Korg Forums

stemart · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:13 pm Post subject: What I think of the sv1!

Well.....after taking the sv1 to a friends place & using it through his PA last night, Iv'e got to be honest, I'm pretty disappointed with the 2 grand piano sounds onboard (keep in mind that I haven't even looked at the editor yet). The Rhodes & the Yam Electric Grand are superb but why, for goodness sake, aren't the acoustic grands up to scratch & why should the editor need to be used to "fix" them? I'm hoping the editor CAN be used to fix them! And, I do understand that this is all subjective but I've been playing long enough to know good from bad & what's usable & what's not.

OK, to be fair, the 2 grand sounds are quite usable when played softly but when pushed they both exhibit a nasty mid range honking sound in the middle & there also seems to my ears that there is a tuning discrepancy in the 3rd's & 6th's in the middle of the Japanese grand samples.

Just for information's sake, last night my friend & I played some jazz, he's a drummer & there was no bass player with us, I was playing a walking bass with my LH. The Rhodes sound with some chorus is great for Bossa's & Sambas etc but there is no depth of sound in any of the grands for full bodied comping & a bass line. There is no way I'd use this kbd on a gig as it is right now. It also seems to my ears that the attack portion of each note is very lacking.

At home, I have played the SV1 through 2 Behringer monitors & didn't pick up any of these anomalies through them, only through a PA. If I can get no joy out of this keyboard hopefully I can send it back.

Any thoughts & ideas would be greatly appreciated!!! Sad

SanderXpander · Platinum Member Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 7860

if you didn't pick up these anomalies on your studio monitors at home (Truths, I assume), you might want to reconsider the PA as the culprit. The Behringers, even though a budget brand, are intended for accurate sound reproduction, whereas a PA usually sacrifices some in lieu of power/volume. Do you have dedicated subs on the PA? (since you mention lack of bass)

I don't actually own an SV1 by the way. I've played it on some rehearsals and thought it sounded good and was blending really nicely with the rest of the band, but that was mostly Rhodes and Wurlitzer sounds.

stemart · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:06 pm Post subject:

The Behringer monitors are the budget model MS20's. I have been using a Technics P30 for about 10 years until I bought the SV1. The P30 always sounded great through that particular PA & yes we used a Behringer kbd amp as a sub. It seemed to me that no matter how I set the PA & no matter how I set the eq on the SV1 that the sound was not good. My 1st thought was that there was a problem with the PA but there never has been before & when I gig with my jazz band the PA is always a lot smaller & the sound previous has always been really good!

The Rhodes sound is great & the electric grand as well, the wurli sound is OK but for my ears not great.

SanderXpander · Platinum Member Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 7860

It sounds like you've already tried to work with the PA. Still, I would say if you are happy with the sound at home, the problem/difference lies in the amplification. As annoying as it might be, perhaps try a different amp for the keyboard?

Other than that, I can't really help. Even with the editor I don't think you'll change the core of the piano sounds very much, since you can't really alter the basic sample set.

stemart · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:35 am Post subject:

Probably right, thanks for the heads up about the sample set!

ShaunKorg · Full Member Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 149

Do you have SoundPack 2 installed? They are the better pianos.

stemart · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:29 pm Post subject:

I don't have it installed yet. How are they better & when I get around to installing it can I just install the 2 pianos or does it wipe the whole sv memory?

Thanks for that! I'm not really that computer savvy & don't even have the lead I need to link the computer to the SV........I know people who do though!

stemart · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:02 pm Post subject:

Thought I'd bite the bullet & go get me a midi cable yesterday arve & download the second sound set.....I'm so glad that I did!! The piano sounds are beautiful with much longer sustain than previous & the pianos & basses are great as well. I also love the piano / hammond patch, that'll come in real handy. Pianos are much more expressive & respond much better with the onboard eq. Pianos also sound a lot less thin in the top end & the overall smoothness of the sounds across the board is great in regards tuning.
Well done on these sounds.....I love 'em!!! Smile

ShaunKorg · Full Member Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 149

told ya!

stemart · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:31 pm Post subject:

Ya did!!

stemart · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:13 pm Post subject:

Shaunkorg, a question for ya..........do you have occasional notes that only half play or sound muted when played softly? There's only seemingly a few on my sv that do it but it's annoying. Is there a fix coming for it that you know of?

ShaunKorg · Full Member Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 149

Not that I have noticed... but you sound like you have a better ear than me for piano tones. (I'm not very dynamic in my playing. I'm just a rock and blues guy.)

Anyway, its not a problem I've read about on the forums.

What keys specifically? and what patches are bad? Was the problem there before you installed SP2?

stemart · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:01 pm Post subject:

It seems to happen mainly on D2 & B1...very strange, It did happen with the original sound pack too, I was hoping it might be fixed with the new install, but alas!! I'm thinking I'll live with it unless I can find a fairly easy fix that I can do myself.

ShaunKorg · Full Member Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 149

Are these the same keys that were stuck?

stemart · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:34 pm Post subject:

No mate, that was a different issue. What it sounds like to me, thinking about it some more, is hammers blocking on the strings of a piano, I don't know if you've experienced that, if you've ever played a piano that's not regulated right. The hammer goes straight to the string & doesn't set off or has too much key depth......the hammer goes to the string & doesn't rebound so deadens the string. It's a strange thing but I can live with it. Maybe I'm too easy going & should have a whinge about it to someone...?!

I took the sv to a mate's studio & played along with some of his tracks he's doing & it sounds quite stunning really.

Secretly though, I wish I'd have had some more cash & gone for the Kurzweil K88.

Do you have any youtube vision of your playing?