overlaps , have leaded me to re-sample that excellent black C7 Grand (after an extensive
maintenance) , this time with 5 microphones and more advanced sound processing and panning tools and the result
now is perfect in any point of view !

So I proudly present at last my Pa4X piano flagship creation and forgive my bias but it's unbeatable compared to any
factory Pa4X/Kronos/Yamaha/Nord pianos and the only piano that can beat it can be found only in WavesArt Kronos
"Pianos Suite 2" , where is the complete "C7 Rock Concert Grand".

Thanks for reading
_________________
Music Conductor - Sound Engineer & Developer - Automotive SMPS/RF R&D - Electronics Engineer
PaSeries Demos - WavesArt.eu - KorgPa.gr <> Facebook

Keyboards : Steinway-D, Kronos X, Pa5X 76, Pa4X 76, Montage M7 , Roland-XV88, Emu3,Emax II,Synclavier II,Yamaha DX Series, ΟΒ-8V

[mintjamman]

Well this looks fantastic Anthony, do you not sleep

It’s a shame Korg didn’t provide more sample memory even if it was a option
_________________
Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4

[AntonySharmman]

[Sovereign]