Explain your digital / virtual piano setup!

EB5AGV

When you enter the obscure world of Digital Pianos (DP) and even the more obscure one of Virtual Instruments (VI), there is no limit to what you could setup to get the Holy Grail on realist piano sound, even outperforming the wooden and stringed ancestors! 😀

So, please, let us know (and show, pictures welcomed!) your simple or hyper-complex setup, explain why you decided to go that way on important accessories as controller / DP and, when suitable, monitors, audio interfaces, computers, VSTs and such lovely things which keep us busy.

I will post mine on a later post (hint: a picture is already on the VPC1 thread)

Let's share our darkest sound secrets! 🤣

Jose

Deleted

Most "virtual instruments" are just recorded samples of real instruments, they can't outperform those. Also neutral studio monitors are fine for listening to recordings, but aren't really meant for projecting electronic instruments, this is what instrument amps and their cabinets are for.

In the piano world there seems to be a widespread misconception about what actually makes an instrument.

EB5AGV

I was joking when I said "even outperforming the wooden and stringed ancestors!"

I have an acoustic, and even being a modest one (Yamaha U3H), there is no comparison to the richness of sound, for example against the famous VI Labs Modern U

But this does not diminishes my liking for good VSTs and the possibilities they give to play, even if just a not-so-perfect copy, a large quantity of different instruments just by switching between them. And I have found that using good near field monitors my experience is immersive enough to enjoy them. I use also headphones and pianos are usually better defined than with the monitors, though.

So, well, I hope this thread could evolve as an interesting one.

Jose

Ralphiano

I am about to embark on another speaker adventure with my setup. I currently have my VPC1, midi out to my desktop computer running the latest Pianoteq 7 (I also have Garritan CFX full on the computer), digital out to a Topping D50 DAC, analog out to my Denon AVR-985 surround amplifier, audio out to Energy C-500 tower speakers and Polk 10" subwoofer.

I've become curious about how well open baffle speakers, horizontally placed where the soundboard of an acoustic piano would be, will replicate acoustic piano sound. i have a set of old 80s Pioneer consumer grade tower speakers with 12 woofers and 5" midrange speakers that I plan to cannibalize for this experiment. My readings on open baffle speakers emphasize the need for an actual baffle around the speakers. So, I plan to take the front baffle off the pioneer speakers and use them as the horizontal baffle of the open baffle setup.

I anticipate that I will still have to use the subwoofer, as open baffle speakers are generally known to be weak in the bass.

If this setup shows promise, I am open to making a one piece soundboard and mounting these speakers (and possibly others) to it.

Ampersand

Explain your digital / virtual piano setup!

I have an on/off button and a volume control that I use, that's it! :-)

MBiG

Ampersand

If you use only this, it seems to be an ideal configuration. 👍

May I ask which instrument you own? 🙂

Ampersand

That's all I use.

Kawai ES920

David B

Here is a stand and monitor that I purchased from Amazon. I paid $180 for that monitor when I bought it.

Here is a stand I built for my mouse and keyboard. I also put my water and other items on it when I play. It's painted black with a high gloss poly coating on it. I tried to match my N1X. The sliders (attached via hook and loop) to the legs make it easy to slide around and position in different places.

I also built this box for my computer and to manage my cables. It's ebony stained with a poly finish. It doesn't match as good as the black paint on the other stand.

I also built this table (I didn't turn the legs) for other items such as music, cleaning supplies, etc. Red chestnut and ebony stain with high gloss poly finish.

I also made the risers on the monitor stands. I don't remember where I purchased the monitor stands from. I've hand them maybe 16 years.

Equipment:
Yamaha N1X
2018 Mac Mini
KRK G3 6" Monitors
Mackie Mixer for mixing N1X speakers and Monitors
Primary sample libraries are VSL (Bösendorfer Imperial) and VI Labs (Modern U)

God Bless,
David

xooorx

Mine's not quite ready yet.

CyberGene

xooorx
Wow, what's that exactly?

