Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Got the VPC1! Hooked up the Ivory! Played Brahms.

Other than that, I have no idea what to do or how to fix big things or how to tweak the system to get a better sound. I tried to play around with the controls in Ivory, but I'm not sure what most of it really means so I largely left it all alone.

Oh, I did use the VPC1's built-in velocity curves for Ivory.

Other than that, and after getting Ivory to sound at all, I really didn't do much but sit down and try to play it right through like it wasn't a computer. It took me a bit to get used to the keyboard; it's really distracting watching the notes go by, and of course it isn't my acoustic. It sort of ends better than it starts (I just got this thing yesterday and this is the first full length piece I've tried to play, not to mention the fact that I am not yet done with this piece), but it still sounds better on a piano. However, a lot of it is probably due to the player being rather freaked out by the whole new medium.

There were a few wrong notes here and there, which was actually good news because it made me go in and figure out how to fix 'em.

That was oddly satisfying.

I felt like god.

And it felt just a little bit wrong. Fortunately, there weren't more than a handful of wrong notes; just a few isolated hiccups here and there.

So, my first foray into midi: So much fun! Can't wait to really take it for a spin and figure out what I can do with it, how I can improve the sound, and what other tools are at my disposal.

Soundcloud: Brahms, Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2

Youtube:

Sounds lovely to me. You don't need to watch the display spewing out data. Of course it'll all seem a little strange at the outset but judging by your sound I've no doubt you'll quickly get used to it.

We'll all benefit by your feedback and thoughts on how the timbre/feel of the instrument should change.

How do you find the let-off simulation when playing pp/ppp?

There doesn't appear to be a way to fail to make the note sound at all at ppp. Is that something I can change? Because it's not natural feeling to me!

Go into the 'session' tab and play around with the 'silent key vel' setting. I think it defaults to 0, but if you set it to, say, 30, you'll quickly see how to optimise it for yourself.

Cool, will do. I do like being able to play extremely delicately, but not if I can't feasibly produce it on an acoustic. Fortunately, I don't think any of the key strikes in the Brahms dropped below where I would fail to sound the note at all on my acoustic.

Other than that, I found it reasonably authentic feeling! There's a weird mid-treble thing that gets a bit digital sounding to me, but I can live with that. It also kind of doesn't show quite as much out from under big romantic pedal wash, so I guess I'll stick with this type of repertoire for a while, haha.

It also kind of lessened a tad when I increased the "release" setting. Still, there's something in there I can't quite identify that sticks out to me and brings me away from feeling like I'm playing a piano.

Well, we're all ears. You've a grand piano so if you can find any way to pin down the differences, that could help us all get closer to an ideal. It's obviously always going to lack something.

I can't remember what you said you were monitoring through - I think it was decent headphones?

Sony MDR-MA900 over the ear headphones.

I don't know them but at their price point I'd expect them to be very faithful. I was wondering about your metallic sound - I suffered that much more with monitors than headphones but, for sure, the timbre is what it is. It might be worth your while playing around with the EQ at some point to see if you can shape it a little. Not always fruitful, I'm afraid...

edit; I see you said 'digital', not metallic. That's going to be even more intractable...

Sounds lovely to me too!

Enjoy feeling like a God, but not too much...

Cheers,
James
x

For once, and this IS rare, the word awesome would seem to be truly appropriate.

I like your version of this intermezzo a lot. Very warm - I got some of the meanings of the music I didn't get from Dmitri Alexeev's version.....and he's pretty good

You can probably pump up the pedal a bit - nearly everyone who comes from acoustic to digital finds the sustain pedal less generous, regardless of which DP or VST you're using.

I do find that the headphones make a surprising amount of difference. The ones that came with my Yamaha piano (HPH-200P) are great. Some good quality Sony ones I also have (MDR-7506) don't sound as nice. They are both over the ear.

That's interesting. Would you say it is due to the fact that the yamahas you have are open back and it is due to sound staging and more spacious sound, or due to other tonal qualities ?

In any case sounds like twosnowflakes bought a very decent set. I also had the sony MDR-7506 but they broke just before I got my copy of the American D ( darn, such bad luck ). Was just thinking about getting them again, since I always liked them, but you have me thinking.

Now I am a total beginner on top so do not have the honed ears that you will have out there , but I too identify something in the treble range, particularly second C from middle and up a few notes sound rather harsh on this piano, almost distorted ( not caused by clipping or anything) and have been unable to dial it out, but at the moment I am using my old fallback headphones sony XBR-300, not very flat performance and bass boosted, I suspect they have a bearing on this, they are very treble thin anyway have that nasal sound. Surprisingly, from the midrange down into the bass they took me by surprise a little bit, for cheap cans sounding rather good in that mid range to bass department with the American D.

In any case. I am in the market for something new myself as well. budget around US 200 dollars. Will pop into town and listen to a few. I am strongly considering a set of open back ( sound leakage is not a problem for me )

Sorry for the off-topic perhaps, though it may be of related interest how to get the best out of this piano VST.

Just don't get confused -- _feeling like God_ doesn't mean that you _are_ God.<g>

A suggestion:

. . . Put the computer behind you when you play.

You want to concentrate on the sound you're making, not on the notes and MIDI velocities.

A counter-argument:

There's a story about Les Paul, told by (I think) his son. His playing was really smooth, and he made good use of all the (limited) dynamic range of his recording gear.

His son was in the studio one day, and asked:

. . . Dad, how do you manage to play so evenly?

and dad said:

. . . I watch the VU meter!

. Charles

PS -- a "VU" meter is an ancient analog device that shows the recording level.

You will get there and probably soon based on your rapid progress. You are describing the same things that bothered me. And while the default settings sound quite nice there are a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out.

The metallic sound around mid-range is one of the harder parts to clean up. Some combination of more sustain, change in listener perspective and EQ/environment will help to almost eliminate it. I can't help you more specifically right now because I only have a few moments for this post.

The silent key is important for the reasons you mentioned. When you look at the graph you will see that the numbers on the x/horizontal axis will correspond with your silent key value. You want the curve to be closer to pp on the y/vertical at the intersection of your silent key value. I'm not really sure what mine looks like because I'm not at home. But something like that, if it even made sense.

The big romantic pedal wash, if I understand correctly, is another thing that will help it sound more authentic. You don't want it to sound too clean and you want there to be a great deal of variability to your playing. It should be somewhat difficult to tame, just like an acoustic. The same settings I mentioned above for reducing metallic sound will help in this regard.

I barely got to listen to your recording but it sounds wonderful. I will try to listen later.

Sounds good! I like a lot of what you're doing with the Brahms.

With God like power comes God level responsibility.

I'm not much good at describing that kind of thing (and my hearing isn't up to par either). I just know they are surprisingly different. I did just go and try them both again. I'd say the Yamaha ones are "richer"; perhaps that means a better bass (to my ears).

I think you may be right: maybe the open back is producing a significant part of the difference. I hadn't even fully realized that they were open and the Sony ones closed.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take any detailed setting advice you've got if you want to expand your recommendation!

Mine are open-back. Very comfortable and seem to contribute to the feeling like I'm listening to something just around me rather than something being pumped into my ears, if that makes sense.

Very nice playing. I do miss the subtle shading of 1/8 and 1/4 pedaling that I can obtain on my acoustic grand.

Is adjusting the indiv. keys a Ivory or VPC function? I agree, the middle C position is kinda metallic sounding, esp. compared to the bass.