Perfect Piano

[zephonic]

I see a lot of people still searching for that elusive perfect digital piano. I found the solution a couple of years ago...

 

I stopped worrying about the perfect piano and just treat my keyboards like a different instrument. Even when I use the piano or EP sound, I change the way I play and since I've gotten used to it, I find that the sounds are usually good enough to make it convincing in a band or mix.

 

Just accept the fact that a digital keyboard is just that, a new instrument in its own right and as such requiring a different approach.

Imagine harpsichord-players switching to the pianoforte...or organists...

[gangsu]

Originally posted by zephonic:

Just accept the fact that a digital keyboard is just that, a new instrument in its own right

..make that "a lively instrument in it's own right", and I agree with your statement 100%.

 

[RABid]

When I start dreaming of the perfect piano sound on stage I think back to the days when I was covering piano parts on an analog synth with NO velocity sensitivity. Hey, I thought I was in heaven when I got a poly-analog with velocity response and programmed a decent fake piano. Any modern ROMpler gives me a better piano sound than what I could dream of in the early 80's.

 

Robert

[acctjm]

Originally posted by Rabid:

When I start dreaming of the perfect piano sound on stage I think back to the days when I was covering piano parts on an analog synth with NO velocity sensitivity. Hey, I thought I was in heaven when I got a poly-analog with velocity response and programmed a decent fake piano. Any modern ROMpler gives me a better piano sound than what I could dream of in the early 80's.

 

Robert

Amen to that. I remember playing the piano part to Desperado on a Korg Poly-800. :-(

 

acctjm

[Dave Horne]

When I saw Perfect Piano as the subject, I opened this thread with a bit of caution.

 

Well, we've certainly come a long way from the RMI electric piano. As far as stage pianos go, we have at least three candidates to keep everyone happy - Yamaha P250, Roland RD700SX and the GM Promega 3. All of them have a first rate piano sound.

 

Considering what I grew up with, we're in heaven.

[MidLifeCrisis]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

When I saw Perfect Piano as the subject, I opened this thread with a bit of caution.

I had the same apprehension when I saw the title. Thought some poor soul was going to venture into the realm of "He Who Shall Not Be Named".

 

I remember when I got a Sound City keyboard (anyone remember them?). It had the tinniest piano sound you can imagine, no touch to speak of, and a pathetic clav sounding patch. But I thought I was in heaven with a small electronic piano (10 lbs.) which I could sit on top of my Hammond and give me that wide expanded palette of two additional sounds.

[RABid]

I started playing piano parts on an Arp Omni II, then picked up what I think was a Casio MT-31. It was two oct mini-key and a slider switch with piano, electric piano, organ, and a few other names for the blips it made. The cool thing was that The Cars was using a cheap Casio for some parts and it had the exact same sounds. Not much of a piano, but most of the audience was too drunk to notice.

 

Robert

[Chris Link]

Steve writes:

 

"I remember when I got a Sound City keyboard (anyone remember them?). It had the tinniest piano sound you can imagine, no touch to speak of, and a pathetic clav sounding patch. But I thought I was in heaven with a small electronic piano (10 lbs.) which I could sit on top of my Hammond and give me that wide expanded palette of two additional sounds."

 

Oh my... I had one of those in my high school band. What a piece of crap, although at the time it was pretty cool for not a lot of money. Mine sat balanced on top of a Rhodes suitcase. Not exactly the best situation with the rounded top on the Rhodes. At some point the other guys talked me into (against my better judgement) to screw a couple of guitar strap pegs into the wood ends so that I put a strap on it and play walking around (involuntary cringe). Thankfully, no pictures exist that I know of of me playing like that.

 

You could get a sort of wah wah effect playing the piano tone underneath and using the slider to vary the clavi sound. I was too cheap to buy a pedal.

 

Check out this site with a discussion and pictures of this and other vintage boards:

 

http://www.combo-organ.com/Vox/Other/

[Markyboard]

Yamaha CP-30 was my first keyboard. Worked 2 summer jobs as an electronics technician during college summer break to pay for it. Back then I was ecstatic playing the amplified piano and harpsicord type sounds. If you turned up the volume to much it sounded like all the notes were bleeding through at once. I eventually replaced it with my CP80. Yup - we've come a long way.

[ITGITC]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Well, we've certainly come a long way from the RMI electric piano.

Now just how did I KNOW you were going to mention my beloved RMI?

 

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

Considering what I grew up with, we're in heaven.

Yup... Considering that electricity had yet to be invented.

 

Jus' messin' wit' ya, Dave. How 'bout a cold one?

[DanL]

I had one of those Sound Shitty, er, ah, Sound City pianos too. I got it while in high school and put it on top of the L100 my parents had. I played it thru a (believe it or not) Sound City guitar head. The amp weighed 4x what the piano did, lol. It did have a nice cheesy harpsichord sound and you could blend it and the piano together.

[mate stubb]

In betwixt all my combo organs and Hammond organs, my progression went something like:

 

RMI

wurli

clav

pianet

wurli again

clav again

baldwin electropro

rhodes 88

---(enter the realm of MKS-20, romplers here)---

[zephonic]

Considering the instruments mentioned above, I reckon most of y'all have been playing since Woodstock. I started on a Roland D20 in the early 90's and that was awful.

[b_3guy]

Originally posted by Jayhawk:

Steve writes:

 

"I remember when I got a Sound City keyboard (anyone remember them?). It had the tinniest piano sound you can imagine, no touch to speak of, and a pathetic clav sounding patch. But I thought I was in heaven with a small electronic piano (10 lbs.) which I could sit on top of my Hammond and give me that wide expanded palette of two additional sounds."

 

Oh my... I had one of those in my high school band. What a piece of crap, although at the time it was pretty cool for not a lot of money. Mine sat balanced on top of a Rhodes suitcase. Not exactly the best situation with the rounded top on the Rhodes. At some point the other guys talked me into (against my better judgement) to screw a couple of guitar strap pegs into the wood ends so that I put a strap on it and play walking around (involuntary cringe). Thankfully, no pictures exist that I know of of me playing like that.

 

You could get a sort of wah wah effect playing the piano tone underneath and using the slider to vary the clavi sound. I was too cheap to buy a pedal.

I thought I was the only one in the world to have one of those things. Had it on top of my B-3. I have a tape from those days & it really threw me at first trying to figure out what the sound was. I didn't have an amp for it & I used to play it through my Leslie. Normally when the song came up in the song list I'd hit the brake for the Leslie & the rotors would stop. But on this particular tape, I must have forgotten to brake the Leslie. It sounded pretty interesting.

[BrianK]

Everyone has forgotten the ARP 16 Voice piano. It was DANG good for an analog synth. But failed miserably as piece of engineering.

 

I do say, however, that most modern sampled pianos are BORING. They have little of the character that makes a great piano track. They have PLAIN and EVEN and SIMILAR sounds. Real pianos don't - but the major companies never sample really cool old pianos with character, like Tom Waits, the Beatles, or Neil Young might use...

[zephonic]

Tom Waits? Beatles? Neil Young? All pianists of note, I'm sure...

[orangefunk]

I remember trying to coax piano sounds out of a Juno 60 back in 1985.. how naive I must have been. I even remember playing Moonlight Sonata on a DX7 piano patch thinking this was exactly like a real piano... ;-)

 

I've had two rhodes (Stage 54 and Stage 73) since then a Roland RD300s, Yamaha P80 and P120. Now I'm happy with the Promega 3. All of these were great pianos in their own way...

 

I still get a chance to play a Steinway now and again but I have to admit that playing a Promega is in some ways a lot better as the pianos I play are usually not in tune or have other problems.