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Simple Sam Steinway

ThatAdamGuy said:
Well, that was money very well spent! Just purchased, installed, and noodled with this for a bit and am absolutely delighted! Wonderful playability, flexibility out of the box, with a mix of spaces that will shine in solo'ing and ensembles! Love the adjustable brightness and such with just a quick dropdown 'n' click :).

My only nitpick is one that's been raised by others: some of the spaces seem to be set with the mics too close or whatever that causes clipping (apologies if that's not the right description), and I find that overall the velocity curve is too sharp across all the spaces (or maybe I just pound too hard :P). But this is really easily, quickly correctable.

I definitely see this as a nice complement to some of the NI pianos, particularly the Noire, which offers cinematic touches (particles and such) that can be fun to play with and aren't doable with the more traditional SSSS VST.

(for what it's worth, my MIDI controller is a NI S88)
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Glad you are liking it! We created a video that offers a few tips for optimizing your controller to our piano:


Additionally, please know that some presets such as "LA Beauty" are meant for softer, more delicate playing and will distort at higher velocity playing.
 
I’m spoiled. I have a hand built Petroff piano, literally built by one tech. The case was built and carved by another artist out of black mahogany and the action was regulated by one of the best techs on the planet. It plays like a dream. I also have a nearly 100 year old Baldwin R baby grand in very good shape. I feel very fortunate to have these instruments as a benchmark.

so, no piano VIs feel like these instruments of course. That said, I look for piano VIs that do not pull me out of the experience of playing. My first generation Nord Piano, while having a small sample footprint, is actually pretty fun to play and while no substitute for the real thing, will do a respectable job on a gig. I find NI‘s the Grandeur to be pretty balanced as VIs go.

I loved the sound of the demos for this library, I really wanted to love it, but if I’m honest, I don’t like playing it. So, it probably won’t get used. No matter what I do with the velocity settings, I feel disconnected from the sound when I play this library.
 
Trace, I am also spoiled. I grew up (as a hobbyist-classical/jazz pianist) playing on a wide range of incredible pianos in some amazing spaces. And outside of those 'real' pianos, the best 'fake' piano I've ever played is my Roland LX-17 hybrid piano (shown in my profile photo). Though obviously much, much less expensive/heavy/immobile, my NI S88 just pales in comparison feel-wise (so far regardless of VST). Despite it lacking aftertouch and any sort of useful knobs or buttons (for transport, etc.), sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have just stuck with only my LX-17. But (as usual) I digress :o
 
SimpleSamSamples said:
Hi Alex, thanks for your feedback. We are always thinking of ways to improve our pedal resonance. As a reference, I have attached a quick comparison we made between a raw "live" recording made during the sampling session and our final midi piano. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the differences between the two, in regards to pedal resonance. Also, please make sure that the resonance control isn't turned up too high in settings, as it will start to sound quite artificial.
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The notes in this music don't ring out so it's difficult for me to say which one has the best pedal resonance. The second one is more clean as if you switch off the chorus on an instrument. I don't know what that means. I do know that I like all your demos and yet when I play a broken chord with longer sustain I miss the dreamy ringing of the sustain pedal. There is virtually no difference between pedal up or pedal down.
 
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Trace said:
I loved the sound of the demos for this library, I really wanted to love it, but if I’m honest, I don’t like playing it. So, it probably won’t get used. No matter what I do with the velocity settings, I feel disconnected from the sound when I play this library.
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Have you tried bypassing the limiter in the editor? Bypass it and then try to fool around with the vel. settings again.
 
Alex C said:
Have you tried bypassing the limiter in the editor? Bypass it and then try to fool around with the vel. settings again.
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I’ll give that a shot. I will often play VIs with compression and:or limiting on them. This doesn’t feel like that. But, I’ll definitely give that a shot.

Thanks.
 
Trace said:
I’ll give that a shot. I will often play VIs with compression and:or limiting on them. This doesn’t feel like that. But, I’ll definitely give that a shot.

Thanks.
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Let me know if it helps. BTW, I only use the Classical Default patch, no limiter, changed the vel. setting to my 'toucher' and keyboard. I also made the sample response a bit faster (also main page).

Now if this piano had a beautiful pedal down resonance, I would have been very, very happy.
 
Someone mentioned this in another thread and down the rabbit hole I went and ended up buying this.
Sigh.
In settings I can create my velocity curve for my keyboard, but is there anyway to save this as a default for all patches? Some kind of lock or global settings? It changes whenever I change a snapshot.
thanks
rsp
 
I was finalising a solo piece with the SSSG today and my offline bounces had a weird distortion not present in realtime playback, which only went away when I changed Kontakt's offline interpolation setting from "perfect" to "like realtime". (This was trying with both Kontakt 5 and 6.) I've never had to do that with any other instrument. Did I miss an update or is this a known issue or just some weird random Kontakt thing?
 
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hansmagnus said:
Thank you, it's all working fine now! I also got your mail, really appreciate the help :)
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Just replying to this old post to say how glad I was to find it; I couldn't for the life of me get the files to work. Winzip/Winrar didn't want anything to do with the files I downloaded, but 7-zip did the trick and the rest was smooth sailing.
 
ethormusic said:
For $50 this is a definite steal. One of the best piano libraries I have ever used within Kontakt. This is the first time I have played on a virtual Steinway piano that actually has that characteristic 'bell-like tone' in the upper register. I love how there is sympathetic resonances included, but often the one thing that gets overlooked by so many libraries is the release samples, especially for staccato playing. SimpleSam Samples has NAILED IT.

The only complaint I have is the A above C4 (middle C) sticks out a bit too much. I suppose this is the one downside to only having 10 velocity layers. I'm using a Kawai VPC1 as my controller, but I don't have any reason to believe it is my controller. Seems like it's a volume issue though rather than a dynamics issue, but I could be wrong. I'm using the latest patch too.
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After spending a few more months with this piano, that A I was talking about I think is actually a velocity issue. It seems to me that there is just something not right with piano's dynamics in relation to the velocities I play. That particular A sticks out like a sore thumb, almost like when I try to play mf or mp it's just the f dynamic but quieter. But the surrounding notes don't seem to have this issue. Unfortunately adjusting my velocity curve settings on both my Kawai VPC1 software and in the Signature Grand settings doesn't improve this issue at all.
If you ever get around to reworking the samples so that the velocity feels a bit more even, then I will forever be greatful. The tone and the release samples are much better than more expensive sampled pianos I own.
 
SupremeFist said:
SSS has more vibe in the ambience but it can be a bit bumpy owing to only 8 velocity layers. Hammersmith has 22 layers: the standard (or light) is no longer available but the Pro is extremely good value at the current sale price, and the free version is free!
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Standard is available at best service....might snap that up!
 
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