Ivory, AK Piano and Receptor

[ADino]

Hello all, fairly new here. This post is aimed at those who are using this setup, Receptor with Ivory or AK Piano. Looked thru the posts, read a few interesting things, one of note was how Ivory

gets a bit thin when using this setup. Having recently acquired a 700sx, action is good, but as with so many here, I needs a better piano, I want a better piano. Am using Ivory w/my G5/RME setup with different Rolands as controllers and I like the sound, but as we know, what translates in a studio does not translate live. Ive also noticed that the 700 sx when in a, say quintet situation, gets a bit thin also.

Im really on the fence on this decision, so your pros, cons, experiences, problems, support feedback is greatly apptd. Would have posted sooner, but got stuck on the jokes thread and couldnt get off the floor.

Thanks, Armand.

[Song80s]

Not answer for you but do you prefer Ivory instead of your Rd700sx Superior grand ?

 

I greatly enjoy my Rd700sx and I am thinking of getting either Ivory or Acoustik for my G4 laptop

[ADino]

Hey, whats up? Yes, I do like Ivory quite a bit more than the 700sx. The sustain and the way I think they captured that sound is really what does it for me, especially on sustain. I play it thru either the 700sx or my old fp3, very playable. If I could get that sound live, Id sell a family member to pick up a Receptor. But Im not selling the 700sx short by any means, I really like it. I just feel the piano is a bit weak for what I do. Great synth patches, coulpa nice YellowJackets type pads that I really like. I havent tried AK piano yet, but Ive heard good things about it. Few guys have told me that live, it comes across a bit better than Ivory.

[Jazz+]

I have been told that Ivory live gets a bit "confused" and that the RD-700SX piano works about as well when playing live.

[Phil Aiken]

Ivory works much much better than Akoustic piano on Receptor.

Not commenting on the sound, just performance.

[Joe Muscara]

I've played Ivory "live" with my band at jams and it was fine, but not on a Receptor, this was on a MacBook.

[Analogaddict]

I haven't played any other digital piano sound as expressive and rewarding as Ivory, mono or stereo. On the Receptor, it runs like a champ! Just my .02..!

[Moon Zero Two]

I have receptor with Ivory - I have not used it live - but I can say that I think Ivory sounds better off Receptor than through my pc w the EMU X soundcard.

 

I can't wait to get the Italian Grand installed on Receptor.

 

I too have read the reviews of the NI piano and am curious about that one too.

[ADino]

Thanks for the great feedback. There are really 2 reasons I would like to do an Ivory/Receptor setup, 1 of course playing live with it, but also running my plugs off it to reduce cpu load on a Mac when recording.

 

And yes, the 700sx is a great board, but Im a spoiled individual, I need that sound when playing, I gotta feel the notes, imagine, a Stnway live, with a volumne nobee, that doesnt get buried when the group gets a bit intense. For example, last week I did a quintet thing, got to use a 9' Stnway, built in 1921..good wood..the tuner was even there. As the gig progressed, things got intense and I found myself playing to the point that my technique was out the window, playing harder to hear myself. No moniters..By the middle of the 2nd set, a few of the notes were slightly out, aha, thats why the tuner was there. With a Receptor/Ivory setup, I wouldnt have to think about that, not that I would refuse to use a real Stnway, but theres not a lot of gigs that come with their own Stnway...and a tuner..Off topic, but after the job, the tuner told me that he had been tuning that Stnway for years at a families home, the family then wanted to give the piano away...to a good home...but no one wanted it...egads...after they picked me up off the floor, he told me that the hall took it after persuasion, and they use it as their house piano for whatever is booked. Had I only known about this....egads...

 

Again, thank you for the feedback, if theres anything anyone can add about their experience with the Ivory/Receptor setup, Its apptd beyond.

 

Armand.

[Phil Aiken]

Originally posted by RonL:

I have receptor with Ivory - I have not used it live - but I can say that I think Ivory sounds better off Receptor than through my pc w the EMU X soundcard.

 

I can't wait to get the Italian Grand installed on Receptor.

 

I too have read the reviews of the NI piano and am curious about that one too.

Are you sure you can install the Italian Grand yet on Receptor? I know that there is an Ivory version update that goes along with it, so it might not simply be a matter of loading the samples in. I aasked about this on the KVR Receptor forum but have not heard back. I'll bump it....

[Phil Aiken]

Re: above post.

I thnk you will have to wait for Muse to release Ivory 1.6 to add the Italian Grand.

[Tonysounds]

I have Akoustik Grand on my Receptor, and it runs like crap. Unplayable. I have 200gb and 2gRam.

[Zeke Smith.]

Whether or not Ivory is worth using live depends, I think, on the kind of music and also the quality of the PA. For average club stuff with my mod-rock band, I wouldn't bother, but in some of the better venues I play with great PA's (and where I can go in-ear on monitors), it's worth it. Quieter stuff like trio quartet jazz work, it's absolutely worth it.

 

If you're blasting it full tilt through a wedge with a bunch of loud guitars, Ivory doesn't really do anything that the RD-700SX won't do already, and the Roland will cut through better.

[ADino]

Hey Zeke, yes Ive heard that about the louder gigs and Ivory.

I would want to use the Ivory setup in my jazz things where they are solo , duo, trio, quartet and quintet gigs. I dont think it would be worth the investment for some of the louder gigs I do, and the 700 sx cuts those w/out a problem. I have 3 boards, so I just take what I need for the venue Im doing. But for those jazz things, Ivory would probably be what Im looking for. How come I cant walk into a music store and try this?

 

Tonysounds, drag that you are not getting good tone w/ the Recptor/Ac Piano. Im not that familiar w/the Muse, but thats what scares me. Anytime we decide to invest (shell out a lot of dough) for a product, and it doesnt do what we want it to. Although for what Ivory does, to me the price was worth it, but a fully loaded Receptor? Yer lookin at some change. And the Recptr, I feel anyway, is a lot of dough. For those clams, it should do what 1 expects.

 

On the Ivory 1.61 update, I asked ilio if its comp w/the Receptor, they said yes "but" see the Muse page. Im anxious to hear the Italian grand, but really, the Stway is great for jazz, the Yamaha does great for the pop stuff in the mix, havent messed w/the Bose that much, as I cant seem to get off the Stnway.

 

The quest continues...

[Zeke Smith.]

...And I've got my Receptor running rock-solid now, usually with an 8-layer Ivory patch (no release samples), 2 Atmosphere patches, and sometimes a Trilogy patch at the same time. 160 GB drive, 2 GB of RAM. Love it. But it's not great for on-the-fly patch changes.

[ADino]

I spent some time with the 700 sx, modifying the Ult piano patch..must say, its getting better.

 

Zeke, I heard that Ivory takes up to 2 minutes to load, so I guess it wouldnt be good for on the fly changes, Im thinking use the Recpt for Ivory, use the 700sx for Rhodes, clav etc, that way I wouldnt be waiting for that, but would really like to try the Scarbee Rhodes. Going to have to work on the 700's clav too.

[Zeke Smith.]

...Two minutes is a bit of an overstatement. More like 15-25 seconds max, depending on how many layers, release samples, etc. Still not for quick patch changes. You load it and generally leave it. I only use it for sounds where the ability to stream big samples makes it obviously superior to hardware, the rest I do in hardware.