I don't know the answer re: the ISP. Trying to make the product more accessible, I imagine. Not everyone cares about resonance, continuous pedal, depending on the type of material and the musical context. I imagine producing a player is not a trivial matter.

I'm continuing to experiment with the Pro version, and plan to invest in the Extreme. I already had Kontakt 4 (full) in my arsenal, so not an issue for me. No advantage, at least as far as this piano is concerned, to upgrading to Kontakt 5.

I'm finding the best results, ever, in terms of playability, combining MP10 + Fazioli. I just keep playing and playing and playing. Nice!

I believe this is a piano I can record with, without having to do post recording editing, so yes, the promised land has been reached! (At least for the time being . . . . )

Melodialworks Music, may I ask how the Fazioli responds to the MP10's half-pedalling implementation?

Cheers,
James
x

Listening to your sample I can't shake the feeling that it was recorded through a blanket, even from the clean perspective. At first I thought it might just be the speakers I'm using here, but I flipped back to a few clips of Vintage D I have and I don't have that feeling there. It's a little strange because clear and clean is not exactly the way most people describe Vintage D. May I ask what reverb settings you are using?

Part of it may be my personal preference for Steinway sound over Fazioli, but again, most Fazioli are very clean sounding--much less muddy than Steinway as a rule--which doesn't really jive well with what I'm hearing here. Then again it sounds like the room it was recorded in (not the piano) is the problem.

Why don't you run your MIDI through Ivory and Vintage D for comparison if you get a chance?

Like James, I'm interested to hear in what way this is more playable than your other software pianos. I guess I had the feeling from your other thread that you liked the playability of Ivory but not the sound (and liked the sound of Vintage D but not the playability). Is that wrong? It's a little hard for me to imagine you liking this sound better than that of Ivory, so I imagine it must be in playability factors. Can you expound on how this piano feels to play relative to Ivory and Vintage D?

I'm not using any reverb. You're hearing the raw output, with no post processing of any kind. Perhaps you are not liking the resonance settings that I'm using. I'm after a realistic piano sound, suitable for my style. To me it is pretty amazing that I'm not having to add reverb, however, likely a bit will ultimately be added. With all the other pianos, I am immediately reaching for the reverb controls (right after reaching for the velocity editor).



First, recognize the context. I'm seeking a piano sound suitable for new age music.

Second, I would rank the three pianos, in terms of sound (best to worse):

1. Fazioli
2. Vintage D
3. Ivory 2 Steinway

Third, I would rank the three pianos, in terms of playability KEYS (best to worse):

1. Fazioli
2. Ivory 2 Steinway
3. Vintage D

Fourth, I would rank the three pianos, in terms of playability PEDAL (best to worse):

1. Ivory 2 Steinway
2. Fazioli
3. Vintage D

Worse, here, doesn't mean bad, simply an indication of ranking. They are actually all very good, useable pianos, depending on the musical context.

With both the Ivory and Vintage D, I have had to muck about with the velocity editor, to try and get a suitable, natural response / connection with the MP10 (also RD-700NX, when I had it).

Not so with the Fazioli. It has worked, out of the box, with default (linear) curve for both it and the MP10. It provides a natural range of expression, and does not require any (or very little) post recording editing of velocity, to correct certain notes being too loud or too soft.

Thanks MM. Makes me wonder if they might have used an MP10 in their studio as they were calibrating and designing the IS piano. I was interested to see that the guy in the Vintage D video was using an MP8ii, so it's surprising it doesn't seem nicely calibrated to the MP10 using default settings. Well...I guess we don't know what the guy who actually designed the default velocity curve was using. And anyway the MP8ii and MP10 don't necessarily share a particularly similar velocity curve either.

If you perform the experiment you discussed in the other thread, playing a repeated note while slowly releasing the pedal, you get a nice gentle release, I assume?

Melodialworks Music, thanks for the info, and for posting these example clips.

I have to say, that's a beautiful tone. The first perspective is seems ideally suited to the type of music you're producing, also.

Cheers,
James
x

gvfarns, it's perhaps worth noting that the Vintage D demos do not appear to be using the stock Kawai F-20 pedal unit. But rather the GPP MIDI pedal unit produced by CME.

Kind regards,
James
x

That is interesting indeed. Thanks, James.

For some reason I thought pedal implementations were not standardized so that one needed to use a Kawai pedal with a Kawai piano, etc.

Technically, you're right. However, I believe the Galaxy chap may be connecting the pedal to the MP8II via MIDI, or possibly even directly to the Mac/PC via USB. Either way, I don't think the pedal is being connected using the MP's 1/4" jacks.

Cheers,
James
x

I've ordered the upgrade to the Fazioli (Extreme) . . . .

so are they shipping you a separate hard drive specifically for the Extreme? external or internal?

The Fazioli (Extreme) is shipped on a portable USB hard drive". It is intended for storage only. You copy the data to your own hard drive, and keep the portable as a backup. Sure beats a gigantic download, or bunch of DVDs.

Software distributed on a hard drive!!

I remember that Ivory 1.5 was big ... 40 GB, I think. So it came as a big set of DVDs.

But Fazioli Extreme won't fit in that kind of space? Wow! Just how big is it?

162 GB. (71,588 samples)

5 Perfect Perspectives, and 5 Imperfect Perspectives.

The Perfect Perspectives are only available with the Extreme version.

I was a little confused by their description of perfect and imperfect samples. Is the idea that the perfect samples have been digitally tuned and processed after recording or that they simply took more care in tuning the piano before recording them? The writeup on their website seems to indicate the latter but it's hard to believe.

I guess it's a little hard for me to buy the whole concept of imperfect samples anyway.

that is a great idea.... loading the ivory 2 pianos via DVD was an arduous process- particularly since one of the data files was corrupted and had to be downloaded on line

I wish the EWQL Pianos had been on a hard drive. 35 DVDs for 230 GB.

Next time maybe they'll release on blueray. At 25 GB (?) each, you'd "only" need 12 disks!

(Is there a dual-layer blueray? Then you'd only need 5 or 6 disks.)

Hello Melodialworks Music!

I'm glad that you've ordered the extreme version!
If you don't mind, I just have a few questions to ask you:

I'm hesitating on purchasing the complete version vs the extreme version...

Could you please describe the noticeable differences between:

The Imperfect Perspective 2 & the Perfect Perspective 2 ?
(A small demo of the 2 version would be nice tough - IF you have some time)
..Is 127 layers really worth the price?

With the complete version, (mic perspective 2), you get 12 layers. With the extreme, imperfect: 22. Is it a BIG DEAL of difference?
(I mean sound wise, when you're playing)

Is the sympathetic resonance available with the extreme version? Or do you have to wait for a patch or something like an update from the developer?

Thank you in advance.
Greetings from Belgium

Nate

All extreme version holders, don't hesitate to post useful information too

Peace!

Thanks for the PM!

Demo using Imperfect Samples Fazioli Extreme, with two perspective (P1 & P2). Reverb added using t.c. electronic VSS3 Stereo Reverb.


Saturday Evening - Lawrence Lougheed

I guess I just like a bright piano, but the mid-range on the original demo and Lawrence's recording both sound a bit muddy to me, like a piano with soft hammers. I dislike Pianoteq and some others for the same reason. The Galaxy Vintage-D is still my choice.