Native Instruments Claire - another Fazioli

CeDur · 2024-11-07T15:01:09+00:00

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keys/claire/ Sounds nice. No info regarding how many layers have been sampled etc.

pianow

HeartKeys I just purchased and started playing the Claire.

f**k you beat me to it, im gonna return the favor by saying negative things about the acoustic 280vc on this forum from now on haha 🙂

HeartKeys First thing I did, was do the pedal test. And....It works! i.e., "re-pedal, pedal again, whatever it is, that PTQ, Modern D can do but Noire sucked at"

more reasons to be excited as F for the new member of the family

HeartKeys Secondly, I absolutely like the tones more than VSL, playing it.

exactly, i never understood why vsl can't (or maybe they don't want to) capture a piano like galaxy people? colorful, with weight and roundness
i always thought noire was a lot better then every vsl piano in terms of sound 🙂 warm, lush and gorgeous instead of bright, metallic and piercing.

HeartKeys In short, this particular VST does F308 justice.

and that's enough cause i'm a sucker for fazioli pianos and tbh there aren't many good ones in the sampled market 🙂

pianow

pianow f**k you

alright i didn't mean it like that 💀
it was supposed to be "f**k,,, you beat me to it"""💀💀

jdg78

HeartKeys Thanks for the report - that's great to hear. Look forward to hearing your more extended thoughts down the road, and (hopefully?) some user demos.

I'm actually a bit surprised they addressed the pedal issue, but very encouraged to hear it. Perhaps they'll also get around to updating it on Noire at some point..

David B

HeartKeys In short, this particular VST does F308 justice. Whether someone loves it, or thinks it's meh, is up to them. But it's definitely way better to me, than Mercury, Imperfect Samples, VSL, etc.

I never really heard of Fazioli until VSL released the F308. I found it very appealing while the general user consensus was not very good. However, if I like something, I'm going to play it regardless of what other people think about it since it's usually just me hearing it.

I tried the True Kyes Italian (Fazioli), but didn't care for the brashness of it. I also didn't care for the VSL F212 due to the anemic voicing in the low baritone octave.

The Clarie is intriguing. The only thing preventing me from getting it - besides the money - is my appreciation for the Modern D. I've been rockin' the Modern D everyday and it's not getting old.

God Bless,
David

pianow

David B The Clarie is intriguing. The only thing preventing me from getting it - besides the money - is my appreciation for the Modern D. I've been rockin' the Modern D everyday and it's not getting old.

that's a rare thing with virtual instruments, i'd say you'd be better without the CLAIRE if the MD is completely working for you (the only thing that made me don't look at MD as an absolute priority is the fact that i'm not absolutely IN LOVE with how it sounds (i always like creamy sounds when it comes to pianos and most pianos develop such characteristics when they're at least 3-4 years old, this one is brand new and sounds a bit stiff and cold to me, but i'll buy it anyway, just not for now)

David B

pianow most pianos develop such characteristics when they're at least 3-4 years old

Any ideal who old the Claire/Fazioli was when they sampled it?

pianow

David B
not really but based on how it sounds and previews releases from NI i'd say it's someone's piano that been used for 5 years at least.

HeartKeys

pianow i'd say you'd be better without the CLAIRE if the MD is completely working for you

I agree with this. Claire is a nice supplement for doing cool things. Claire won't be replacing Modern D for me neither.

That said, there will be some things I absolutely would rather play on Claire than Modern D - bombastic non-classical things; movie soundtracks (I played Interstellar, Pearl Harbor, Chariots of Fire, other fun things, employing the sub as well) that sound amazing with earphones. The deep bass is something special, even if partially due to effects. The user interface for me so far is more manageable than the Noire.

I've also been toying with the color, timbre, and release settings and able to get some really good'ol acoustic sound from it, and it sounds rich and lush (non-VSL'ish). The interface/playability isn't going to give me the "omg I feel like I'm playing an F308" but it has certainly given me the "this tone sounds amazing, and I can make it happen" - it just will be a different vibe than pretending I'm on an acoustic piano. One can deduce that Claire is intended for "cool things" because it requires tweaking to get clean acoustic sounds (lol).

Thus the Claire won't, and shouldn't, be compared with Modern D. As @pipAT and others alluded to, Claire and NI as a whole isn't designed specifically for pure pianists per se.

If I'm sipping on a nice drink, I will choose the Claire (for now).
If I'm trying to "emulate the acoustic" I will choose the Modern D (for now).

