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Embertone Walker 1955 vs VSL Steinway D

For classical go for VSL, better pedal management. For the tone, it depends on the music. May I ask the kind of classical?
 
I think the full version of the Garritan Yamaha CFX would work well for this type of piano music.
(The full version includes the ambient mic sets which capture the natural acoustic space of Abbey Roads Studios)
 
I only have Walker and it sounds wonderful! It has character and personallity, a wonderful tone. Walker has 36 layers, which was a record before Vsl was launched. The users are waiting for an important update with some bug fixes and a promise of half-pedaling...
I’ve listen to Vsl demos and videos and it sounds really good- nearly a “perfect” sound but not “personal” as Walker. I really like to own both :).
 
The example is not solo. But if you have a midi of a solo piece you play I can render it with both :)

Thanks, let's give them a challenge ;) You could try the one called "No. 6 - Wedding-day at Troldhaugen" from this page: https://www.piano-midi.de/grieg.htm
 
Ok, here are the tracks. Some notes:

- Both tracks has been normalized to 0.5dB
- Since the tracks were hardly quantized I added a lil of humanization (sorry, can not her full quantized piano...)
- The midi has two tracks; so two different instances of every piano has been used
- The midi file was noted as "Piano Left" and "Piano Right"; so some panning has been added
- VSL Steinway D profile is "00 Room-Mix Presets -> 03 Player Room-Mix"
- Embertone Walker D snapshot used is "Main - Classical Performance"

No reverb added, no EQ.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/grieg-no-6-wedding-day-at-troldhaugen-vsl-steinway-d-mp3.17542/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/grieg-no-6-wedding-day-at-troldhaugen-walker-d-mp3.17543/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

Attachments

  • Grieg - No. 6 - Wedding-day at Troldhaugen - VSL Steinway D.mp3
    10.4 MB · Views: 360
  • Grieg - No. 6 - Wedding-day at Troldhaugen - Walker D.mp3
    10.4 MB · Views: 310
Ok, here are the tracks. Some notes:

- Both tracks has been normalized to 0.5dB
- Since the tracks were hardly quantized I added a lil of humanization (sorry, can not her full quantized piano...)
- The midi has two tracks; so two different instances of every piano has been used
- The midi file was noted as "Piano Left" and "Piano Right"; so some panning has been added
- VSL Steinway D profile is "00 Room-Mix Presets -> 03 Player Room-Mix"
- Embertone Walker D snapshot used is "Main - Classical Performance"

No reverb added, no EQ.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/grieg-no-6-wedding-day-at-troldhaugen-vsl-steinway-d-mp3.17542/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/grieg-no-6-wedding-day-at-troldhaugen-walker-d-mp3.17543/][/AUDIOPLUS]

Really interesting comparison, thank you! For this music, I feel the VSL Steinway has the right tone, with its brighter presence. When listening to Embertone first and then VSL, it feels like you have heard the Embertone outside the room, and when you hear the VSL you've entered the room. If that makes sense. There is something a bit more digital about the VSL though, but I think the tone is right and you can do more with reverb especially.
 
Heard so much about Embertone’s Steinway D.
Any suggestions for additional mic?
Sorry if this is OT.
 
Really interesting comparison, thank you! For this music, I feel the VSL Steinway has the right tone, with its brighter presence. When listening to Embertone first and then VSL, it feels like you have heard the Embertone outside the room, and when you hear the VSL you've entered the room. If that makes sense. There is something a bit more digital about the VSL though, but I think the tone is right and you can do more with reverb especially.
I agree. The VSL Steinway was more coherent with this piece. The Embertone sounded 'truncated' at times (maybe to do with the choice of mics?)
 
Funny. I feel the Embertone as more intimate, and nearer to my experience of Steinway pianos. The VSL sounds to me too far, and way colder than what I could expect.

The Embertone is often cut. The current scripting of the pedal is really flawed, and I hope it will be fixed soon.

Preferred microphones: close for definition, main for perspective, room for a very nice (sweet and clean) ambience.

Paolo
 
The Embertone is often cut. The current scripting of the pedal is really flawed, and I hope it will be fixed soon.

Agreed, that Embertone MIDI is difficult to listen to, particularly at the beginning. I like some facets of the Embertone but am not bullish a pedalling update will be released given the very long delay.

Of course the VSL Steinway also has some scripting issues that need fixing. . .
 
Has anyone done this comparison now with the updated 1.1 emberton and what version of VSL?

I tried the standard version of VSL and really liked it but never felt like your sitting in front of the piano. I think I would need the fills version to get the ribbon mic that sounds much closer.
 
Funny. I feel the Embertone as more intimate, and nearer to my experience of Steinway pianos. The VSL sounds to me too far, and way colder than what I could expect.

The Embertone is often cut. The current scripting of the pedal is really flawed, and I hope it will be fixed soon.

Preferred microphones: close for definition, main for perspective, room for a very nice (sweet and clean) ambience.

Paolo


I like the Hammer mic a lot.
 
In my old statement quoted by Jay here above, I have to warn that there is something no longer true: the pedal works fine, with the current version.

Paolo
 
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