jjm542
04-02-2003, 10:26 AM
Many people who buy sampled digital keyboards are particularly interested in the quality of piano sounds on their instrument. The other instruments are “nice to have,” but the piano is foremost.
Pianos are difficult instruments to sample. The ideal sample would record every one of the 88 notes at every midi velocity (the sound timbre of an acoustic piano changes as you play it louder), with pedal up and pedal down, for as long as the note is audible. Any such sample would be gigantic and much too big to fit in the read-only-memory (ROM) chips of pianos like the Clavinova. The biggest ROM-based piano sample I know of is the Yamaha CLP990 at about 65 megabytes. A “totally complete” piano sample would be in the tens or hundreds of gigabytes range, although the law of diminishing returns would set in well before that.
To live within their resource constraints, sample designers use tricks. They may sample only some of the keys and interpolate between the sounds; they may only record only one or two velocities; they may not record the pedal or the “key-release” sound; they may not model sympathetic resonance, etc. They may also “loop” the sound - that is, the electronics plays back segments of the sample over and over while reducing the volume. (This is what the Clavinova does.) With clever sampling and signal processing this approach can fit a sample onto a chip and have it sound reasonably good, as the Clavinova demonstrates. But only “reasonably,” not “almost real.”
There is a now a technology that gets around these limits, and in the process moves the quality of sampled sound to a whole new level. It involves recording the sample to a computer’s hard disk and then using software to play it back in real time, “streaming” it from the disk in response to key-presses on a midi keyboard (like your Clavinova, any model.) This allows samples of essentially unlimited size and eliminates most (though not all) of the need for compromise in sample design.
The first and still-leading streaming sampler software is GigaStudio, but other programs, such as Kontact and Halion, are coming on strong. At present the only way to use this technology is with a separate computer (PCs and Macs) interfaced to the keyboard, but I suspect that eventually Yamaha and others will build it into their instruments.
I bought the GigaStudio software and installed it on a PC running Windows. I also got a low-cost sound card that connects to the amplifier on my CVP900, and a midi interface for the computer. I run a midi cable from the piano to the computer and from the computer to the piano (so a sequencer on the PC can play the other sounds on the piano if I don’t use the CVP’s own 16-track sequencer.) The hookup was easy, although I did buy a “ready to go” computer from a company that assembles digital audio workstations. Putting the pieces together myself would have been cheaper but would have introduced more hassles.
The piano samples I currently use include a 9’ Yamaha, two 9’ Bosendorfers, a Steinway C and D, a beautiful, mellow Swedish Malmsjo and several others, including uprights that are great for ragtime and pops. I also have Belgian and French harpsichords and a German fortepiano done with the same technology. They’re each in the 1-2 gigabyte range, or about 30 times larger than the largest ROM-based piano sample, and they’re all far superior to the internal samples in any digital. There’s an active cottage industry developing these samples (and not just piano - strings, orchestra, general midi, etc.), which you buy on CD-ROMs and load into the computer. The programs have internal effects generators (reverb, chorus, etc.) and editors so you can tweak the sounds to your own personal preferences.
None of this comes cheap. The computer has to be as fast as possible and so do the big hard disks - at least two of them, one for software and one for samples. The software itself ranges from $150 to $500 depending on features, polyphony, etc. (Mine allows 160 simultaneous voices, which are additive to the CVP’s polyphony.) My setup, including memory, sound card, network card, etc. cost me about $2,000, although it could be done cheaper now. The samples themselves range from $100 to $300 each. By the time you’re done you could have more invested in the samples than in the software.
The principle users of software like this are professional composers, particularly those who write for films and video games. It enables them to hear their compositions as they write them, without having to assemble (and pay for) a live orchestra or session players. While eventually most of these compositions get played and recorded by live musicians, in some cases (including video games) the final product may come directly out of the sample player. There’s a web site where such people hang out:
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php
It’s a good place to learn about this kind of technology, see where it’s going, and get help if you want to get involved with it. As the technology continues to improve with faster computers, better software and better samples, it may increasingly encroach on professional performers for many applications
So after all of this, is it live or is it Memorex? If you’re listening to a well-produced streaming disk sample side by side with any piano recording (which is what all of our digitals are), it’s essentially indistinguishable from the real thing. Of course, if you’re actually at the keyboard no digital technology, even this one, can reproduce the wonderful physicality of playing a concert grand. But if you want “the best” digital piano sound out there, there’s nothing else like it.
