A comparison in LIVING COLOR!

Piano number 2 has a fuller sound. One has very harsh sound when you hit the keys to hard.
Barry

Though I do not care for either sampled sound, #2 sounds fuller to me.

Beagle,

#2 sounds a bit fuller to me as well, but seems to have more effects on it than #1. #1 seems farther away, #2 seems closer but has overtones or some kind of modulations that make it murky to me. I might pick #1 for a fast honky-tonk, boogie or blues piece though, it might cut through a mix pretty well.

Congrats on discovering some early U2 .. their early stuff really communicates, great stuff.

Bill

Thanks everyone for voting so far...wow! the results are overwhelming in favor of #2. I'll give this a little more time to see if anyone else wants to vote before I give away the big secret as to which one is which.

Chaz, if you're still around, would you care to elaborate more on what you don't like about either one or what you would like to hear in the samples that you're not hearing? Just wanting to learn... Thanks!

thanks for the vote, randy, I'll post the results probably tomorrow.

as for your question about the way the song is written, no, the song was written and performed on piano. on the original recording from U2, I can hear a synth as background for a little added bass and extra harmonies, but the piano part is a solo. there are very few lyrics to this song, just one short stanza, no repeating chorus. very interesting tune.

I like #1. It sounds more real and defined to me.

Beagle Just got a chance to listen to the two pianos. My first thought also was number 2, and because it sounded fuller to me also.

Richard

Interesting thread, Beagle.

I am pretty much positive that the reason The Grand SE didn't sound as good to most of us is because it's using a limited number of samples. I also think the samples are shorter and looped more closely after the attack.

I'm also sure that the difference between the SE and full version, is that the latter would be using more and longer samples, probably with velocity switching also.

The Gigapiano is more sophisticated in its programming. I'm sure if you looked at the file sizes that it's larger than your Grand.

The folks who voted for piano #1, The Grand, consistently said what they preferred was its brighter sound. This has been a topic sprinkled throughout various threads, and I've talked about it also--how our ears tend to like bright pianos even though that isn't the way actual Grands sound. Top of the line concert Grands have a full, round sound, which can sound "muted" when compared to the artificially bright sound we're used to hearing in pop music.

When I first started using the excellent Steinway Grand in the GPO program, I kept doing this radical EQ curve on it, forcing it to sound more brittle, ala pop---wrong. When I started re-mixing my earlier work with GPO, I changed that back to a virtually flat EQ and the results are much more natural. BUT, the style of music I'm doing with it doesn't call for that rock/pop piano sound.

ANyway---Interesting!

Randy
rbowser