Aside from Pianoteq, I also have the chance to test another exellent piano VSTi, TruePianos. I was immediately impressed by the depth of its sound. After listening to TruePianos using its default setting for quite sometime, it seemed to me that Pianoteq sounded a bit flimsy in comparison. The lower registers of TruePianos gives fuller and rumbling response when attacked whereas Pianoteq’s lower registers seemed quite weak and doesn’t respond well to my attacks.
On the other hand, TruePianos is “semi” sampled based. Which means that it still relies on sampled piano sounds, which translates to more memory and harddisk space usage.
In my opinion, I still prefer Pianoteq to TruePianos. Pianoteq sounded more realistic and more closely captures the nuances of a real piano. TruePianos, although more strong sounding still relies on sampled or “pre-recorded” sound which I think offers limited expressiveness. In fact, after trying it for a few hours, I began to feel that it sounded monotonous and I have to return to Pianoteq.
You can download trial versions of Pianoteq and TruePianos respectively at the following sites:
http://www.pianoteq.com/
http://www.truepianos.com/
February 27th, 2009
Posted by
midiman |
Synth Reviews |
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I was able to test two high quality piano VSTiS. One is Pianoteq and the other one is TruePianos. In this article, I’ll be discussing about the former.
Well, in the pass days, I was really frustrated not having found a soundfont that faithfully emulates a real grand piano. Of course there exists some really good ones which I already discussed in this blog, but somehow, they have flaws. So my next step is to find piano VSTis, which led me to TruePianos and then to Pianoteq.
The latter captured my curiousity because the manufacturers claim that it is the first physical modelling of a real piano. In short, a piano simulator. For one, it does not use any samples, unlike modern digital pianos. The sounds are produced by complex mathematical computations. The advantage of this is that it does not require large RAM nor takes up a large space in your hard disk since it does not store any samples. But you need a fast processor though or you’ll choke up you system. At any rate, you can make some adjustments if you are using a slower machine, like lowering the polyphony or eliminating ambient noises such as pedal operations and hammer sounds, etc.
At first, I was skeptical that a non-sample based piano would produce a real piano sound. But after trying it out, I was really blown away by how it produce an authentic piano sound. Not only that, it also faithfully reproduces all the ambient noises produced by a real acoustic piano. You can actually hear the vibrations from the ‘non-strucked’ strings when the damper pedal is depressed. Try pressing some keys slowly so that it they do not produce any sound without pressing the pedals; then strike some keys in stacatto. You will actually hear those former keys vibrate and produce sounds. This is what you call ’sympathetic vibrations’.
You can also adjust other parameters such as piano size, hammer hardness, and detuning, to emulate various types of pianos. On top of that, you will enjoy its 127 velocity levels, so that will not hear any abrupt change in timbres across all the velocity levels.
It really brings me back in time when I first played my first acoustic piano because as you play it, it is as if you are actually in front of the real thing. This is not to mention the fact that I am only using a CASIO CTK 800 as a controller.
Some downside: the higher keys are somewhat ‘bell sounding’ when strucked at high velocities. But this becomes less noticeable when you play it along with other notes. You need a fast machine. But newer processors can handle it without much problems. I am using a 2.4ghz Dual Core processor and it handles it without choking. Maybe a piano piece with big fat fast chords will choke it. But I don’t play that kind of music anyway.
I was really impressed by this relatively small software. Some piano experts may not agree. But then this is a relatively new technology and I am sure it will improve in time.
January 27th, 2009
Posted by
midiman |
Synth Reviews |
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I resently discussed the problems I encountered while using gpo-concert-steinway-ver2 (a very nice sounding piano soundfont) on my previous post. It turn out that is was VSampler Ver3 which is causing the problem. In cannot faithfully import all the characteristics of the soundfont into its own format hence the problems I mentioned namely: muffled sound in the FFF velocity layer, and never ending loop. I tried to tweak some of its settings but still the problems persist.
I tried using Synthfont because I thought that if it can faithfully incorporate all the excellent piano characteristics built into the said soundfont during rendering, then it can do the same on live performances. The only problem is the terrible latency! Synthfont comes with its own ASIO driver but it doesn’t solve the problem even with much tweaking.