Glad to answer questions…
Pianos are difficult instruments to sample. The ideal sample would record every one of the 88 notes at every midi velocity (the sound timbre of an acoustic piano changes as you play it louder), with pedal up and pedal down, for as long as the note is audible. Any such sample would be gigantic and much too big to fit in the read-only-memory (ROM) chips of pianos like the Clavinova. The biggest ROM-based piano sample I know of is the Yamaha CLP990 at about 65 megabytes. A “totally complete” piano sample would be in the tens or hundreds of gigabytes range, although the law of diminishing returns would set in well before that.
To live within their resource constraints, sample designers use tricks. They may sample only some of the keys and interpolate between the sounds; they may only record only one or two velocities; they may not record the pedal or the “key-release” sound; they may not model sympathetic resonance, etc. They may also “loop” the sound - that is, the electronics plays back segments of the sample over and over while reducing the volume. (This is what the Clavinova does.) With clever sampling and signal processing this approach can fit a sample onto a chip and have it sound reasonably good, as the Clavinova demonstrates. But only “reasonably,” not “almost real.”
There is a now a technology that gets around these limits, and in the process moves the quality of sampled sound to a whole new level. It involves recording the sample to a computer’s hard disk and then using software to play it back in real time, “streaming” it from the disk in response to key-presses on a midi keyboard (like your Clavinova, any model.) This allows samples of essentially unlimited size and eliminates most (though not all) of the need for compromise in sample design.
The first and still-leading streaming sampler software is GigaStudio, but other programs, such as Kontact and Halion, are coming on strong. At present the only way to use this technology is with a separate computer (PCs and Macs) interfaced to the keyboard, but I suspect that eventually Yamaha and others will build it into their instruments.
I bought the GigaStudio software and installed it on a PC running Windows. I also got a low-cost sound card that connects to the amplifier on my CVP900, and a midi interface for the computer. I run a midi cable from the piano to the computer and from the computer to the piano (so a sequencer on the PC can play the other sounds on the piano if I don’t use the CVP’s own 16-track sequencer.) The hookup was easy, although I did buy a “ready to go” computer from a company that assembles digital audio workstations. Putting the pieces together myself would have been cheaper but would have introduced more hassles.
The piano samples I currently use include a 9’ Yamaha, two 9’ Bosendorfers, a Steinway C and D, a beautiful, mellow Swedish Malmsjo and several others, including uprights that are great for ragtime and pops. I also have Belgian and French harpsichords and a German fortepiano done with the same technology. They’re each in the 1-2 gigabyte range, or about 30 times larger than the largest ROM-based piano sample, and they’re all far superior to the internal samples in any digital. There’s an active cottage industry developing these samples (and not just piano - strings, orchestra, general midi, etc.), which you buy on CD-ROMs and load into the computer. The programs have internal effects generators (reverb, chorus, etc.) and editors so you can tweak the sounds to your own personal preferences.
None of this comes cheap. The computer has to be as fast as possible and so do the big hard disks - at least two of them, one for software and one for samples. The software itself ranges from $150 to $500 depending on features, polyphony, etc. (Mine allows 160 simultaneous voices, which are additive to the CVP’s polyphony.) My setup, including memory, sound card, network card, etc. cost me about $2,000, although it could be done cheaper now. The samples themselves range from $100 to $300 each. By the time you’re done you could have more invested in the samples than in the software.
The principle users of software like this are professional composers, particularly those who write for films and video games. It enables them to hear their compositions as they write them, without having to assemble (and pay for) a live orchestra or session players. While eventually most of these compositions get played and recorded by live musicians, in some cases (including video games) the final product may come directly out of the sample player. There’s a web site where such people hang out:
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php
It’s a good place to learn about this kind of technology, see where it’s going, and get help if you want to get involved with it. As the technology continues to improve with faster computers, better software and better samples, it may increasingly encroach on professional performers for many applications
So after all of this, is it live or is it Memorex? If you’re listening to a well-produced streaming disk sample side by side with any piano recording (which is what all of our digitals are), it’s essentially indistinguishable from the real thing. Of course, if you’re actually at the keyboard no digital technology, even this one, can reproduce the wonderful physicality of playing a concert grand. But if you want “the best” digital piano sound out there, there’s nothing else like it.
Glad to answer questions…