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Interesting! So many varieties of course, really depends on what you're using it for and the sound you're after. I've had quite a few different samples over the years....Ivory, Pianoteq, Piano in Blue, Cinematic Studio piano, Cinesamples....but I still favour the Keyscape LA C7 for film scoring. You can hear everything in those samples.
 
Interesting! So many varieties of course, really depends on what you're using it for and the sound you're after. I've had quite a few different samples over the years....Ivory, Pianoteq, Piano in Blue, Cinematic Studio piano, Cinesamples....but I still favour the Keyscape LA C7 for film scoring. You can hear everything in those samples.
I agree. My favorite for film scoring so far, but Ant. Petrof Dreamy is great as well.
 
Well - for classical, late-romantic and Jazz I stil prefer Embertone´s Walker 1955 and the EWQL Pianos Platinum while I have to say that the Maverick (for Jazz) and the Grandeur (for classical) are really quite strong IMO. For cinematic stuff I like the NI Giant, the Embertone 1955 and the Soundiron Drinking Piano - ah and the 8dio 1928, but my problem with that one is that I do think it isnt playable so well - the dynamic range seems hard to control ... but maybe that is just my own fault ;)
 
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Well - for classical, late-romantic and Jazz I stil prefer Embertone´s Walker 1955 and the EWQL Pianos Platinum while I have to say that the Maverick (for Jazz) and the Grandeur (for classical) are really quite strong IMO. For cinematic stuff I like the NI Giant, the Embertone 1955 and the Soundiron Drinking Piano - ah and the 8dio 1928, but my problem with that one is that I do think it isnt playable so well - the dynamic range seems hard to control ... but maybe that is just my own fault ;)
I agree with the playability of the 8dio 1928 Steinway - it's a little touchy and hard to control but a great tone.

BTW, do you think the upgrade from EWQL pianos Gold (16bit, Player mics only) to Platinum (24bit Close/Player/Room mics) is worth it? Do you use the close mics much? Mainly considering the Bosendorfer 290.
 
The Keyscape sounds almost like there's a gate on the releases. I love it's tone, but the releases are so abrupt, it sounds unnatural to my ears. Lots of choices here. All depends on genre and overall application.
 
The Keyscape sounds almost like there's a gate on the releases. I love it's tone, but the releases are so abrupt

In the original version of Keyscape, the C7's releases were, inexplicably, disabled. Which sounded very weird. With the first update and ever since however, Keyscape includes several parameters to set the length, volume and character of these releases. In its default setting, it still sounds a bit chopped off to my ears too (as Bill's video demonstrates) but it's very easy to adjust and give the piano a more natural release. https://users.telenet.be/re-peat/KeyscapePiano.mp3 (Here's what that sounds like).

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Hey Bill, I don't know how you find the time to compile all these comparison videos, but thanks a lot! I have gained a lot of great info from your videos, this is a good one.

I still love the good ol' EW Steinway and QL Pianos....the Bechstein is my personal favourite from that collection.

In the examples, I really also like the Spectrasonics (but pricey), the 8Dio, and the Emotional Piano.
 
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"In its default setting, it still sounds a bit chopped off to my ears too (as Bill's video demonstrates) but it's very easy to adjust and give the piano a more natural release. https://users.telenet.be/re-peat/KeyscapePiano.mp3 (Here's what that sounds like)."

re-peat,
would you please recommend some settings that you like?
 
In the original version of Keyscape, the C7's releases were, inexplicably, disabled. Which sounded very weird....

Yeah, I couldn’t believe such an “oops” made it out the door, let alone from Spectrasonics - but yes, thankfully they addressed it pretty quickly.
 
In the original version of Keyscape, the C7's releases were, inexplicably, disabled. Which sounded very weird. With the first update and ever since however, Keyscape includes several parameters to set the length, volume and character of these releases. In its default setting, it still sounds a bit chopped off to my ears too (as Bill's video demonstrates) but it's very easy to adjust and give the piano a more natural release. https://users.telenet.be/re-peat/KeyscapePiano.mp3 (Here's what that sounds like).

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Thank you! That's much better. I still have Keyscape on my wishlist.
 
some settings that you like?
Chas, in Keyscape, there are three parameters that control the release of the C7: on the Main tab, you have Rel Noise which, as the name says, controls the amount of release noise (triggered when lifting the fingers from the keys) — I never have that set higher than two o’clock or thereabouts, but that's a matter of personal preference of course —, and on the Tweak tab, you have Rel Transition and Rel Time. Both of these can be said fairly high. Even at their highest values, they still don't produce anything unnatural sounding.

If you want still longer releases than what Keyscape can give you (which, even at extreme settings, remains fairly conservative), you have to load Keyscape's C7 in Omnisphere, go to the Soundsource window and raise the Transition Time parameter which lengthens the release time of the key-down samples (i.o.w the actual piano samples). This way, you can create releases which last several seconds.

(For the example above, I remained in Keyscape; the Rel Noise set a bit lower than its default setting, and both Rel Transition and Rel Time raised to somewhere between two and three o'clock.)

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thank you super much for your excellent reply re-peat.
wow!!
I just tried this:
"you have to load Keyscape's C7 in Omnisphere, go to the Soundsource window and raise the Transition Time parameter which lengthens the release time of the key-down samples (i.o.w the actual piano samples). This way, you can create releases which last several seconds."

that is really really good!!
thank you again,
Charlie
 
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