Skip to content

My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

David Lai

rodrigopv but also because, being blind, I use a screen reader and not all software is accessible. Too many times I’ve spent money on plugins that I can’t use without help.

Are you also a screen reader user? Hello! You are just like me, I'm also blind.

Are you a Mac or PC user? And how are you using Modern D if you're on a PC? If you run into any questions or need any help, please let me know. I might be able to help you, especially if you're on PC.


pianow

when the Simeon is gonna drop the review then?😐


David Lai

pianow I believe his Joyful Journey is either Thursday Or Friday during the week, but I'm not sure when he's featuring the Modern D. On VI Control, he mentioned probably Thursday. But I can't promise anything, though I do know him and have talked with him. 🙂


pianow

David Lai
two days from now, ah... damn

thanks David, it's a shame that stu Harrison doesn't do vst reviews anymore, but thankfully we still have Simeon


johanibraaten

pianow when the Simeon is gonna drop the review then?😐

I really enjoy watching Simeon but it's hardly reviews as he loves everything he tries😀


David Lai

pianow thanks David, it's a shame that stu Harrison doesn't do vst reviews anymore, but thankfully we still have Simeon

Yes, and we're all grateful for him! 🙂


David Lai

johanibraaten True. But at least you could hear the sound and be like "this isn't my cup of tea." 🙂 I've done this with a lot of the pianos he featured.


Pete14

pianow and one more thing, i think nobody made it sound so great yet (at least for my taste)

Let’s agree to disagree here, for I think David Lai did indeed make it sound great!

Now, to be clear, just because David made it sound great doesn’t necessarily mean the VST is great (there is a difference, you know). 🙂


David Lai

Pete14 Let’s agree to disagree here, for I think David Lai did indeed make it sound great!

No Pete, I didn't make it sound great. The VST has to sound great first. Then, I just did a good curve, selected the mics I want and mix to taste, and then, that's it! Only a couple of steps. But the most important and the most difficult is for them to first make a great product… Then the rest would follow, but these steps on the user end are not hard to achieve, especially when you know what musical genre you're playing and after.


rodrigopv

David Lai

David Lai Oh wow, I love finding another person who uses a screen reader in the most unexpected places. I use VoiceOver on Mac, and pretty much the whole UI of UVI Workstation is accessible, though it’s not super easy to navigate. The only tricky part, but doable with OCR, is the browser where you load the soundbanks. Other than that, I think almost everything is accessible.

Do you use a PC? Which DAW do you work with? I use Reaper and find it really comfortable.

I’d also be happy to help with anything I can.

Once again, congrats on those beautiful demos!


David Lai

rodrigopv Well, lucky you on Mac! I've heard a lotout how UVI is workable with Mac. Not so much on PC. I use Reaper. I'll post more in a private discussion soon.


pianow

johanibraaten
yea it's a play through
which i like better cause i can hear the actual thing instead of someone telling me how it sounds (so many audio product reviewers are like this : 10% audio demos 90% talking about it without any proof, that must be the opposite imo)


pianow

Pete14 Now, to be clear, just because David made it sound great doesn’t necessarily mean the VST is great

nope, when someone can make a vst sound great especially with so little tweaking, it means that the vst itself is great and it has great potential.
🔨


Argyris

pianow i would like to know if we can get close to the grandeur with the modern d

I played around with this a bit. It's best to start with the hammer mics. They're the closest in sound to the Grandeur.

After that, I tried using the built-in three band EQ to sculpt the sound a bit. I ended up boosting the low end below 300 Hz by a few dB, cutting about 3 dB around 1kHz using the band filter (with a Q of around 2), and adding around 3-4 dB above 7 kHz using the high shelf. It's not an exact tonal match, but it brings the two closer.


pianow

Argyris
wow, thanks for the update, it's not unexpected for me to hear that the hammer mics are the closest ones to grandeur tone cause the main thing you hear with the grandeur are two u87s pointed at the hammers (different neuman mics, exact same position)
anyway thanks a lot buddy❤️


Jane

I've been trying to find a setting that I like as well as my Ivory 3 preset. But I've come across one oddity.
It may be because my N3 does some kind of extended MIDI, but I think that would be the case for the N1xx as well.

Or I may have something cranked too weirdly in the preset.
What I find is that sometimes, not always, if I pound loudly and stop, pedals up, all keys released... the sound doesn't dampen.
Attached zip has the preset I'm using tonight along with a MIDI file of a few (wrong!) notes and a FLAC from the MIDI showing the lingering sound.
Edited to include two FLACs - Modern D with the lingering undamped sound and Ivory 3 audio from same MIDI that doesn't show that artifact.

Any thoughts?

lingeringsound2.zip
1MB

David Lai

Jane Hi Jane!

I was looking at your midi data, and I found some more pedal data after the notes:

134 Position:3.3.97;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:119

135 Position:3.4.17;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:117

136 Position:3.4.19;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:113

137 Position:3.4.21;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:102

138 Position:3.4.24;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:84

139 Position:3.4.26;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:71

140 Position:3.4.28;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:45

141 Position:3.4.31;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:66

142 Position:3.4.36;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:9

143 Position:3.4.38;Channel:1;Type:CC;Parameter:Hold Pedal (on/off) (64);Value:0

144 Position:4.1.00;Channel:1;Type🙁end) All Notes Off;Value:0

These were the midi events afterward. Could it be that the sustain pedal was sending different data that overwhelmed the sample player? I think this is a great issue for the support team to take a look at.

However, I do have to say that word has it that the pianos before the N1X has some midi inconsistencies. I've certainly experienced bad time on my NU1 in China. Could it pedaling is another one of those? I don't know.

Sorry, more questions than answers, but never the less some thoughts there.


David Lai

Jane I might add that listening to the audio, it sounds like some resonance sample was stuck playing to their full length.


Jane

Thanks, David,

I just re-uploaded the zipfile. It now contains a FLAC rendered from Ivory 3 using the same MIDI file which doesn't have that undamped stuff at the end.

I created a ticket on the VI Labs website but couldn't find a way to attach a file. So I stashed the zipfile on my webserver and put a link into the ticket.

The automated reply says "Your ticket has been created, our team is currently understaffed due to the holidays so please note that you may experience an unusual delay for our replies." Not sure what holidays they observe?

And sorry the playing was so crude... don't want to hurt your ears! Just wanted to demonstrate the issue I'm having.


David Lai

Jane Notsure of this either, but tomorrow I’ll try emailing them as well and attach your file. Sounds strange to me, too. I’ll also test on my other VI Labs libraries. Glad you shared everything! And thank you! 🙂


« Previous Page Next Page »