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#469147 - 04/25/19 03:19 PM
Why piano?
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Senior Member
Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
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Bachus 'new toy' and his primary (musical) reason for purchasing it, got me to wondering; why do we place so much emphasis on the quality of the 'piano' sound when buying (or evaluating) a new keyboard. Most of us are not (primarily) pianist and few of us do arrangements that feature solo piano or piano solos within an arrangement. The fact is, most of the mid and TOTL arrangers AND workstations have piano voices that are more than adequate for most of our mixes. In fact, some of the 'factory' piano voices may even be better suited to the other voices in the mix than some of the very expensive SUPER-DUPER software samples that require powerful computers with loads of memory. The same with the even more expensive dedicated 'stage pianos', although I can see the justification for a stage piano (but only if you're a pianist, NOT just for providing a superior piano voice for your regular arrangements).
I am not a pianist by any stretch of the imagination but I have found that the pianos in my Tyros II, Fantom G7, BK7m, or even my latest toy, the very inexpensive Numa Compact 2x, are more than up to the task if the performance is us to snuff. What's more important to me is the feel of the keybed and in that regard, the Fantom is lightyears ahead of the others. Some people like the new offering for the SEVEN (a free upgrade) but I'm not a huge fan, probably because I don't like that keybed for AP (although it's perfect for 'Rhodes'.
Your thoughts on why the quality of the piano voice is so important to you even though you're not a pianist.
chas
_________________________
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]
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#469154 - 04/25/19 05:31 PM
Re: Why piano?
[Re: cgiles]
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Senior Member
Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15560
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
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Not a piano guy, but many of my audience members know how a good piano sounds. There is always someone in the lobbies that is a resident that is a piano player and wailing away at the Yamaha or Steinway grand. And, more often than not, there is a group of folks standing around the piano singing (howling).  A few years ago, there was a guy with a cheap Casio that relied heavily on the piano voice - which was just awful. It didn't take long for the resident council to tell the AD not to bring him back. He was a very talented player, but the sounds coming out of the amp were not on par with today's TOTL and mid range arranger keyboards. Now, DonM relies heavily on his guitar sounds/voices, but he too uses the piano for a lot of his on stage productions. I have heard him play using both guitars and pianos and he really does a fantastic job with both. I'm fairly confident that he would have problem with any keyboard that didn't have great piano sounds. Many years ago, when I was experiencing phase cancellation using Yamaha's Grand Piano that was heavily, stereo-sampled, I spent the better part of three months creating a mono grand piano based on a midi grand piano. It took a lot of time to get it to sound great, but I finally managed to get what I considered an acceptable, end product. I posted the piano voice on line and it has been downloaded more than 1,000 times since I posted it. Many users tell me it is their go-to piano voice, which is quite flattering, at least to me. All the best, Gary 
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!
K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)
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#469158 - 04/25/19 08:47 PM
Re: Why piano?
[Re: cgiles]
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Senior Member
Registered: 05/26/99
Posts: 9673
Loc: Levittown, Pa, USA
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Bachus 'new toy' and his primary (musical) reason for purchasing it, got me to wondering; why do we place so much emphasis on the quality of the 'piano' sound when buying (or evaluating) a new keyboard. Most of us are not (primarily) pianist and few of us do arrangements that feature solo piano or piano solos within an arrangement. The fact is, most of the mid and TOTL arrangers AND workstations have piano voices that are more than adequate for most of our mixes. In fact, some of the 'factory' piano voices may even be better suited to the other voices in the mix than some of the very expensive SUPER-DUPER software samples that require powerful computers with loads of memory. The same with the even more expensive dedicated 'stage pianos', although I can see the justification for a stage piano (but only if you're a pianist, NOT just for providing a superior piano voice for your regular arrangements).
I am not a pianist by any stretch of the imagination but I have found that the pianos in my Tyros II, Fantom G7, BK7m, or even my latest toy, the very inexpensive Numa Compact 2x, are more than up to the task if the performance is us to snuff. What's more important to me is the feel of the keybed and in that regard, the Fantom is lightyears ahead of the others. Some people like the new offering for the SEVEN (a free upgrade) but I'm not a huge fan, probably because I don't like that keybed for AP (although it's perfect for 'Rhodes'.
Your thoughts on why the quality of the piano voice is so important to you even though you're not a pianist.
chas I always judge a keyboard by the acoustic piano sound.. I want it to be dynamic and playable.. I believe if the manufacture takes care in the piano sound, you can bet they also take care in the development of other sounds.. Bad piano, I pass over the brand.
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