best mono acoustic piano

[lsj]

need advice here.  I have plenty of synths and plenty plug-ins.  right now I run all of my synths stereo out either to a line mixer or directly into a mixer.  for speakers I am  using a bose L1 model 2 with the large B2 bass cabinet.  the bose has only a single input so I am going out of my mixer with an adapter to the one input on the bose.  this makes everything mono, and I know I should probably get studio monitors but I really like my practically brand new bose.  

 

my dilemma is all my acoustic piano sounds from my plug-ins or synths sound like crap, since my system is set with mono.  is there any acoustic piano plug-ins that sound good in mono.  thanks for any advice in advance. 

[Stokely]

Is this for live use, or home?

If home, I certainly would get two speakers (maybe another Bose?).  It not only would help pianos, but many other synths will sound much better in stereo, music in general will.   (Though--not to say that when I work on music every patch is some big wide stereo thing...less is often more in a mix!) 

I've struggled with mono pianos for live, including trying out some of my plugins in desperation (I'm not keen on using laptops live) and I couldn't find anything that worked any better than the pianos on my hardware keyboards.    Hammersmith pro has a mono mic option, but it honestly didn't sound any better than the stereo ones in mono (too much room sound with the single mic which presumably has to be further back from the piano).

One I'm curious about is Pianoteq, as it is modeled which could make a difference vs stereo samples (?).   As I say I'm not keen on relying on laptops or tablets live, so I didn't pursue it.  Might be worth checking the demo.

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, lsj said:

out of my mixer with an adapter to the one input on the bose

What is this adapter? Are you connecting two outputs from the mixer to one input?

 

Cheers, Mike

[kalpajazz]

For me,Addictive Keys Modern Upright connected only to the left output works perfectly in mono

[lsj]

4 hours ago, stoken6 said:

What is this adapter? Are you connecting two outputs from the mixer to one input?

 

Cheers, Mike

it is an adapter that goes left and right out of the mixer to one input on the bose.  this is just for home use as I quit playing out.  two female out of the mixer, left and right, to one male into the bose.

[stoken6]

11 hours ago, lsj said:

it is an adapter that goes left and right out of the mixer to one input on the bose.  this is just for home use as I quit playing out.  two female out of the mixer, left and right, to one male into the bose.

Ok. Try just one connection in the mixer-right only, then left only.  You might well find an improvement in what you’re hearing.

 

Regards Mike

[ewall08530]

   I’m playing PianoTeq 8 for iOS. live.  My keyboard is a Yamaha CK88 so the audio from my iPad running PianoTeq goes back to the piano speakers and the output.  I’m running the left out on the CK88 into a Bose Pro 8 or a Bose S1pro +.  It sounds fine in mono with no phasing issues.  Would it sound more detailed in stereo? Probably, but it’s better than the CFX mono sample in the CK.  
   If the price of PianoTeq makes you hesitant try Pure Piano.  That sounds pretty good too if I recall correctly.  

[Stokely]

One issue I've had with the "only connect one output" approach is that it tends to cause problems with non-piano patches    I tried the right output only at one gig, didn't really test it at home, and it worked well for piano...but a lot of my synth patches were completely changed because in some cases the "beef" of the sound was panned to the output I wasn't using.   In mono, they combined ok (though not always, but that's a different issue).   What I would need to do would be to go through any patch I'd use and adjust any panning and test things out for volume jumps.    A leslie effect that might sound ok in mono (most I've tried do) would turn into a tremolo with only one output, depending on how far it panned back and forth, etc.