Weeks before, I downloaded a very small ASIO driver called ASIO4ALL. It is a generic ASIO driver intended to be used on sound cards that don’t have ASIO drivers. I didn’t give much attention to it since my VSampler was working just fine. But with the new problems I encountered I decided to give it a try. Boy this program is really very small, I thought I wouldn’t be of much help. But I was wrong. I installed the darn thing then selected it as my ASIO driver in Synthfont. I was surprised how it cut-off much of the latency. In fact, I barely notice the latency. When I began playing my controller, I thought there was one note or two that are out-of-sync. But as I continue playing, these delays were gone. I think SynthFont was loading the samples when you begin to play. But once all the samples are downloaded, the delay was gone.
Now I am enjoying the authentic piano sounds from the said soundfont. It’s amazing how a very simple program can do this amazing feat.
December 16th, 2008
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midiman |
Synth Reviews, Tips/Guides |
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For a while I’ve been googling for a perfect FREE piano SoundFont. As parsimonious as I am, I wan’t to believe that I can acquire a very nice sounding piano SoundFont without giving up a single penny. Sure there are a lot of sites that claims to offer the best sound but I just don’t want to waste money then end up dissatisfied with my purchase.
My effort paid off when I came across gpo-concert-steinway-ver2.sf2, a very nice sounding soundfont downloadable from this site: http://www.sf2midi.com/
I immediately rendered some piano MIDIs using SynthFont. The result is really amazing! It made a flimsy sounding MIDI file sound as if it is being played on a real concert grand. It has several velocity layers. If I am not mistaken, about 7. The creator of this soundfont even went to the extent of emulating string harmonics which made it sound even more realistic.
There are just a couple of downsides (but I think are tolerable). After a natural decay of about 8 - 10 seconds, you will hear a noticeable loop. In fact, the sound does not decay if you don’t release the key or the damper pedal (unlike in a real piano). So a lot of pedal releasing skills is needed to use this soundfont effectively. I think these kinds of problems are editable using a soundfont editing tool but I have yet to explore this area. Another problem I encountered is I cannot seem to reproduce the fortissimo velocity layers on live performances. If I hit on the key very hard, all I get is a muffled sound. I can’t figure out if it is a problem on my controller (a CASIO CTK-800), or on my soundfont player (VSampler 3).
What I can do now is just sequence my song, then render it with SynthFont. And the results are really outstanding.
November 24th, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Synth Reviews |
2 comments
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I’ve heard and read about ASIO but I never thought my basic sound card has it! I thought it is only present in more professional PC sound cards. I even went to the extent of downloading ASIO4ALL - a small software that emulates ASIO for none ASIO capable soundcards. But then, while examining my VSAMPLER sound card settings, I came across a check box marked “ENABLE ASIO”. I checked it, and instantly - as if by magic - the sounds coming from my speaker became clearer, and most importantly, there is no noticeable latency as I played my MIDI controller. (The sounds come out the moment I pressed a key!)
For those of you who have no idea what ASIO really is, it stands for Audio Streaming Input/Output. It’s a protocol used in sound cards. What I understand is that it bypasses several layers laid out by the Windows direct sound driver and goes directly from application to the sound card itself. Which explains the reduction - if not the elimination - of latency, and the improved sound fidelity.
I even tried to link my VSAMPLER to CUBASE via virtual MIDI cables, and still, latency is none existent. I guess I finally discovered the best solution to my problem on latency
October 21st, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Tips/Guides |
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I’ve done research on how to lessen latency in your PC recording studio. As I’ve mentioned earlier on this blog, latency is the amount of time it takes to produce the sound from the time the key on your MIDI controller is struck. This length of the delay depends on various factors which include one or more of the following: processor speed, amount of RAM, hard disk space, number or programs running in the background, sound card or MIDI controller driver, etc.
Some experts suggest that you must have a dedicated PC for your recording studio - if this is possible. Well, for me, its not practical. I am a programmer and I also use my PC for my job. PC recording is just a hobby for me, and I am not about to spend a great deal of money just for a hobby. I just have to utilize what’s available.
The steps I’m about to discussed are the ones that I actually tried and did work. Of course if you want better results, go for the experts’ advice, e.i. to have a dedicated PC for your recording jobs. (If your serious about home recording, I found some great tips in the book, PC Recording for Dummies by Jeff Strong.)
