Significant differences in Piano Samples judged by file size

[sussko]

I wonder if the piano samples are so different from another just by comparing the file sizes. I already have a few piano sounds which I quite like but they are either in the small or medium edition because I cannot sacrifice even more of my other presets due to a lack of memory of my NP4. Lets for example consider the White Grand piano sound. I have already tried it in medium, but is the XL version of it so remarkably different from my current medium sample? Therefore, my question is the following: is it worth to always use the larger editions of piano samples (L or XL) or is the difference so marginal that its sufficient to stick to the smaller ones like small or medium?

[Hlaalu]

There are several threads on this forum about this topic. My 2 cents are that for some pianos, different "editions" are comparable to different pianos altogether, while others are more similar to each other. So at the end it boils down to personal preference, and if you are gigging in a band, then probably nobody would ever notice which sample you have chosen...

[ajstan]

This page describes the difference between the piano sample sizes:
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... nformation

The summary is that all versions (S, M, L, XL) are "Stereo Sampled" with "Detailed Velocity Mappings". All but the XL use samples that are stretched over multiple notes.

Here is what gets added with each step up:
- Upgrading from Small to Medium adds "String Resonance: pedal-down samples in the important middle region of the range."
- Upgrading from Medium to Large adds "String Resonance: pedal-down samples for entire keyboard range."
- Upgrading from Large to Extra Large adds "Fully mapped keyboard."

[anotherscott]

Summary:

S, M, and L sound the same except for string resonances.

XL sounds different.

( But don't assume that "different" always has to mean "better." See the thread at general-nord-forum-f29/white-grand-soun ... 19756.html )

[kirsty]

Strangely file size isnt everything either.

The old C7 Studio Grands are fine sounding samples, both 1 and 2 and the L versions of these take up less than 70MB.

The newest White Grand takes up:
67MB Small
110MB Medium
155MB Large
244MB XL

Quite a difference really, and there is still nothing Wrong with the C7 samples. Both are very playable and sound great.