JeffLearman Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 TruePianos is an affordable piano VSTi at $180. I've always liked it, but a little while ago they added a new piano ("Atlantis") that IMHO is head and shoulders above the others. If you've demoed this before and were close but not quite satisfied, it's time to try again. I finally started doing audio on my latest laptop. I'd given up on it with my last one, which was a disaster and not just for audio. (These are laptops provided by where I work, so not my choice.) I was happy to find that sfz+ (which had serious probs on my previous laptop) ran solid as a rock in XP mode on my Win7 Thinkpad W510. I had fun playing all the soundfonts I'd used before I got my NE2 (which I'll keep gigging with for convenience). So next I loaded up TruePianos, and had a hard time quitting to go to bed. The new piano does have a flaw that's apparent when you play one long note in isolation: it sounds like a filter sweep with resonance, or ring modulation. When playing multiple notes or any of the normal playing in my style, that movement is helpful, avoiding that nasty static tone that I detes in so many ROMpler pianos of a few years ago and the Yamaha P80 in particular. This VSTi also has a relatively small memory footprint for a software piano, leaving room for quite a number of other instruments. (The latest module is CPU hungry, though: reporting 50% or more on my i7 quad duo. I haven't looked at TaskManager yet, that's the % reported by the TruePiano GUI.) Anyway, I sure do like their newest module. I'll probably be trying it at the blues jam tonight to see how I like it live. Their other pianos seemed to get lost a bit in a live setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Aiken Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks for posting this. I own truepianos but have not yet loaded it on my new laptop. Will check it out. Moog The One, VV 64 EP, Wurlies 200A 140 7300, Forte 7, Mojo 61, OB-6, Prophet 6, Polaris, Hammond A100, Farfisa VIP, ,Young Chang 6', Voyager, E7 Clav, Midiboard, Linnstrument, Seaboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillplaying Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 TruePianos Their other pianos seemed to get lost a bit in a live setting. Yes, I found that too. Sounded fine through my monitoring set-up but some of the sound guys said it lacked body. I'll try the new one. Thanks for posting. I'm the piano player "off of" Borrowed Books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 TruePianos Their other pianos seemed to get lost a bit in a live setting. Yes, I found that too. Sounded fine through my monitoring set-up but some of the sound guys said it lacked body. I'll try the new one. Thanks for posting. Well, I find a lot of popular stage pianos are unnaturally punchy, to pop through on stage, e.g., RD700's and S90's. A real piano doesn't really sound like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana. Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I just listened to the Atlantis demo and then quickly A/B'd it with Bill Evans' "Waltz For Debby." There's something about it that makes me think of the main piano sound in the Yamaha P200/P50-m, though the attack isn't quite as hard. It seems a little "tinkly" and one dimensional at times, but it also seems like it would work well in a mix. I can't tell from the website whether it's fully modeled, but for what it's worth, I don't hear the synthetic quality that I hear in Pianoteq. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 It's modeled, though each piano model dataset is pretty big. Small compared to a computer-based sample set, though (70-120 MB). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 The new Atlantis mode appears to be superior to the others. Hats off to Truepianos for keeping up with research and trying to improve their model(s) over the years. I only wish that that pianist in the video would have tried to demo the piano sound and not his own playing. I sat there thinking, "Yeah, I got it, you're good. Now, would you please play a few single sustained notes, then sustained chords, in various register, and at various dynamics...?!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana. Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I only wish that that pianist in the video would have tried to demo the piano sound and not his own playing. I sat there thinking, "Yeah, I got it, you're good. Now, would you please play a few single sustained notes, then sustained chords, in various register, and at various dynamics...?!" +1 No one likes it fast all the time. Gotta treat your piano like a lady, especially if she's a model modeled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Yeah, what Marino said. I'll have to post a demo; maybe this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Yeah, what Marino said. I'll have to post a demo; maybe this weekend. Yeah, please do it if you find the time. I'd be very interested in the evolution of long notes, both solo and chordal, at various dynamics and in various registers. TIA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I went ahead and bought this thing (only $129 w/Unicornnation discount). It's not bad. In many situations, I will likely prefer it over Ivory. There are some slight tuning issues noticeable in the lower end, but I haven't read the manual yet. Maybe it's user fixable. All in all (on first listen), I'd say it can get nicely rich and the dynamic response is impressive. Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroZero Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I have had True Pianos some years the Diamopnd Module is my goto in my studio. For my ears the Atlantis Model is not so good - maybe if you are schooled on an upright you might find this appealing? I would not say it is an upright, just 'uprighty'. IMO. What module do others prefer? Zero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 Unfortunately, my MOTU toasted itself Friday. It was working fine; I was playing guitar through S-Gear VST (which rocks for $75). Then I took a moment to set up a single source feeding all 8 channels (using 4 mixer outputs, each Y'd to two inputs) because someone had reported a MOTU sync problem on Win7 64-bit. No synch problems, but starting with that recording, nasty digital noise in all the recordings -- sounds like it's truncated to 4 bits! My guitar without any processing sounds like it's going through a "too much fuzz" box. :-| Atlantis doesn't sound at all uprighty to me. It sounds fuller, bolder. Otherwise, Diamond was my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 LOL, it just occurred to me that I don't need a soundcard to record a VSTi I expect to find time this weekend. :-) Let me know what you want to hear, other than what Marino already said. BTW, that's where this piano (and many digitals, IMHO) sound the worst: one note or chord in isolation, held through decay). Thus our wanting to hear it, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I've used Truepiano a few times now in demo rooms where there is no real piano. Their supplied instrument has been Ivory, or Ivory II, and I'm getting a lot of attention. Everyone says "whatever I'm using for piano sounds much better than they're used to, and better than what the other keyboard players bring". Engineers in particular are commenting on how it especially sounds better when I dig into it than what they've been using". Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davinwv Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I've used Truepiano a few times now in demo rooms where there is no real piano. Their supplied instrument has been Ivory, or Ivory II, and I'm getting a lot of attention. Everyone says "whatever I'm using for piano sounds much better than they're used to, and better than what the other keyboard players bring". Engineers in particular are commenting on how it especially sounds better when I dig into it than what they've been using". Steve - are you using the new Atlantis module on these sessions, or one of the older mudles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I've been using the Atlantis and the Diamond mostly, depending on what other instruments are playing on the song. Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 I do still plan to post a demo, but work has been killer, and when I have spare time, I'm just enjoying playing! Of the pianos I have available (Ensoniq MR76, S90ES soundfont, free and Splendid Grand 134) it's the one I enjoy playing the most. The Ensoniq is a fairly close second; but it's been my main piano since 1997 and I've learned to love its flaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 I tried it out live last night, using a Kurzweil SP88 keyboard, at a local blues jam (the SP88 belongs to the venue). I played it through my rig (Yamaha EMX5000 + 2 JBL JRX112M 12" wedges), with my NE2 above the SP88. Previously I'd tried TruePianos models live but been disappointed at how they disappeared in the mix. Not so for the Atlantis module. I liked it, and I'd do it again. Can't say how it stacks up against other popular stage pianos. I have AB'd it with S90ES samples, and the S90ES would definitely cut through more -- sort of like a buzzsaw, though. The S90ES is a bit too brash and inyerface for my tastes, though I bet I could get used to it and figure out how to make it work. Tonally, the Atlantis module is lot like the MR76 StereoPiano, but more lively and less deep. I like a deep piano with a lot of drive and body, for piano-driven tunes. Atlantis is definitely deep enough. I suspect many players would roll off some mid lows to avoid competing with guitars & bass. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hear it much from the audience. Another keyboard player played, but he was playing tentatively and kept the volume down. It did have a bit more reverb than I like for live use. I believe there's a control for that, but I didn't fiddle with it. It wasn't enough to be annoying, and I didn't think about it a bit once things warmed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 It did have a bit more reverb than I like for live use Click to switch to "Advanced" interface. There you can pull the reverb up or down, change the room size, etc. Under "options" you can adjust dynamics to your particular controller and playing style. Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashville.Guru Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Good to hear that you're enjoying your piano sound, Jeff... Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hear it much from the audience. Another keyboard player played, but he was playing tentatively and kept the volume down. Since you're using a laptop, here's a standard trick that I use - record a midi file of my playing during rehearsal, and playback during soundcheck, while I'm in the audience. This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 As it turns out, I had reverb turned off already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroZero Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Funny a Sound engineer friend of mine spoke highly of the Atlantis model, on my system it does not sound so good (Reveal Speakers Sony DB780 Amp). I was over at his studio and demoed it against the Diamond module and on his system it sounded better than the Diamond - I beleive he uses Genelec speakers. His goto is the Steinberg paino The Grand 3. I keep going back to the diamond module, yesterday I bought a RD 700NX and demoing in my studion the Diamond Module sounds better than all three pianos on board the Roland. If your reading this thread and have not demoed the diamond module is free to dowload for 40 days Here is a utube vid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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