Santa Marta Fazioli F308 2.0 BETA

Sofia_MZ

Santa Marta Grand Piano 2.0 BETA

Larger version of the original library and second of the new series of enhanced pianos.

2020 Fazioli F308 Concert Grand .

Recorded at 24 bit, 48 kHz in Milan, Italy.

1211 samples in 24 bit, 48 kHz .wav format., 4.3 GB.

20 velocity layers, sampled in minor thirds from the lowest C.

Pedal up and pedal down samples.

Simulated half pedal.

Simulated incremental soft pedal.

Note, BETA is the operative word here. Bugs should be expected.

You can listen to an MP3 Demo and download the piano here: Fazioli F308 2.0 BETA

Happy testing.

Sofia

jdg78

Sofia_MZ

Thanks! I just gave it a try.

Right away something seemed wrong with the soft pedal so I checked the file and the soft pedal down samples are currently set at "volume=2.5" which I think was supposed to be "volume=-2.5".

After adjusting it myself, it works much better.

Also, because the Fazioli has a somewhat sharper and clearer tone than the Bechstein, the frequency cutoff seems to have a more noticeable effect on the sound. Therefore, I don't think the volume difference needs to be quite as great. I think if you keep the cutoff settings as they are currently, but adjust the volume difference to -1.5, it sounds pretty much perfect.

It seems the exact parameters for the soft pedal may need to vary slightly from instrument to instrument depending on the base tone.

Also, for whatever reason, I was also getting quite a few clicks and dropped notes when I first loaded the file, which never happened in any of the previous instruments or version. But after changing the soft pedal settings this problem seems to have disappeared, so I guess it was somehow related.

Anyway, this is sounding fantastic and thanks again for sharing the latest version!

VST-Player

Sofia_MZ So if I understand properly, the main difference between the 1.0 and the 2,0 BETA is the samples with pedal down, right? I have only a vague idea how Sforzando works and what it does, but since the 1.0 version only has pedal up samples, the sustain effect must come from Sforzando whenever I press the pedal, Sforzando kind of calculates the sustain effect onto the dry sample, correct? The Superpiano version has real recorded sustain samples from the original instrument, right?

Sofia_MZ

jdg78 Mistakes are my best friends, they follow me everywhere 😁.

Thanks for spotting the discrepancy. I amended the ZIP file accordingly and also uploaded the corrected SFZs so that people don't have to download the whole thing again.

Yes, each instrument has a definite timbre and character. I don't have a digital piano with me these days and am glad you guys are trying the libraries and giving feedback, so that the final release can be as good as possible, yet leaving room for further customization by the users.

Sofia_MZ

NEW LINK TO TESTING PAGE TESTING

David B

How can I try this Fazioli out? I'm a bit intimidated by the unknown. What type of player do I use? What's the process of downloading the samples and connecting them to the player? My computer is a Mac mini M2.

Thanks for the help.

God Bless,
David

Sofia_MZ

David B Gotta love this post. "intimidated by the unknown". What's there to fear? We are talking about pianos (virtual ones at that), nothing serious 🙂.

Now, seriously, to download the pianos just click on this link to my webpage. Sofia_MZ

You'll find a description of each instrument, a link to an MP3 demo to listen to, if you wish, and a link to download the piano. It's all very user-friendly.

The 1.0 pianos come in a tar.gz format (which I honestly don't know how to decompress on Mac since I don't use Mac).

The 2.0 pianos (in the testing section) come in a ZIP format that might be easier for you to open. They are also bigger and more feature rich instruments.

The pianos are in SFZ format. I think Sforzando is the popular SFZ player on your platform. I assume once you launch Sforzando, you just point it to open the .sfz file that comes with the library.

That's it.

Let me know if you run into any problem, and I'll do my best to assist you.

Happy dive into the unknown…

QuasiUnaFantasia

VST-Player I believe Sforzando keeps the "pedal up" sample going while the pedal is held down. It doesn't have to calculate anything.

MacMacMac

@David B Here's how to load a piano into sforzando.

First configure sforzando for your piano …

=================================================================

Then load a piano virtual instrument …

QuasiUnaFantasia

I tend to simply drag the sfz file onto the middle of the Sforzando window, in order to load it.

In addition to MacMacMac's last screen shot, when the piano has been fully loaded, the keyboard in the bottom of the window is no longer "greyed out".

HZPiano

QuasiUnaFantasia when the piano has been fully loaded, the keyboard in the bottom of the window is no longer "greyed out".

And, fun fact, shows the keys that are catered for in the currently loaded script. The rest stays greyed-out.

Cheers and happy .SFZs,

jdg78

Yeah, I'm also using a mac and I just drag the instrument file onto the Sforzando window and it loads itself from there. When you're done, just click on the instrument field and hit empty to unload. Easy peasy.

Also, the Sforzando player is fairly bare bones and doesn't have a velocity curve editor, so I would highly suggest downloading a separate one and adding it to your midi chain. I use Velpro and it works great. You can just download the free demo mode.

When you open it, it should automatically detect any midi connections in the window on the left. Simply select the one for your keyboard, click "enable velocity transformation" and set the curve to how you want it.

After that, open the Sforzando player, go into the preferences, and under midi devices select "Velpro" instead of your normal keyboard midi. From there you should be good to go, and any adjustments made to the curve will be reflected on your keyboard response.

David B

Looks easy enough. I downloaded the sforzando player and am waiting for the Fazioli sfz files to download. Can this sforzando app play Dore's pianos also?

God bless,
David

QuasiUnaFantasia

David B It can play all those that have sfz files (and sfz files can be created for any piano's that have samples in un-encrypted form).

David B

Got it downloaded but what's the difference between the two sfz files

Should I be loading the "with noise" file or the other one? Thanks.

God Bless,
David

QuasiUnaFantasia

David B I think the "noise" one includes sounds of dampers whooshing and keys jumping back up again - i.e. "noise". 🙂

n-player

David B Should I be loading the "with noise" file or the other one?

The second file is a silent piano.

David B

Some weird happenings. I guess this is because it's the beta version. There are a number of keys where the highest velocities trigger more than one note at the same time.

double-note.mp3

jdg78

David B Some weird happenings. I guess this is because it's the beta version. There are a number of keys where the highest velocities trigger more than one note at the same time.

Good find. Yes, these are beta versions for testing in order to identify bugs like this.