Korg Forums

[spybar]

Hi mates,

I'm pretty new to synthesis...

I'd be grateful for some tips about improving XL's Piano sound.

Or if you can, please share your Piano patch.

Thank you so much!

[xmlguy]

If you bought the MKXL to get a really good piano sound, you're probably going to remain disappointed. It only has a single mono PCM sample. Even $200 Casio and Yamaha romplers have stereo, multisamples for pianos. Many ROMplers not only have samples for each note, but sometimes different samples for multiple velocities.

[spybar]

Hi xmlguy, thanks for your reply!

I know MKXL wasn't designed to supply a wonderful piano...

I thought maybe there is a way to improve it a bit with some synthesis & make it, at least a little, more playable (I think the Wurly & Rhodes are playable).

I will appreciate any & every tip.

Thank you mates!

[xmlguy]

A lot really depends on what you mean by "improvement" and "playable". Can you identify the specific attributes that you like about the Whurly and Rhodes, besides their organ and EP sound. For example, there's probably thousands of variations of these keyboard sounds, put perhaps only a few of them that you might consider an improvement and playable, whereas someone else might only consider other varations to be playable. So if you can identify the specific audio attributes about the ones you like, then I and others here may be able to help you to create or modify the MKXL piano sound more to your liking.

[spybar]

[xmlguy]

I think you'd be far better off buying a used Casio WK-110 for $120 than to trying to improve the MKXL patch to get a classical grand piano sound. The MKXL doesn't even have reverb. The Casio has 76 keys, has a large number of samples including grand piano, has effects, is lightweight, runs on batteries, and has speakers built-in. It also has a sequencer, can play midi tracks including general midi songs, and has drumkits with arranger styles and patterns.

If I was going to recommend a keyboard for grand piano, the MKXL would be near the bottom of the list, along with all the VA synths that weren't designed to do good acousic pianos. The Casio WK models wouldn't be at the top of the list, but they're much higher up that most VA synths, and the Casios are probably the best value other than a used real piano that someone gives you for free.

[spybar]

Hi mate,

Thanks for your reply.

Well, I have Roland Fantom G7 (wonderful(!) yet a lil' heavy), it's my main keyboard (with a very rich sounds palette & great live & studio capabilities) for studio & gigs. Recently I bought the lil' MKXL as a super duper ultra portable keyboard. So I'm trying to "tame" the lil' MKXL as much as I can.

I know it can't be a real grand piano, or even close to my Fantom G7... yet, I wish to make the most of its limited piano capabilities.

Again, I appreciate your patience, care & replies!

SpyBar

[xmlguy]

The thing is that the MKXL is very limited for the task of creating a good acoustic piano sound. Use your G7 or sample it for piano. There's lots of better super duper ultra portable keyboards for what you're trying to do. For example, you could tweek your G7 pianos exactly the way you want and then load the result on the MicroSampler for portability. That would be so much better than trying to synthesize an acoustic piano on the MKXL. The MKXL is great for VA synth sounds, not so good for acoustic emulations. The X50 is very portable for a 61 key, at it has a two way velocity switched stereo piano multi-sample.

Yes, I know you still want to make the MKXL piano sound better. Maybe someone else has some tips for ya.

[tpantano]

[Ghost301]

yes yes get this get that i think the man just wants a bit of an improvement over the given micro xl piano
im gonna try and walk you through this. what i did for the piano was take the ac piano program they gave you and change these settings
osc2: lvl=60\wave=sine\semitones = (+12)
filter1:cutoff = 74\resonance = 0\balance = 16\keytrack = 0.16\eg int =0
eg2:a=0\dt=83\sl=0\at=53\lv.velo = +63
some settings may already be set to the suggested values but i wasnt quite sure what i had changed and what was preset. if that doesnt help you just speak up and ill try again
_________________
Gear:
Korg m50 88
Korg ds-8
Korg microkorg xl
Korg Kaossilator Pro
Korg Monotron
Korg Electribe EMX-1
Korg DS-10+

[hirodotsu]

Thank you Ghost for answering the question. You have helped me out as well.

[CharlesFerraro]

[johnroney]

yeah... please UPLOAD your programming! !
i tried the 2nd osc sine wav. yeah, helps alot, but there is no difference at different velocities. normal?
please advise.
thanks..