Armistice
Son of Yoda
On a related note.... who amongst you piano recorders would, if unable to control reflections well enough or for other quality reasons, use a MIDI piano and quality VST as a substitute...?
rob aylestone
Moderator
Piano samplers are now so good they even mimic complicated techniques like half pedalling, so
have a listen to these. The first is a piano sampler - a pianoteq if it helps, and the second is a moderately close miked Yamaha C3 recorded with very little room sound because it's going to be played in dance studios, so usual reverby 'real' sounding piano isn't good. The sound of the piano samplers now is really good and better than what you get with a poor piano in an average room. The pianist here is a good example of a 'proper' pianist - he hates plastic keyboards and plays a proper weighted keyboard and can't cope with any delay between what he feels and what he hears. He is very happy with the pianoteq VSTi and for the first time, we didn't use his rather nice real piano in the recordings.
For me, it also mean I could do the tiny editing repairs that would usually mean a re-take in the live recording, and experiment with the different mic positions the sampler can manage, let alone the different pianos. It was nice to be able to choose a more appropriate sound for a few of the pieces on that CD.
have a listen to these. The first is a piano sampler - a pianoteq if it helps, and the second is a moderately close miked Yamaha C3 recorded with very little room sound because it's going to be played in dance studios, so usual reverby 'real' sounding piano isn't good. The sound of the piano samplers now is really good and better than what you get with a poor piano in an average room. The pianist here is a good example of a 'proper' pianist - he hates plastic keyboards and plays a proper weighted keyboard and can't cope with any delay between what he feels and what he hears. He is very happy with the pianoteq VSTi and for the first time, we didn't use his rather nice real piano in the recordings.
For me, it also mean I could do the tiny editing repairs that would usually mean a re-take in the live recording, and experiment with the different mic positions the sampler can manage, let alone the different pianos. It was nice to be able to choose a more appropriate sound for a few of the pieces on that CD.
B
Bop Stop Studio
New member
Depends, again on the sound your after. VST pianos etc...can sound very very good. As mentioned some of the subtle but nice effects, half pedaling, hammer sound, etc... I messed around a nit in the past and I do plug in my wife's NORD Stage2 for certain occasions.
However, it really depends if you just love real piano sound. With the Nord or Yamaha, the pianos sound excellent, but just too artificial for me. I know others disagree but it is almost too pristine and digital sounding for me. The Yamaha does sound excellent and if the acoustic tracking is just not sounding good at all and after tweaking room and mic placement it does't u an acceptable sound, then this might be the way to go.
For simple non published type of samples and accompaniment tracks my wife makes for others, we do use the digital. Again, many others have used these digital samples much much more than I and there are an array of samples readily available, some free.
I personally would never do it, but depends on your purposes of the tracks. I am at this point just set on acoustic tracking, as the realistic sound and most of all feel just sound better and I find the music more moving and organic that way by leaps and bounds. Again, I am focused on this and with a vocalist, for me they would need to be together tracking together, wether it is in an open space or each of them in some isolation. Usually piano vocal duo is quite interactive, even if not improvisation. It probably will require more work to do it acoustic and certainly more gear, but for me it is worth it.
For this, not sure, depended again on the style of music, the players/client preference, and if the piano and environment are at all viable. If the room is terrible, I still would prefer, close mics in jazz style tracking than VSTs. Again, I am sort of a purist waiting to be converted, but I think the wait might be a while for me on the digital VST side.
However, it really depends if you just love real piano sound. With the Nord or Yamaha, the pianos sound excellent, but just too artificial for me. I know others disagree but it is almost too pristine and digital sounding for me. The Yamaha does sound excellent and if the acoustic tracking is just not sounding good at all and after tweaking room and mic placement it does't u an acceptable sound, then this might be the way to go.
For simple non published type of samples and accompaniment tracks my wife makes for others, we do use the digital. Again, many others have used these digital samples much much more than I and there are an array of samples readily available, some free.
I personally would never do it, but depends on your purposes of the tracks. I am at this point just set on acoustic tracking, as the realistic sound and most of all feel just sound better and I find the music more moving and organic that way by leaps and bounds. Again, I am focused on this and with a vocalist, for me they would need to be together tracking together, wether it is in an open space or each of them in some isolation. Usually piano vocal duo is quite interactive, even if not improvisation. It probably will require more work to do it acoustic and certainly more gear, but for me it is worth it.
For this, not sure, depended again on the style of music, the players/client preference, and if the piano and environment are at all viable. If the room is terrible, I still would prefer, close mics in jazz style tracking than VSTs. Again, I am sort of a purist waiting to be converted, but I think the wait might be a while for me on the digital VST side.
Armistice
Son of Yoda
Very interesting. I actually bought Pianoteq 5 when it was released a week or so back as I wanted something better than the freebie piano VSTs for my random ivory tickling, however I'm not an actual pianist, and I was struggling to get an accurate read of its absolute quality from various users. I'm still working it out.