Best Sounding Piano

[psionic311]

Thanks for your replys! You've given me some great suggestions that I'll try out tomorrow.

I doubt the audience can tell the difference in the quality of the sound, but it affects my playing. I enjoy and seem to play better with a great sounding instrument.

Someone suggested Wavesarts Virtual Pianos Suite, and the demos sound real good. But, before I drop $230 I'll try some more tweaking.

In appreciation,

Johnny B.

Maybe you already tried this, but it's worth mentioning again -- have you tried changing the Perspective from Player to Audience, then tweaking and fine-tuning from that? The stereo field and "feel" are different enough for some to notice...

[danmusician]

Several years ago, I was doing a gig in a small, intimate setting. The nature of the gig made it possible for me to chat with the audience between songs. I took a few minutes to explain the technology. In the process, I demoed the German, Austrian and Japenese Grands, highlighting the differences in tone. I saw one lady lean over to her neighbor and mouth the words, "I don't hear any difference." For many in our audiences, a piano is a piano. It doesn't go any deeper than that.

There is one venue near me where they insist on using an acoustic piano. It's a very nice Yamaha. However, it's always poorly mic-ed and sounds like crap to the audience. The performer enjoys a nice sound, but no one else does. Then again, I don't think most in audience even notice. They see a piano and they hear a piano.

I mentioned to a classical musician friend of mine that I would rather play a good digital piano than a mediocre acoustic. He replied, "I never thought of that before." There are so many biases built in to our expectations of the instrument.

As a player, I have never connected to the Rudess piano patch. I was set up a gig and another musician played my Kronos. I listened to him play and was so in love the music I heard. He was using the Rudess. I went back and tried it again. Still didn't connect with me.

So as we all know, taste in piano settings is highly subjective. So many factors go into our choices. Keep digging and tweaking, I have to believe that you'll find a satisfying setting.

[mikeyd]

Totally agree with dan. It's so subjective to the players taste. I use the German Grand a lot but Berlin for more subdued tunes. Japanese Grand for more rock sounding tunes etc. And Qui's pianos are great too especially for mono playing. I think the thing to remember is what Sander is saying. Tweaking them will yield great personal results. I've never had an audience member complain about the way any piano patch sounded " out there."
But, when it comes to recording and playing in Stereo then for me at least, I am more subjective to the texture, tone, and presentation of the way I sound.
Qui's sound set is excellent for stage use. Check it out if you haven't.
That's the beauty of the KRONOS though. Anything is changeble.

[jbjorge]

Thanks for all the inputs! I'm new to the forum, this is my first post, and I have gotten some great comments and suggestions. I guess the bottom line is that it is highly subjective. I love the encouragement. With some time, I'm now sure I'll find the perfect piano!

[aron]

WOW, I just noticed you have the spacestation! You mean the Kronos pianos don't sound that good through the CPS?
I was wondering about it.

[jbjorge]

Well, I love the CPS Spacestation V3. Many of the programs and combi's sound great, and the Spacestation seems to produce a very high quality sound not unlike the clarity of studio monitors. I tried running Ivory 2 Piano from my computer directly into the Spacestation, and that sounds incredible. So, the Spacestation is fine for acoustic piano.

I think it's my subjective judgement of the stock Kronos Acoustic Pianos. The high notes sound great, the low notes sound fine, but the middle (where I play/comp the most) has a sound quality that I don't really like. I wish I could describe it better, but bottom line it doesn't quite work for me.

However, I tried some tweaks to the Kronos today that SanderXpander recommended, and it sounds much better. I'm hopeful that I'll get there.

[AntonySharmman]

The high notes sound great, the low notes sound fine, but the middle (where I play/comp the most)
has a sound quality that I don't really like. I wish I could describe it better

You have successfully targeted the actual issue of all workstations grand pianos , there is no better description !
The middle range there has a specific issue that can be described with maths and fourier transformation analysis
that I'm researching for years as a sound developer , will not further mention it here but I can give you a simple example :
Even if C2-C5 area single notes are reproduced with authenticity in a workstation the resultant of block chords in
this area is fake because notes interact each other in that area producing new frequencies that can't be sampled but also
can't be reproduced by digital resonance which can only provide a picture in higher notes that is not necessarily noticeable !

This can be resolved using natural strings & sampler hybrid piano and Synthogy Ibory 2 (keyscape follows) is the first VST
that has resolved this issue using advanced script that can't be resampled in single notes !
Further than personal tastes , for pianists (and not just keyboardists) the comparison is quite simple : place your worksation
above a good grand piano using Pro stereo speakers with proper sound level and just listen to sonic results of both !

Audience might can't realize the difference of a real piano but I can , and since I like my performance sound then I can
play with better expression and this can be definitely noticed by them ...

[aron]

>but the middle (where I play/comp the most) has a sound quality that I don't really like. I wish I could describe it better, but bottom line it doesn't quite work for me.

I agree.

Same for me. Although I have played a few Yamaha CP pianos that sounded great and even the lowly PX-5S can sound really good in mono.

[jbjorge]

Just a quick update. I decided to purchase Virtual Grand D from WavesArt and I have to say it absolutely transformed my Kronos 2. The sound is incredible. It is an absolute joy to play the piano on my keyboard now. Not only is the sound incredible, it fixed the problems I was hearing in the mid section of the keys. No odd tonal quality. Love it, highly recommended!

Thanks Anthony!!!

[AntonySharmman]

You're welcome !!!