Hey folks,
I'm a generally enthusiastically happy owner of the complete Embertone Walker library. It has definitely become my favorite grand piano library. Relative to other Steinways in my collection, I find it very good sounding out of the box, with lots of character that I find lacking in many libraries that I own, but not too much as found in one particular library I own.
That said, I find one annoying issue that I've not heard too much talk about.
That issue is a "click" on the low E2 at higher velocities. To my ear, it sounds real (not a sampling artifact). It also sounds mechanical, like some piece of the hammer mechanism is hitting something else. I notice it in every mic sample set (I have them all). It gradually comes in as velocity increases, and becomes very annoying (to my ear) at the higher quarter of velocity. It is present on other notes; mainly Eb2, D2, Db2, C2, to a much lesser degree. In fact, for me, a livable degree. But the E2 is too much.
The issue can be "hidden" by moving the rotary control of sample start time well to the clockwise, but I don't like that solution much as it de-emphasizes much of the wonderful attack characteristics for the rest of the keys.
Other than this one issue, I find the Embertone Walker absolutely incredible; my go-to piano without reservation. And even with this flaw, I will continue to use this in most of my work. The flaw as-is sounds natural; but it sounds like a maladjusted action that I would want to have fixed if I owned/used this physical piano.
So I'm wondering if
- other folks have noticed this E2 click and/or find it as annoying as I do,
- other folks have found any work arounds for this issue that doesn't compromise the rest of the keys, and
- if Embertone is aware of this issue and plans on addressing this in their long awaited update.