Well, the first thing I did was to free up those RAM spaces. One step you might consider is to sacrifice visual appeal of your desktop for performance. Honestly, I was reluctant at doing this. I used to be fond of decorating my desktop with fancy wallpapers, screen savers and different kinds of widgets. And while I’m at it, I even installed Style XP, just to make my desktop look more futuristic. All these things eat up a lot of RAM and are absolutely not recommended if you plan to use your PC for recording. So I decided that all these ‘eye candy’ stuffs must go. Here’s what you can do: Go to control panel. Double-click system. Click the Advance tab. Under Performance, click Settings. Select Adjust for Best Performance. Click OK. The first thing you will notice is that your screen suddenly lacked appeal. Those fancy effects like menu scrolling, real-time window dragging and resizing were gone. But you know what they say about ‘beauty that is only skin deep’. What matters now is how your PC is performing. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Esc and click the Performance tab. You’ll immediately see the improvement after doing the abovementioned steps. Also, get rid of that screen saver, and desktop wallpaper.
You will also have to exit your virus scan software. It takes up a big chunk of your RAM and CPU resources. Don’t worry about those viruses for now. While recording you rarely, or never have to connect to the Web anyway. Just don’t forget to reactivate your virus scanner when later connect to the Internet.
Then you also need to exit all other programs that you don’t need in your recording job, including programs that are running in the background. In my case, as a programmer, I use a lot of tools that are running in the background as services. There’s my MySQL and MS SQL database engines; there is also my IIS, and sometimes Apache web server for my PHP programming jobs. Now when I transform from a programmer to a musician, I need to kill all these services. (A word of warning: do not perform the following task if you don’t have any idea of what you are doing. It may cause the system to crash.) To disable certain services, right click the My Computer icon on the desktop and click Manage. Expand the Services and Applications node then click the Services node. The right panel displays all the active and inactive services in your system. Click the service you want to kill then hit the Stop button on the toolbar.
Another important step is to fine tune any software that you use in your recording. There are a lot of recording software that are available out there and I just can’t discuss each of them. These programs could be your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), DirectX and VSTi plug-ins, and samplers. For example, I use VSampler3 and soundfonts for real time performances. Some particular setting that you could fine tune are your buffer size and sampling rate. Too much or too little buffer size is not good. What you do is too find the smallest buffer size that would not cause the sound to stutter. Try each of the different buffer sizes provided, starting from the smallest, until you get a solid sound. You can also try to adjust the sample rate. But of course a lower rate means lower quality sound. It’s just a matter of striking the balance between sound quality and performance. Consult your software documentation on how to configure it.
I tried all the above steps and surprisingly, I am satisfied with the result. Of course, there is still a bit of latency. I could not say the exact measure in milliseconds. All I know is that, I could play most of my music comfortably.
October 10th, 2008
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midiman |
Tips/Guides, Tutorials |
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Let say you have a PC with the following specs: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz, 500MB RAM, 160GB hard disk, a basic sound card, and a free USB slot. Furthermore, you have an electronic keyboard equipped with a USB MIDI interface. With today’s development in soundfont technology, especially with the creation of software that plays soundfonts without needing an expensive soundfont compatible sound card, you would think its a nice idea to turn your PC into a sound module and use it on live performances. This way, you would enjoy the sound taken from (or emulated from) expensive sound modules, and top of the line acoustic instruments. It’s a very interesting concept, except for one small problem: LATENCY.
Latency is the amount of time it takes to produce the sound from the time the key is pressed. Normally, the MIDI signal reaches your PC almost instantly. The problem is that the software needs a certain amount of time to process this MIDI signal and convert it into sound signal which is then outputted to the speakers. Usually, the process takes only milliseconds for a single note. But for a fast succession of notes, the delay becomes annoying. I’ve been searching for a software that is fast enough to overcome latency, but I think the real hindrance is CPU processing power. Until they develop a really fast computer, using your PC as a sound module based on software alone is impossible, at least for real time performance.
If you really want to enjoy using your soundfonts in real time of live performances, what you can do now is to upgrade your basic sound card with a soundfont compatible one such as Creative Sound Blaster Live or Audigy. This way, you have a dedicated board that processes the soundfont instead of sharing part of your CPU’s power, which greatly decreases latency.
October 6th, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Synth Reviews, Tutorials |
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I was googling for piano sound fonts and I came across an excellent sample of a 7 foot Steinway grand.
Here is the site if you want to check it out:
http://www.pianosounds.com/freesoundfont.htm
I tried it and it really sounds realistic, although in my opinion, it sounds a bit warm, unlike the bright sound of a Steinway I expected. Nevertheless, it sounds fantastic.
