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Strugglin' to get that Otis Span piano on a Kurzweil


Theo Verelst

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I use a patch I made through some processing, of which some eq and a complicated 30 band multi-compression are the same for the Otis example ("This is the blues") pieces from CD and the PC 3:

 

otistvpr1.mp3 44.1, st., 128k, 2min25

 

I'm trying out the sound and do not attempt to copy Otis's licks exactly (though I can, but that doesn't necessarily sound right).

 

It's meant for discussing interesting sounds on the testbench, not so much playing the blues. I wouldn't mind making my 30 band effect available for those with a fast Linux machine, it's getting more interesting following normalized frequencies, using two types of different filters and two different stereo compressors for each of the 30 bands, and even though I did no particular tuning of the effect yet, it clearly evens out the strange spectral behaviour of the Kurzweil somewhat, which, however, is probably the only digital instrument which can get some of the used chords and rhythm ideas pretty right. (Now only it needs to do that irrespective of the tempo in which I play a lick).

 

Theo

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Man, I just love Otis Spann's style...

 

And, yes... I can honestly say I never got that timber the way I wanted.

I don't know, I think it's easier to get a clean and well tuned sound of these dig.pianos than to get a decent Otis-ish stuff (which is not clear and clearly not well tuned).

 

I guess the mic thing and the recording process are THE main factors here.

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Study Otis Spann's playing.

Worry about the sound after that.....

There are some decent upright piano sample sets...the Kurzweil probably won't get you as close.

But again......mostly about the playing....

 

 

P.S...I also love Otis Spann......

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
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Ha......I listened AFTER posting.....and if that is a Kurzweil, then a pretty cool upright sound. Nice job!!!!!

 

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
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I dare anyone with "the perfect" piano program to make something even close to a working blues piano like Otis's..

 

I think it must be so that bands are mainly based on knowing essentials like blues and some rock before anything goes, so I liked practising these kinds of works quite a while ago when digi piano weren't that good, only to find out design efforts in the last decade haven't been directed to them. Just like I averaged 9s (out of ten) for physics and English when I was 18 without ever really working for it, I don't fancy scoring all A+, even when I could (at highscool: probably, at university: I don't think it (should) work(s) that way. So scoring more than a few important 9s suited me fine, but not an all-A list, and so i think the same way about digital signal processing design (which I have a degree in): I'd rather score pretty good than feed the copy-cats at the expense of promoting seemingly "clean" sounding rubbish samples while not even touching the burden for instance Ray Kurzweil started with as one of the first to make a sound deep enough to use.

 

I think I don't mind sharing some of the results for people who'd like to try it out in a band, which I liked to do to, but admittedly, Otis is a high standard, and I can't help it at the time I was more influenced by Dupree so I'm sure I used one or two of his licks.

 

Theo

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It would be nice to in any way at all have a great piano sound in the way I mean, but honestly I have no confidence at all in the plugins/programs I've heard the demos from. Maybe those demos are for specific kinds of small bass-reflex speakers and only for playing a very neatly sampled note at a time (though I understood the mentioned program uses PM) but I can't stand the sound of the demos, while all kinds of other mp3s and so on (including of my own instruments) sound fine.

 

Maybe I should bite the bullet and risk somehow messing with my currently only (though very good) Windows (7) machine and install the demo?

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If installing a demo is "biting the bullet"... I ... I just don't know what to say.

 

Say what you want about signal chains, compression, harmonics, and the like... at the end of the day, someone has to play the damn tune.

I make software noises.
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Maybe I should bite the bullet and risk somehow messing with my currently only (though very good) Windows (7) machine and install the demo?

 

On the slightly off-chance that the question was not rhetorical:

There's a Linux version of Pianoteq, which integrates well with the JACK audio server.

Hope this helps.

This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith
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If installing a demo is "biting the bullet"... I ... I just don't know what to say.

 

Say what you want about signal chains, compression, harmonics, and the like... at the end of the day, someone has to play the damn tune.

 

As long as he uses the Lexicon reverb, what can it hurt?

What we record in life, echoes in eternity.

 

MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XSr, PEKPER, Voyager, Univox MiniKorg.

https://www.abandoned-film.com

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I love Otis Spann's piano playing, too... (the Real Folk Blues by Muddy Waters was a seminal album for me as a teenager) and by Charles Brown, who was also a great SINGER!

I have no clue how you'd get the right sound on a digital instrument... anymore than getting the right sound for an out-of-tune but beautiful acoustic blues guitar part on a guitar synthesizer, speaking as a guitarist. But maybe you could find a wrong sound and MAKE it right!!

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I just downloaded Pianotec for Linux (64 bit, running Fedora 14 64bit on I7 with Jack running at 192kS/s) and played it a little bit and set some main options, and well, it's nice, I like PM (naturally) but I'm already convinced it won't cut it for *me* enough to really get into much. Interesting that it does what it does to get indeed a piano-type "klank", bu8t the variations and the harmonic and transient behaviour are not going to be something to take too much notice of, I'm affraid. Nice enough though, I don't think I'd normally pay more than 50 or so for the piano.

 

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