It's that time again - what are your top 3 acoustic samples?

[Swampfox]

Btw , who knows which manufacturer and model is the white grand sampled from ?

I've believe it's sampled from a Steinway Model B, although to my ear it's a bit brighter than the average Model B. Yet, Steinway's can, and typically are, voiced to the liking of the owner.

[afroskully]

I loaded up the bright piano...XL. but I did it after trying to control my NE5 with my daughter's casio privia weighted piano as i'm seeing if i want to buy a controller for gigs. And now I love the bright piano. Can't tell if its the patch itself or playing it on a weighted controller, but yeah... I get now why everyone loves this sample.

[kirsty]

The big Bosie Imperial is still my main AP. Its just got to much power in the bass its addictive and still my favourite. Still the 'L' model rather than 'XL' as for some reason it sounds stronger to play. When I load XL it feels softer and loses some of the nuances that make me like it in the first place. Odd I know!

The Royal 3D (Yamaha S6) I use sometimes as its the closest to my ears to the sound of my acoustic C6 grand in the living room.

White Grand has grown on me now I have learnt to EQ it nicely and its shoved out the nose of the Studio Grand 2 which would have been my usual 3rd contender.

[Guynextdoor]

I use a White / Royal 3D split as my go to (white on the bass end). Both are XLs

[Hlaalu]

White Grand has grown on me now I have learnt to EQ it nicely and its shoved out the nose of the Studio Grand 2 which would have been my usual 3rd contender.

kirsty which EQ adjustment do you make to the White?

I haven't been able to like it that much so far. It has some sort of woody "clunk" and a metallic tail to it that I haven't learned to like. My favourite remains the Imperial Grand, followed by the Royal 3D, which to me is also the most versatile.

[agcohn]

White Grand has grown on me now I have learnt to EQ it nicely and its shoved out the nose of the Studio Grand 2 which would have been my usual 3rd contender.

kirsty which EQ adjustment do you make to the White?

I haven't been able to like it that much so far. It has some sort of woody "clunk" and a metallic tail to it that I haven't learned to like. My favourite remains the Imperial Grand, followed by the Royal 3D, which to me is also the most versatile.

For the White Grand, I personally would suggest trying the Soft EQ setting combined with KBD Touch 2 or 3 and a small amount of Compression and then using the regular EQ settings to boost the treble to your liking.

[kirsty]

White Grand has grown on me now I have learnt to EQ it nicely and its shoved out the nose of the Studio Grand 2 which would have been my usual 3rd contender.

kirsty which EQ adjustment do you make to the White?

I haven't been able to like it that much so far. It has some sort of woody "clunk" and a metallic tail to it that I haven't learned to like. My favourite remains the Imperial Grand, followed by the Royal 3D, which to me is also the most versatile.

I have a couple of White programs saved as I have found it to react quite differently to different PA setups. (I know this can be said for all the sounds but White is quite sensitive to it IMO)

At home i'm using a pair of Bose S1 Pro's and they are very 'boomy' so I have a -6 bass cut, flat mids and a 4.0 boost to treble with a touch of compression. KBD setting 2 mid.
At my cousins we are using a Stagepas 600i to jam away and I find it needs a -4 bass cut +7.5 boost to treble and +2.3 mids to sounds similar.
We played a club through a huge PA, and I didn't like either setting in the sound check so ended up going back to the Bosendorfer which I tend to prefer anyway. Its a steady faithful and always sounds good, stereo or mono and through most PA's
You will have to tweak White to your own PA but i'd try cutting the bass and adding some treble, the sample got more pleasant to my ears when I leaned in this direction.

Interested to hear if anyone else has tweaked White to sound great at a certain EQ setting

[Rusty Mike]

I’ve been messing with the Imperial in my home studio the past few days. I initially dismissed it as I think the top end sounds to “tinkly” compared to the Lady D, which was my go-to at the time. It gets very bright with just a little velocity, and I favor a warmer, darker sound, so it fell off the list pretty quickly. I’m using studio monitors and controlling the E6D from my Roland RD800.

What I’ve found is that the piano is incredibly expressive, and that the upper keys sound tinkly because I’m playing them too hard! You really need to treat this piano with some sensitivity to find its voice. The sample dynamics are seriously deep, and it’s telling me a lot about my playing style.

Doubt it will find it’s way into the Stage, as I wouldn’t be able to control it for live use. But it’s pretty amazing as a way to help tame my ham-fisted playing.

[Tasten-Bert]

PA always makes differences, so I hope that after long periods of trying and optimizing I found quite a good set. My electro is a 61D with 5 octaves only.

My main sound is the White XL with these settings:
Long Release On
String Resonance On
Kbd Touch O, no LED
EQ
Bass + 8.1
Mid Freq 3,4 kHz, + 2.6
Treble + 8.1
no effects
Reverb Stage Soft, 2.0
Gain 10.0

I play almost all songs with it. For „Someone like you“ I shift the octaves by minus 1.

Songs like „Don‘t stop believing“ or „Schickeria“ I also play with the White XL, but set differently:
Long Rel. On
String Res. Off
Kbd Touch 2
EQ
Bass + 4.0
Mid Freq 7.5 kHz, + 7.1
Treble + 11.2

Eff 2 Chorus 1, Deep, 0.7Hz
Delay 1, 2.8
Rev Stage Soft, 5.0
Gain 10.0

There are PAs that sound better without the Chorus or setting the piano to Mono, I notice that during soundcheck.

And I have a Bosie XL onboard because I like the two lower octaves.
Long Rel. On
String Res. On
Kbd Touch 0
EQ
Bass + 6.7
Mid Freq 3,4 kHz, + 2.6
Treble + 8.1

Rev Stage Soft, 2.4
Gain 10.0

Cheers and have fun

[Gambold]

RESULTS:

Thanks to everyone for taking part in this extremely informal "poll" of acoustic sample preferences. I know we do these all the time on this forum, but offerings, tastes, and participants change so frequently that it's always useful to see the current zeitgeist! Plus - some of us don't strictly "trust our own ears" and it can be very helpful to hear the opinions of others on the merits or demerits of certain samples.

The method was not very scientific - I assigned points based on how a user ordered their preferences. 3 points for the first piano, 2 for the second, and 1 for the third. If there was less than three pianos listed in a post, the first got 3 points, the second (if present) 2 points. A few posters were a little vaguer in their rankings but I went with what seemed to be the piano(s) they preferred, based on their comments.

White - 29 points
Royal - 15 points
Imperial - 10 points
Bright and Silver - 7 points each
Bambino - 5 points
Amber - 4 points
Italian - 2 points

Thoughts:

--White is the king by far. It's the newest sample, three years younger than the next one. Is it newness or quality that make it king - or both?
--Royal holds second place - after holding first for a long time. Yamaha samples dominate the digital keyboard world and this one is Nord's best
--Imperial was the big surprise. This piano has made a comeback! It's one of the "classic" Nord samples that appeared in 2011.
--Bright and Silver are now running neck-and-neck for dominance in the "I need a sample that cuts through the band mix" category.
--The Bambino edged out the Amber for favorite upright - likely because of its very distinctive sound.
--Ah, the Italian - once upon a time it was considered one of the best. This one fell out of favor quickly.
--No Grand Lady D! This one was on everyone's fave list for a long time - age has finally taken its toll.
--The elephant in the room - no love for the Velvet. A newer sample that wasn't a hit even when it was first released.

Thanks again everyone!!
--Gambold