Piano for the masses

[Dadooronron Ron]

Here's a piano patch. It vaguely sounds like a piano, hence the name.

Cheers,

Ron.

---

Piano!.pch2
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	Piano!.pch2
Filesize:	2.34 KB
Downloaded:	2057 Time(s)

---

[Rix]

Not bad at all!
So far I think it is the best synthesized piano patch I heard on the Nord.

Knowing how difficult it is to synthesize a piano sound, and being spoiled with Rolans stereo sampled grand cards...

It is a bit nosy though, so if you would suppress the mid range and enhace the low and high, it would even be better.

Richard

[Zebulon]

Cool

It sounds like a lo-fi, baby piano...Thanks, I like it very much !

[Dadooronron Ron]

Thanks for looking at it. It does sound a bit nosy, doesn't it?

Also, I can't seem to get rid of the buzzy "no-piano-at-all"sound in the lower regions. Very frustrating. So please improve. I'm sure that many of you will have great ideas that I will never think of.

By the way, did you notice the reverb module just before the output? It should be on. (Duh...)

[mosc]

Quite an interesting patch. Pretty simple but in the mid an upper registers it really does sound like a piano. I was expecting an electric piano, not an acoustinc. The lower registers sound s big like a bassoon, though. Still, mixed in with a bunch of other sounds in an ensemble, this would be pretty convincing. Thanks...

[Zebulon]

Just had the idea of adding a little chorus for a watery, honky-tonky effect...

---

Piano! Chorused.pch2
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	Piano! Chorused.pch2
Filesize:	2.45 KB
Downloaded:	1764 Time(s)

---

[Dadooronron Ron]

Slightly altered version; made the hammer action a bit more "expressive" (pulse filtering is now altered by key velocity). I didn't dare messing too much within the voice area because of the polyphony.

Also made some rediculous constructions in an attempt to give the lower notes some more "bong" instead of "zong".

Zebulon, unfortunately I haven't been able yet to listen to your patch (I won't bother you with the tedious story about the quirks in my "floppynet") but I'm working on it and I'm happy to see you let your light shine over it as wel.

Thank you for that,

Ron.

---

Piano!2.pch2
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	Piano!2.pch2
Filesize:	2.76 KB
Downloaded:	1787 Time(s)

---

[jamos]

This is undoubtedly the best piano that I've heard on the G2, but it still n.eeds work. I especially like the way you've implemented the sustain pedal

My tin ears tell me that this sounds like a real piano covered by a blanket.. which makes me think that judicious EQ would solve a lot of the problem; but I'm not good enough with EQ to be able to fix it. So far. And the nasty string oscillator noise is hard to tame.

So in other words, good job!

[jamos]

Here's my modified version: it cleans up the noise problem and makes the sound brighter overall.

The key to the sound, amazingly, is the driver pulse: its width and filtering both have a dramatc effect on the sound. I changed the filter slope to 18 dB/octave; 24 db also sounds good.

Deep bass range still sounds lousy, though; needs more work.

---

GrandPiano.pch2
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	GrandPiano.pch2
Filesize:	2.71 KB
Downloaded:	2257 Time(s)

---

[Dadooronron Ron]

Zebulon, I finally listened to you chorussed version and I must admit that ,although it's very much not "au naturelle", it does sound a lot better.

Especially this dreaded lower region benefits from the chorus. So far, I think your piano is the most useable.

Jamos, you're right. The hammer pulse has a great effect on the sound.
In one of my "lab-testing-versions" I've also tried some more elegant string-damping (instead of the envelope thingie) but it ate too many voices.

I do feel the key thing to a decent piano sound is the wet filter (as described in J.Clark's Nord Modular Book) which gives this patch it's woody feel. Unfortunately the sound coming out of it is a bit dull.

But we keep working on it, don't we?

Thanks guys,

Ron.