Don't be surprised if my opinion totally changes in the coming months. The way many companies have improved their product (Pianoteq 8.4, 280VC & SK-EX versus Pianoteq 1.0 and K2 piano); VI Labs (Modern D); Claire (versus Alicia's Keys, other pianos with poor pedaling or UI); I anticipate a continued upward trajectory of fun and impressiveness.

I think we're getting to a point of diminishing returns in terms of improvements, yet we still see improvements. That's saying a lot!

Argyris

I keep hoping Embertone will pull a blinder and release an update that addresses some of the lingering performance issues with the Walker, but I'm not holding my breath. I still love it to bits, though. It's my co-number one, alongside Modern D.

Based on my experience with these two, I can definitely see value in taking on a library like Claire alongside a more traditional library. It's a complement, not a replacement.

I'm happy to hear re-pedaling seems to work correctly on Claire, at any rate.

HZPiano

jdg78 actually a bit surprised they addressed the pedal issue

… Maybe they're reading our 'Clack …

😋

pianow

HeartKeys That said, there will be some things I absolutely would rather play on Claire than Modern D - bombastic non-classical things; movie soundtracks (I played Interstellar, Pearl Harbor, Chariots of Fire, other fun things,

they always make such inspiring instruments, i mean i have most of their offerings and whenever i'm trying to write chord progressions i always reach to their session guitarists, i can make a simple chord prog sound infinitely better and it's not just that, the chord patterns been played by real guitarists and they sound incredibly realistic.

HeartKeys employing the sub as well) that sound amazing with earphones. The deep bass is something special, even if partially due to effects

actually, the sub slider isn't a modeled effect or a EQ nonsense, it's a mic position (under the piano with a giant mic dedicated to the lowest freqs) 🙂

HZPiano

HeartKeys

Great post, thanks!

pianow

HeartKeys Don't be surprised if my opinion totally changes in the coming months. The way many companies have improved their product (Pianoteq 8.4, 280VC & SK-EX versus Pianoteq 1.0 and K2 piano); VI Labs (Modern D); Claire (versus Alicia's Keys, other pianos with poor pedaling or UI); I anticipate a continued upward trajectory of fun and impressiveness.

i'm thinking about how vsl can compete with the current market? i'm sure a 11 mic'ed piano without resonances and triple pedal ain't gonna work anymore, especially at 540 - 640 euros, i hope they'd have a solution for this, maybe their next (cfx?) isn't yet_another piano 🙂

HZPiano

pianow giant mic dedicated to the lowest freqs

(Also HeartKeys )

Actually, as I understood it, the "mic" was a large woofer, indeed underneath the soundboard.

Air waves from the soundboard made the cone move, cone made the speaker coil move, which in turn of course created tiny electrical signals just as microphones do.

The sub bass was probably the most exciting aspect of Noire for me. I really enjoyed trying out double bass lines to then transfer to actual bass playing.

I'm wondering whether they recorded the sub bass for Claire in the exact same way.

Cheers and… "how low can you go",

pianow

HZPiano I'm wondering whether they recorded the sub bass for Claire in the exact same way.

if i remember correctly, it's the exact same with claire as well (they've shown it in their announcement YT video)
a giant woofer beneath the piano soundboard, it's a very unique and creative way to get cabinet resonances (some people think the side mics are enough when it comes to cabinet sound but i think this galaxy sub approach is way better and a lot more effective and useful)

eventhough it's quite useless in the mixes and arrangements, it makes everything unclear and muddy due to the bass frequency masking 🙂 but for solo? bang, it's a golden feature to have

HZPiano

Joyful!

https://youtu.be/3Vaa28MUNdw?si=LoE_Qw6uMIyMWUgc

☺️

David Lai

I was thinking of something -- both Ivory ACD and NI Claire were sampled in a performance hall. Listening to the ambient mics, you can hear hiss on the ACD, but very little noise on the Claire, which leads me to continue doubting whatever Ivory said to me about the "air in the concert hall" thing.

Just sayin'.

David Lai

HZPiano Listening to the video now.

HZPiano

David Lai

Yes that sounds dodgy (from Ivory) indeed.

I kinda like that Claire. It can go close as well and I detect some potential for laid back jazzy improv fun.

Cheers,

pianow

David Lai but very little noise on the Claire, which leads me to continue doubting whatever Ivory said to me about the "air in the concert hall" thing

i doubted them from the start, vsl has a shit ton of virtual instruments that have been recorded in a concert hall and none of them have such fatal noise floor, and even the acd 2 is a lot cleaner then the current version,
that's aside, I'm really enjoying the CLAIRE, it sounds absolutely gorgeous.

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