Ive grown to love romplers alot this past year. Personally I have never been more impressed by sampled piano than I am of the nord piano 2. But recently in several discussions about the nord and other romplers, I'd seen a few people comment that they are not fans of "hyper-realistic" piano (sampled instruments in general I suppose), but do not mention why. I've had several people tell me that over the years and i don't understand because I thought the goal was to achieve the highest fidelity of sound as possible in your projects. I'm just curious in what context musically would it be better to work with samples that are anything less than as realistic as possible? Speaking about acoustic instruments of course. Could it be that an over realistic piano track could dumb down the rest of the mix of something?

I've used Kurzweils for years and Ivory and True Pianos VST's and that's never crossed my mind...maybe I under analyze.  I just don't sweat it anymore.  To me, if the piano sound is in the ballpark, which all the ones that have been brought up certainly are, I don't think anyone is going to tune out of a song because they perceive something peculiar about it...especially being too real.  That is an interesting notion though.

I've used Kurzweils for years and Ivory and True Pianos VST's and that's never crossed my mind...maybe I under analyze.  I just don't sweat it anymore.  To me, if the piano sound is in the ballpark, which all the ones that have been brought up certainly are, I don't think anyone is going to tune out of a song because they perceive something peculiar about it...especially being too real.  That is an interesting notion though.

Thanks for the response. More power to you man I've definitely turned into a "paralysis by analysis" type of guy. Wish I was more like you, at that point where you stop over thinking it. I agree with you about how no one will tune out of a song for not being completely perfect but I suppose its more of a personal accountability thing. I mean when I come up with an awesome piano piece while using addictive keys or another vst I just think about how much more epic it would sound on a nord with all that circuitry to beef it up. I'm sure that's not healthy but that's just the way I think, get it right the first time you know? Do you use any hardware to beef up your vst tracks? I know ivory pianos pretty kick ass but I personally feel like most vsts need some fullness and color before the end of things (lol like I said I over analyze)

I've got some great uber-realistic sampled pianos that are great for ballads and classical stuff. But if the tune's a rocker and the piano needs to cut through and provide rhythm, then I fall back to a rompler, either a Yamaha MO8 or Kurzweil PC2. Both deliver nice sounds, but they're primitive: only 3 velocity layers, no pedal noises or sympathetic vibrations like the huge libraries. And it's exactly what you want for an up-tempo rock 'n roll tune. The closest thing I've found so far in a Kontakt instrument is Sampletekk's Vertikal Pop close-miked piano.

The TTS-1 works fine for me in a "busy" rock mix.
But I'm a guitar player, not a pianist.
just my nickel98...
 
Tom

I see, so you choose differently quality samples depending on the type of music? Never really thought of that. but hey i only work with several genres. I like to use the TTS cause of the multi timbral functionality but the sounds are only a small cut above the typical general midi to me. Thin sounding IMO.

ASG
Thanks for the response. More power to you man I've definitely turned into a "paralysis by analysis" type of guy. Wish I was more like you, at that point where you stop over thinking it. I agree with you about how no one will tune out of a song for not being completely perfect but I suppose its more of a personal accountability thing. I mean when I come up with an awesome piano piece while using addictive keys or another vst I just think about how much more epic it would sound on a nord with all that circuitry to beef it up. I'm sure that's not healthy but that's just the way I think, get it right the first time you know? Do you use any hardware to beef up your vst tracks? I know ivory pianos pretty kick ass but I personally feel like most vsts need some fullness and color before the end of things (lol like I said I over analyze)

I used to be paralysis by analysis as you've mentioned and I never got anything done or accomplished for years.  I wanted it perfect.  There's a never ending list of things you could try to make it better from any standpoint of the process.  And of course you should work at it to make it the very best you can.  Every element could probably always be changed in an effort to make it better.  Art is potentially never done.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I never expect to get it right or best the first time.  It's certainly possible, just rare, and I don't expect that of myself.
 
Regarding the piano, I've not experimented with them together...always hardware or VST.

Thanks doncolga, what did you change to help you stop over analyzing?

ASG
Thanks doncolga, what did you change to help you stop over analyzing?

I had a lady once about three years ago who was very persistent with me over the course of weeks for a CD of my stuff.  I kept putting her off because it didn't sound like a major label release.  To keep from being rude, I finally had to get her a CD, so I listened through my stuff (after not hearing it for a little while), and I liked it...it sounded good and I was happy with it.  Of course it wasn't perfect, but it was still good.  No concern of panning, eq, compression, the right words or melody...none of that.  I just listened, I liked it and I was happy.  That's the point I loosened up.  I don't think about stuff too much either.  If I have chords or a melody I put it down asap, go with it and don't mess with it too much.  That's been working for me and I really enjoy the process now.  I've also stopped with all the loudness war mess and aim for early 90's mixes as a sound and level to shoot for.
 
Edit:  Just a for example:  On my song "Carry to My Love" and "To Seek You More", the vocals were recorded in my living room with my 3 and 6 year old little girls running around and the TV going.  Not the best recording environment, the vocals are not perfect, but they get the job done, and I'm happy with it.