The new Felt Piano - let's review it!

[Gambold]

Ok, we've been dying in the desert for some time, and Clavia finally gave a us a new acoustic piano! And not some silly Mozart thing that you might play once at your Amadeus party, but a sample from a (presumably) current model.

Unlike a lot of past samples, the file name doesn't provide any clues as to what piano they used, although they posted the identical photo that is posted for the Mellow. These photos seem reasonably accurate, even with the logos coyly blurred out, so maybe we are working with a "new, improved" Mellow, i.e. a Bosendorfer C30 fitted with felt between the hammers.

That would be an interesting decision, since the Mellow itself has proven to be a popular Upright on this forum, usually placing fairly high in the surveys. Why make it "better?" Of course, the photo could be generic and this piano could be anything - we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open for more clues.

MY TAKE: I downloaded the Large sample and played it side-by-side with the Large Mellow sample I already had onboard. As I've said in another thread, I've never been a fan of the Mellow but so many people have praised it I figured that was my problem, so rather than trust my own my ears, I would trust those of players more attuned to the nuances of these samples than I am.

In short - I found the Felt to be an improvement over the Mellow. It seems clearer across the register, and since it's been sampled 8 years later, my guess is that improved sampling technology has helped. I always found the Mellow too murky, and I don't like using EQ on acoustic samples, which was pretty essential for me with the Mellow. With the Felt, even though it's still lurking in the mist, I don't feel the need to EQ it because of the aforementioned improved clarity.

That's my first take - can't wait to hear others, especially since most of my playing is with the Bright so I'm not really the best critic of this kind of sample.

--Gambold

[monsterjazzlicks]

Ok, we've been dying in the desert for some time

Ha ha ha . . .

And not some silly Mozart thing that you might play once at your Amadeus party

Ha ha ha . . .

[afroskully]

well... it's not what I was hoping for, but after uploading the XL sample, I started playing Bill Evans' Peace Piece for about 30 minutes and now I've lulled my self to sleep. I'll probably keep this on for meditative purposes for the next week or so and then never use it again.

but it is very nice for what it is.

edit: ok, so it's been another 30 minutes and I really like the change of pace this piano brings. I don't think I'll ever use it in a band setting but just sitting playing quietly with this is very enjoyable. maybe I won't get rid of it so fast after all.

Also, @gambold did the L version list the instrument file on the Nord display as "Instrument Name"? that's how the XL is displayed on the OLED.

[agcohn]

I tried out the Felt XL tonight and it seems a little niche for my taste. Definitely gives off a cloudy, nostalgic vibe, though I can already achieve that with most of the Pianos using the "Soft EQ" setting. Reminds me of like the background music from a Ken Burns documentary. It livens up a bit more with a KBD Touch of 2 or 3, but it doesn't seem as flexible as my 3 go to pianos (White Grand XL, Amber XL, Grand Upright XL).

If I had a Nord Piano 5, I would be intrigued about the layering possibilities of the Felt Upright, but on my Nord Piano 4, I don't see this as a primary piano and I just don't have the storage space.

[Gambold]

I might be wrong, but according to Nord's own description, the Mellow was a prepared piano featuring customised hammers (covered in felt); on the other hand, the new Felt is "fitted with felt between the hammers and strings": to me, that's exactly what a damper pedal does, which is why I believe the Felt's just a quality, medium-sized upright piano recorded with the damper engaged.

That said, I too tried out the XL version and it sounded superb: intimate, soft and extremely well recorded. If you select the Bright filter, it becomes a bit more useful for, say, a jazz or ambient trio or duo, giving the higher range more clarity and brilliance to play solo lines. Even the Small version sounds pretty good, especially if you're just comping. Nonetheless, the issue with the Felt Piano is not really how niche it is (since many Nord pianos are quite peculiar, especially some of the uprights) but how replaceable it actually is. Personally speaking, I've been using these three pianos for the last few months: the White Grand, the Velvet Grand and the Bambino upright, all in XL flavour. Whenever I want or need a soft, dampered-like sound, I simply play either the Velvet or the Bambino with the Soft equaliser. The result's obviously not identical, but similar enough (and still better than the Mellow, by the way) not to justify even 60 MB of precious space (especially on older Nord keyboards) for the Felt, much less the 190 MB required for the XL version. If my Electro had, say, 1.5 or 2 GB of memory, then I'd probably keep it, but as things stands it's "wasted" space for most of us.

All this doesn't change the fact that Nord's done a great job at sampling the Felt (all of the XL pianos are class-leading). That's why I hope the next piano sample (which might be released no sooner than a couple years down the line) will be a regular grand piano. Or, even better, a definitive XL Rhodes sample (something balanced and not prepared, like the EP 2 Close Ideal).

[Gambold]

>@gambold did the L version list the instrument file on the Nord display as "Instrument Name"<

No it displays as Felt Piano

[Hlaalu]

Also, @gambold did the L version list the instrument file on the Nord display as "Instrument Name"? that's how the XL is displayed on the OLED.

It seems they left something unfinished then... We should report that to the support so that they can fix it.

[Gambold]

>which is why I believe the Felt's just a quality, medium-sized upright piano recorded with the damper engaged.<

I'm not sure what this means. The dampers are always engaged - they rise when a key is struck and then fall back down on release. If you press the damper pedal, they don't fall back down. Are you saying they sampled each note without using "pedal-down."

[Gambold]

> We should report that to the support so that they can fix it.<

Only if they tell us what piano they used, and how

Also - "reporting to Nord" - how exactly does one do that? There's been a lot of discussion over the years on how Nord isn't the easiest company to communicate with. I suppose you could send an email to one of their generic email addresses.

[analogika]

>which is why I believe the Felt's just a quality, medium-sized upright piano recorded with the damper engaged.<

I'm not sure what this means. The dampers are always engaged - they rise when a key is struck and then fall back down on release. If you press the damper pedal, they don't fall back down. Are you saying they sampled each note without using "pedal-down."

Language issue, methinks: The dampening felt curtain is what's meant here, not the dampers.

The "damper pedal" is another word for "sustain pedal", because it raises the dampers.

The pedal that dampens the sound on uprights with a felt curtain is called the "muffler pedal".

The nomenclature may not be entirely clear to everyone.