Here’s a recording I made to give you an idea of how good this thing is.
Click here to listen.
(If you don’t have any idea how to use soundfonts, click here to see my article about how to make your midi files sound better.)
September 21st, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Featured Song, Synth Reviews |
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MIDI files (the ones with the .mid extensions on your computer) are most of the time associated with crappy, artificial sounding, karaoke-ish music. This is due to the fact that most basic computer sound setups use either artificially synthesized instruments (FM synthesis) or low quality wavetables (actual recordings of instrument sounds) to play these .MID file. Back in those days when Internet broadband connections were rare, MIDI files are a common way to transfer music across the Web because they are generally small. But today, with broadband Internet becoming more common, and with the development of high quality audio compression such as MP3, MIDI files are becoming less useful to ordinary computer users. Their uses are now limited to game and karaoke music, or used as cell phone ring tones.
One mistake is to blame the low quality of music to the MIDI files. A MIDI file (sometimes called Standard MIDI File or SMF) contains nothing but signals or instructions that tells a MIDI compliant device how to reproduce the music. Think of as a virtual sheet music. For example, if you try playing a piano piece on a Steinway grand piano, it would definitely sound much better than if you play the same piece on an upright home piano.
If you happen to have a General MIDI (GM) compliant musical instrument (which most modern portable keyboards are) lying around, try connecting it to your computer and let it play your MIDI files. Check the back of your keyboard if it has the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports. If it has, then it is GM compliant. You don’t have to buy additional expensive hardware for your computer. Just buy a low cost MIDI to USB cable available in most music stores (or online). Just follow the manual that goes with the device. You should be able to hear a better sounding music immediately. Note however that some portable keyboards sound better that others.
But what if you don’t have a MIDI gear? Are there any other ways to make your MIDI files sound better without having to buy an expensive piece of equipment? Yes there are other ways. I’ll explore two in this article. One is the use of software wavetables and the other is using sound fonts.
September 10th, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Tips/Guides, Tutorials |
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This is a follow up of my past article about My 10 Best MIDI TV Themes.
Just like most TV shows, movies are most often identified with their main theme - that usually catchy tune that are either played at its opening or end credits or sometimes accompanies its most thrilling scenes. When I say movie theme, I don’t mean the theme song that usually comes with the movie - although some movie main themes are sometimes based on the song. For example, Ghost’s main theme is a moving orchestral arrangement of its theme song Unchained Melody, and you can hear a hint of Can You Read My Mind in the Superman theme. Ever since I was a child, I was captivated by movie themes and most often they are retained in my mind. Most people never really care about the music - they don’t usually distinguish if a certain music was from Dances With Wolves or from Lord of the Rings. They just think of them as just ordinary musical background for the movie. But for me, the main theme give a movie a unique “personality”. Try watching the Oscars and you will notice that if a certain movie is given an award, the movie’s score is played by the orchestra while the recipient goes to the stage.
So what is my criteria for choosing the movie themes listed below? Honestly, I am not quite sure. I just find them catchy, melodious, and sometimes epic in scale just like the movie they represent. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I chose them because these are my favorite movies. Believe me, I love Lord of the Rings so much but I can’t seem to retain its main theme. Maybe because I find it too dark and abstract, unlike the magnific main theme of Indiana Jones. I narrowed my choices to just 5. If I am to discuss all my favorite themes, this blog space may not be enough. Also, I used an unordered list because I did not arranged them in any particular order. So here they are.
- Back To The Future (Listen) Alan Silvestri employed a fast paced style of music in this movie’s main theme - apt for its fast paces non-stop action and equally exhilarating subject of time travel. Listening to this music, I could almost see the DaLorean (this was the time machine used in the movie) accelerating to 88 miles per hour and zooming across the time barrier to its destination at an unknown point in time. Of all the time travel movies that I watched, this I think is the best one - even better than the adaptation of H.G. Wells’ Time Machine. The reason - aside from its irreverent comedy - is its ability to incorporate complex theories of time travel without confusing the audience. I lost track of how many time I watched the trilogy and until now I still could not find any flaw in the movie’s intertwining events. But then, this article’s topic is about the music and not the movie itself. So just enjoy listening to the MIDI file I provided.
September 8th, 2008
Posted by
midiman |
Featured Song |
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