tip: More power to your pianos

[arne v]

Hi,
I was unsure of posting this since there are no other post or comments on this, but in many of my combo`s and songs my piano (acoustic and electric) sounds "weak". I cant get the volume up so the sound sort of fades in the background or i have to adjust every other track to fit the piano volume and then the song sort of looses its punch.
My goal here was to make a piano for a jazz trio. To make the piano the "lead singer" so to speak.

I love the standard kronos piano, which imho is best suited for down beat ballads. I wanted a jazz piano a`la chick corea

First i have edited my Kronos Grand to have more of an "edge" then i copied EXi1 parameters to EXi2 and voilà..the sound becomes infront instead of in the back (2 pianos ontop of each other). The important thing here is to use the same piano sound on both EXi`es Not a kombination of piano1 bright and piano2 dark, because then you will get a strange distortion effect. The sound sort of crashes in the middle of your speakers
i also did this on some of my EP and they got a bit more aggressive, not some dull piano in the background. Add som detune and stereoeffect and you are ready to go!
Im a huge fan of Chick Corea and love his piano sound (both electric and acoustic). I finally made a pianosound that i liked

PS!This piano sound does not fit everyone, but it fits my style of playing and i want to share my experience with this insane instrument



[IMPORTANT EDIT] i forgot to mention check the key zone on the EXi2. This is set to bottom F#6 as default. set this to c-1.



.

[michelkeijzers]

If you copy it without changes, isn't it the same as increasing the volume?

I assume the detune and stereo effect do the trick ... probably only a slight detune is needed, otherwise you probably get a honky tonk piano.

I use this 'trick' sometimes to fatten lead sounds (although the sounds in the Kronos are already very good).

Maybe an idea to regulate the detune/stereo effect by a slider so you can adjust the level of 'stereo spread'.

[xtatty]

Thank you for sharing.

If you want us to try it out and give you our opinion about it,
give us a .pcg with the piano only inside or post it to http://korgpatches.com/

[jerrythek]

I don't think I would do what you are suggesting. Doubling a Program using a lot of stereo samples streaming from disk is using a HUGE amount of system resources/polyphony, all in the desire to achieve what?

A louder sound? Try using a limiter on a TFX to boost your gain.

A punchier sound? Work with some EQ before the limiter.

Experiment with effects processing to get more from your paino - it'll be the best approach.

Regards,

Jerry

[Mofit]

Many times you can fix the problem with a sound being too feint by making the sound 'brighter,' meaning increasing the filter cutoff frequencies (for LPF), increasing resonance slightly, or jacking the 4k and higher EQs. When you start layering different piano multisamples together, you get overlapping frequencies, where both pianos give a lot of mid-range and lower-range frequencies. This can cause distortion, phasing, and other odd artifacts.

If something is not loud enough, then turn up the AMP. If it's loud, but not cutting through, think about frequencies and not amplitudes.

The problem also might be with other instruments in the mix. If the piano is competing with strings or guitar that have a considerable amount of similar frequencies, then the instruments can get lost in one another. Think about turning down frequencies of other instruments in order to bring forth the piano.

Just my two cents.

[xtatty]

I tried it and he is right!
I haven't got much time to test it, but my first impression was good!

After you place the second EXi , it automatically detunes it by 5 cents.
So the result is a very loud and punchy piano!

Yes, the work can be done with effects too but this is a simple and fast way and it sounds good!

[arne v]

hehe..thank you all for suggestions, but i have already tried the filters etc.

xtatty, i will upload the file to korgpatches asap

If you liked it try shortening the release to -18 and adjust the velocity bias to +009, lid position 0,47.
Piano type: German D 2 s

as i wrote this is a sound for a trio. I can play combi int-D0097 for a looong time.
The problem of just changing the effects is that when wanting a piano in a song or combi i have to always change the effects, and that takes to long .)

[spo elman]

The problem of just changing the effects is that when wanting a piano in a song or combi i have to always change the effects, and that takes to long .)

Just copy from program, then you won't have to insert fx again, it's all done automatically

[arne v]

thanx but i already know that.
If i want to keep the original fx`s this does not work

[Fred S]

Volume did increase. Worked well with the German. Also tried doubling the Rudess piano...not so much.

[jerrythek]

Isn't it nice that there are so many choices/possibilities?


Until polyphony or performance become an issue, if it works for you, it's right. But in general I still offer that effects processing can achieve a lot, and is the best route to explore.

But you're happy, so I'm happy (for you) too!

Enjoy.

Jerry

[arne v]

thank you Jerry, i do appreciate the feedback

[michelkeijzers]

I don't think I would do what you are suggesting. Doubling a Program using a lot of stereo samples streaming from disk is using a HUGE amount of system resources/polyphony, all in the desire to achieve what?

A louder sound? Try using a limiter on a TFX to boost your gain.

A punchier sound? Work with some EQ before the limiter.

Experiment with effects processing to get more from your paino - it'll be the best approach.

Regards,

Jerry

Thanks for this advice (and from Mofit).

[arne v]

added to korgpatches.com:

http://korgpatches.com/patches/kronos/

it was not easy saving just those 2 sounds (with an EP) so i saved them under user AA000 and user AA001. If i missed please let me know

regards arne v

[polop]

Thanks