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Way more interesting than looking at pictures I would find actually listening to the these setups, because the audio is what this is about.

By that of course I don't mean listening to a DAW output, but to how the setup sounds in the actual room at listening position and farther away picked up by microphone(s).

CyberGene

Deleted By that of course I don't mean listening to a DAW output, but to how the setup sounds in the actual room at listening position and farther away picked up by microphone(s).

I'm not sure how useful that is. Recording a (digital) piano with microphones is a tricky process that, depending on the recording skills, can produce anything between total crap and wonderful sound which is not giving any real idea of how the piano actually sounds in that room to a listener.

xooorx

It's the insides of a Kawai CA48 that had had some sort of nasty accident on the way to its original owner so it got sold off as B Stock. The damage made it all the way in to the keybed, twisting the metal framework and damaging some keys, but the electronics (and crucially for my purposes the sensors and sensor boards) were undamaged.

Deleted

CyberGene I'm not sure how useful that is.

More useful to assess the actual setup than photos.

CyberGene Recording a (digital) piano with microphones is a tricky process that, depending on the recording skills, can produce anything between total crap and wonderful sound which is not giving any real idea of how the piano actually sounds in that room to a listener.

The information is not in the "recording quality". If I listen to an original recording of Rachmaninoff, it's not going to sound like Lang Lang's latest CD. But I can gain any information I need to know from such a recording.

It's the same if you place a phone into your piano room, hit record and hit the keys.

Deleted

Despite less optimal recording conditions with lots of background noise, this gives you a very good idea of how a P-515 actually sounds like, starting at minute 5:

https://youtu.be/NHt0wbKgPVk?t=300

That doesn't sound any worse than placing my phone on the music desk and record with the internal microphone.

Gombessa

Over the years I've migrated to trying to maintain a clean/minimalist setup.

Here's my NV-10 driving Garritan CFX through a headless, hidden Mac Mini M1:

The sheet music tablet/VNC is Pixel Slate ChromeOS. I use MobileSheets Pro for Android. The wireless keyboard on the floor (ha) is for BT page turns, and also in case I need a physical keyboard for the VNC. Headphones are Sennheiser HD-598s.

Close-up of the front panel. The red button is an audio input switch , which I need to control whether the VST outputs to speakers (when playing the NV-10's built in sounds). Actual switch between on-board sounds and local-off is via the NV-10's control panel. The headphones connect directly into the DP.

The Mac Mini is mounted with industrial velcro to the bottom of the cabinet. It's completely silent, on 24/7 and ready to go. All wires are (messily) tucked away.

View front the top, showing the cable management box at the back, which hides the wires, line conditioner, power strip and various USB wall warts.

Drew-r

Gombessa

So, that is the state of the minimalist’s DP art?

😉

Frédéric L

I had a Yamaha CLP150 (2002) and purchased multiple VST to improve its sound and have some diversity (my favorite : VSL pianos, Garritan CFX, Bechstein Digital Grand, Galaxy Vintage D). Now, with the N1X, I become lazier and just use its CFX sound without bother tweaking my computer and same some precious seconds before playing the piano.

Gombessa

Drew-r I guess only in comparison to what I had before!

MacMacMac

If I get an N1X, my minimalist setup will have three wires:

power cord for the piano
headphone cord
power cord for the reading lamp

I'm really hoping that I'll no longer need to use virtual instruments.

David B

MacMacMac I'm really hoping that I'll no longer need to use virtual instruments.

You've been playing the piano for a quite a while and I'm sure the N1X will satisfy you given your experience and maturity. I think the only reason I went crazy with all these virtual libraries is because I was a beginner when I purchased my N1X. I didn't know what I wanted or what sounded good. I was like a kid in candy store, everything looked good. I'll take a VSL, and a Garritan, and a VI Labs, and I will even try that Pianoteq with that fake sugar in it (which I promptly spit out. 😀 )

I think someone with a more mature palate such as yourself will be satisfied with the nuanced dynamic expression and tone of the N1X.

God Bless,
David